W15: Digital Audio Workstations: Learning from the Past to Perfect Future Recording Tools

Chair:
Jeff Giedt, SADiE, Nashville, TN, USA

Panelists:
Chuck Ainlay, Backstage Studio, Nashville, TN, USA
Ron Franklin, Waveframe, Emeryville, CA, USA
Kevin Killen, Producer/Engineer, New York, NY, USA
Dave Lebolt, Digidesign, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Roger Nichols, Producer/Engineer, Miami, FL, USA
Brian Tankersley, GBT Studio, Nashville, TN, USA

The recording of audio has undergone significant changes at an ever-accelerating rate over the last several years. The digital audio workstation (DAW) was a peripheral device in most recording studios as recently as a decade ago. As recording tools go, DAWs are now a major contributor to the process. In many cases they are now the cornerstones of the whole recording process, playing several roles at once: recorder, editor, mixing desk, and effects units.
What approach works best: a DAW that does everything or one designed for a more specific task? A DAW that uses native processing or dedicated processing? What about portability between different systems? Are all the changes we have undergone necessarily improvements to the whole process of recording? Panelists explored the past to gain a clearer picture of our future as users of digital audio workstations.