Dawn of the DAW

Dawn of the DAW tells the story of how the dividing line between the traditional roles of musicians and recording studio personnel (producers, recording engineers, mixing engineers, technicians, etc.) has eroded throughout the latter half of the twentieth century to the present. Whereas those equally adept in music and technology such as Les Paul were exceptions to their eras, the millennial music-maker is ensconced in a world in which the symbiosis of music and technology is commonplace. As audio production skills such as recording, editing, and mixing are increasingly co-opted by musicians teaching themselves in their do-it-yourself (DIY) recording studios, conventions of how music production is taught and practiced are remixed to reflect this reality. Divided into three parts, part I first examines DIY recording practices within the context of recording history from the late nineteenth century to the present. Second, part I discusses the concept of the studio as musical instrument, and the evolving role of the producer. Part II details current practices of DIY recording—how recording technologies are incorporated into music-making, and also how they are learned by DIY studio users in the musically-chic borough of Brooklyn. Part III examines the broader trends heard throughout the stories presented in part II, summarizing the different models of learning and approaches to music-making. Dawn of the DAW concludes by discussing the ramifications of these new directions for music educators.