| Linux in the Professional Recording Studio |
(March 12, 2003)
Steve Cook, a DesktopLinux.com reader, relates his experience setting up Linux in the professional recording studio -- including a switch to the Ogg Vorbis audio format. Increased productivity, greater stability, tighter security, lower costs, and a higher quality finished product are all reasons this station switched without missing a beat . . .
Linux in the Professional Recording Studio
by Steve Cook
I'll try not to make this an epistle or an over enthusiastic endorsement. In summation, I've done the research and deployed Linux on three systems in a professional recording studio environment - and my employers and staff could not be happier.
To begin, this operation is an audio production facility housed inside a medium market radio station, the flagship of a seven-station group. This is a very conservative company, and it took a lot of arm-twisting to get them to allow this shift away from the comfort zone of Windows.
My reasoning for the switch was two-fold: First was a growing frustration with Win 98. At our last system audit, we determined that fully 20% of our productive time was spent either re-creating material lost in a crash, chasing lost e-mails, updating security software, or waiting for the Windows Certified Engineer to repair a down system.
The WCE strongly encouraged us to upgrade to XP, and I had heard many good things about it. We had the option of purchasing an XP license for each machine, and/or buying new hardware, but I persuaded the powers that be to give Linux a shot on our current systems.
I had been toying with Linux at home for nearly a year by that time, starting with RedHat 6.2, then trying RH 7.2, Debian, Slackware, Peanut, Vector and finally Mandrake 8.1. My personal use convinced me that Linux was a stable, useful OS that had real potential in my business. Because of the ability to download all these distros as .iso images and burn them to bootable installation CDs, I was able to explore and experiment without any financial outlay. Go down to Staples and ask if you can 'try out' XP and return it if you don't like it.
We deployed Mandrake 8.2 on our studio's primary editing system seven months ago, then upgraded to Mandrake 9.0 last month. There were no hardware issues at all. Simply put, the base system installed and configured itself, including a rather complex ethernet router link to the internet. The only software which required immediate repair was Xcdroast, which required a 5 minute download and upgrade so it would recognize our CD burner. The learning curve for my staff was slightly longer than that required by Windows, but that investment in time has paid measurable dividends in productivity.
A caveat here: These systems are not routinely doing elaborate multi-track production, although that is quite possible using open source software. Using a combination of Broadcast 2000, SND, and ReZound, we have been creating some astonishing work. One of our competitors recently paid $24,000 for a Windows-based dedicated editing station that does little more than we can on our $950 off-the-shelf PC running Linux (and they paid another 3 thousand dollars to fly in a trainer to teach their staff how to use it!).
These systems are primarily used for simple audio file creation, shipping and receiving of same, CD archiving; the basic day to day stuff. They are however running and in use 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In seven months of continuous use, the original Linux box has never lost a single byte of material, never locked or crashed, and never needed a single re-boot. Two other systems are equally stable and functional.
We have also switched our default audio file format to Ogg Vorbis, leaving any future licensing issues with MP3 for someone else to worry about. Ogg Vorbis creates slightly larger audio files (about 30% larger), but produces sound quality equivalent to .wav or .aiff. While there was some resistance to this switch from those with whom we exchange audio product, it has largely been silenced by the audible improvement in the quality of the finished product. Many of the other stations (including competitors) are now asking US for help in switching to Ogg.
Linux just runs, and runs, and runs. The WCE is still roaming the building several days a week, fixing the other 39 computers here which still run a variety of Windows flavors. I have forgotten his name.
Now to the numbers: The office manager has accused me of shuffling expenses. Our tech support and repair costs have dropped to zero. I've posted two tech questions to the Mandrake support site, and received the correct answers within 24 hours. Any non-Mandrake questions I had along the way were answered by simply typing the problem into Google. We paid $69 for Mandrake 9.0 Power Pack edition, and have installed it on three systems so far - that's $23 per machine. For XP, it would have been $165 per license, and several hundred dollars more for the additional software required, again multiplied by three.
Additionally, the fear of viruses and worms is no longer an issue. Linux is not impenetrable, certainly, but it's modular design and highly flexible security and firewall software is remarkably stout. We had sixteen DAYS of lost productivity due to viruses in the past two years under Windows, even with some of the best firewall and virus software on the market installed and regularly updated.
Increased productivity, greater stability, tighter security, lower costs, higher quality finished product. Let the Linux FUD slingers say what they will. At our facility, we're sold on the viability of Linux and Open Source software as a professional editing suite and desktop tool.
About the author: Steve Cook is an avid Linux enthusiast and has brought Linux into the professional recording studio.
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Please note: The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the writer, not of the management or staff of DesktopLinux.com.
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