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Seriously, Don't We Need a Better Acronym than "DAW"?


Anderton

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I keep thinking it's something that Homer Simpson says. But aside from that, does a "Digital Audio Workstation" sound like it's any fun? I think not.

 

Let's get some alternatives going. I kind of like VSS (Virtual Studio Software). I think it's more descriptive, and V is an inherently cool letter (just ask Roland). In any event., I think it's better than DOH. I mean, DAW.

 

Your turn...

 

 

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I never cared for DAW or its expansion, and particularly object when it's pronounced. I'll sometimes say "Dee-Ay-Doubleyou" when I'm talking to someone who knows what it means. Mostly I just say "the computer" or "computer software." I particularly dislike programs that call themselves a "studio." A studio is a room, and the only rooms in a computer based audio production facility are the place where you put the speakers and monitor or a plug-in.

 

How about "Replacement For All The Hardware That Goes Into An Audio Production Control Room, or

 

RFATHSTGIAAPCR

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I don't care for DAW either because it doesn't accurately describe the way I use my system. I produce electronic music, using MIDI in the beginning that I then nuance, often heavily, with VSTi's. Only occasionally will I lay down an actual audio track. So I think something that emphasizes the way I operate my system would be appropriate -- at least for the way I do things.

 

DMM = Digital Music Machine

ADMM = Analog and Digital Music Machine

EMM = Electronic Music Machine.

AMICS = Audio and MIDI Interface to Computer Software

AMMS = Audio and MIDI Musical System

 

No clever acronyms so far -- but anything's better than the almost Homer Simpson-like DAW! (slaps forehead)

 

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I don't care for DAW either because it doesn't accurately describe the way I use my system. I produce electronic music, using MIDI in the beginning that I then nuance, often heavily, with VSTi's. Only occasionally will I lay down an actual audio track. So I think something that emphasizes the way I operate my system would be appropriate -- at least for the way I do things.

 

Well, the outcome of your work is an audio production, and you're using your digital workshop tools to get to that end. So it seems to me that you're the perfect candidate for having a digital audio workstation.

 

 

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Well, the outcome of your work is an audio production, and you're using your digital workshop tools to get to that end. So it seems to me that you're the perfect candidate for having a digital audio workstation.

 

 

Well, of course the outcome is audio, but this ignores for the most part the process. It is an oversimplification by referring to it as "digital."

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But it's also about mixing and editing, which is why I think "virtual studio software" makes sense.

 

Yes and it does production, mastering, sometimes video & publishing inter alia.

 

I think recording software & hardware makes it easy.

 

I saw Petula Clark* live last night at a casino. There were three technicians seated in the middle area of the

audience operating a big digital mixer & a couple of other hardware devices. Maybe one was for video?

 

I'd rather just call each device what it is, Acronyms inevitably are a one-way road into Nerdsville.

 

(*She's 86 years old.)

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In response to the M.O.M.

 

how about Digital Audio Delivery or D.A.D.

 

(sorry, I couldn't resist).

 

I think DAW is going to stick. I've never-ever seen the Simpsons, so it doesn't have that connection with me. Turned off the TV in the late 1980s and have had a better and more interesting life since then.

 

Notes

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Yes and it does production, mastering, sometimes video & publishing inter alia.

 

Which is why I think "studio" is the perfect umbrella term. I do all of the above in my...ahem...DAW.

 

I'm not so interested in acronyms as I am in a term that can be understood by people reading my recording books for the first time. I kept running into that issue while writing the books. Digital Audio Workstation - what the hell does that mean? I tried "recording software" but that didn't work in the book on mixing. "Recording, tracking, mixing, and editing software" is a mouthful and doesn't take into account things like audio for video anyway.

 

But if you think about it, these programs all emulate a studio to some degree or another, and they do so inside a computer...virtual studio software. I think most people who saw that could understand what it meant.

 

Anyway that's the term I'm now using in the books until something better comes along, so maybe it will be adopted by the world at large :) I also think it's simple enough there's little incentive to keep turning it into an acronym. I think the only reason DAW gets used so much is because using a "digital audio workstation" doesn't sound like fun at all, so it's no fun to say :)

 

BTW I saw Petula Clark a few years back, she was 82 and she was great.

 

 

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But if you think about it, these programs all emulate a studio to some degree or another, and they do so inside a computer...virtual studio software. I think most people who saw that could understand what it meant.

 

The term "studio" is kind of ambiguous, too. An artist (painter, sculptor, etc.) usually has does a project start-to-finish in a single room that has all the equipment he needs (other than running out to the store to get another tube of paint or bag of plaster). So one can call that room a studio. And a large percentage of music today is created in this same way - a computer and some software, with a few accessories, are all you need and it all fits in a single room. So, yeah, you could call that a studio, too.

 

However, as far as audio production goes, I've always believed in the model where the artist is in the studio (which might be a vocal booth or the bathroom or an auditorium) and most of the tools and skilled operator is in an adjacent room, or maybe these days, across town or on the other side of the globe. And the project isn't ready for public consumption until you send it out for mastering and replication. The place where the artist performs is the studio. All of the other places are workrooms. This can be slippery when the one operating the tools is also an artist - that is, adds to the creativity of the project, not simply putting it in a box. And for sure, much of the time today, the artist in the studio and the artist in the control room are the same person.

 

And then there's the building with the "Recording Studio" sign over the door (or not if you don't want to attract burglars) - which is where you go to make a record. That's what most people who aren't directly involved think of as a "the studio."

 

Much as I don't like it, I accept the term "DAW" on the assumption that I'll explain the important functions as explanations become necessary.

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She was great at 86 but the show was a little sad. No CD's, photos or memorabilia for sale. Five-piece band, maestro on grand piano, bass player, drums, guitar (Taylor & Strat) and a guy seated at a rompler.

 

The rompler guy did not play samples of all those great British Pop orchestrations

of her records w/ Tony Hatch. I was hoping to hear that.

 

Unfortunately, he did play samples of awful Andrew Lloyd Weber choirs on Evita.

 

I enjoyed her reminiscences about people she'd met & known, Charles Chaplin, Sophia Loren, John Lennon.

 

Some impatient lady in the crowd kept shouting "Downtown"! I think she paid to hear that song & wanted to get back to playing the penny slots.

 

Maybe an hour after the show, I saw the roadies packing the gear onto the tour bus.

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RANT

 

Well, we need something else because "DAW" has not been used right for a long time. Using it to describe only the software is incorrect, but now everyone does it. A DAW is the software (if any) AND the hardware combined. I think I'm the only one who remembers. "DAW Software" is correct when referring to the software part. Either people are too young to know that or so old they forgot what early DAWs were and why it ain't software alone.

 

/RANT

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I think I'm the only one who remembers. "DAW Software" is correct when referring to the software part. Either people are too young to know that or so old they forgot what early DAWs were and why it ain't software alone.

 

I remember. I sometimes take a shortcut and write "DAW," but only after I've written "DAW software" or "DAW program" it's clear that I'm talking about the software part. Nobody has the attention span to read or write "Audio recording and editing software."

 

 

 

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