Apple or PC?

I decided to write this post because I just got my Macbook Pro back from repair AGAIN and because people always ask me why I use a PC instead of a Mac in the studio.

Firstly here is the background to my experience with Apple products: my Macbook Pro is 2.5 years old. The first one I bought never worked so I took it back after trying everything over a period of two days and recieved a replacement. The second one (the one I have now) packed it in within two weeks.

I did some investigating and concluded it was dodgy RAM. When I took it back to Apple they didn't believe me. Three weeks later, and after their testing, I get it back with new RAM installed.

Since then the computer has been in for repair with Apple every six months on average. Considering each time it takes Apple between three to four weeks to fix it, that is a lot of downtime.

The only parts that are still the original ones I bought as part of the second computer 2.5 years ago now are the hard drive and the bottom outer casing. I kid you not, 95% of this computer has been replaced.

So why do I use a PC? Reliability. When the studio computer played up it was only the motherboard, nothing else and the downtime was minimal. I have 6 PC's constantly running in my house and the only thing I have ever replaced due to malfunction has been a charger pack for a Dell laptop.

If the two Macbooks are anything to go by I would never feel confident in having Apple products as part of my studio setup.

Of course having said that I have an iPhone and must admit it is brilliant. Too bad Apple can't do the same for their computers.

'08 Cra$h in the Studio

I had '08 Cra$h in the studio on Saturday. We spent the time puting together their new single "More Than You Should Know".

It was an interesting day as the band had used their own 8 track recorder to do the initial recording at their rehersal venue and had brought it to me to add a few extra touches. The song has a very live and raw feel to it.

Creating Guitars

Everything has been moving along really well in the studio lately so we shot this video explaining how to create the guitar parts within the songs. Enjoy...

Moving Forward

I hope everyone has had a good Christmas and looking forward to an enjoyable new year.

Things here have started to come together again, the studio has been back up and running for a little while now with brand new computers installed with Windows 7. I must say using Windows 7 really seems to make everything else run very smoothly, although it did take a little tweaking. Sorry to all those Apple fanboys, but having used both Snow Leopard and Windows 7, I have to admit that the latter is everything Apple wishes it could be but isn't in so many ways. I am very happy with my decision.

As for the album, I have been reorganizing the songs and at this stage it looks like there will be 12 songs in total for the Virtual World album. Which is great because I originally only intended for there to be 10, but sometimes you have stuff you like so much that you just don't want to let it go. Of course anything could happen and maybe something may still be dropped after we have played the songs to a select few for feedback.

Another update will be soon!

Keep on Rocking.

It Never Rains But It Pours

Sometimes I feel like I am recording Chinese Democracy (that's right, the album that took 15yrs to make). A few weeks ago all of the inputs into my desk seemed to stop working, so after spending a lot of time fault finding, re-installing things, changing cables and computers etc. (the desk controls the computer) nothing seemed to fix it. I also have a removable drive system, so I replaced the current drive with the older one that was running my Cubase SX3 system and the problem was still there. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the problem was my firewire interface card.

So I ordered a new one, which took two weeks to get here, only to install it and discover that firstly the new replacement card uses a different chip set to the old one which my system really doesn't like (thanks Adaptec!). For more information on why this can be a problem just do a Google search for "Tascam FW 1884 firewire adaptec 4300".

So after a little bit of tweaking I got it up and running again but my input problem still exists. So now I believe there is a problem possibly on the motherboard as everything worked fine when connected to my Macbook Pro. Which means I have to now go out and totally rebuild my computer as I can't buy a replacement for my motherboard anymore (it is a few years old now) and all of the internal connections/configs have changed in the last few years.

Just to add salt into the wounds I came down with laryngitis last week and I couldn't speak for 3 days! Maybe in 14yrs time I might be able to finish this album :(

Hopefully next post I will have some good news.

Keep on Rocking!