Mac Recording Help

[Drewa311]

I have a dj friend who has a pro mac tower. he needs to know how to record on his computer through his mixer output(RCA).The mac has optical in/out and m audio sells a box RCA>OPT. Is it worth him buying the box, or is there a better way, does going from rca>opt defeat the purpose? any help on the subject would be great, software, tips, methods, etc. thanks in advanced

[AAR.oner]

hey drew

is he goin from a mixing board, or his DJ mixer? either way tho, he'll need to install a soundcard [MAudio's Audiophile 2496 or Delta 1010 are good options]...OR he'll need an external A/D interface such as MAudio's Mbox2 or one of Edirol's boxes [FA101, UA25, etc]

as far as having a multitrack recording prog that also pairs well for producing beats/time warp/effects/etc, by far the best option is Ableton Live...actually its probably the only prog he should even look at, i love it for both beats as well as some of its internal processors

let me know a bit more and we'll go from there

[willndmb]

he should be able to go from the rca outs into the optical port which is also a 1/8
so he can go dual rca male > 1/8m
then use audacity to record the audio

[Drewa311]

its just a dj mixer

2 turntables and an mpc

he would have to install a sound card? why not just use the on board optical in? this is the top of the line mac tower id hope id have the ability to record audio with no add-ons

[AAR.oner]

werd, i was assuming he'd need more than one channel at a time...but if he's only needing one track at a time just do as willndnb said, go RCA > mini...

as for progs--if he's just wanting to record a stereo [2channel] live mix with little to no post-production on it, Audacity is the way to go fo sho...but if he's wanting to do a bit more production wise, beat making or using any sort of filters/effects, Ableton Live is the ticket

[Drewa311]

so an optical input will take a 1/8 in, like a head phone jack. no need for the expensive optical cables? or the m audio box. the idea being that if he has the optical inputs for high quality recording, why not use them for that?

[AAR.oner]

Originally Posted by Drewa311

so an optical input will take a 1/8 in, like a head phone jack. no need for the expensive optical cables? or the m audio box. the idea being that if he has the optical inputs for high quality recording, why not use them for that?

i guess he could, if he can find RCA>Toslink cable [i've never heard/seen one, but i could be wrong]...however, i don't really think there will be that significant of a difference in sound quality since he's "limited" by the RCA outs on his mixer

i'd recommend him picking up a RCA>1/8" cable and tryin it all out that way...he can always upgrade to a MBox 2 or similar at a layer point if he's unhappy with the quality of the RCA>1/8" route