Jun 09, 2010 08:54 pm You won't need a mic preamp, there's already one built into the Mbox. How fast is the processor in your laptop and how much RAM do you have?
Wanting to do voiceovers
Posted on Jun 09, 2010 07:18 pm
Craig C
Member Since: Jun 08, 2010
Greetings. I have acquired an M Box 2 Mini and a Studio Projects C 1 mic. Im afraid the laptop I have is such a dinosaur it wont be fast enough to provide quality recordings. It is a '06 HP Pavillion dv 8000 (4200 RPM).
I m on a shoestring budget at this time but want to get up and recrding. Any suggestions re: laptop, dual core, etc.?
Also, will I need a mic preamp?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am a newby.
Thanks,
Craig C
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Jun 09, 2010 08:54 pm You won't need a mic preamp, there's already one built into the Mbox. How fast is the processor in your laptop and how much RAM do you have?
Jun 09, 2010 09:04 pm Hi Craig, and welcome to HRC.
The Studio Projects C1 is a condenser mic, so it will need a preamp. Good news is according to the specs, it does look like the mbox 2 mini does supply the +48v of power the mic will need, so you should be good to go there.
Now, on the laptop, any dual-core laptop with at least 2 GB of RAM, should be good. More RAM is always better of course. On the hard drive, I'd say a speed of 7200RPM should be fine.
I just recently bought an MSI laptop with a 3Ghz dual-core, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard disk at 7200RPM, and it's been working really well. It gets a bit hot though, so I got a cooling pad for it. But it cost me around $730-ish. The laptop has also forced me to plunge into Windows 7, and it seems pretty stable so far.
On the budget end, I build my old desktop back in 2004, and it served fine for most purposes on audio. Hard Disks were nothing special, but I think they were at least 7200RPM. CPU was 1.8Ghz single core. And I had 2 GB of ram. Recording audio was just fine, working with music was also just fine at least until I loaded a project up with VST effects, then the CPU cycles kinda got used up, so there was a lot of audio dropout.
But yeah, for these days, laptop wise, I'd say any dual-core that's around 2 Ghz dual-core with 2 to 4 GB of ram and a good hard drive should work just fine for recording, and most things you throw at it. That said, they're still going to probably run a good $600 or so.
As for laptop brands, my personal preferences are HP, MSI, Asus, and lenovo makes some pretty decent laptops as well. I don't particularly like Acer and I despise Dell.
You might try looking up different models and makes of laptops on newegg. They usually have very reasonable prices.
Hope that helps!
Edit: I just looked up the specs on that HP. It looks like it should have a dual-core: either an Athlon Turion 64, or an Intel core duo. so roughly a 1.8Ghz dual-core. The HDD rpm is 4200, which is a little on the slow side, but you might get by if you're not recording or streaming too much to disk at once. The main issue will be that it appears to only have 512MB of RAM, and that's really not enough. I'd definitely say 2GB to be good. So the main two issues are the RAM and the Disk, which might be upgradeable. Not 100% sure on that, but you could contact HP and ask the techs about it. Looks like the product is discontinued though, so I'm not sure if that's an option.
A few of us studio guys around here are in the IT field as well, so we can get you pointed in the right direction for sure.
Jun 10, 2010 06:57 pm Thanks guys. I really appreciate your responses...I have felt very alone in this endeavor. Im glad I found this blog...looks like the place to be.
Yup, the HP dv 8000 I presently have only has 512 MG RAM & 4200 RPM speed.
I appreciate your input as I thought I should have something along the lines of 7200 RPM.
I ll look into the laptop models mentioned and see what I can come up with.
Im thinking I ll be running Audacity (to start) thru the M Box 2. I fell victim as many do to my grandiose asperations that I needed to use Protools as my recording software. Think Ill just back off and learn to use more fundamental software as Audacity. Any software suggestions? Guess I ll just try them out free for 30 days...thats probably best...see what works for me.
Thanks again. Talk to you soon.
Best Regards,
Craig C
Jun 10, 2010 07:07 pm On the issue of software, most companies provide demo versions or trial version in some form or another. Reaper is a pretty popular one, and I've been thinking of moving to it from FL Studio. Pro-Tools is an option, but it shouldn't be considered as the only option to get great sounds. Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, FL Studio, Reaper, Nuendo, Ableton, Tracktion, etc. etc. are all capable of doing the main tasks that a DAW needs to do. Though some are stronger than others in certain aspects, such as audio editing vs. midi editing, vs. video capability and so on.
Reaper is a good one to try, and I'm finding myself liking it more and more as I mess with it. The demo is fully functional, uncrippled, and you can continue to use it past the trial period. And it's only $60 to get a discount license, which is good for personal use, and studios making less than $20k a year in revenue or something like that. It's a good program from what I've seen so far. Other software will have trial versions as well, though some may limit certain things, such as being unable to render/create the wav or mp3 file from the project, or being unable to save the project, or track limit, etc.
Of course, Audacity will also do the trick, and it's a great little program.
Jun 11, 2010 03:49 pm Thanks for your input J-bot. All Im looking to do (to start) is to record voiceover narration in a mono mode. Yes, I would need the capability to create an mp 3 file, no midi editing. Trying to keep it as simple as possible.
Best regards & thanks again for the advice.
Craig C
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