Depending on who you ask, the best DAW for beat making 2021 will always be a little different answer. I’ll go over my experiences using each program personally. Each producer should certainly explore every DAW for its strong points and not so strong points.
Creating Beats With Concepts In Mind
Whether a rookie or seasoned professional at making beats, chances are you want or need some concepts to make sure your beat production is on point! When I say concepts, I do not mean song topic. Beat making concepts can include types of sounds we use, how we track our instruments, how we arrange them and more. These concepts can actually better determine which DAW could work better for a project. For Midi based instruments and simple patterns alike, there is no argument that Maschine, FL Studio, Ableton, Pro-tools, etc – can cover the job. Beat Making 2021 has changed how view and deliver production.
Why Pick Just One DAW For Beat Making 2021?
This is my favorite question to ask. Why just pick one DAW for beat making? Most young producers will say FL Studio is all you need! Yes and NO!
Let me explain.
Beat making is done using computers and has been for a while. With that being said, there are some computer technical that affect the DAW decisions a producer makes. Lets take Pro-tools & FL Studio as the example. Pro-tools is where 80-90% of all mixing takes place for many reasons, but there is a mild set back. Pro tools runs on AAX plugin engine which is the equivalent to VST in FL Studio, Maschine or ableton. Each of them have sweet virtual instruments available, some available on both formats, some not so lucky. With that said, lets explore the having the best of all worlds.
Avid Pro-tools Is My Main DAW For Making Beats
Personally, Beat Making 2021, I choose Avid Pro-tools for my main DAW for beat making. Many people think of protools as a vocal tracking application. That is correct, the most delicate sounds for each track are vocals and recording them in ProTools, then mixing them in ProTools is ideal. My Outlook is why not give every instrument in your production the same appreciation. As a mixing engineer & producer, Ive never been asked to mix someone else’s beat from any DAW in anything but Pro-Tools. Just a simple statistic. I bring other DAWs like NI Maschine & FL Studio into Pro Tools to get the best DAW possible. My Pro-Tools has its natural powers, plus the features of any other DAW as needed.
Starting A Beat With Multiple DAW’s
I start my production by:
1. Opening Pro-Tools & Create a new project.
Best DAW For Beat Making 2021
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There are several templates included in Pro-Tools to help speed up track creation. I will include my template as a free download at the bottom of this article.
2. Once inside your project, be sure to have a stereo instrument track available.
3. On the Instrument Track, click on the first insert, navigate to multi channel, then Instruments and choose your DAW such as Maschine or DAW. This allows me to control the instrument or secondary DAW through Pro Tools, Oh yea!
4. Usages here vary depending on the type of sound or rhythm. Some sections of your beat need to be perfectly on time. While other sounds and audio textures can be little loose. The first sounds I create are typically used to create the beat around. So with that said, I really need them absolutely on beat. This is something you get a good feel for over time.
5. Once you have your midi loop tracked out in Protools, you can bus the sounds to an available audio track. This ensures that the sound you were going for is printed. Rather than a bunch of midi data, I want audio wave forms to push around.
6. Repeat This flow through each instrument until your production starts filling in like you want it.
7. Apply EQ, compression, reverbs delay’s and more as needed to get your beat to sit well as a mix.
Wrapping up our Best DAW For Beat Making article
There is really not a Best DAW For Beat Making in my opinion, but in conjunction they create some amazing sounding tracks.
If you are not the most fluent with ProTools, we have a beginners guide to ProTools. It goes over many fundamental elements like plugins and FX, setting up the grid and using busses and buss groups properly.
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