On 12 Jan 2005 08:41:57 -0800, "Ringo Langly"
wrote:

I'm trying to help a friend setup a PC so she can record her songs to
save as MP3 and as demo CD's. It's mainly guitar, vocals, some
keyboard, and maybe a bass. She only has a PC (newer Dell with Windows
XP Pro) but me being a Mac guy and having toyed with Garage Band I'm
looking at that avenue.

Either method she'll need to invest in some software and hardware for
inputing the audio into the computer. If we go with Garage Band she
can use my PowerMac G4 (dual 867/768 Megs Ram) but she'll need to
invest in the input components. If we go with PC, what suggestions do
you guys have and what components are needed to get the audio into the
computer?

On the PC side I've heard of such applications like Cakewalk and
others, but I'm not sure what my options are. Also what's needed to
get the audio actually into the computer? Can someone make some
suggestions?

Sorry for the basic questions, but even though I know computers I know
next to nothing about doing audio work with computers
Thanks and take care,


There's no possible reason for either of you to buy a new computer.
Do you want to work at her house on the PC or your house on the Mac?

Maybe you don't need much hardware. Both computers doubtless have
Line In and Line Out audio connections. (Well, I HOPE a Mac does? :-)
They'll do for now. You'll want a small mixer to interface
microphones and other instruments. If this is a vocals-based project
you'll need a half-way decent microphone. But this doesn't mean a lot
of money these days. So far, this is all portable between the Mac
and the PC.

Garage Band is the hobbyist offering from Mac. Despite the included
toys, I'm sure it does a simple multitrack recording perfectly well.
There's possibly more choice for PC than Mac now. You could play
with Audacity, which is freeware for PC. It's a bit clunky, but it
does the job. I think one of the computer music comics regularly has
free sequencers on the cover disk? Anyone? I'm not too
well-informed on that end of the market.

If you get into this more seriously, you may want to invest in a
better sound card. If you choose an external USB or Firewire model,
it will again be portable between PC and Mac.

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