Isn’t it wonderful how in this day and age you can record music of great quality from the comfort of your home? In fact, you can record anywhere you want. All you need is your computer, audio interface, microphone or an instrument, headphones, and a digital audio workstation to get things done. That’s it! Just imagine – you can even become a professional and do independent work from basically any location. All you need is one of the best free DAWs.
But with all this being said, you should first get educated on the topic and get your skills sorted out before diving into production and mixing work. You can easily buy a great computer, a solid audio interface, even monitors or headphones. However, choosing the perfect DAW (digital audio workstation) might not be that simple.
First and foremost, you’ll need to get acquainted with all the basic principles before you dedicate a certain portion of your budget to it. After all, some of the best recording software out there can be up to a few hundred dollars. This is the reason why we decided to help you start your musical journey by sharing some info on free DAWs and help you choose the best one for your needs. These will be more than enough to cover your needs as a novice or an intermediate musician.
Best Free DAWs Start Here With Audacity
Not exactly a DAW in the classic sense, Audacity is a great software for recording audio. Although you won’t get access to some of the standard features, this one’s pretty simple to use. In fact, it’s the perfect way for a beginner to get familiar with some basic concepts that they’ll see with some more advanced software.
Aside from basic features like recording on a few different channels/tracks and setting levels, you’ll also find a few different basic effects to further enhance your sound. This is an open-source program that works with Linux, Windows, and OSX operating systems, so it’s available to any average or advanced user. It’s nothing too fancy but will help you get the job done for some basic demos and other fun recordings.
Cubase LE
Steinberg is one of the most famous companies among the music creators. Formed in 1984, they finally made it big in 1989 with their famous Cubase platform. This DAW developed over the years and is now up there along with other professional software, such as Pro Tools. Aside from Cubase, they’re also known for pioneering VST plugins – virtual instruments and effects that are now industry-standard extensions for almost all DAWs.
Let’s focus on the free version available from their website, called Cubase LE. You can do most of the basic stuff that you can do on regular paid Cubase, only with a limited number of audio and MIDI tracks. You’ll also get 23 different VST effects and around 5 GB of different samples and loops. Overall, Cubase LE is a great way for a beginner to get into the world of professional music recording, although it would be a good idea to have prior experience with some of the simpler DAWs.
GarageBand
GarageBand is one of the most popular DAWs out there, mostly due to its straightforward design and user-friendly operation. Yes, you can only get it if you’re an Apple product user. But, it comes free with any of the iOS devices. Mac, iPhone, iPad. That’s all you need if you want to enter the world of music production as a novice. It’s pretty similar to Logic Pro, although includes just some basic features.
It’s great for guitar players as it comes with some amp models and different effects plugins. With GarageBand, you’ll know how to record multi-track projects and how to add effects to individual tracks. Pretty exciting for something that’s free of charge.
Pro Tools First
Similar to Cubase, it’s recommended that you get into the world of best free DAWs with something more basic other than Pro Tools First. On the other hand, this DAW could be useful if you feel like throwing yourself into the fire and learning music production in hard mode.
Pro Tools First allows you to record up to four tracks at once. Furthermore, you can have projects with up to 16 tracks. This is just about enough for a beginner, maybe even a professional musician who’s recording some demos. If you end up liking it, you can upgrade to the full pro version anytime.
Cakewalk
The downside to BandLab’s Cakewalk is the fact that it’s a Windows-only DAW. Other than that, it’s completely free software that’s as good as most of the paid professional platforms out there. It’s essentially the same as Sonar Platinum, so downloading Cakewalk is essentially a legal form of stealing.
But seriously, you get to record, mix, and play as many audio and MIDI tracks as you want. If you already have some experience with another simpler DAWs and want to get into a full professional-tier mode, then get yourself Cakewalk.
We’ll conclude our Best Free DAWs list with PreSonus Studio One Prime
PreSonus is well-known for its high-quality audio equipment and audio interfaces for all skill levels. Their Studio One Prime reflects the tradition of making great stuff for musicians. It was a shoo-in for our best free DAW list.
It’s a beginner-oriented DAW with a straightforward design and features that are perfect for new users. The only downside with Studio One Prime is that it doesn’t support any kind of plugins. For that feature, you’d need to upgrade to the paid version. But if you’re a beginner, you can just try it out and see how it works.
