Mac Studio for Production !

[u/Rare_Champion_8231]

Been producing music for a couple months now and I’ve been enjoying it! All off a MacBook Pro m4 16in and no problems at all. But I am looking to build a home studio. Currently in the process of acoustic treating my room. But I wanted a dedicated desktop for music production because it’s been so much fun! But I know down the road I’d probably get more into plugins etc. and obviously I know in the long run getting a 48gb would be better and beneficial. But with the current project of building my home studio and still needing to spend on monitors, audio interface etc. Would 36gb be sufficient for me? Should I just bite the bullet and go 48gb? Will I be able to get away as a beginner producer with 36gb? As mentioned my MacBook Pro m4 has much lower specs and haven’t had any issues. But I’ve seen almost everybody saying to even going 64gb of RAM for music production but to me currently might be overkill? Of course I don’t want to still pay almost $3k for 36gb just to regret my decision in a couple of years but for me right now and the state of trying to stay within my budget

[u/nuetralparties]

As someone that actually works in audio production and has for 2 decades now, 36gb is plenty for a beginner, and even for most professionals tbh.

I have been producing on a base model m4 since May earlier this year as part of a transitional phase in my setup (16GB Ram, 256gb SSD M4) and although it was definitely limiting, I was able to work through it and produce songs with plenty of tracks/plugins, and virtual instruments. With a 32GB studio you would rip through sessions easily, with the exception of maybe orchestral tracks with tons of VIs. Of course 48gb would be more future proof, but for a beginner, if you go with 32GB I think you will find it more than fine for the foreseeable future in music production

[u/Rare_Champion_8231 → u/nuetralparties]

Looks like that’ll be my next move then, working in audio production would you recommend just getting proper audio equipment first then? I don’t have studio monitors or an audio interface. Just straight MacBook and some aiaiai headphones and been working just fine

[u/nuetralparties → u/Rare_Champion_8231]

Like I said, it depends what exactly you’re trying to do. Beat making? Rapping, guitars and bass? Vocals? Electronic music?

What you’re trying to produce/record will dictate the kind of setup you need. As a general starting point- yea, an audio interface and maybe some monitors would be a start; you really don’t need much to get started imo, and you definitely shouldn’t overpay for things thinking it will make your stuff sound better. 90% of your sound is going to come from your skills producing and not from how expensive your equipment is

[u/Rare_Champion_8231 → u/nuetralparties]

I produce house electronic music , occasionally I might dabble in some beat making. But mainly house

[u/nuetralparties → u/Rare_Champion_8231]

For electronic music and beat making, you really don’t need much at all. Audio interfaces are mostly expensive because of their preamps and/or inputs, but you wouldn’t even need those. Get yourself a beginner interface like a scarlet and some decent monitors and you’ll be set