Is there a lower PC processer limit that it’s better to stay above for best quality recording on Audacity ?
Obviously it would be dependent upon the inputs but for simple live acoustic, max guitar ,voice, minimal tracks.
thanks
Trev
What are you asking about? CPU specifications? Audio signal level? Something else?
For audio signal level, we generally recommend aiming for a peak level of around -6 dB (peaks about half the track height). The really important thing is to avoid going over 0 dB as that will cause irreparable distortion, so to avoid that it is best to always allow some “head room”. 6dB of headroom is usually a reasonable amount, though if recording something where the signal level is unpredictable (such as a novice drummer) then you may need to allow more headroom.
I’m really looking for some guidance on what are the important things to look for when selecting a PC for a small and simple home recording studio, thankyou for the advice regarding headroom, I didn’t know that. I want quality reproduction in that the recording is as natural as possible with very low background noise, of course the mic’s and audio interface have to do a good job but I want the pc to be a strong link in the process. Large capacity isn’t required as the pc would solely be used for recording which would generally be no more than two voices and minimal tracks.
thanks
Trev
My advice would be to go for better than minimum specifications.
Audacity itself has fairly low specification requirements, but Windows 10 runs like a slug on low end hardware.
One of the most common problems when recording onto a computer is fan noise.
If you intend to use Windows, then I’d suggest a minimum of:
A quiet fan or fanless.
CPU: i3 or better
Storage: SSD (128 GB or more - preferably more)
RAM: 8 GB or more
You ‘can’ run Windows with a spinning disk hard drive (hdd), but once you’ve used a solid state drive you would never want to go back to having the system on a hdd. SSDs make booting, updating, and launching apps VERY much faster.
That’s my 2 cents 
I would say 256GB absolute minimum.
Windows and apps will take up a large part of 128GB
128 is fine for folk who are going to use cloud storage for their data - but Audacity does not run well with active projects in cloud storage.
You may get a PC with 128 SSD which also has an onboard spinning metal disk of larger capacity for your data and active projects (my HP envy for instance has a 256 SSD and a 1TB onboard spinning metal drive).
WC
thankyou that’s very helpful. So Apple Mac is a better route ? if costs are reasonably comparable for similar spec
thankyou that’s really helped me, I want to get it right this time
Any computer is powerful enough to record/play stereo or mono. Professional multi-track recording gets a lot more demanding, especially at “high resolutions”. I’ve been playing around with computer audio for more than 20 years and any modern computer is way faster than whatever I was using back then… But the catch is… Windows multitasking and all of the (often unknown") “stuff” running in the background. And, that makes it rather unpredictable. And, sometimes you have to “tweak” the computer and that can get complicated. 
I want quality reproduction in that the recording is as natural as possible with very low background noise
The good news is, assuming no glitches/dropouts, computer speed/power and software have zero-effect on sound quality. The software simply has to “capture” the digital audio stream and send it to the hard drive.
And, audacity doesn’t apply effects or “process” audio in real time, so a slower computer might take longer but in the end you get the same result (just like using a slower computer to make calculations on a spreadsheet). …It’s usually pretty fast. It just takes a couple of seconds to change the volume of a 3-minute song.
…If you are applying special effects like reverb, different software/plug-ins will give different results
I want quality reproduction in that the recording is as natural as possible with very low background noise, of course the mic’s and audio interface have to do a good job but I want the pc to be a strong link in the process.
Yes, the acoustic & analog side are what’s critical. For professional, or near-professional, quality you need an audio interface (not a consumer soundcard) and one or more proper “stage” or “studio” microphones.* Audio interfaces are not compatible with “computer mics”.
Once you have a decent mic & interface the biggest difference between home recording and professional recording is acoustic noise. Most of us don’t have a soundproof studio… So try to set-up a quiet and sound-absorbing recording environment.
And sometimes noise gets into the interface’s preamp through the USB power (usually a low-level high-pitch whine). That’s usually not a big problem, but it does occasionally happen and then you never know if you if the computer’s power is extra-noisy or if the interface is extra-sensitive to power supply noise… An interface with it’s own separate power supply avoids that, but most inexpensive interfaces are USB-powered.
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- There are some good studio-style USB microphones (AKA “podcast mics”). That’s a super-convenient solution and the built-in USB interface is essentially free. There are some limitations and you may not get the same quality as a separate interface but it’s far better than using a regular-cheap USB mic or the mic built-into your laptop.