I suppose it happens to us all, you mix for a while, you want to make some re-edits, maybe a remix, maybe a full on new tune all of your own, which DAW do you go for…
Cubase?
Reason?
Sonar?
FL Studio?
Without buying them all and trying them, how can you know what is the best?
I have been wondering the same thing myself. I have been using Reason and understand that the best so far. I may try Ableton soon tho it seems to be easier to understand coming from mixing.
There’s really no need to jump ship, if you have a solid understanding of Reason and are comfortable with it then by all means run with it.
And knowing how to DJ has no influence on learning Ableton I’d say, as DJing with Ableton is as far away as you can get from actual mixing I’d say (technique wise that is)
are there any other DAWs besides Ableton that can be used for live sets? and if that’s a stupid question as in the answer is an obvious yes, what are other people using?
I rocked abe a few years before switching sides. I say try the demos and stay with the one that fits your workflow better. I jam in session view for a few days before starting “normal” producing in the arrangement/timeline view, that’s the main reason I failed when I tried to covert myself to Logic.
If you are fluent in Reason but feel like changing, you can always rewire it to another DAW.
I work for London School Of Sound ( a music production school in London) so hopefully my advice will help
Like most of the people below have said try some demo’s and see which one you like best.
Also ask yourself what you want to do…each software has its strengths…Pro Tools is good for recording instruments live etc so is good for bands. Logic is a nice all rounder and Ableton…well…Ableton is a mesh of a regular Step Sequencer (what Pro Tools and Logic are) and a tool for live performance. Its known for being a big favourite with DJ’s now (Ableton told us they actually get annoyed at being widely used with DJ’s as they want to be see as a company who design Production software FIRST)
I currently use Ableton…its an amazing piece of Software and will make your mind light up when you see how good it is for doing things like recording DJ mixes. It is also extremely good for production…the limits are endless with it.
Anyway try out the 3 i mentioned above…Ableton, Logic and Pro Tools, see which one feels best. I got friends who are signed to labels like Ministry Of Sound and Defected and they all use different softwares, so its really down to you.
At the end of the day it is really about understanding things like Music Theory and knowing your software inside out, all of them use alot of the same principles
Anyway hope i have helped, any questions you have feel free to inbox me
For starting out I am convinced that it’s best to just go with what’s popular. That means Ableton for DAW, Massive for your main synth, and Izotope Ozone for mastering. It’s just easier to learn with these tools because there’s better resources. There’s people on forums that use the same thing to collaborate with, and higher quality tutorials online. You’ll find it easy to create the sounds you are familiar with in your favorite tracks because those producers are using the same tools.
I had a lot of fun and learned a lot with other tools, but I really didn’t start to feel confident as a producer until I moved over to these tools.
and this, dear kids, is why 99% of all releases sound the fucking same. this is the reason why out of ~3000 tracks I listen to each shopping session, I buy less than 10.