From Studio to Home PC

[Hooh Hearted]

I'm a newbie operating on windows vista. I would like to go into a professional studio which uses pro tools to lay down tracks, then bring the data back home and play around with it on my computer. What product(s) should I be looking to purchase?

note: I have an acoustic guitar w/hook up, a fender acoustasonic jr amplifier, and some basic sm57 and sm58 mics. It would be nice to record here as well.

I've read that purchasing a seperate hard drive just for music is ideal. If So are there any that come highly recommended for pro tools, or are they all alike when comparing apples to apples?

I'm also unsure whether or not my sound card will be adequate. Is there a particular one that is also highly recommended?

Answers and/or recommendations to any/all of my questions will be greatly appreciated.

[aus scott]

You've got some homework to do

Firstly, you MUST buy a PT interface...your soundcard will not work with PT.

http://www.avid.com/US/categories/Di...o-Workstations

...scoll down to 'Personal Systems and Software' and find one that works for you.

Secondly it's best to build a computer - not a lot of off the shelf stuff likes PT very much. Go here and do some reading...

http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=238426

Cheers,

Scott

[Violet]

Welcome Hooh Hearted, as far as user friendly goes, Pro Tools has the best work flow of any DAW. Though I haven't gotten a chance to give Digital Performer a run.

[Hooh Hearted]

Hi guys thanks for responding.
I apparently need to sign back in and dig up the post to see if there are responses.
If there's a way for this site to notify me of a response by email, could you let me know? Thanks in advance. :)

Thanks too, scott for the links...very informative.

I'm considering buying the MBox2 that comes with PT LE. I'm not looking to make a record, just someting I could put together demos with and record song ideas etc. Any thoughts on the MBox2?

My biggest question would be...If I install the Pro Tools LE on my PC, would I be able to go into a studio that uses Pro Tools and bring something home and do some mixing my self?

[Mr. Kelly]

The short and easy answer is yes, you can take files recorded in PT at a studio home to work on with a computer running PT.

The longer and much more complicated answer involves getting your home computer to actually work with Pro Tools. That, sometimes, can be very tricky.

Take some time to read carefully the threads at the beginning of this forum, such as the compatibility threads, and also the related info that is linked on this site to the product you own, or are thinking of purchasing. Don't just skim through this stuff. There are many on here that wold hate to see you buy equipment, only to find out that the computer that you purchased won't run Pro Tools, or it just won't work well with PT (don't shrug your shoulders at this... it happens frequently).

It's even worse for laptops. Be extra careful if you're expecting to use a laptop.

Make good decisions now, and PT will pay off with great satisfaction. I've had 10 years of proof of that!

GOOD LUCK!! Pro Tools is a fantastic application - once you get the hang of it, and once it's up and running!

[Hooh Hearted]

Thanks, Kelly. Sound advise. I was kind of getting the vibe that PT and alot of PC's don't get along, but hearing you say it solidifies it. I'll keep researching, makes me feel relief that my bid on ebay for a new MBox2 wasn't the winner. :)

I wonder...if I found another DAW that seemed more compatible with my Dell inspiron running on Vista, would I still be able to take something from the studio(which will likely be recorded using PT) and do some mix work at home?

[Hooh Hearted]

Originally Posted by Hooh Hearted

Thanks, Kelly. Sound advise.

No pun intended.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Hooh Hearted

I wonder...if I found another DAW that seemed more compatible with my Dell inspiron running on Vista, would I still be able to take something from the studio(which will likely be recorded using PT) and do some mix work at home?

There are ways to move audio between most any DAW plaform, most any OS and even back and forth between Mac and PC. If you use the same software on both platforms, sessions should transfer fine(say Cubase on Mac to Cubase on PC, given similar versions. One surefire way to work at home is to consolidate all audio tracks(so each track is a single audio file) and export them as wave files(use a pendrive or external hard drive makes transporting the files a breeze). Of course that only allows you to carry audio back and forth(no session info or plugins). If you are using midi instruments at one location, you would probably want to print them to audio tracks too. Staying consistent with the DAW software gives the best versatility.

[rqstudio]

Just record or copy your sessions to an external drive and bring it with you. If you have V8 most other ver will be compatable. However most high end studio's have HD Pro Tools.