Could I get a Sade-type sound with a PC + Ableton? Or would Mac + Logic Pro be way better?

[jens]

My advice is to start at the beginning.

This thread is a bit like "I'm considering to start running - should I wear Nike or Puma to run as fast as Usain Bolt?" - then followed up by "maybe I should get a good manager first or perhaps participate in the Olympics instead"...

[Michael L]

Will that be a huge step forward over using Ableton and a Focusrite 2i2? (Even if I optimized those - would the Harrison and SSL interface be much more preferable?)

You should read that article and watch that video.
Not for the gear. For everything else.

[BertKoor]

From the S.O.S. article:

it was at the Power Plant where the project commenced in February 1985 and ended seven months later

Seven months of work, for a team of people, each being a specialist at their job, which they were doing 40+ hours a week for years already.

If you want to do all that on your own, wearing all the hats, then good luck. Expecting this to succeed is a recipe for failure and disappointments.

[jens]

Expecting this to succeed is a recipe for failure and disappointments.

Nope, it isn't at all - IF you have both the required skills and artistic vision - but then you're not going to ask questions like this.

What did XTC use for their Dukes of Stratosphear stuff? According to them, whatever was lying around in the studio... this shall serve as a lesson and a half.

[vurt]

im only here for the half man half biscuit reference

[tapper mike]

From the S.O.S. article:

it was at the Power Plant where the project commenced in February 1985 and ended seven months later

Seven months of work, for a team of people, each being a specialist at their job, which they were doing 40+ hours a week for years already.

If you want to do all that on your own, wearing all the hats, then good luck. Expecting this to succeed is a recipe for failure and disappointments.

Steely Dan and Blondie had the most of it. With Steely Dan they'd work 8 hours on a song then spend another 8 on mixdown then go in the next day and next day and next month. Constantly rotating not only individual musicians but entire bands until they were satisfied.

With Blondie everyone sucked balls but the bassist and Deborah Harry. They did a documentary about it and it's hilarious. The guitarist didn't believe he was out of tune and not in time. The drummer had to be stripped of all instruments and focus on one at a time (like the kick drum) till he could get it right and then move on to the next. They were terrible at first and finally started to get their act together while Debbie Harry's manager was going around her back trying to piss of the band so they'd break up.


Jump to the 27 minute Mark. As a producer back in the 90's I had the same issues with grunge/punk bands who couldn't kick the shit out of a wet paper bag. That's when I stopped producing live bands. I didn't have a big label behind me and it wasn't worth the agrivation.

[seafire]

The drummer had to be stripped of all instruments and focus on one at a time (like the kick drum) till he could get it right and then move on to the next.

That was just Heart of Glass.

[jens]

The drummer had to be stripped of all instruments and focus on one at a time (like the kick drum) till he could get it right and then move on to the next.

That was just Heart of Glass.

Yeah... as an inspired musician you're constantly pushing your own boundaries; so while being in the process of writing pop-history you you might indeed have more problems to play your own stuff than countless, nameless and faceless top40 players will have in the decades to come.

[Jazz Franco]

IMHO it's better to stick to the software you've used in those 14 good years -- to keep & use the learning curve, at least. Most DAWs nowadays are available in at least PC & Mac versions, so that wouldn't be a problem. If you did use Logic on your hackintosh, I'd rather suggest you try Reaper -- it's closer to Logic in its concept that Ableton, and I guess is more suitable for recording a live band, too.