hey laptop producers: how can you stand the fan noise?

Cubase
#1

Hi there. Just got myself a nice new MBP Retina 2,8 GHz laptop because I was fed up with having both a studio PC and an office laptop. So everything’s running nice off the MBP now.

Besides getting used to producing on a laptop the fan noise is driving me NUTS. My old windows pc was very quiet and of course it wasn’t sitting on my desk so I never noticed it.

Now the new Macbook is silent when performing ordinary office tasks and running light productions and editing. But when the CPU usage hits around 25 % in Cubase the fans come on. I don’t hear them while the track is playing but when soloing something I notice it and it drives me insane for some reason. They’re not on like full jet engine but they’re definitely noticeable.

So my question to all you seasoned Macbook producers: how the hell do you put up with that? It’s like after a while you don’t notice it anyone or you just don’t care?

First world problems I know but I’m used to running heavy projects without hearing a thing

#2

Hi you,

thank you for your really great question!

I am wondering about the same Thing for years. My son works with a MacBook and I do on a self-made Desktop. I invested some Money to have a quiet machine… the case, a fanless power unit, etc. Whenever I work with my son on his Laptop I simply cant stand it. I am definitely not able to ignore the fan noise while mixing (different Story with tracking, depending on the material/Sound sources). With a microphone-Recording in the same room fan noises are an absolute NO-GO.

So now I am curious. Maybe the People with Notebooks often track and mix with headphones only? (which I could not understand as well ;o) ).

cheers, ernst

#3

The dreaded fan noise - I’ve dealt with this for some time. CPU-intense operations are going to send the fans spinning like helicopters so limit those operations by converting (rendering) your VSTi and other tracks using multiple inserts into finished audio tracks which contribute virtually no strain to the CPU. I’ve got an older MBP so I converted the DVD drive bay into a dedicated audio HD and installed an optimized SSD as the system HD which helped tremendously. In your case I’d get an external Thunderbolt2 drive and use that as my dedicated audio/samples drive. Finally, limit the background activity when running Cubase - close out idle programs and background processes like antivirus apps and even WiFi.

#4

That’s one big reason why I opted instead for my MSI GS60-6QE Ghost Pro.
Runs near silent in High Performance and has CPU power to spare!
Battery life gives 2hrs in HIgh Performance power mode so I do need to carry my power adapter when field recording or coffee shop mixing on it.

#5

It’s like tinnitus - eventually your brain just learns to cope and filters it out haha. Not even joking. The only other “solution” is to just invest in some super closed, comfy headphones. Even then you’ll probably still hear it.

#6

Use “closed headphones”.