Blog post four or somewhere around that

Right now, I'm still working on recording stuff, though I have made significant progress.  I have all of the backing parts recorded, which leaves me to have to just record the guitar solos and then mix everything. And considering that what I have to do next all requires a DAW, I might as well explain what that is.

Basically, a Digital Audio Workstation (Also known as a DAW) is an electronic system used solely or primarily for recording, editing, and playing back digital audio. It's what you usually think of when you think of a recording software, including garage band. When it comes to picking a DAW, there are several things that you should consider:

• ·      Price: How much are you willing to spend? Are you going to try to aim for an economical choice, or are you willing to go all out for something like pro tools?
• ·      Functionality: How much do you want to be able to do with your DAW?
• ·      Ease of use: Are you fine with your DAW being harder to use when compared to other DAWs?
• ·      Recording Audio: Though many DAWs give you this feature, there are some that don’t. Do you need to record instruments, or are you just making electronic music or something like that?

And more. With that in mind, here are some DAWs to consider:

Reaper: A very recent release (The stable release date was July 15^th, 2013), reaper offers high-level recording and editing for a pretty cheap price

Pros

•   Cheap (60$)
•  Customizable

Cons:

•  Hard to use at first

Studio One 2: A relatively new DAW that also comes bundled with all presonus recording devices (such as the audiobox that I’m using)

Pros:

• ·      Easy to use
• ·      Comes with all presonus recording devices (which you’ll probably need something like if you’re going to directly record your amp output)

Cons:

• ·      Not as many instruments and deep features as some other DAWs

Pro Tools: The industry standard for DAWs.

Pros:

• ·      One of the best DAWs out there

Cons:

• ·      Expensive
• ·      Need a pro tools approved audio interface
• ·      Hard to use for beginners

Sonar X2: A pretty powerful DAW with loads of plugins and a user-friendly interface

Pros:

• ·      Easy to use

Cons:

• ·      Files can get really big, resulting in them taking up loads of space

Of course, there are many, many more DAWs that I didn’t cover (Ableton, Cubase, Logic, etc etc.) Hopefully you could find one that works for you. After you figure out which DAW you’re using, probably the best step is to read the instruction manual that hopefully comes along with it, as each DAW has some differences that makes teaching you how to use all of them near impossible. However, there are some general tips that I can give you.

• ·      When mixing, don’t try and make your mix unevenly. If you put the vocals as louder than everything else of something like that, it will not end well. No one wants to hear your attempts at signing in the first place, having them being the loudest instrument is a major turn-off
• ·      Make sure that everything is timed perfectly, if your drum track is off it will just sound sloppy.
• ·      Don’t try and overdo effects, as this will just result in your recording becoming very cluttered
• ·      Don’t try to have too many instruments competing on the same audio spectrum.

Keeping this stuff in mind, you will probably be able to do good using any DAW, as long as you know what you’re doing.

Sources:

"Choosing a DAW." Music Radar. N.p., 27 July 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Avid Pro Tools 10 Review." PCMAG. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"What Is A DAW?" Thedawstudio.com. The DAW Studio, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.