Independent Research

            For the independent research post I chose an innovation of technology that as an audio professional use daily. The modern DAW software multi track recorders are what I’m talking about. DAW software has really opened a lot of doors as far as home recording and popular music. As before where you had to go to a studio to get any type of recording done, now you can just buy software and you don’t have to pay for things like tape and a multi-track recorder. Its impact on popular music can also be seen by the sheer amount of processing that can be done with digital signals. As before where a studio would have to buy many rack units and gear now they can just simply download some plugins and they’re ready to use right at your fingertips. With this new amount of processing you can change the sound a lot more then before to create all new sounds not previously available. A characteristic of the innovation that is really the selling point on this one is the low cost of purchase. You can buy software that is anywhere from completely free to about a thousand dollars. Which is almost nothing compared to buying recording equipment before DAWs where implemented. A DAW is a one-time purchase but recording to tape requires the user to get tape and possible pay to fix it when it breaks. Software you can just simply re-install and it will be fixed. Another characteristic that really makes DAWs stand out as one of the greatest technological advances for recording is that you can simply record many, many more tracks you could previously. This opens many more doors as far as arrangements go because you can have well over 200 tracks for one session. This makes it possible to get many more instruments and drums and allows for a more rich and full production to a song. Also you can have all your sounds neatly organized if you are doing post for movies because they can use upwards of 500 tracks on a feature. With sound design you can also neatly trim your sounds and process them all with a nice visual to make everything nice and clear. As a listener this makes almost no difference that you would be able to hear except that you are now able to make all the sounds that you hear in modern music much easier. As a profession this is of the greatest things that has come out. It makes my life so much easier because I now can practice mixing and recording at my house and I don’t have to have that much gear. I can also now do home recordings for friends and clients much easier and don’t have to worry about buying tape or the machine breaking down while I’m recording.