{"id":50817,"date":"2019-07-22T10:20:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T15:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=50817"},"modified":"2020-09-16T15:15:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T20:15:41","slug":"pro-audio-comparing-the-best-daw-software-options-for-recording","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/50817-pro-audio-comparing-the-best-daw-software-options-for-recording\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Audio: Comparing the Best DAW Software Options for Recording"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the fourth article in a multi-part series designed to help you build a home recording studio. Whether you are a beginner who has never recorded before, or if you are more advanced with years of experience, I hope you find value in the series. If you have any questions or would like me to cover a specific topic, please drop a comment at the end of the article. I read them all and will respond!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you missed articles one<\/a>, two,<\/a> or three<\/a> in this series, I shared some of the basic building blocks most people will want to consider when putting together a home studio.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I will review some of the most popular DAW software solutions. Most, but not all, offer free versions or free trials, so you will be able to determine which is the right one for you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Many DAWs, So Many Opinions.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ask 10 home recording enthusiasts about their recording (DAW) software of choice and you are likely to get several answers. My recommendation, ignore them all and find the one where you feel most comfortable. The last thing you want is DAW software that does not jive with how you like to work. Your DAW software is a personal choice and it should support your creativity, not hinder your process. No matter which recording software you decide to use, just remember that hit records and songs have been produced using any of the options I’ll cover below, so you’ll never be alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let’s get started. I’m going to cover what I consider to be the top five choices for beginners along with a few honorable mentions for those who want to try everything under the sun. As I mentioned, these are all extremely capable software solutions. It will come down to personal preference and a few technical caveats that I’ll point out along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Avid Pro Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I start off with Pro Tools, not only because it’s my personal DAW software of choice, but because it has widely been considered the industry standard for almost two decades. It’s also Mac and PC compatible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk into any professional studio and you’re likely to find Pro Tools at the helm. For many years Pro Tools could only be used with Avid \/ Digidesign audio interfaces and was therefore limited to commercial facilities. A few years ago Avid decided to open up the platform for use with any 3rd party audio interface, and as a result, you will find Pro Tools in countless home studios around the world. You can do virtually anything you want with it, from recording a simple podcast to recording and mixing an entire song with dozens of instruments, samplers, loops, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What separates Pro Tools from the rest?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In my humble opinion, it is the most mature platform compared to other DAW software solutions. Sure, the basics of recording, playback, and editing are virtually identical across all the recording software out there, but as you become more advanced, you may find that Pro Tools is ultimately the most capable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one example, and without getting too deep into the weeds, Pro Tools does an incredible job with Automatic Delay Compensation* in a way that I have yet to see in other DAWs. This becomes particularly important if you start working with increasingly complex sessions where you are doing advanced routing of your audio, using tons of plugins, and seek to automate much of your final mix. I also find that Pro Tools simply offers the most options when it comes to routing signals, whether ITB (in-the-box) or in a hybrid way with external hardware inserts. This can become crucial when you start using advanced mixing techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automatic Delay Compensation (ADC)<\/strong> is an option that makes sure that the playback of all the tracks in a session happens in sync. As you add plugins and virtual instruments to your session, they will all add different amounts of latency (delay) to the audio you hear out of your speakers. This is because it takes time for your computer to process the audio through each plugin, depending on how complex a plugin is. A good implementation of ADC will calculate how to make sure that all the audio is played back in sync, regardless of how much latency your plugins introduce into any particular track in your session.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If you didn’t follow all of that, don’t worry. I think the main takeaway for a beginner is that Pro Tools is the industry standard for commercial recording studios, and is often considered the first and only choice for many home studios. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, we get it Josh. You love Pro Tools. How much does it cost?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are currently three versions available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n