Music Production Buyer's Guide - DAWs

Alex Stanton • February 16, 2022

Sunburst teaches music production lessons on a variety of Digital Audio Workstation Software, also known as DAWS. The most popular music production software currently available is GarageBand for beginners and industry standards like Ableton and Logic Pro for more advanced students.

We encourage our students to have access to a PC or Mac capable of running any of these programs listed below. How do you know which software to choose?

Here's a quick user friendly guide to help decide which DAWS works best for you: 

GarageBand - FREE

With a large selection of software instruments, digital audio effects and easy-to-use interface GarageBand is a great place to start recording and composing your own music. Developed exclusively for MacOS, GarageBand can be downloaded for free onto any iMac or MacBook product from the App Store. Get it here.

Ableton Live - $

Unmatched in operating both digital and recorded music, Ableton Live is a program used by professionals but also a great tool for learning fundamental production skills. All three versions of Live can be downloaded for Mac or PC from Ableton’s website. We suggest you start with the ‘Intro’ version and gradually expand with plug-ins and upgrades as you learn. Get it here.

Logic Pro - $$

Exclusive to MacOS, Logic builds on the intuitiveness and accessible user interface of GarageBand and expands into a program capable of making professional quality music. A basic yet powerful digital audio workstation, it is considered an industry standard. It's strengths lie in its ease of use for mixing and recording live audio. Get it here.

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