My Favorite DAWs
DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. In english, DAWs are different softwares made for working with audio.
Each DAW has its strengths and weaknesses, and in this blog, I'll be getting into my favorites and why I like them!
I have three favorite DAWs: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, and ProTools. I use them each differently.
Ableton Live
We're starting with my favorite DAW of all time: Ableton Live. I use Live predominantly for songwriting and music production. It's the most unique DAW, with features designed for creation and live performance. It's layout/GUI is different from standard DAW designs, and has a look that people either love or hate (I love it). I find that Live is the easiest to get musical ideas down, and provides enough stock instruments and samples to build something amazing, whether you planned to or not. It lends itself to eclectic production--genres like bedroom pop and indie electronic. The only downside, in my opinion, is that it's not that intuitive for beginners. You probably need a little bit of baseline audio knowledge to jump right in.
Logic Pro
So--I don't actually love Logic Pro, but it made it on this list because I've found that it has strengths that stand out from other DAWs. For instance, I really like it for film scoring and idea brainstorming; Logic comes with great orchestral stock instruments and has a very intuitive design that makes it easy to dive into production. On the other hand, it's not my favorite for mixing, and I find that a lot of the stock plug-ins are very basic.
ProTools
Last but not least, although it's kind of boring (IYKYK), ProTools is probably the biggest power-house of the bunch. Let's start with the cons: I don't like ProTools for creation or music production. It's MIDI capabilities and GUI are clunky and not intuitive at all--most of that is due to its age (first introduced in 1991). However, it's the industry standard for a reason; it's hands down the best DAW for recording, mixing, and mastering. It can handle massive sessions and it's layout is designed for high-level, technical work. Not only is it industry standard for music, but it's also the industry standard for film post-audio (sound effects, dialogue, scoring, etc.). Even though Ableton Live is my personal favorite, I use ProTools the most, simply because it can do the most, and at a level that's up to par with the industry standard.
Bottom Line:
Ableton Live is the best for music creation. Logic Pro is the most accessible in terms of industry standard software. ProTools is the best for technical execution of all things audio.
Honorable Mention: GarageBand
GarageBand is the free version of Logic Pro, and it holds a special place in my heart because it's where I got started. It is hands down the most accessible way to get into music production (it's literally free and comes with everything you need to get started). It's basically Logic Pro without all the bells and whistles. Even though it's free, you can make some incredible music with it. Don't let "industry standard" and money stand in your way of audio production!
*Important Note: take everything I said with a grain of salt, because at the end of the day, this is all personal preference!
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