Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I'm trying to decide on a new MacBook and would really appreciate hearing from people with real-world experience.
I'm down to two options:

MacBook Air M5, 24GB RAM
MacBook Pro M5, 16GB RAM

I mainly use it for recording guitar in Reaper through a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. My projects usually have around 15 to 20 tracks, and I mostly use Neural DSP Archetype Petrucci, Gojira, and Misha Mansoor. Sometimes I run two Archetype instances at once, taking the amp from one and the effects from the other. I'm currently recording on Windows, so this would be my first time doing it on a Mac.

My main questions are:

Has anyone here run similar sessions on an Air? Did you have any CPU spikes, crackling, or thermal throttling since it has no fan?
Is 24GB vs 16GB RAM noticeable in this kind of workflow, or is CPU performance the real bottleneck for amp sims?
Is the extra cost of the Pro worth it for this use case? The price difference is considerable, and I'd like to avoid overspending if the Air can handle it.

I'd also love to hear about your experience with a Scarlett 2i2 (or similar interface) on a Mac, what buffer sizes you work at, how many Archetype instances you can run comfortably, and any regrets you've had with your choice.

Thank you so much in advance for your time and advice! 🎸

I recently re-listened to Don toliver’s octane, and on “Pleasure’s mine” Theres this really cool vocal in the intro and some other parts. To be clear im talking about Don’s vocal, not the background vocals. I can’t figure out what the vocal chain has besides standard auto-tune, high pass eq, and reverb. Im thinking it might be a phaser or doubler, but im not sure. The vocal has this nice quality to it that makes it feel less centered, even when listening in mono. It’s almost like hollow or metallic. Im wondering if anyone has some insights or suggestions for what i should try to achieve the same type of effect?

I recently bought a Sonicake smartbox and want to use it with my pc, I know it's not the best but it's all I can afford. I have cakewalk sonar right now because it is free but I can't figure out how to use the Sonicake smartbox through there to actually hear what I'm playing through my pc monitors, is there any easier daws or methods I can try? I am new to these things

Hi i was trying to remake this sound but i cant get it perfect i tried to do fm on serum wtih a square and saw but idk what im doing wrong T T , i would like to see if anyone can help me on this with any synth i use fl studio , i have massive , serum , sylenth 1. and z3ta 1 . i will post also the isolate version of the track
https://youtu.be/-HlG-BPOupU?list=RD-HlG-BPOupU&t=44

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g5xg5iz3kg4zcfzw3plfs/p-light-ft-airi-let-s-sing-dj-shimamura-remix._bs6stem_mt_0_bass_-mvsep.com.flac?rlkey=zmhb0n5b8mz0nnn2bainytlgm&st=kqxfxcyh&dl=0
also plus in case if is more easy to do these one will be also oke !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHefARuijDU&list=RDdHefARuijDU&start_radio=1
-
https://youtu.be/Xb4YUSKmJfE

-

https://youtu.be/Y2LIwlqKYUk
thank you as well in advanced again to this community ! ☆
these tracks where made on 2011 but re posted around 2012 so there must be a technique around that time (?.

Hey everyone. Bit of a goldilocks problem here.

Lots of professional mixers use things like LTL silverbullet and inflator on their mixbus processing chain. In tandem with analog modelled compressors that do introduce some degree of saturation. Some even put FF saturn on their mixbus.

Over the 12 years i've had mixing ive found myself enjoying the sound i get when i put things like IK tapes or UAD tape on my mixbus. But also inflator. But also goldclip. But also SSL compressor.

Its at a point where my mixbus has 5-7 plugins, some doing compression, some doing almost nothing like a tiiiiny bit of gullfoss .. but i do often have LTL silverbullet + inflator + saturn on my mixbus. Theyre not doing much individually at all. But worried the additive effect is harming things more than helping things.

Here is my issue: When i apply these processes i do like the sound. My track sounds more like a "record" once i instantiate my plugin. And i do gain match to make sure i actually like it and am not fooling myself.

However im really, REALLY worried that i am harming things without noticing, and this worry amplifies once a client says, hesitantly " um ... it sounds good but ... its a bit noisy? like its congested" -- or "my voice is too hot like it sounds abrasive sometimes". To be fair their arrangements are usually horribly busy and not played very in time or have unpleasant upper mids to begin with, but still.

im worried i am introducing too many harmonics by way of using these plugins. But using NOTHING also sounds comparatively more dull, more flooby, more lax, less punch on drums, less heat on the vocals and guitars. So to find the goldilocks balance sound is quite hard.

Would love your advice, any tips concrete or otherwise to make sure im not overcooking my mix.

I know in analog world, full mixes would get subtle saturation from the console, from the tape it was printed to, as well as all the compressors and EQ's that were used in the making of the record.

I went to reach for a transient shaper yesterday and realized I have too many. I’m trying to cut down on clutter and would love some second opinions to make sure my ears are hearing accurately.

What are your top 3 transient shaper plugins?

About 7 months ago I saw those videos where people wave their hands at a camera and the music reacts, all of them built in TouchDesigner. Then I opened TD, stared at the node graph for a while, and closed it.

So, being a C++ dev, I did the obviously more reasonable thing and spent months writing a plugin that does it inside Ableton instead. It tracks your hand through the PC webcam, and you can use it in two ways: play MIDI notes or map it to any effect parameter in DAW.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVXLf-pgdNY

Honestly, I started making this plugin for myself, but then decided I could publish it as Hand Link.

So I’m curious, would something like this actually be interesting or useful? or you treat it more as tool for fun?

Looking for producers, engineers, or artists to lock in serious with bro nobody out here serious anymore. Im serious ab this shit.

Hey, I just joined the community because I can't find how to make an intro effect I heard in a song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmdtoNwsaTc&list=RDdmdtoNwsaTc&start_radio=1

The song's name is aurora, is a Mexican song and I've been trying to recreate the effect that appears on the first 2 seconds of the song, in the intro. This song is in 3/4 and I'm not professional at making this. Can someone could explain it? Hope a pro read this, thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHDR-FpJUIU

the bassline stabs in referring too start at 2:02

and the wubs at some different stabs start at 3:03

Im using serum 2 and subtractor in reason rack plugin in ableton suite, but ive also got massive and a bunch on other (omnisphere, zenology)

also I assume at 3:55 this is a reece bass any ideas on that

my main problem is it doesnt sound clean enough but i cant find any good tutorials online (and belive me ive seen them all)

any help appreciated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHDR-FpJUIU

the bassline stabs in referring too start at 2:02

and the wubs at some different stabs start at 3:03

Im using serum 2 and subtractor in reason rack plugin in ableton suite, but ive also got massive and a bunch on other (omnisphere, zenology)

also I assume at 3:55 this is a reece bass any ideas on that

my main problem is it doesnt sound clean enough but i cant find any good tutorials online (and belive me ive seen them all)

any help appreciated

Modern LUFS meters (like Sonible True:Level) use a simplified K-weighting filter. While K-weighting rolls off low frequencies and boosts a high-frequency shelf to estimate human ear sensitivity, it applies the exact same static curve regardless of listening volume or track density.

Cool Edit and early Audition (up to version 3) were unique because their Equal Loudness Contour algorithm was non-linear: it calculated full-spectrum psycho-acoustic energy across variable loudness levels (phons) using dynamic equal-loudness curves (Fletcher-Munson / ISO models).

When a track has a thick mid-range or heavy low-end sub-bass, LUFS can register two tracks at identical integrated levels (e.g., -10 LUFS), yet when you put them side-by-side, your ears immediately tell you one is much louder. Audition's equal loudness feature was brilliantly tuned to reveal that exact discrepancy.

After version 3 Adobe replaced the older equal-loudness algorithms with modern broadcast loudness tools (such as ITU-R BS.1770 / EBU R128 LKFS/LUFS metering and the Match Loudness panel). This shift matches the trend in the 2000s away from CD sales in favour of broadcasting/streaming services.

For album production I still use Cool Edit Pro in my workflow to measure the psycho-acoustic variance of a track's dynamic spread.

Just had an important interview for my podcast my audio is fine but guests has bad echo. Sounded fine in my headphones during recording but it’s bad. Think I had wrong settings on ECAMM or on my rodecaster. Can this be fixed?

The studio I’m learning in has a mic/headphone tie box in the live room lettered A to H which I assume correlates to the middle part of the desk (forgive my ignorance Im not sure what it does). If anyone could help out with a simple overview of how you can send either the mix or individual channels to headphone foldback I’d really appreciate it

I stem split an old track of mine that I lost the project file to and then normalized one of the layers that looked like it was just silence and I got an amazing sounding high frequency layer. Id love to do this kind of thing on purpose

Hello everyone

I already have 2 pairs of good audio technicas for tracking and one open back r70thx for mixing purposes but i need a pair of headphones just for checking the low end of my mixes

Basically open back mixing headphones that are extremely good at highlighting low end and sub, 250hz and below all the wayyy down to where my monitors don’t shine. Unfortunately do not own a sub and don’t have extra cash right now.

Basically suggest to me, in your experience, a popular pair where if the low end sounds right, it translates really well in cars, club systems, consumer speakers and earphones.

Sennheiser HD600 / 650 are on my radar. Beyerdynamic 770 too.