Word for the Day Archive

DAW

Pronounced "Dee - A - Double-U", the abbreviation (not acronym) for Digital Audio Workstation. DAW's are common in almost any studio these days. They are typically defined as having some ability to record, manipulate, and play back audio recordings or samples. In their early days DAW's were primarily considered editing stations. Material was taken from the primary recording media (usually tape) and dumped into one of these systems for editing, and then returned to the original media for the remainder of the project. Nowadays DAW's can act as an entire recording studio with all mixing, processing, and mastering on one computer.