Making music on mac vs. PC – why neither is better

I have a lot of clients who call me and say, “I should have bought a mac, I’d be able to make better music if I did”.

I do my best to tell these folks; it’s ok; you don’t have to buy a mac to make great music.

Conversely, I have a lot of folks who call, frustrated about music making on mac; I tell them the same thing.

There’s a lot of misinformation in the digital audio world.  You’re lead to believe that shinier = better sound, that one OS “sounds” better than another, and that the summing bus of one program is “vastly superior” to another.

I’m here to tell you today that this isn’t true.  The only truth in digital audio, and in audio in general, is the talent of the person making that music, and their ability to do so with passsion.

While there are some applications that only run on a PC (Cakewalk’s Sonar, for instance), and some that only run on a mac (Apple’s Logic), the truth is that this is the only major limitation in digital audio; software which is dependent on the OS.  Nothing about a piece of software makes it “better” than another based solely on the OS it runs on.  Now, we may feel this way, thanks to the almost placebo-effects of many factors in how we work with software, but if we step outside of ourselves, we’ll see that the tool is just a tool; it is how the user uses it that makes it great.

Many pieces of software work on both mac and PC – this includes most all the major DAWs and their plugins.  Both PCs and Macs allow for 64 bit functionality.  A well-tuned, well-treated machine will operate great and allow you make great music, regardless of the OS on it.  Macs and PCs can get bogged down with junk programs, memory hogging applications, and lack of resources.  This can be fixed by optimizing your machine.  It does not mean that one will be better than another simply based on whom it was created by.

Yes, some tools have features that others don’t have; but this is always the way.  One car might be more suited to the winter than another, but this doesn’t mean that the driver of that vehicle can’t be more suited to drive any vehicle in the winter, thanks to their skills.

Bottom line; the tool cannot do a thing without the user.  You must take the time to get to know the tool.  Then, you will find that your skills will allow you to move between any Operating system, DAW, or piece fo hardware.

Obviously this is based on the user; if you feel more suited to one OS, that’s fine!  My messge here is simply this; music knows no bounds, whether it be the technology used to make it, or the person who operates that technology.  Enjoy making music – that’s why you do it, right?