It’s not a terrible idea to know your way around Pro Tools, but I’d only ever send stems anyway.
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Does it make a difference which DAW to send tracks to studios?
- Thread starter javi_bassist
- Start date
I've been using Reaper for about 12 years, It's well worth the $60.00. The support is great and they are constantly updating it. I wont use anything else! You can even try it for free.
+1 on Reaper. I have the Personal/Small Business license.
Setup for recording bass include vintage Groove Tube Preamp, Bam200 (use all the time) and GK 1001RB (also has a direct out). X32 Rack for Interface. Reaper.
I have also successfully submitted Guitar tracks the were used professionally recorded with Reaper (Blues JR and SM57 mic) that were submitted remotely to the studio via uncompressed WAV files. Nobody asked about my equipment or workflow
Setup for recording bass include vintage Groove Tube Preamp, Bam200 (use all the time) and GK 1001RB (also has a direct out). X32 Rack for Interface. Reaper.
I have also successfully submitted Guitar tracks the were used professionally recorded with Reaper (Blues JR and SM57 mic) that were submitted remotely to the studio via uncompressed WAV files. Nobody asked about my equipment or workflow
Pro Tools works on PC for starters, and a buddy of mine was just doing an audio project for a client that used PT and you can skin Reaper well enough to finish a project and get paid. Quite frankly I dislike PT despite having bought 7.4 M Powered and 9. I also legitimately disliked the DAW. There's that.
To cut bass tracks at home, and then send them to another studio/engineer/producer, all you need is be able to export wave files, end of story. Provided that you don't ruin it on the way in, you're golden. Nice instrument, decent signal path, record not too hot, etc., all good.
My decades long day job is pro audio in the NYC studio scene. So I will tell you I have never seen a pro studio that was not running PT as their main (usually only) DAW. It's 100%, no exceptions at all. There are many reasons for this of course, but a major one that I would personally site is editing. I recommend GarageBand and Logic (on the Mac side) to people, because I consider them "music creation" apps. And that's what most people need. But in my business, I need to be able to do ANYTHING the situation presents, ANYTHING my client requests. That is where the other apps can fall down. But in all fairness, anybody who gets into Pro Tools that deeply probably isn't a player anymore
. None of you guys should go there lol. But if you did, PT is the best tool. If you only work on your music, you can likely battle your way thru whatever editing you need to do. But if you work on other people's music in a pro setting, where you are being paid to produce results, saying "I can't do that" will dramatically affect your bottom line. One of my engineers once told me, "the thing I like about Pro Tools is that no matter what my client asks me to do, I can get it done".
Okay, didn't mean to make this a PT ad or anything, but when I see comments like some of the above, I just have to speak up.
My decades long day job is pro audio in the NYC studio scene. So I will tell you I have never seen a pro studio that was not running PT as their main (usually only) DAW. It's 100%, no exceptions at all. There are many reasons for this of course, but a major one that I would personally site is editing. I recommend GarageBand and Logic (on the Mac side) to people, because I consider them "music creation" apps. And that's what most people need. But in my business, I need to be able to do ANYTHING the situation presents, ANYTHING my client requests. That is where the other apps can fall down. But in all fairness, anybody who gets into Pro Tools that deeply probably isn't a player anymore
. None of you guys should go there lol. But if you did, PT is the best tool. If you only work on your music, you can likely battle your way thru whatever editing you need to do. But if you work on other people's music in a pro setting, where you are being paid to produce results, saying "I can't do that" will dramatically affect your bottom line. One of my engineers once told me, "the thing I like about Pro Tools is that no matter what my client asks me to do, I can get it done".Okay, didn't mean to make this a PT ad or anything, but when I see comments like some of the above, I just have to speak up.
I work on other people's material in a pro (i.e. paid) setting and work exclusively in Logic. I've never found a scenario where I've had to say "I can't do that." I can't think of a function that a professional engineer could not accomplish on any modern DAW, be it ProTools, Logic, Reaper, Cubase, etc. This is not a ProTools thing. It's an engineer thing. If someone can't get something done and blames the DAW I would not hire them again, and the DAW they're using would not be on the list of reasons for that.
"""I work on other people's material in a pro (i.e. paid) setting and work exclusively in Logic. I've never found a scenario where I've had to say "I can't do that." I can't think of a function that a professional engineer could not accomplish on any modern DAW, be it ProTools, Logic, Reaper, Cubase, etc. This is not a ProTools thing. It's an engineer thing. If someone can't get something done and blames the DAW I would not hire them again, and the DAW they're using would not be on the list of reasons for that."""
Fair enough. But let me give you one example. Let's say I need to edit timing of multiple players at the same time. Like lining up multiple singers, etc. I'm not talking about garden-variety quantizing, I'm talking about lining people up with each other. Like a bass player to the drummer. Logic only lets you edit timing on one track at a time, and in a completely separate section at the bottom of the main editing window, out of view of the timing of the other tracks, thereby making it impossible to see the various track's timing issues relative to each other. That's enough of a deal-breaker right there. Logic is a music creation program. I know of composers who start in Logic, but finish in Pro Tools. And to be fair, I probably get more way whacky requests than you do, as I have been doing this full time many decades now. It's how I can afford to do gigs
Back on topic, both are fine for bass parts
Fair enough. But let me give you one example. Let's say I need to edit timing of multiple players at the same time. Like lining up multiple singers, etc. I'm not talking about garden-variety quantizing, I'm talking about lining people up with each other. Like a bass player to the drummer. Logic only lets you edit timing on one track at a time, and in a completely separate section at the bottom of the main editing window, out of view of the timing of the other tracks, thereby making it impossible to see the various track's timing issues relative to each other. That's enough of a deal-breaker right there. Logic is a music creation program. I know of composers who start in Logic, but finish in Pro Tools. And to be fair, I probably get more way whacky requests than you do, as I have been doing this full time many decades now. It's how I can afford to do gigs
Back on topic, both are fine for bass parts
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That is not accurate. Editing timing across multiple regions in the arrange window relative to any other region is not only possible, it’s quite easy to do. You even have the option of doing it in a non-destructive way (flexing) or destructively (slicing).
Good thing it’s not actually an issue.
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I'm sure such a video exists, but you can do your own research.
Suffice it to say, it's as simple as enabling flex features for a given track or selection of tracks, which takes one mouse click. From there you can manually insert your own edit points and you can use Logic's automated transients analysis to generate edit points. You can adjust the sensitivity of the transient analysis at any point to reduce or increase the number of edit points it creates, and it gets it right around 95% of the time which really speeds things up. If you want to edit a group of related to regions, say a multitrack drum recording, you place all of the related tracks in a group, which can be done with a single hot key, and then just do your edits on say the kick and snare, and everything in the group will be edited to match to avoid issues like a spot mic on a snare not aligning with the overheads after the edit. You can then globally toggle flex features on/off or on a per track basis to quickly see how your edits compare to the original unedited version. All of this is done without ever leaving the arrange window.
Once again; All modern DAWs are inherently capable tools, and any lack of ability to do something is down to the experience, or lack thereof, of the operator in using a specific tool.
Fair enough. But let me give you one example. Let's say I need to edit timing of multiple players at the same time. Like lining up multiple singers, etc. I'm not talking about garden-variety quantizing, I'm talking about lining people up with each other. Like a bass player to the drummer. Logic only lets you edit timing on one track at a time, and in a completely separate section at the bottom of the main editing window, out of view of the timing of the other tracks, thereby making it impossible to see the various track's timing issues relative to each other. That's enough of a deal-breaker right there. Logic is a music creation program. I know of composers who start in Logic, but finish in Pro Tools. And to be fair, I probably get more way whacky requests than you do, as I have been doing this full time many decades now. It's how I can afford to do gigs
Back on topic, both are fine for bass parts
Doesn't using the Groove Track make that easy?
Search "Control timing with the groove track" in the Logic Pro manual.
searching for that on YouTube... first link..
Decades ago, yes Pro Tools was the way, but that was decades ago. Now, all the DAWs can do so close to anything..
But yes, each have their niche and flavour, work flow.
Logic is made more for Musicians than for Engineers.
Ableton more for "loop guys" or DJs... than for musicians playing acoustic instruments..
Well that's the marketing history.
Sequencer plus Audio, vs Audio plus Sequencing...
but that's all so decades ago.. right?
Well, they each try Notation too, but the dedicated notation programs do it better... so far.
That's why those online DAW services that link multiple DAWs together are a great way forward. People use what program they like most, and the online tech is made to link these separate DAWs to with each other seamlessly.
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One of my best buddies runs a pro studio out of his house and uses probably 90% Ableton (he has and is proficient in Pro-Tools and Logic as well, just prefers the Ableton workflow) and is mostly recording/mixing/mastering actual bands rather than electronic/sample-based music. Relevant to this discussion, he does do a lot of work with people who just send him in pre-recorded WAV stems too which he uses to create Ableton sessions. Just to point out that nearly all of the options can be used for most any application these days.
100%
Additionally, a lot of things that maybe can't be done in one DAW versus another come down to differences in workflow where the same thing can be accomplished, you just come at it from a different direction. I'm still waiting for someone to say, "here's a core function that a professional audio engineer needs that cannot be done in this DAW." Maybe such a thing exists, but I've never seen it. If you don't have to work collaboratively within the same DAW for some reason, then just use the DAW that has a workflow you most agree with and don't waste any time thinking about it.
If your goal is to be able to collaborate with Pro Tools users, it is advisable to at least be able to work in Pro Tools. While it's easy to import/export wav files between DAWs, interoperability for MIDI tempo maps is a huge source of frustration, and depending on what sort of music you're working on, that may be a major concern (film scoring is particularly difficult in this regard). I like being able to send a Pro Tools session to someone and have them send something back and it all opens and lines up correctly.
That said, if you're creating music for YOU, use whatever you like. They all basically do the same stuff and sound the same (except FL, that's a whole thing). I regularly receive files from users of other DAWs for me to mix, and it's up to me to sort them and put them into a Pro Tools session for me to do my work.
That said, if you're creating music for YOU, use whatever you like. They all basically do the same stuff and sound the same (except FL, that's a whole thing). I regularly receive files from users of other DAWs for me to mix, and it's up to me to sort them and put them into a Pro Tools session for me to do my work.
