Do You Have a Portable Laptop Recording Rig?

Dave Scott · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 52

I've been at this long enough that through semi-annual upgrades I've collected a variety of audio interfaces and mics. Enough to give me multiple backup rigs for my home studio. I have decided that my next equipment expenditure is going to be for a laptop computer so I can take a functional studio with me when I'm away from my home studio. I was just wondering if any of you have a portable laptop studio setup and if so could you share some of the specs to help me narrow the search for a solid laptop for audio production away from home. Thanks in advance for your replies.
Dave Scott
www.davescottaudio.com

Chris Mezzolesta · **Voice Talent** Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 258

I have a 2004-vintage Acer Aspire 1710 series that I have used not only for VO, but for studio and moblie audio recording. I bought it primarily because it was about the beefiest one out there at the time, and it has both flavors of Firewire for maximum potential compatibility. I run it with a MOTU 896 which has a Behringer ADA8000 lightpiped to it, so I can get 16 discrete mic channels (and therefore tracks) going at once. FOr VO I have also used just an M-Audio FW410 with 2 mic inputs, but this was stolen along with the Acer and my AT4033 earlier this year. Miraculously the Acer showed up in a pawnshop so I got it back, but the mic and interface are gone. It has a 3GHz P4 and I ramped it up to 2Gb RAM, it has a 120Gb internal HD and a 17" screen. Beefy, as I said, but works very well. I have recorded a number of CDs on it. I have also used a simple USB interface (Edirol UA-1A) with my daughter's Toshiba Satellite (model escapes me, bought it in July) for recording simple stereo pair as well as a speaker, so a number of laptops should work fine for VO, as long as the HD is fast enough (usually 7200rpm minimum) and the data throughput is quick.

I will say that I think I need to have my FW ports on my Acer checked out since it is not receiving anything at this moment, but I'll lay that to being in someone else's hands for a few months, probably getting jostled around etc., should come out ok.

Hear the album I did on the Acer (Power Salad 3: Sweat Equity) at www.powersalad.com as well as iTunes, eMusic, etc.!

Dave Scott · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 52

Chris,
Thanks for the detailed info about your laptop rig. Nice work on Power Salad as well. I"ll be doing some full build audio but nothing as elaborate as the music production you created. I'm looking at an HP with an AMD Turion Dual Core with 4 meg of ram so I think it will more than handle anything I throw at it. I've got firewire (Terrratec) and usb 2.0 (Mackie) interfaces so I'll experiment and see which (or if both) do the trick. Just wanted to get some real-world feedback before I plunked down the bucks for it. Thanks again for the advice.
Dave

Andy Froiland · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 90

if you go to geek place and look up "which DAW do you use?" on the last page I posted a quick time video of my portable set up, in a rather unusual setting. with the MacBook Pro the Mbox and headphones I can actually do work on a plane (assuming I did my voice work before I left, then it's all assembly from there on out!), really slick! I also work at a radio station so my sfx and music library (on a partitioned hard drive) along with my pro tools pretty much adds another studio to the station mix! it's the best going! the Macbook Pro has all the speed, memory and hard drive space I could ever need and the intel core2 duo takes anything I throw it. the Mbox runs on usb and the external drives run on firewire.
Andy

Claire Dodin · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 400

I want to upgrade my laptop so I'm quite interested in this thread.
At the moment I'm on windows xp and Mbox but my laptop isn't powerful enough.
A lot of people are telling me to go mac, but it worries me because on top of having to learn mac I'd have to learn pro tools (audition doesn't run on it) ,I've tried before and gave up, it was too difficult for me.

What do you guys think?
I'm told for same ram and specs, the mac is much more powerful and easy to use.

mac or pc laptop? Is the macbook enough for sound recording/producing? http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

Ed Gambill · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 585

Claire

If you are using a software package that you like, then I would stick with it and get a computer that is compatible to that software.

Then when you record at a remote location, you can directly open the file in the same soft ware on you desk top

I have had two Toshiba. They seem to be a big presents in the lap top market, but I have decided to stop using them for a variety of reasons.

My current Lap Top is a Gateway, with Vista, so far no real big problems with vista. I have XP Pro and my give the Lap Top a lobotomy and mount XP Pro.

I've got right at $600.00 in the Gateway and it’s very solid for what I need. I did an 8 channel recording session this past Saturday with it with no problem.

Bob Bair · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 274

Claire,
I agree with what Ed told you. If you are already comfortable with Windows, stick with it. Apple makes great products, and I support both types. Our campus has about 5000 PC type devices and about 500 Apple devices.

I try to point people to the certified refurbished sites. www.delloutlet.com. You can get a nice unit with full warranty at a lower cost.
Fill it up with RAM and you will be happy with the result.

Scott Greenia · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 200

To reiterate.... Vista.... >2 Gigs of RAM required! No matter what.

Dave Anthony · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 1

interesting subject.

Remote rig is all i use for VO's.

Gateway laptop with 1G RAM. 1.6G chip...edirol ua-25 usb ( the best, really for travel. RUGGED). and a simple mxl 990 mic. great sound for VO's. never any complaints about sound....from cruises to a hotel room in bangkok, it''s never let me down. unless you are doing some serious high end stuff, this type of rig is all you need to do VO's from anywhere. KISS.

Now, getting the recording environment right for doing recording is another story...closets, cars. It can be a challenge, right.??

great forum. nice people.

Dave

Bret Brizzee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 60

My main recording setup IS my mobile recording setup.

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, and an E-SATA drive used especially for recording. M-Audio Fast Track Pro (USB), and an ART Tube MP Project Series pre-amp for my Heil PR-40 with Heil mounting arm and shockmount. It's a big collection of stuff, but I can definitely travel with it. I run WINDOWS VISTA mostly (I know, right?). Adobe Soundbooth (which I use on Mac OS X) is fun and simple, but I think I'm too locked in with Audition. Just as well, Outlook 2007 only runs on Windows.

My audio-specific components, all together, are nowhere near what most of you sport, but they get the job done... assuming the talent doesn't sound awful to begin with. Wink

Bettye Zoller · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Aug 2003 Posts: 163

Well, I have a studio in Dallas in my home, for rent by clients not just for my use, great little studio, voiceover only, no musicians please...and last March I was in Vegas working and lost a huge vo job and knew I should be travelling with recording capabilities but had put it off for several reasons. My sons are audio engineers in Switzerland and NYC. So they advised me thank God. I tell all my students, I DO NOT BUILD STUDIOS but I am a good audio engineer now...after six years doing it and twenty five years sitting beside the BEST IN THE BUSINESS *one of whom is DAVE SCOTT!!! If you do not know Dave, you should. He's absolutely wonderful!!! An old and marvelous pro here in Dallas. Well back to the laptop thing...so altho my home studio, the big one, has PC by Sweetwater, the Creation Station with 2 gigs memory and the best mics and preamps and all bells and whistles, my sons said, buy the Dell. Yes, the Dell, customized for me with 2 gigs of memory and the top audio sound card available today. And the built in mic is so good that surprisingly I sometimes record vo auditions (not real gigs but the auditions) with just the built in mic. Yes, that amazes me too. But for real paying work on the road, I have the MBOX hooked to it and a $700 RODE microphone that I just LOVE and it works fine. It's just great. I use Sound Forge and VEGAS programs but if you use PRO TOOLS it would be fine. I have recorded jobs in Denver and Switzerland and Oklahoma and about ten hotel rooms so far and it's ok. At least I don't miss auditions anymore. One agent got SO MAD at me cause I missed auditions that she went ballistic. I have agents in six states...no more...I'm equipped now. Should have done it long before. Oh, and if you need advice, ask Sweetwater folks and they advise on phone. They are Indiana based. Nice people. Also, there are some really good little recording devices out there looking like cassette recorders but they record MP3 and .wav and you can then plug them into your big rig when you get back home. Microtrak is one. Forget name of other one but people love them and many of my students use them instead of laptop. And Dave Scott...I send you BIG HUG.

Dave Scott · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 52

Hi Betty, Thanks to you and everyone else who has replied for sharing the detailed information about your portable recording studios. I'm afraid you have mistaken me for another Dave Scott. Although I feel like I am pretty good at what I do I'm not sure I would categorize myself as "one of the best". I'm also not from Dallas. I do fit the "OLD" adjective perfectly though. Wink

I was in radio for many years in Jacksonville, FL with very brief stints in Washington, DC and Detroit. I did my first commercial voice work in 1979 but I'm only into my 4th year of full-time voice and production. I'm still learning and trying to improve and the pros on this forum help me do just that. After reading the replies to my laptop question I've decided to bite the bullet and buy one before year end. I'll let you know the specs and how it performs once I get it set up. Thanks again.

Bettye Zoller · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Aug 2003 Posts: 163

Wow. There is a Dave Scott Audio here in Dallas and mistakenly assumed you were that person. Thank you for your reply here and all the best to you! About the laptop: Just be sure the sound card is the very best money can buy and at least 2 gigs memory and buy speakers for it, good ones! Then you'll need a fabulous mic and MBOX or similar gear. Althou many disagree, I do not subscribe to the "mac is superior" opinion. In my big studio I have the Sweetwater Creation Station top of the line with extra memory and the best sound card etc. And I have the new Dell with expensive sound card in it, 2 gigs, expensive extrinsic speakers, etc. Works great. Just know, everyone, for recording, it is best not to buy the "home or office computer types" unless you investigate very carefully about noise levels of the machine and sound card and memory properties. Most of the "store bought" computers are not good for recording professionally.

Lee Kanne · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Dec 2005 Posts: 129

I've had many many different types of rigs over the years and I can't say enough about Ebay....I have bought a lot of gear over the years from Ebay and have very rarely been burned. You have to be discriminate though, and transact through PayPal because you have some protection there..

The good news for VO people is that they don't need massive computers to do their jobs, auditions, sessions, etc...I bought a
Dell Latitude d500 1.4ghz, beefed it up to 1 gig ram, added a firewire PCMIA card for an external hard drive, and a nice pair of external Sony speakers (SRS Z500, if you can find them, compact, and they sound great)...The whole rig cost me about $350...
I then found a used original Mbox on Ebay for around $135, with PT LE 6.7 software (which you can upgrade to 6.9)..some people like the preamps in the original better than the newer versions....the bump up to PT LE 7 or 7.3 is around $75 I believe.

I would suggest you do your research though before you start thinking about running an MBOX rig on a PC Laptop....Digidesign is very specific about how to configure your system, and what the system compatibilities are for optimum performance...It's all laid out pretty specifically on their website, and all the info you need is right there..

So right now I have Audition 2.0 and Protools on the Dell with the Mbox and it runs like a champ....very portable and stable so far...
Mac vs PC...this debate will never end....I have both...I use Logic Pro on a Apple G4 Tower for production that absolutely kills as far as versatility and stablity, a true powerhouse...I can transfer files via the firewire drives between rigs very easily...

Overall, there's more bang for the buck with PC, but down the road a Mac laptop holds it's value a lot better....and you have more software choices with a PC, as long as your operating system is optimized...therein lies the beauty of a mac...it's pretty much plug and play for audio, as long as you aren't using some exotic software or interface..

Kara Edwards · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 347

At home, I run an MBox through a PC that was 'stripped' and rebuilt to Digidesign specifications. I use that comuter for recording and e-mail...so I can't hear audio through anything but Pro Tools. I love that it is stable and reliable.

My travel studio consists of a MacBook laptop with the MicPort Pro running into Audacity. Works great for gigs on the go!