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Choosing the Right DAW for Your Music
If you’re aspiring to become the next big thing, or just want to have fun making music, having good DAW, or digital audio workstation, that you are comfortable with is key. In the wide world of music technology, there are countless products that are constantly being released and updated, so it can be hard to tell what will be useful to you and your craft. For the most part, all DAWs are very similar as every DAW accomplishes the goal of creating and rearranging music, but some have unique features that allow you to excel in certain areas of production.
Logic Pro X
Logic Pro X is one of the cheapest and most versatile DAWs on the market, and is the best choice when you are just starting out. Its interface is very simple and offers an intuitive design for mixing and mastering. It also comes with a large library of plug-ins and samples, giving you the majority of what you need to produce high quality songs. It is easy to begin to use logic, but a drawback of it is definitely the steep learning curve it takes to become an expert at using it. With hundreds of hidden key commands to remember there is the possibility that your creative work flow will be interrupted as a result of you not knowing how to do something in the software.
Pro Tools 12
If Logic is the beginner’s tool, then Pro Tools 12 is well… for the pros. It is the most popular DAW for professionals in the music and film industries, and is one of the most expensive at $600.00. It is not very user friendly, but if you put in the work with it, the payoff could be huge. Its interface contains two different tabs: one for linear track placement and the other for live mixing. A feature that makes Pro Tools stand out is the ability to attach and manipulate audio with video, making it easy to create the perfect music video.
Ableton Live
Although it is mainly marketed as the best DAW for electronic music, Ableton Live can be adapted to fit any genre. The software is offered in three different versions at three different tiers for the beginners, the average, and the experts. Ableton becomes extremely unique when using the third, most expensive tier, Ableton Live Suite. The Suite is unparalleled because it works with Max MSP Live, letting you create your own audio effects. Being able to implement your own reverb, or equalizer, or any effect really, will open numerous doors for you and your work.
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