Alright, so you’ve determined that your computer is up to snuff for recording music. Congratulations! The computer is oftentimes the most expensive piece of the whole studio (especially starting out).
You’re creating a DAW, a Digital Audio Workstation. Now that you have a computer, you need some recording software.
“What should I get?” you ask.
Free Software
There are a ton of options, and many of them are free. If you’re not sure how serious you are about recording, you may need to start with one of the free programs. I’ve found Reaper to work well on the PC. If you’ve got a relatively new Mac, then you’re already off to the races with GarageBand, which is included for free.
Don’t let the studio snobs intimidate you, there is good music to be made with free software. A good friend of mine in Nashville has made some very good-sounding recordings with GarageBand and a cheap little audio interface. (I’ll cover interfaces in the next article.)
Free software is, however, free, so you will most likely run into limitations before long. At that point, you may be ready to spend a little money on some good software.
The Major Players
There are several major players on the market vying for your attention (and your money). They are as follows:
- Digidesign Pro Tools (Mac & PC)
- Apple Logic Studio (Mac only)
- MOTU Digital Performer (Mac only)
- Steinberg Cubase (Mac & PC)
- Cakewalk Sonar (PC only)
- Ableton Live (Mac & PC)
Now there are hundreds of users who swear by each of these platforms, and I’m not here to make a definitive statement about which one is “best.” As a consumer, I’ve used most of them. Having sold music equipment for years, I’ve sold them all to various customers, and I’ve developed differing opinions on each.
Here are my picks:
If you’re on a PC – Pro Tools
If you’re on a Mac – Pro Tools or Logic
Why? Well, for one, I own them. You’ll hear it all over the web, but Pro Tools really is the “industry standard.” If you think there’s ever a chance you’ll want to work in a studio, or send your files to a studio to be mixed, you’ll need to have Pro Tools.
Also, Pro Tools has a simple layout, which is helpful for beginners. There aren’t a million buttons all over the screen to confuse you. And you don’t have to deal with a bunch of different windows. You only have two – the Mix Window and the Edit Window.
Another added benefit is that Pro Tools LE is a an exceptional value. You simply buy one of their audio interfaces (Mbox family or 003 family), and Pro Tools LE software is included. That’s huge.
My brother-in-law recently got into Pro Tools. He spent around $300, and that covered both his audio interface (Mbox 2 Mini) and his recording software (Pro Tools LE).
I love Apple’s Logic Studio as well. It’s a very creative platform. In fact, GarageBand and Logic both share the same audio engine. If you have songs you recorded in GarageBand, you can simply buy Logic, open up the songs inside Logic, and continue working on them.
Logic includes a lot of virtual instruments (such as orchestra sounds, keyboard sounds, etc.). It’s great for songwriting and composing.
The other benefit is that Logic works with pretty much any audio interface. What that means is you can choose your interface, whereas with Pro Tools you have to use Digidesign’s interfaces, which limits your selection.
The truth is that all of these programs will do the same thing. The difference lies simply in how they do it. If I told ten guitarists to play an E minor chord, I bet they wouldn’t all play it the same way, but none of them would be wrong.
Do yourself a favor, do a little research, but don’t make it a 6-month process. For every month you wait around for the “perfect” solution, that’s one less month that you could’ve been making music.
And that’s what it’s all about after all, right?
* This article is part 3 of a 13-article series - 12 Home Studio Necessities.
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