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Opening a DAW session can sometimes reveal a jumble of tracks that can take awhile to untangle. And this can even be true of our own sessions we haven't seen in a few months. In the past, engineers could open a reel of two inch + go to work after quickly glancing at a track sheet. With DAW sessions that's usually not the case. These guidelines intend on making it that easy, if not easier, and without intentionally reinventing the wheel. They're simply adapted versions of common practices used with tape applied to DAWs.

The guidelines debuted as a part of my Hard Disk Life mixing series in 2002. Since then, the Technical Subcommittee of the Florida P+E Wing of NARAS worked hard to extensively update, expand + improve them. They were then reviewed by the national members of NARAS, and we received many excellent suggestions which were incorporated. The resulting guidelines are based on the input of some of the most experienced engineers + producers in the industry, including Roger Nichols, Bob Ludwig, Tony Maserati, Mick Guzauski, Eric Schilling + William Whittman to name a few, and representatives from most of the major DAW manufacturers.

When followed these guidelines can eliminate much confusion for all operators, provide answers to anticipated questions, solve certain problems before they arise, and shorten the time between when an operator opens a session and when they are able to go to work.

A lot of work + research went into creating these guidelines + making them useful + applicable to nearly all DAWs. They're specifically designed to apply to Cubase, Digital Performer, Logic, Nuendo, Pro Tools, + Sonar. But they should also apply to nearly every DAW out there. Please let me know if something in them doesn't make sense with your platform.

And a huge THANK YOU to all of our very talented contributors who worked so hard to make these guidelines a reality: Chuck Ainlay, Carlos Alvarez, Judson Coplan (Apple), Vincent di Pasquale, Frank Filipetti, Trevor Fletcher (Criteria/Hit Factory), Scott Garrigus, Gil Gowing (Digidesign), Don Gunn, Bob Hunt (Apple), Jim Morris, Tom Morris, Roger Nichols, Greg Ondo (Steinberg), David Rosenthal, Eric Schilling, Ron Taylor, Steve Thomas (Cakewalk), Alex Westner (Cakewalk).


Here are the DAW Guidelines for Music Production:

Full Version (PDF)

Short Version (PDF)

Thank you for downloading them.

We hope they help you as much as they've helped all of us who use them.

The link doesn't seem to be linking to the correct document. I have version 1 of the guidelines from your HDL series, but would be interested to see the revisions/updates you guys made.

Linked fixed. Sorry!

Not completely related but Waves has a 50% discount for any product if you're a NARAS member!

It's a one time shot, but say if you've not quite had the dough for that Platinum TDM bundle, you can finally get it.


Best part is that it's ongoing, not limited to this month's special!

Hope it's not just me but what's NARAS?

How can one join?

Thats for posting the document charles, there's some gteat stuff in there.

Hey Craig,

How's it goin?

NARAS stands for the National Academy of Recording Arts + Sciences.

They also go by the name The Recording Academy.

But everyone knows them as the people that put on the Grammys.

And I'm not really sure how membership works for people in other countries. I looked around the website (www.grammy.com) to see if I could find an answer, but I couldn't. Sorry.

I'll try to find out.

I hope all's well.

Best,
Charles