How can a DAW take your productions to the next level?
If you have ever gotten frustrated with audio editing limitations within your video software, you may want to consider investing in a digital audio workstation (DAW) for your tool kit. Although there are usually a handful of useful tools in most video editing software programs, you will get more control and options over your audio by integrating a DAW into your workflow. Some of the features you can look forward to after incorporating a DAW are equalizers, spectrum analyzers, noise reduction, clip restoration, and most importantly, plugins.
At first, it can be overwhelming when browsing the internet for a digital audio workstation. This article will go over some of the industry-standard DAWs and essential features that would help bring your video productions up a notch. As most of you probably know, most DAWs are designed with musicians and music producers in mind, so we will also touch on some of the products that filmmakers and video editors should stay away from. Keep in mind there is no best DAW; the best DAW will be the one that fits into your workflow and offers the most functionality for your productions.
Adobe Audition CC - Best For Adobe Premiere Users
If you already work within Adobe Premiere, Audition will probably make the most sense. Audition is a full-featured DAW that offers excellent options for smaller amounts of audio with a straightforward user interface that makes things less intimidating to integrate into your workflow. One of the most integral features is the ability to synchronize audio between Premiere and Audition seamlessly. Although there is multi tracking functionality available, the scrubbing and interface can get jumbled when stacking many tracks. The built-in tools for audio editing are compelling and versatile; Audition is renowned for its built-in noise reduction tool. There is a large user community, a ton of documentation, and tutorials available online to help you get a jump-start in Adobe Audition. Many of the awesome creators reading this might already be subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud's full suite, so don't hesitate to try it out next time you are editing!
Apple Logic Pro X - Best For Final Cut Pro Users
For Mac users that would prefer to stay within the Apple ecosystem of products, Logic Pro X is a great candidate for a full-featured audio production suite. Logic is powerful and offers a user-friendly experience to accomplish the same task in various ways. Unfortunately, there is no way to edit video in Logic Pro X directly, but this is why the user would most likely be using it in conjunction with Final Cut Pro. For Mac users, the low CPU demand, welcoming user interface, and efficiency of Logic Pro X is paramount. The stock plugins provided by Logic are excellent and realistic, which would require less 3rd party plugin purchases. The mixing and sound design features are very intuitive, even for large multitrack productions. Logic also allows you to assign your hotkeys to any function within the program, tailoring the workflow specific to your needs. A slight downfall for some users will be the window configuration; things can get cluttered within the navigation, but once you familiarize yourself with the environment, it becomes easier.
Cockos Reaper - Most Affordable
Reaper is one of our most affordable options while offering many of the same excellent tools for you to improve your audio. It provides the ability to import a video (or multiple videos) as a track with your audio files and easily synchronize them like other DAWs mentioned. This DAW is a great option when you need complete control over your audio and want to quickly get your entire production's skeleton together. It makes the process exceptionally efficient, allowing you to export the file with your edited audio with ease. The interface is extremely simple, but a little bit outdated when compared to similar products. The user experience is minimal for video editing but very robust for audio if you take an audio-first approach on your productions. The one big downfall is the required preparatory files to download from Cockos to enable full video support and functionality. The learning curve and setup are a little steep, but once you have this tool available, it offers a versatile set of functionalities easily adaptable to any workflow.
A sneak peek of Reaper's video editing abilities
Steinberg Nuendo 11 - Most Versatile
From single-person operations to commercial production houses, Nuendo is an excellent choice for post-production. Nuendo 11 offers all of the features in a full-fledged DAW and adds integration for video editing that makes it stand out. Some of the tools incorporated into Nuendo make it unparalleled for post-production, such as post-production presets, sound effects content, and speech intelligibility in real-time with a Netflix loudness meter. The internal audio routing and workspace layout options make this DAW one of the best for large projects. Nuendo maintains a manageable user interface regardless of how many tracks are present. Many features are aimed at pro-level users, but Nuendo can be adapted into any filmmaker's workflow. All this and so many more innovations make this DAW a very enticing choice for filmmakers in particular.
Avid Pro Tools - Industry Standard
When it comes to large-scale projects, worldwide Pro Tools has solidified itself in many content creation industries. The scale, quality, and expansiveness that this DAW brings to the table make it the go-to for the film and TV industry. Syncing audio, sound effects, Foley, surround sound design, and template creation are just a few of the things that Pro Tools does exceptionally well for post-production projects. The user interface and experience are not the most modern-looking but it is by far one of the most reliable when considering multi-million dollar productions are continuously churned out on this DAW. The ability to arrange tracks and copy presets over to as many parts of the project is intuitive once the user is familiarized with a workflow. The startup and learning curve is a little similar to Nuendo, in that there is a learning curve and small projects could be done more efficiently on a less full-featured DAW. Pro Tools is guaranteed to handle any sized project—it comes down to your system's resources to keep it going. Unlike some of the other DAWs, Pro Tools has a free version available for creators to try. However, some of the advanced video editing features are only available in Pro Tools HD.
Which DAWs to stay away from
Not all DAWs have supporting video editing features. You can use the following products for video, but it would not be the most logical integration to do sound for picture or post-production. Some of these software products include PreSonus Studio One, Ableton Live, Audacity, and Cubase. These DAWs are more focused on manipulating audio and do not offer video workflows or post-production features that most filmmakers could find in the DAWs we already covered.
Conclusion
Sound quality is essential for the success of video content; whether it be the web, a vlog, corporate clients, marketing, YouTube, or Hollywood studios, there should be just as much attention to detail in audio as there is to video. It may not be easy to incorporate another tool—especially a DAW—into your workflow, but it will be well worth it to improve your productions. As mentioned before, no DAW is singularly the best—it is more important to focus on which one will be the best for you. Find product trials, watch reviews, dive into your audio. You won't regret it!
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Note From Tongal: "Benefits of Various Digital Audio Workspaces for Filmmakers" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
