Those of you who are interested in purchasing home audio recording equipment, you will come across a slough of options that will leave you absolutely bewildered and overwhelmed if you don’t understand what you’re looking for and what you need.
For those who are looking to record themselves without having to learn about all the endless nuances and complexities of audio engineering, a fairly basic and painless setup would consist of an audio interface with at least two XLR or 1/4″ inputs, two outputs (also XLR or at least 1/4″), a dynamic microphone such as a Shure 57 or a Shure SM58, and an simple audio recording program such as Audacity or Garageband (the latter of which is only available for Macs, but alas, they’re awesome computers to use for music production or recording).
An Audio Recording Computer
Speaking of which, having an awesome computer to record on is absolutely essential, and if you don’t consider yourself to be particularly geeky in any way, shape, or form nor can stomach the thought of having to troubleshoot your system like most geeks or nerdy types would, then you should definitely save yourself the trouble and get yourself a Mac, iMac, MacBook, Mac Tower, etc. They may be pricey, but you’ll definitely thank yourself in the long run!
Even still, for those of you who may be a tad more sophisticated when it comes to the ins and outs of audio engineering or advanced music production, you’ll definitely be better off with a Mac, as Apple has firmly entrenched itself as the de facto industry standard in the entertainment industry due to the simple fact that Macs tend to be a lot more reliable and sturdy for the long haul.
Especially when it comes to grueling recording sessions or gigs when just about everything else can go wrong in accordance with Murphy’s Law.
Using an Apple Computer
Granted, don’t take this to mean that Macs won’t ever crash or ever have problems, because, as kick-ass as they are, they’re still manmade products that may cause problems or crash from time to time, but Apple has a long-standing reputation of providing outstanding customer service and fixing said problems right on the spot in comparison to other competitors, even in spite of some bad “apples” (yep, pun intended) that people have come across in the customer service department or Apple stores of ill rapport.
Of course, I have no intention of rekindling the endlessly ongoing “PC vs. Mac” debate, but as a musician, the best thing you can do is let the facts speak for themselves and talk to other musicians or producers who actually use Apple products for music production before you make a decision.
