The Wonderful World of DAWs (Part 1- The Basics)

As Hip-Hop production and recordings becomes more and more competitive each day, it places more emphasis on producer's and engineer's choice of equipment. As you know, every DAW manufacturer will assert that they have the best product- welcome to the free market.

However, the trick is to simply observe what niche each DAW has. I do this in various ways, but I mainly take the knowledge straight from the manufacturer, the user(s), and the vendors (Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, etc). Vendors often give invaluable information. For instance, you might hear: "Lots of people have been buying it but not a lot of rants and raves about it." These are warning signs that the program may simply be subpar. Moreover, sales representatives are trained on what the program actually does, and how it can work for you- they can assess what you need and what program will probably work the best for you.

The choices are robust and since my company specializes in assisting aspiring indie artists, we must explore the wonderful world of DAWs.  As you know, Pro-Tools is the industry standard, but let's face it: not everybody uses Pro-Tools. Some people don't like to be bound by proprietor hardware (ie M-Audio, Digidesign). Moreover, Pro-Tools real time bounce can make burning a project to disc a very lengthy process.

PropellorHead  recently unveiled Record.  This is a relatively new DAW and purports to be an all in one package (it does not take outside plug-ins just as Reason doesn't). Of course there is Cubase, Sonar, Logic, Ableton, Audition...the list goes on and on.

In part 2 we will dive deeper into the wonderful world of DAWs. Indeed, this will be a recurring theme. Finally, I advise young engineers to find the program that works the best for them- do not compromise. You want a program that allows you to record swiftly without stifling ideas that are often popping out the woodworks during a session. In post-production, common tools such as eq's, effects, creating busses and panning should be very simple, as this is the "bread and butter" of mixing. Before you purchase your next DAW, ask yourself what will enable me to become a better engineer? What features allows me to expand my creativity? Write these factors down, and go shopping looking for those traits. And by gosh, don't be afraid to ask for a demonstration! At the end of the night, switching to a new DAW after years in is like teaching a baby how to walk again! Make the initial choice be your best one!