How to Design a Computer Digital Audio Workstation?

DAW stands for digital audio workstation.

With advances in computer technology, the digital audio workstation (DAW) has become the centerpiece of the modern recording studio. With the right hardware and software, a DAW can record as many simultaneous tracks of audio as the input device supports. Some DAWs can record up to 64 tracks of audio at the same time, more than adequate for most recording sessions. Designing your own digital audio workstation will ensure the system is tailor-made to your specific needs.

Things You'll Need

• Main board with Pentium 4 or better CPU
• IEEE 1394 bus
• 1- to 4-GB system memory
• 2 7,200-RPM hard drives
• DVD burner
• Video card with 256 MB minimum video memory
• Professional multi-track audio input device
• Multi-track audio recording software

Instructions

1. Choose an Intel Pentium 4 dual-core or better processor. The more processing power, the more real-time special effects will be supported and the faster non-real-time effects will render.

2. Choose a main board or expansion card that supports the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. Professional multi-track audio interfaces support both USB and Firewire. Having a Firewire port will maximize your options when selecting an audio interface product.

3. Install a minimum of 1 gigabyte of system memory. More is better. Four GB will ensure the software can offer the maximum number of recording tracks available.

4. Install two hard drives. One should be dedicated to your operating system and software applications, while the other should be a large, single, 7,200-RPM drive dedicated for audio storage. Do not use RAID drive configurations because some DAW software will not support RAID storage devices. The drive dedicated to audio storage should have a minimum 500-GB capacity.

5. Install a DVD burner. No DAW would be complete without the ability to burn the completed audio master to a recordable CD. A DVD burner can provide both the ability to record the finished audio CD and allow for the creation of data backups to larger recordable DVD formats. A dual-layer recordable DVD can hold up to 8.5 GB of data, more than sufficient to backup smaller recording projects.

6. Install a dedicated video card. Do not use a main board with an integrated graphics controller. Choose a graphics card with a minimum of 256 MB of dedicated video memory.

7. Choose as large a monitor as possible. Viewing the controls for individual tracks in a multi-track DAW requires ample screen space to avoid eye strain. Choose a monitor with a minimum resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. Higher resolutions are preferred. Consider a minimum monitor size of 19 inches. A 24-inch or larger monitor, or dual monitors, will yield better visibility of the software controls during a recording session.

8. Choose a dedicated professional audio input device. This will be the heart of your DAW, allowing you to plug in the outputs from your audio mixer to the computer. Manufacturer's like Digidesign, Echo, M-Audio, MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) and others provide dedicated multi-track inputs that use Firewire or USB ports to attach to your computer.

9. Choose your recording software. Leading software titles for DAWs include Adobe Audition, Digidesign's Pro Tools and Sony Sound Forge. Which software you choose depends on your budget and feature requirements.

References

• Digidesign: Pro Tools LE 8.0-8.0.1 for Windows XP and Vista System Requirements
• Adobe: System requirements and languages