Shawn S

Got it. I'll give it a try. Thanks again, Jordi. I never would have found this on my own.

Wow, thanks Jordi. You are very kind. Just to be clear, I assume from your description that I can not assign volume up/down to a fader/slider controller, or it will overload or choke (i.e. "quick succession of note messages") - is that correct?

Not sure where else to ask this question… Is it possible to control OSX system audio (i.e. volume up/down/mute) via a MIDI controller (apart from Logic)? If so, how or where do you set this up? I have a Korg nanoKontrol2. I'm running Lion, but I can upgrade to Mountain Lion or Mavericks, if I know it will work. Thank you!

Indeed. There was definitely a vibe in that place, and a culture…with all the gold and platinum records on the wall upstairs, the 70's black leather couches, and shag carpet. I remember seeing Aretha's 2" tapes on the floor next to the counsel in Studio A when we walked in one morning…she recorded there the night before. Same room, equipment, and engineer! Definitely made you want to step up your game. Whenever I feel a little frustrated by equipment, or feel entitled that things should go better, I try to take a breath and remember how blessed we are. How far we've come. Now, the computer I'm typing this on, sitting on my lap, does more than that whole building full of equipment did. Not saying we make better records, but we sure have better tools. It helps to remember how big, expensive, and inaccessible everything was to record music back then. It wasn't that long ago… Thanks again.

Got it. Wow. SO helpful, David. You just saved me hundreds of dollars, and 5 lbs off my back for the next 100,000 miles! Thank you for taking so much time to answer my questions, and clear up these concerns. In the early 90's, I had the privilege to record with an old-school engineer at United Sound Studios in Detroit, where Barry Gordy produced his first record. This soft-spoken engineer ran the board and 2" tape machine for Aretha, Stevie Wonder, and…us, on our first record. He taught us how to record, could do amazing punch-ins with that giant machine, and was so patient with us. On the rare occasion one of us surprised him with an outstanding performance, or remarkable take, he would quietly proclaim, "You the Cat". To this day, that's still the best compliment I've ever heard. David: You the Cat. Thank you. Thank you for this forum, and thank you for setting the tone of generosity - especially with us who are confused, embarrassed, and misinformed. You make us feel welcome, and we're all a little smarter, a little more patient, and a little more generous because of it. Sincerely, thank you.

Wow…thank you David, and triplets, for all the myth de-bunking. Man, how embarrassing...I've been dragging these HDs around all these years. So, just to clarify…There's no more risk with an internal HD, than an external HD, with regards to a potential software/OS glitch, or hiccup, or crash, or WiFi/Bluetooth interference, or machine noise affecting the recording, by recording on the same HD as the OS? I TOTALLY believe you! I just can't figure it out...I know I remember reading several articles about this back in the day…which prompted me to go research these external 7200 drives, and buy them specifically for audio recording with a PowerBook, at the time. Again to clarify...Is it SAFER to record to an external HD, rather than the internal HD? Is it more efficient/less stress on the CPU if recording to an external HD? (i.e. with lots of plug-ins or tracks?) Any advantages at all tracking to an external HD? In other words, if it was you, would you just record to the internal 7200 drive (same as the OS), or if you had it, would you use an external HD for tracking? Do I need to partition the internal HD differently? I really do appreciate all the help. (Just feel like an idiot!)

As a touring musician, I'm on the road a LOT. Less is more. If I can lose lugging around my 2 external f/w 800 drives & cables that would be AWESOME, but ONLY if it's going to be a rock-solid solution. (I have 2 so I always have 3 copies of each project, and 2 external drives, in case one fries) I have some smaller, remote recording projects coming up, and my Lacie Rugged 7200 f/w 800 drives are full, so I need buy a new drive or two. For years, I've always recorded to a 7200 f/w 400 or 800 external drives because I was told to NEVER record to the same drive that the OS is on. Plus, I was told, the f/w uses a separate bus (more secure/faster?). So, I always have, without issues. However, I see several guys here recording to internal SSD drives on their MacBook Pros without issues.. I'm wondering, maybe technology has changed, my worries of the past are for not, and I can go more mobile? Can I use an External USB 2 Flash Drive (i.e. 16gig) as my source drive to record 2-4 channels of simultaneous audio with Logic 9? (Nothing fancy - mics for vocals & A. Guitars, and 2 ch remote podcasting, only LP plug-ins. My computer, software, and audio gear are in my signature.) If so, any brand/type of flash drive recommended for audio recording? Any brand/type NOT recommended for audio? Do I need any special formatting? (i.e. partition the drive into smaller segments to prevent 'fragments'. Can you even partition a flash drive like you can a HD? Forgive the ignorance!) If no, can I simply record to my internal, 7200 drive on my MacBook Pro (same drive that my OS is on), or is that still a no go? If so, do I need to partition it? If no, do you recommend a 7200 f/w 800 external drive again? (i.e. 1 TB 7200 Lacie Rugged) Thanks in advance for any help and advice you can provide...

Triumph looks great for sample rate conversion and mastering on the cheap, by using the iZotope engine (64-bit SRC and MBIT+ dither). I need to convert and master for a small project. Is Triumph too good to be true for $60? David: Have you used Triumph to master anything? Pros/Cons? Anyone else?

Thanks again, Lagerfeldt. Very helpful indeed.

+1 Thanks to Lagerfeldt. Can't thank you enough for taking so much time to share your valuable knowledge here. This chart is so helpful. Thank you!

Just a quick thank-you to all who have responded here...really helpful to me, including useful links and charts and all. I've decided to settle on 24 bit/48k for this project due to wanting lower latency while tracking 8+ tracks simultaneously. But it's great to know for my next project (only 1-2 simultaneous tracks), that 96k is viable, and I'll probably give it a whirl. Thanks again for your input, and for this forum...really invaluable for small project studio folks like me. Thank you!

Since the last post here was 4.5 yrs ago (which is dog years in technology), I'd like to re-ask the question: What Sample rate/Bit Depth do you work in TODAY? and/or What sample rate do you recommend for my project? (see below) Particularly, I'm interested in whether I should transition from 48k to 96k for my next project. Have you moved to 96k since early 2008, or are you still working in 44.1/48k, like the majority were in this original thread? Here's where I'm coming from... I have no desire to re-open this awesome, but lengthy and technical discussion about sample rates, (from 5.5 yrs ago), which basically concluded with a consensus of: Accepting that Dan Lavry's suggestion of 60-70kHz is optimal for audio is still considered "state-of-the-art" advice, I'm wondering if improvements in technology/power/storage/equipment warrant working in 96k, more than it did 4-5 yrs ago? My specific project: I'm looking to start a new project in Logic 9 using my equipment below, plus a BabyFace + External Pre via ADAT for tracking 6-8 simultaneously tracks of acoustic folk and bluegrass instruments + overdubbing 2-4 tracks of vocals, for a final mix total of 10-12 tracks with compression, eq, and possibly light verb on each track, plus possibly a few special plug-ins (de-esser?, gain?, pitch correction?) - depending on what it needs. With the exception of possibly pitch correction, my hope is to stick with Logic-only stock plug-ins. My final product will be 2000 CDs and mp3 downloads, but higher-quality master files as gifts for the musicians and singers. Of course I want to avoid getting 1/2 way into the project then needing to down-sample to 48k due to processor strain, or HD space issues. But if I can record at 96k without too much worry about the above concerns, why not work in 96k? Please take your pick of the questions below - I'd really appreciate any help/input: What Sample rate/Bit Depth do you work in today? Should I work in 96k or 48k for this project? Why? Should I worry about processor strain or HD space issues working in 96k with this kind of project? Are there other concerns I should have working in 96k?

Tshh: I just bought a Babyface, and I saw your post here, and would love to know the answer to you question below, if you don't mind sharing. Did you ever figure this out? Any help would be appreciated by you or others who know. Thanks! Shawn

triplets - It was actually your comments below from this Quartet topic about your bad experiences with low-latency Apogee drivers/interfaces and USB, and other similar threads on this forum, that caused me to start asking questions now about potential interface driver conflicts, syncing, latency, and/or "jitter". Your comments about not being able to use 32 buffer w/Apogee products via USB on just a couple of tracks at the NAMM show was news to me; and helpful. I've done enough remote recording to know that, "I don't know what I don't know" can kill you in a field-recording setting, and I just want to try to head off as many headaches as I can before an interface purchase, and way before I get to the session, if possible. Let me ask it this way: Anyone know of any interface driver conflicts, or other potential problems I should be aware of, while tracking 4-8 tracks in Logic 9, with low-latency DSP (verb, eq), recording through a combination of Apogee, RME, UA, MOTU or Presonus interfaces? I'll probably need 2 interfaces (one 2-ch, and one 4-8 ch), and probably from different manufacturers. My thought is to run a 4-8 ch pre (Presonus, MOTU, OR... RME, UA if I can find a rental) via lightpipe into a BabyFace or Quartet, then into my MacBook Pro via USB 2 or f/w. I'd prefer to use external DSP to help w/latency, if the interfaces have them, or via Logic Pro 9, if they don't. I'd shy away from one interface or the other, if there are known real-life conflicts (i.e. syncing, latency, DSP, etc.). I know the specs say that all of these should play nice with each other via aggregate device into Logic, and SHOULD work via USB 2 or f/w, but I'm just looking for any real-world conflicts that I should be aware of as I press forward. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, triplets. My hope is to have some real-time DSP for headphone monitoring with low-latency. Any concern about conflicting drivers, or syncing? I've only read about these things, but have no real-world experience with them. Have you used these drivers/units together for live tracking before? Any that don't play well with each other? Do I need to set-up a "word clock" from Logic that the 2 units are synced to, or no worries about that? Please forgive my ignorance on this issue...