Do You Need A Mac to Make Music
Creating music can seem like such a luxurious task and an expensive one that is one size fits all and you either choose to work with a PC or a Mac. The reality is that making music is a very individualized task. Yes, there are some industry standards, but you as the creator of your art have to find out what works best for you.
The industry standard when it comes to making music is Mac and personally I love Macs! Add Pro Tools and you have the basic industry setup. You should know however this is not mandatory nor is it absolutely necessary. You can get incredible sound out of a PC and use some great software doing it. The hub Choosing Music Software That Works Best For You goes into more detail on software options like Avid, Apple's Logic, Reason, Cakewalk and Abelton Live.
I have a MAC at home and use a PC with my producer in his studio. I've worked with some pretty amazing producers and songwriters and most of them work with Macs. In the clip below, I'm in the studio with another artist and then at my producer's studio. In both studio's, PC's were being used so check out the sound. What choose to you use should be a matter of preference and knowledge.
PC's In The Studio's
Are you a PC or are you a MAC?
To me, Mac's are more intuitive, sleek and overall more fun to work with. There are lots of software options for creative work with Mac. The downside is Macs are not only more expensive than a PC but the software is also usually expensive. If you've found a sale on a MAC or any of it's software consider yourself lucky. Seize the opportunity for it seems to come only once in a lifetime. PC's will get the job done. Some are have slick designs, are pretty user friendly, but the high point is the much lower price and the many sales you can find on software.
Basically if it came down to price, I would get a PC. If it came down to aesthetics and industry, I would suggest getting a MAC. That way if you go into an industry studio you won't have to waste time familiarizing yourself with the apple / MAC platform. Plus you can run windows on newer MAC's and run windows software that way.
Either way, regardless of whether or not you get a PC or a MAC, I would highly recommend that it be a laptop. You will eventually need the portability. Having an external hard drive may do the trick every once in a while, but sometimes you will just need to have your computer with you so make it a laptop.
