DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

The software you use to record, edit, arrange and mix music on a computer.

A DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation, is the central software of modern music production — the place where you record audio, program MIDI, arrange parts on a timeline, edit, add effects and mix everything into a finished track. Popular DAWs include Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase and the free Cakewalk and GarageBand. They share the same core concepts — tracks, a timeline, a mixer, plug-ins — so skills transfer between them. Choosing a DAW is less important than committing to learning one well; for beginners, the best DAW is usually the one a friend can help with or the one bundled with your audio interface.

432

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432 Academy

The Club432 musician collective

432 Academy is the learning arm of Club432 — a performing-arts collective of working musicians, producers, DJs and engineers. Our guides are written for beginners and reviewed by people who play, record and perform for a living, so the advice is what we'd tell a friend picking up the instrument, not specs copied off a box.

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