DAW’s (digital audio workstations) Have become an integral part of the recording process today. Choosing a DAW means weighing alot of factors. The first is, "Is my music predominately recorded, or is it done “in the box” using plug ins and sequencing." The standard in the industry is Digidesign’s Pro tools. Pro tools comes in three main flavors. Pro Tools LE, M-powered, and Pro Tools HD. LE requires a Digi manufactured interface such as the M-Box to run, where as M-powered can use third party interfaces like the ones manufactured my M-Audio. HD is pricey and runs off of pro tools HD cards. The highest level in HD currently is Pro Tools HD Accel 3 which utilizes three HD cards.

Some other DAWs are Steinberg’s Cubase and Nuendo. Propellerhead’s Reason and Image Line’s FL studio which are both great for In the Box electronic music or music mainly comprised of plug ins. Some other DAWs are Motu Digital performer, Abelton Live, Apple Logic Studio, Cakewalk Sonar, Adobe Audition, Cockos REAPER, Synapse audio Orion, Apple Garageband, and Sony Acid.

As you can see there are alot of options. My advice is to find a DAW whose work flow works best for you and also get Pro Tools just because it is the current standard.

As for CD audio the current standard is 16 bit 44.1kHz wave. So if you are planning for your music to end up on CD this is ideal. Now you can push the sample rate to the likes of 24 bit 96kHz. Just remember the final product going to CD will end up at 44.1 16 bit. When working on a project though using higher sample rates may be beneficial.

A Few things about Pro Tools and PC compatibility. Pro Tools 8, current version, works with windows xp, and windows vista 64 bit. So if you have windows vista 32 bit be prepared for issues. It is also compatible with Mac Leopard.

Another few tidbits about DAWs is that you can run Keyboards or Synthesizer in to them using Midi. Also you can use control surfaces which allow you to automate or control several aspects of a project. For example panning, volume fades, velocity, modulation, and sometimes tonal shaping in the synthesizer world. Make sure though your control surface is compatible with your DAW and Hardware interface.

I could go on about DAWs for awhile but due to lack of time this is it. If you have any detailed question send me a message and I will try to get back to you.

I will try whenever I have time to post blogs about different aspects of the music industry. I am by no means an expert, but I feel this information may help aspiring artist. Also some of this information I hope debunks a lot of misconceptions about the biz.