Studio recording has evolved so much in recent years. Thanks to technology so many things have opened up for the world of recording. Many people today prefer to track audio in multiple studio’s. They achieve this by simply moving their Pro Tools laptop from one studio to another. They will always have access to the project, so even when on an airplane with your laptop you will have access to mix and master your project. There are some things to keep in mind when it comes to laptop studio recording which will be highlighted below.

If you are just starting out, it is not recommended to use a laptop as your primary workstation. You may want to start out with a simple desktop computer setup, as to keep costs as low as possible when learning. Unless you want to make use of your personal laptop, most people that go this route want to simply move projects between various large recording studio’s, which you probably won’t have access to when first starting out. For example, one studio may have the necessary analogue processing equipment that they wish to make use of, but can also be done with virtual instruments (VST’s).

You will want to make use of a low latency sound card. Many people will be using the Macintosh operating system on their recording laptop, so you will want to get a soundcard which is compatible with this OS. If you are using Pro Tools, you will want to get a sound card which is compatible with the software. The standard internal soundcard which comes included with any notebook computer is not recommended for recording purposes. The reason for this, is these cards are designed simply around providing a solution to playing MP3’s files etc, and are not focused around recording. Therefore they will provide a degraded a low quality experience. Any good recording engineer will tell you that it starts by capturing the audio in the best possible way.

As you can see, laptop studio recording is hardly different from recording on a desktop machine. The only added benefit is the ability to move around with the project. This will make life easier for a professional audio engineer that will always have work, and moves between many towns and cities. For the novice, there is no need to complicate your setup with unnecessary costs.