New studio set up

[Echomix]

Advice much appreciated about studio set up.

I have ordered a MacBook Pro M1 with 16/512.
ProTools studio music production is on the list.

I have mics, monitors, analog preamps, and rarely record more than 2 channels simultaneously ( analog stereo recording ).

Thanks for any advice / suggestions what else I need to make music without spending a fortune.

I guess some kind of audio interface, but there is jungle out there for a newbie like me.

Thanks for any advice!

[albee1952]

This is a loaded question(and yes, you DO want an interface) What exact hardware do you have(what you have may affect what is recommended)? Next, what is your budget? If money is tight, Focusrite and Presonus make solid(but inexpensive) 2 channel boxes. If you can afford better, RME should be at or near the top of your list of options. The new Mbox Studio may also be worth a look(if the price doesn't scare you), but don't be misled by one flaw in their marketing(the 8 ADAT outputs are not as easily used as with the older 002/003 interfaces). Having said that, its a very good unit, with some up-scale features. Good preamps, monitor control, dual headphone outs, reamp capability and some line inputs for your external preamps(which should always connect to line inputs). While the RME may be better in some ways, consider 2 things:
1-"better" is subjective and may be inaudible.
2-with any 3rd party box(vs Avid hardware), there is probably going to be some routing software to deal with(I like that most everything on the Mbox just works without fuss).

Other 2 channel options: Audient, SSL, MOTU...all are viable and worth a look

[Darryl Ramm]

Yes you need an interface. USB or Thunderbolt.

A frequently recommended starter interface is a Focusrite 2i2, but there are no end of great interfaces available from vendors including RME, UAD, Motu, Focusrite, Presonus, Audient. I would pick a few that maybe look maybe interesting and read their instruction manuals. Vintage King or Sweetwater web sites list lots of interfaces. Some brands I'd run far and fast from. The quality of vendor provided device drivers and how long they are expected to support those interfaces can be important. Some interfaces will be USB class compliant and operate without a driver (or maybe support that for iOS devices but have a driver on macOS). You likely want an interface with a driver for improved performance.

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I'm going to ask some questions you may not be able to answer, but this might be useful as a list of things to look at and understand...

How many line or mic inputs do you actually need. "rarely" might not help if you actually occasionally need half a dozen or more microphones.

How many line (e.g. typically used for talent headphone) or headphone outputs do you need?

Do you need digital inputs or outputs? Like S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT, (others like MADI, AVB, Dante, ... etc. you likely won't need or care about). e.g. do you want ADAT for future mic preamp or line input expansion? Do you have any external digital effects boxes, guitar processors, etc. that have digital connections?

How many DI (instrument) inputs do you need for electric electric, bass, or synthesizers etc. or is that covered in your preamps or discrete DI boxes?

Do you need/want hardware monitoring in the interface? Or are you OK on monitoring through DAW/software monitoring and it's larger latencies? How sophisticated hardware monitoring do you want (e.g. remote control, on-screen mixer control, reverb and EQ effects etc.).

Do you need MIDI interfaces for keyboards etc. (you might prefer them in the interface box, but you can always add those separately).

Does the interface need to be portable or easily transportable?

Do you need a monitor controller, or an interface with monitor control capabilities, or subwoofer management? e.g. for A/B comparing mixes on different monitors.

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There is nothing wrong with getting started with a low-cost interface and upgrading later, the case I'd want to avoid is spending more on what seems an ideal interface and then discovering that it can't do something you need.

[Echomix]

Thanks so much for taking your time giving all these interesting inputs.
Budget is not tight, but more like buying a unit which fit my ”simple” setup with good, basic sound quality instead lots of extras which I do not need.

I come from the analog world with big expensive consoles and tape recorders. Back in the days I did use PT and harddisks, but more like ”replacement” for tape recorders and PT for channel routing. Plugins was not specially good sounding 15-20 years ago. I have been out of recording/music for some years but now there is new world out there in digital recording.

Of hardware I have kept some preamps like type 60 area preamps with tubes / non tubes. A couple of Neves too. So need an interface with line ins. If with preamps, should be possible to bypass.

Need to connect my retro Edirol PC-50.
No other keyboards.

Good sound quality is important. Budget is not really tight, but a secondhand device is also interesting – if there the sound quality and the connections are there.

I need two mic input and two DI inputs. One headphone output.
Will use only plugins for effects etc. No hardware.

I use a separate hardware monitor/amp set up, good old NS10 studio. Need only signal out (stereo) from interface.

Interface does not need to be portable.

Thanks again for inputs.

[Emcha_audio]

I just bought a second hand Focusrite saffire pro 24 as a temporary front end for a new rig. 80$ canadian, you'ld need a firewire card to be able to plug it in and sigs are easy to find online dirt cheap (just make sure it has a TI chip set) so for under let's say 200$ you'd have something that's proven it self reliably in the past.

Trusted shop has some here.
Saffire pro 24

SIIG TI chipset firewire card

[Darryl Ramm]

There is such a wide range of interfaces that I'd encourage you to look online. And in addition to Vintage King and Sweetwater you might want to look at Thomann Europe or hopefully maybe have some local resellers you might trust for their advice. And read a couple of the product manuals.

My preference for interface vendors is RME, largely because of the quality of their drivers, the great technical support they provide, and the long term they support their product with driver/software updates. And you pay for that in the higher product pricing. As an example it was me I'd be looking at something like the RME Fireface UCX II or larger. Which does more than you are asking for, maybe too much more, but it has the DI inputs and headphone out your want, the audio quality is excellent and likely has enough line level inputs that you can leave your preamps connected to the line inputs, and if you want clean preamps the two internal preamps give you very usable clean preamps. But also lots of other stuff you may not want, TotalMix hardware mixer, remote preamp/DI control, backup recording to USB memory sticks, etc. And it has MIDI support but I think the Edirol 50 has MIDI over USB directly as well as legacy MIDI on DIN connectors. Anyhow that's one mid-priced option to let you see what you get for that money.

I'd stick with USB or Thunderbolt interfaces nowadays. I'm not sure I'd go to Firewire. (and Manny he would need a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter and a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter and Apple silicon driver support from Focusrite, something they never did for the Saffire AFAIK... maybe to prove my point about the value of long term driver support from vendors.)

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

(and Manny he would need a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter and a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter and Apple silicon driver support from Focusrite, something they never did for the Saffire AFAIK... maybe to prove my point about the value of long term driver support from vendors.)

Ah didn't see he was on mac, scratch that then. lol

[Echomix]

Thanks again for all inputs.

Was just about to buy a secondhand mac pro M1 with 16 ram /512 SSD at 1200 euros.

Then I got this offer at 500 euros:

2019 Apple MacBook 15" Pro Core i9-9880H
32 GB
1TB SSD
AMD Radeon Pro 560X
USB C / Thunderbolt

Of course the price matters, but how does this 2019 core i9 compares to the M1 Pro mac?

I will be using Pro Tools Studio, and thinking about a RME interface. I work with lighter projects.

[Darryl Ramm]

Not far off that Intel based MBP is my one I am typing this on... but Intel is going away from Macs, dead and buried. I don't know how many more years of Pro Tools or macOS updates you would have left. Go forwards not backwards, I would not be considering an Intel Mac for any new Pro Tools system.

You keep saying Mac Pro M1. There is no such computer.

The Mac Pro has a M2 processor and starts at US$6,999.

You mean MacBook Pro? What exact one?

These laptops and many other modern Mac's don't have internally upgradeable storage or memory (and it's to be seen if the Mac Studio SSDs are actually upgradeable in practice). The easiest/best place for samples and sessions for most users is likely on the internal SSD, so try to size that large enough to hold your samples and sessions you want to work on. Which can involve paying the steep Apple tax for SSD and/or memory.

[Echomix]

Sorry, I mean MacBook Pro M1. With 16 ram / 512 ssd.
But I get your point - go forward.