Sonic Valentine

I received an interesting email the other day from a friend of mine.

hey ben… how’s it goin man? got a question for ya! is that entry level pro tools, that sells for about $249, good to get your ideas and songs together on? for about 4 years i been usin this fostex unit that’s a bitch to use.
i want somethin easy to use and a computer based program.
thanks man,
m

Instead of responding directly to Merrol’s email I decided it was about time I write another article.

I met Merrol about three or four years ago when Dan Baird and I recorded his band Miles From Nowhere. Merrol was the lead singer, lead guitar player, main songwriter. Very, very talented “salt of the earth” kinda guy. Can I imagine Merrol getting along with pro tools or some other program equally as good? Short answer… not at all.

It isn’t because I think Merrol is dumb or anything. Merrol is the type of guy who wants something to do it’s job and not get in his way. I think Merrol is one of those people who would have loved a couple of ADAT’s and a Mackie mixer. Can I recommend to him that he gets ADATs… no way. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But there is something to be said for their simplicity. Arm the tracks… hit record… play… done. I have a friend who used to make very good recordings on his ADATs. One day he hired me to come over and set up his pro tools rig, show him how to use it and basically get him up and running. Have I heard one recording he has done since that day in his home studio? Nope, the technology got in his way.

Many people watch professional engineers using pro tools or another program and see them flying around making it do whatever they want it to do in no time. What they might not realize is while you were practicing your guitar we were practicing editing. Pro Tools and others like it are not easy to use at all, and even worse is the fact that they are only as good as the computer you use it with.

A $249 version of Pro Tools will work great on my computer… I spent around 5 grand on the computer though. If you don’t have an up to date, speedy little computer… it could turn out to be a $249 drink coaster/paper weight combo. I can’t tell you how many hours I spend maintaining my computer (backing up, disk maintenance, software upgrades and many more tasks) in order to make sure that the people I am working with never lose a minute because of a computer error. All of this comes with the territory of being a Pro Tools user.

I don’t want to steer my friend wrong and tell him to get a computer based system when I honestly don’t think it will serve him best.

So let’s take a look at what I think Merrol needs.

1) At least eight tracks of recording.
2) Easy to use interface… plug in, hit the red button and go
3) The ability to burn a cd of his recordings
4) The ability to export wave files in case he want to take his idea to the next level.

I have never looked for a unit like this but let’s see what I can dig up at sweetwater…

Alright… using Merrol’s price point of $249 the only thing near that cheap that looks like a good buy is the Zoom R16.

It doesn’t have a CD burner but there seem to be a lot of other things going for it. I like the fact that it has a built in stereo microphone so Merrol can record song ideas or even record a band rehearsal without having to set anything up.

I always love products with backup plans. This zoom can also be used as an audio interface and control interface should Merrol choose to start diving into computer recording. It even comes with a copy of Cubase, a more than usable software platform.

My overall advise… stick to stand alone boxes if you are just trying to get song ideas down. Don’t let the technology get in your way. Don’t let it get ya down… I can’t write or sing a song to save my life.