Best MacBook for Recording Music

[thickofit]

Hi all,

I am looking at buying a MacBook to record music. It'll be fairly basic guitar, vocals, etc. I haven't written any EDM yet! What do you guys/girls recommend? I'm not looking to break the bank - am fine with second hand/refurbished.

Cheers!

 

[Fishrrman]

So long as you don't want to run lots of plug-ins, almost any MacBook should handle the job.

I'd suggest 8gb of RAM.
An SSD would be good to have -- they're silent.

You didn't say what kind of interface you'll be using, what kind of ports it will require.

Actually, I think for music production a 27" iMac would be best -- you'll want the "screen real estate" when running an audio production app...

 

[thickofit]

So long as you don't want to run lots of plug-ins, almost any MacBook should handle the job.

I'd suggest 8gb of RAM.
An SSD would be good to have -- they're silent.

You didn't say what kind of interface you'll be using, what kind of ports it will require.

Actually, I think for music production a 27" iMac would be best -- you'll want the "screen real estate" when running an audio production app...

Thanks for the pointers!

I'm looking for something mobile so it'll definitely be a MacBook of some sort at this point. Not sure which DAW. Have looked at Reason, Reaper, and Cubase so far...

 

[keysofanxiety]

Thanks for the pointers!

I'm looking for something mobile so it'll definitely be a MacBook of some sort at this point. Not sure which DAW. Have looked at Reason, Reaper, and Cubase so far...

Logic Pro X.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Not sure which DAW. Have looked at Reason, Reaper, and Cubase so far…"

My vote goes to Cubase.
The BEST combination of power and ease-of-usage, IMO.
I've not seen ANY DAW software app that offers the ease-of-editing (i.e., cutting, pasting, moving around and processing audio clips, etc.) that Cubase does.

Steinberg also offers some nice audio interface hardware that integrates seamlessly with Cubase.

 

[keysofanxiety]

OP wrote:
"Not sure which DAW. Have looked at Reason, Reaper, and Cubase so far…"

My vote goes to Cubase.
The BEST combination of power and ease-of-usage, IMO.
I've not seen ANY DAW software app that offers the ease-of-editing (i.e., cutting, pasting, moving around and processing audio clips, etc.) that Cubase does.

Steinberg also offers some nice audio interface hardware that integrates seamlessly with Cubase.

Sorry to hijack your advice! It's just that the OP mentioned EDM and LPX is unparalleled for MIDI/loop controls and vanilla plugins, which may suit the OP's usage better. Plus it's great for audio too; the loop recording is beautifully intuitive and Flex Pitch is incredibly useful for vox, which the OP said they'd be looking to do as well.

Plus it's cheaper, no iLok, and no buying new versions with every macOS update!

I've still got nightmarish experiences from Cubase 5-7, so though I'll admit my bias is slightly skewed , I still would argue LPX may be better for them.

Again I don't mean to poop on your advice! I just think it may be the better alternative on this occasion.

 

[thickofit]

So I should just go for the cheapest MacBook I can find? Any era?

 

[keysofanxiety]

So I should just go for the cheapest MacBook I can find? Any era?

Definitely not! Get a 2015 or 2016. 13" would be fine for your usage but 15" (either 15/16 year) will handle anything you can throw at it.

 

[Fishrrman]

You would probably do fine with the 2015 13" MacBook Pro (8gb/256gb).
Or the 2016 non-touchbar 13" MBPro.

If you're going to use a thunderbolt interface, the 2015 would be the better choice (you won't need a dongle to connect it).

If you're going to use firewire, the 2015 -definitely- is the better choice. FW requires TWO dongles to use with the USB-c ports of the 2016's...

 

[thickofit]

You would probably do fine with the 2015 13" MacBook Pro (8gb/256gb).
Or the 2016 non-touchbar 13" MBPro.

If you're going to use a thunderbolt interface, the 2015 would be the better choice (you won't need a dongle to connect it).

If you're going to use firewire, the 2015 -definitely- is the better choice. FW requires TWO dongles to use with the USB-c ports of the 2016's...

Thanks for the advice! eBay, here I come...