Studio Hair Tearout Month!

[sergiodeblanc]

Glad to hear everything's up an runnin'. My last two Mac issues were big ones.. like when I first joined the forums and my hard drive actually caught on fire. Ahhhh...

I've also spent a frickin' small fortune on the things you need to connect everything - special cables, a RAID drive, new software (Filemaker discontinued Bento, a little database program I used for the past few years to catalog my software, hardware, keep track of studio time, etc., and fleeced me to buy Filemaker Pro which admittedly is great), but I also decided to add some UAD plugins and blah blah blah just to get the most out of the Apollo.

I'm super lucky that most of my work is done away from prying eyes, nobody knows my what my setup is and I've found that if I just take time getting something right from the source (as I'm sure you do) the results are usually enough that nobody asks. I literally have an interface, a few controllers, some monitors, a mic, a mic pre, and Logic. That's it. I'm super into a Feng Shui mind frame of having as little as possible for at home.

Do not be fooled. The world is not real.

Church.

 

[FrankiePRS]

Wow, Les, what a nightmare. Thanks for shatring, it makes me feel like I'm not alone lolololol. I do the same kind of work as you, and I started down that same road a few years ago - upgrading and finding incompatibilities, etc. It was killing my profit margin. So what I did was build 2 identical Win XP machines and load them with the software and samples I use - Pro Tools included. I don't have either machine hooked to the Net. Ever. I use one as my primary, and back it up to the other, then I auto-clone the backup system's HD every mornng at 7am to an outboard SCSI HD. Everything I use is years old at this point, and it all works. Still use an old 828 MkII interface, Mackie 1604VLZ, Mackie Control Surface, etc. I know it inside-out. Time is money, and the clients couldn't care less about the process - they just want product.

 

[László]

Wow, Les, what a nightmare. Thanks for shatring, it makes me feel like I'm not alone lolololol. I do the same kind of work as you, and I started down that same road a few years ago - upgrading and finding incompatibilities, etc. It was killing my profit margin. So what I did was build 2 identical Win XP machines and load them with the software and samples I use - Pro Tools included. I don't have either machine hooked to the Net. Ever. I use one as my primary, and back it up to the other, then I auto-clone the backup system's HD every mornng at 7am to an outboard SCSI HD. Everything I use is years old at this point, and it all works. Still use an old 828 MkII interface, Mackie 1604VLZ, Mackie Control Surface, etc. I know it inside-out. Time is money, and the clients couldn't care less about the process - they just want product.

I agree!

I recently had my old MOTU unit die, that's the only reason I replaced it. Gave me a lot of years of service, and sounded quite good, though the Apollo reflects the advances in digital audio resolution over the intervening years for sure, and the mic preamps are very good.

Same with my computer - it just got to the point where it could no longer handle what I needed it to do.

I do have my machine hooked up to the net via my wireless system; it's necessary for certain plugin authorizations, updating, etc. With the Mac, it's never been a problem, though I've only had my studio machine hooked up to the web for 12-13 years or so. Before that, never.

While it's true that I could just leave everything alone and stop fussing with new software, at the same time I like experimenting with new synths, samplers, effects, etc. So there's that. Honestly, the experimenting often inspires new ideas.

Also, especially with the car makers, the deadlines are absolutely nuts. Sometimes I have to upload files to the audio post house literally the minute I finish mixing and mastering. All that's done on the web. I'm also downloading video that way, and often the video is changed at the video place several times while I'm scoring it, so I have to chase picture, download the new edit, and chase picture again. I hate that!

Anyway, so far no web-related issues. That's good.

I think the main frustrating thing was the OS problem, but now that it's fixed with this beta, I'm a pretty happy camper.

Glad to know you're in the biz! We should compare notes sometime!