Interesting Twitter thread: your DAW history
Can you remember your DAW history, without wincing?
me:
pre 1990: borrowed Nagra 4.2 + rented Teac A3340
1991: Digidesign Sound Tools + 24 track tape
1992: Digidesign ProTools 1.0 + every version since
1995: Opcode Studio Vision Pro + Samplecell + Recycle
1999: Metasynth 1.0 + every version since
2002: ableton LIVE 1.0 + every version since
Those early days were tough, but learning an app as complex as these is somewhat easier, incremently.
The joy of getting a new PT update, skimming the new feature list, checking if it actually works…
For a year or two ProTools really only functioned as a sound editor (ProEdit) as the recorder part (ProDeck) was unreliable. I was recording foley a lot for TV series back then, and with every new release, me and foley artist Simon (RIP) would try it, to see if we could record in sync to picture. Pre-roll the tape, run a loop, watch it drop into record, switch to ProEdit… nothing! OK back to tape.
Not to get too nostalgic but I also remember recording foley to 24 track tape with a well known Australian foley artist Greg (RIP) and on a film (End of the Golden Weather) he just could not nail an entire take of a boy walking up a rickety old set of wooden steps at a beach. So he told me to drop in between steps, just before the point where he kept missing sync. Gulp! OK.. Pre-roll the video, run the loop, count the steps up to the drop, 9 and 10 AND punch-in!