JUST A DAE AWAY
Mar 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
Over the past decade or so, a certain three-letter abbreviation has become a household name for music producers: DAW. Short for digital audio workstation, this ubiquitous catchphrase typically refers to those magical do-it-all recording/sequencing software packages such as Digidesign Pro Tools, Apple Logic, Cakewalk Sonar, Steinberg Cubase and MOTU Digital Performer, among others. There is another three-letter acronym, however, that should be just as ubiquitous: DAE. That acronym stands for digital audio editor, and although just about every DAW out there contains some degree of audio editing, a dedicated DAE workhorse ought to live among every pro and bedroom studio's sonic arsenal. The more your work consists of samples, the more that rule applies.
THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
So what are digital audio editors, and what can they do that the typical DAW cannot? For starters, DAEs are used to handle bread-and-butter editing jobs such as fade-ins and fade-outs; volume (decibel) adjustments; entire file or sectional cut, copy and paste functions; mono/stereo swapping; and audio file-format conversions such as WAV to AIFF or 24-bit to 16-bit. While most DAWs can handle many of those everyday tasks, the sweetness of DAEs lies in their finer details. For instance, while Logic can handle fade-ins and fade-outs and even adjust the predefined fade curve, BIAS Peak allows you to custom-design fade curves from scratch with an unlimited number of free-floating, user-defined points; with that degree of control, you can create any kind of fade slope you need. In addition, stand-alone DAEs typically provide a more extensive list of sophisticated editing tools than most DAWs do, including down-to-sample-level pitch and harmonic correction; pop and noise repair; tempo altering (also known as time-stretching); channel swapping and start-to-end audio inversion; complex filtering and clipboard content blending; freeform wave drawing; and much more. Some DAEs provide convenient tools for uploading and downloading samples to and from popular hardware samplers, and like DAWs, many also provide full support for a variety of third-party plug-in formats, such as VST and Audio Units. This opens up a whole world of utilitarian and creative possibilities. For example, let's say you are a Propellerhead Reason user who always applies a little reverb on your snares, but you're not especially fond of Reason's built-in reverbs. Before your mixdown, you can open up your favorite raw snare sample from Reason in your plug-in friendly DAE, process it with a better-quality reverb of your choice, then replace that dry snare back in Reason with the processed version.
PROCESSING APLENTY
Aside from audio file micro-editing capabilities, most full-featured DAEs also include batch-file processing — an extremely handy tool that many DAWs lack. With batch processing, you can predetermine a destination file type along with its parameters (for example, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, 24-bit, 128 Kbps, 44.1 kHz and so on) and then convert as many different audio files as you want through the same settings in one fell swoop. Some DAEs add the ability to apply plug-ins during the batch-conversion process, while others allow you to save batch-processor presets. If, for example, you always compose and record in 24-bit but in the end burn your songs onto standard 16-bit CDs, you can save a batch-process setting for that conversion, while another can be saved and reused for the reverb routine. Although that can be a huge time-saver when converting large libraries of audio files, it should be mentioned that batch processing should be used with discretion, especially when performing anything overtly audible (just about anything beyond — and often including — simple file-format conversions). Individual files, especially finished songs, should always be separately auditioned for quality assurance after such group processing.
FINANCIAL FEAR FACTOR
Right now, the many owners of small, just-budding home studios may be crying out desperately, “Audio software is so expensive!” Well, there's no need for woe or excuses in this case, no matter how slim your wallet is. There are many good DAE options — for retail sale and free of charge — for Mac and Windows systems, as well as others. On the Mac side, BIAS Peak ($599 Pro, $129LE; www.bias-inc.com) is the reigning champion for OS X. HairerSoft's Amadeus II ($30; www.hairersoft.com) is an excellent shareware editor for Mac OS 9 and OS X, as well as for Windows. Speaking strictly of Windows, Adobe Audition ($299; www.adobe.com), formerly called Cool Edit Pro, and Sony Sound Forge ($399; www.sonymediasoftware.com) battle for the gold medal, and there are literally scores of inexpensive DAEs, including DanDans' Music Editing Master ($39.95; www.dandans.com). At the time of this writing, all of those applications had free trial downloads available, so you can try them before shelling out hard-earned dough. For the seriously cash-strapped, Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) is perhaps the most popular and feature-rich freebie; it's stable, easy to use, open-source (meaning the program's source code is available to the general public) and cross-platform (Windows/Mac OSX/Linux/Unix).
Whether you're producing sample- or software-derived electronic music, multitracking a band's vocals and instruments, recording DJ sets, delving into the world of mastering or planning to work on film scores, a proper DAE is a worthwhile investment. For sample manipulation, DAEs open up literally infinite possibilities for creativity and micro-control; for traditional analog recordings, finished tracks or scores, a good DAE can become your best friend for that desperately needed glitch repair or final polish; and for preparing a batch of songs for your next album, EP or single, don't be caught dead without one. If you haven't already, go online and add a DAE to your virtual toolshed.
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