DAW for stupid people

[Old Garage-Bander]

Audacity? Traction? Studio One 3 Prime?

Seems like you jumped head on into a full fledged audio workstation- I think just about anybody is going to be overwhelmed and intimidated by this. You just need to sneak up on it.

Give Audacity a try. Surf the forums if you have trouble and/or find somebody locally who can slide over for a beer or two and get you going. The learning curves are steep-I get that-but not impossible. Especially with a little assistance.

Here's three youtube videos to help you get started...







I can't vouch for any of them, but there should be some useful information there. And you get the idea.

I've spent thousands of hours learning FinalCut Pro, Logic, Photoshop, Illustrator, QuickTime, Ableton Live, Sorenson Squeeze, Motion, Pages, Powerpointless, and others. You'll get it. Hang in there...

Agreed. Starting out with complex DAW programs can get you lost in the tecnology.
Our college students are started out on Pro-Tools, which is a good program, but it is very complicated for beginners.
It seems one would be better suited to start out with something simple and learn the concepts of mixing and effects.
Otherwise, if you start out struggling with the technical minutiae, you may lose your way and never get to the art and skill of it all.

 

[Wiremessiah]

Agreed. Starting out with complex DAW programs can get you lost in the tecnology.
Our college students are started out on Pro-Tools, which is a good program, but it is very complicated for beginners.
It seems one would be better suited to start out with something simple and learn the concepts of mixing and effects.
Otherwise, if you start out struggling with the technical minutiae, you may lose your way and never get to the art and skill of it all.

The best way to learn any DAW is through analog signal flow. That's how I was taught. It's much easier to understand when there is a physical mixer, patchbay, etc. Most DAW interfaces are based on analog consoles.

 

[DavC]

Reaper

 

[somegeezer]

Studio One is very intuitive. So if that's not working for you, I'd recommend heading over to youtube and finding some basic tutorials to get you started. Outside of that, Audacity, maybe. But it is absolutely worth learning the basics of a proper DAW, as those things will translate to all other proper DAWs. Stick with Studio One and learn as you go, and you'll open up a whole world you never thought of.

 

[PortlandBass77]

I'd pick a good DAW and learn it rather than potentially half ass it with a questionable DAW. I would recommend Reaper as it is one of the most flexible, it's free to try, and it doesn't have as steep as a learning curve as DAWs like Protools...

 

[HomerJSimpsson]

DAW for stupid people? ... I'm stupid ... so this is for me ... I too wana tape my noise, ... digitise my sound.
Well, I loaded Audacity and Tracktion (5?) ... there were in my 'pricerange' ... and I actually managed to conect
a midikeyboard through usb to tracktion and some included windows synth and now I'm gonna die one year early ...

... I need to record ! ...I make upp these nice littel baselines ... well I like'em ... and 3min later there gone !!!
Well I'm 47, you tell me where I put my carkeys ...

... and I don't have an audio interface, and if I buy one it probably won't work with auda or track ... should I get
a diffrent DAW, ... what DAW needs or works well which what audiointerface ?... and it has to be usb because my computer has no firewire ... 24bit at 96 more/less? ... the computer is a 64bit Winows8.1 and it has usb3.

What kombination works for you ?

 

[seamonkey]

Realband that comes with Band in a Box is worth a try.
It's really a very basic DAW, but has some great features for composing songs

 

[Bassheart365]

Presonus Studio One is popular and the learning curve is not very steep

 

[Philly Watts]

DAW for stupid people? ... I'm stupid ... so this is for me ... I too wana tape my noise, ... digitise my sound.
Well, I loaded Audacity and Tracktion (5?) ... there were in my 'pricerange' ... and I actually managed to conect
a midikeyboard through usb to tracktion and some included windows synth and now I'm gonna die one year early ...

... I need to record ! ...I make upp these nice littel baselines ... well I like'em ... and 3min later there gone !!!
Well I'm 47, you tell me where I put my carkeys ...

... and I don't have an audio interface, and if I buy one it probably won't work with auda or track ... should I get
a diffrent DAW, ... what DAW needs or works well which what audiointerface ?... and it has to be usb because my computer has no firewire ... 24bit at 96 more/less? ... the computer is a 64bit Winows8.1 and it has usb3.

What kombination works for you ?

Focusrite 2i2 is a two channel interface that's perfect for you

 

[Badwater]

Good luck. Studio One is one of the simplest and best DAWs out there. I've used several and ended up there.

You might start on YouTube. Lots of "how to" videos for Studio One. Tracking and mixing and mastering are not simple tasks "done with an app." There is tons of background knowledge you will need to pick up to produce great recordings - including eq settings, effects, mic positions, etc.

Oh, BTW, you're not laying anything down "on tape." Been ones and zeros for many years!

I totally agree.

I've used several DAWs since the late 90s, and Studio One 3 is one of the easiest and most efficient DAWs out there.
And I agree, real studio tape recording gear (and tape) is more expensive and harder to find.

In fact, Fostex and Tascam have all gone digital. So Ebay and Craigs list is about the only place to find those little 4 track cassette recorders.

So, OP if you can operate a tape recorder with the basics of setting levels and hitting the red button, you should be able to record on a DAW, same concept but with more distractions of other features. There are a lot of tutorials on how to record in the DAW and computer. All the basics are universal for just about every DAW and interface.

 

[JRA]

IMO: Marial got it right: any of them can work if you get the very basic operations (per that platform) under control.

i've used pro tools for years, but just to record tracks, do some semblance of mixing, and then bounce to a 'rough', pro tools is as easy as it gets = it looks fairly 'obvious'. to do 'deep' stuff, on any platform, it gets more complicated, of course.

 

[HomerJSimpsson]

Tape-ing ?! .... I actually ment this in sort off a weired-funny way .... but now I have this brain-fart of mine saying ; what about that old tape-deck from my stereo ... its no mixer, but it has some kind of gate or input volume for record ... and its fast ... I don't have to run windows updats on it ! ... just push record and save my little baselines ... but it is in stereo ... I'm mono ... guess I'll have to play faster then ... and if I switch left to right, that would make it 2-chanel ... it has some old 5pin DIN and some red&white (chinch?) for left and right ... so, what kabel from what output on the Behringer Vamp Bass, would work ... it's actually a double tape ... wonder if it can run on tape and record the other with input (?) ... that would make me a studio owner ! ...

 

[DirkP]

I always had trouble with DAWs and felt lost in technique instead of music, although I'm a software engineer. I love Auria on my iPad.

The Zoom R-8 is very good for the price, also (A standalone multitrack recorder, effects, an audio interface, a Drum Machine, a pattern sampler, a DAW controller for 250,-).