How Consumer DAWs Restrict Creativity

Mar 20

Until just a few decades ago, music production required access to a huge, prestigious studio or a sizable investment in a home studio. While people still invest heavily in home recording gear (who doesn’t have a too-expensive Sweetwater wishlist?), modern music production has never been cheaper or more accessible. Today’s bedroom laptop producer has more than enough resources to make a legitimate record. The rise of the home studio combined with online independent music distribution means that most people are making music with their own micro setup.

It is challenging to pinpoint where precisely this started. Is recording more accessible because more people than ever are trying to make music, or is it the other way around? Are more people making music because music recording has become more accessible?

However the snowball effect began, the current state of music production is much different than it used to be, and the market clearly caters towards this reality. Nearly all high-end audio companies have started releasing products designed and priced for beginners. At the head of this trend are software companies and DAW developers.

DAWs like Logic, Ableton, and Pro Tools are designed more and more with the novice in mind. Plugins and virtual instruments come with endless banks of presets. Even workflows are predetermined with templates.

The positive side is that new creatives can get to a place of musical feedback very quickly. With a microphone and a MIDI controller, you can get to a reasonably acceptable sound with minimal effort. However, there are some downsides that manifest later in the process.

1. Originality Suffers

The most obvious pitfall of the consumer-centric DAW is that the music generated with presets starts to sound all the same. When every user is presented with the same options (even if it’s a lot of options), the results start to blend together. We don’t always realize how much the technology we use influences the music that we are creating. Every tool has limitations and creative opportunities built into it, so it makes sense that the most natural pathways of creativity on each tool are going to be used first.

Consumer-centric DAWs and programs take this a step further by presenting the user with options and presets rather than supporting a truly original creative process. Logic Pro will start every new session with the option to open one of a few possible tracks, instrument, audio, or drummer.

This seems to be the most challenging obstacle to overcome in a consumer-centric DAW. Many times, I have found myself working very hard to strip away the presets and get to the heart of a virtual instrument or a plug-in so I could use it for the simple task I was looking for when I pulled it up. It’s worth acknowledging how difficult it is to try to do something simple with a complex program.

Some of my most creative work has been done with the least amount of help from digital technology. There’s a sense of convenience when pulling in a pre-made loop, but there’s more creativity at work when I take the tools that are around me and construct a loop on my own. It’s quick and convenient to pick the best preset on a synthesizer plugin, but I always feel more confident with the patches I build from scratch.

My solution to this problem is to avoid presets as much as possible and limit the tools I use to those that I can fully understand. Take the time to dig deep into one audio tool or feature so that you can grasp each part of the tool. It will take more time at the beginning but will save you time and creative energy in the future.

2. Technical Understanding is Limited

Another significant limitation to consumer-centric DAWs is the fact that technical understanding is usually set aside. When I first started producing music, I honestly just cycled through different options that were in front of me. I usually didn’t know what was contributing to the quality of sound that I liked. When the creative path is handed to you, even the most fundamental music production concepts can be obscured. What is the difference between a sawtooth or sine wave? How does the attack time on a compressor change the sound of the track?

Without a technical understanding of the tools we are using, we will be unable to move beyond the preset instructions and we won’t be able to solve problems in our sound design, editing, and mixing.

The **Kilohearts 3-Band EQ** is an excellent example of a simple but useful plugin for overall frequency shaping.

When cycling through presets, we might come across something that works perfectly for the project, but more likely, we will find something that almost works for our project. This is especially true of presets on audio processing tools like equalizers and compressors. Any preset is only a guideline meant to get the creator close to where they need to be for the described task. A Kick Drum EQ preset might have some curves ready to go in certain conventional areas, but it won’t be tailored precisely to the sound you are dealing with. Without technical knowledge of how the tool works, we aren’t able to efficiently and effectively deal with technical issues.

My solution is to find the most straightforward tools and instruments available and explore the variability within that simple program. Pick out a simple EQ with a few curves and audition and test each feature on as many tracks and ideas as you can. Take as much time as you need to explore each tool fundamentally, and you’ll start to see similarities across the different tools you need to produce music.

3. Premade Workflows Restrict Creativity

I recently told my students about my love/hate relationship with Pro Tools. The design of Pro Tools is deeply comprehensive but sometimes not the most user-friendly. If you don’t know what you are looking for, you are not very likely to stumble upon it. Beginner DAWs like GarageBand have the opposite feature. Most of the critical utilities are front and center, but functionality is severely limited.

This is, of course, by design. The beginning producer isn’t worried about how to access split mono panning versus stereo panning. GarageBand, while a very capable DAW, is not designed for serious music production as much as it is for music creation, exploration, and enjoyment. (It’s worth noting that such a program can be incredibly valuable for discovering new creative pathways).

Pro Tools traditionally opens with a blank slate. It’s up to the producer, editor, or engineer to construct their own workflow. I have found that the difference between beginner and developing producers comes down to their workflow. How are tracks laid out? How is your routing set up? How are your clips organized, and how are you managing the layers of your projects?

Sometimes, these questions never get asked, but they are the doorway to creativity and excellence in the recording process. If you’re just starting your creative journey, enjoy the process and let the program do what it was made to do. If you’re getting stuck and can’t progress forward, it might be time to take a different approach to your workflow and invest in a DAW that lets you customize the design. There are many DAWs that do this, but I favor Pro Tools for editing and mixing workflow and Ableton LIVE for creative composition and sound design.

My solution is to take the time to think about what your goal is in each session and evaluate how the DAW and tools are going to advance or hinder that objective. Think about what kind of music you will be making, what tools are required, and what kind of track organization will be needed. My DAW choice is much more concerned with workflow than any other feature.

The GarageBand Master module shows the basics of a mastering chain without giving the producer a mix window. Mastering is possible here but generally limited.

4. Critical Creative Skills Are Delayed

The biggest challenge of consumer-centric DAWs and plugins is the limitation placed on creative music production skills. Where knowledge is lacking, creativity suffers. Everyone can learn to take time to explore the ins and outs of a program or plugin to understand the possibilities and limitations better.

There is a time for stream-of-consciousness creative flow and a time for critical learning. Try to separate the two and take the occasional block of time to sit with your tools and explore how they work with a learning mindset. Every new skill and technique you learn will help you in your creative workflow. Failure to explore and learn means that you will continue to hit roadblocks in your creativity.

My solution is to read and research each tool in your studio, even the ones you think you know very well. You might be amazed at how much you can learn about music and production by reading user manuals. I know it sounds tedious and boring, but consider the benefits of taking in as much information as possible about how each tool was designed to be used. Of course, the Pro Tools manual is quite the commitment, but I have seen growth in my workflow by targeting a few specific tasks, like understanding the editing modes. Even though I understood how they worked, taking the time to read about their design gave me a few new ideas.

Controlled Creativity

When a program hands you options and creative pathways, it can be a convenient help or a long-term detriment. I generally try to avoid any program or plugin that doesn’t let me customize every feature unless it has a particular use. Tools that hold your hand in the short term will limit your creativity in the long term.

Use the tools available to you to learn about the basics of music production and apply that knowledge across the board. If you can’t understand why something is doing what it’s doing, take ten minutes to research it. If you’re productively learning something, take a couple of hours! Then, get back into making music with newly discovered skills.

When you start thinking critically about the technology you’re using, you’ll stop simply seeing the programs in front of you and start working with controlled creativity and professionalism. Any freeform creativity will be intentional exploration instead of your blind searching, and when it’s time to get technical and detailed, you’ll be more prepared to approach the challenge.

Nathan Lain

Nathan is a music producer, worship leader, and teacher. He lives in Kankakee, IL, with his wife and two boys. He has a B.M. in Music Composition from Olivet Nazarene University and an M.M. in Music Production from Berklee Online and serves as an adjunct professor of recording arts at Olivet Nazarene University. Nathan’s work as a worship leader has led him to travel around the Midwest over the last decade, performing at churches and events. He now serves as the worship director for Orland Park Christian Reformed Church. He is the president of the non-profit ministry People of Freedom and a self-published writer for Abiding Daily.