Why is Logic and Pro Tools "Industry Standard"?

[tehlord]

If you go back 20 years the DAW really took off with the Pro Tools systems based around Macs and the Pro Tools hardware DSP.

You'd have a rock solid (and VERY expensive) system that just wiped the floor with the tapes that most studios were still using at the time.

Logic would be used as well because all the studios had Macs anyway.

If you want to port a project from one studio to the other ProTools is still the goto format, especially in the US.

[DuX]

@tehlord In the 90s I used Atari and an analog studio with a real console and a real multitrack, until the late 90s when I got into PCs. So I never personally worked with Macs. I've encountered them here and there in other studios, though. I've never liked the "elitism" and the price tag surrounding all these "industry standards". Music can be made with a 4 track and some cans, gears, hammers... now that's an industry standard!

Pro Tools is a standard just as Volkswagen Beetle is an industry standard car... personally, who uses what is of absolutely no concern to me. I use what I like and export WAV/AIFFs. I also receive WAV/AIFFs. That's enough industry standard for me.

[tehlord]

@tehlord In the 90s I used Atari and an analog studio with a real console and a real multitrack, until the late 90s when I got into PCs. So I never personally worked with Macs. I've encountered them here and there in other studios, though. I've never liked the "elitism" and the price tag surrounding all these "industry standards". Music can be made with a 4 track and some cans, gears, hammers... now that's an industry standard!

So did I, but what you do at home bears no relation to what professional studios require. It's not elitism, it's business.

[DuX]

Well, I use Reaper and I can tell you the business is just fine [I'm also into computer business, too]. Even though it's admittedly a very small business and I don't aspire to go bigger anyway, nor would I change my setup according to that. I've been using it since around 2007 when I finally gave up on Steinberg "industry standard" that crashed one time too much on me. Industry standards shouldn't crash. Industry standards also shouldn't make you wait 5 minutes until you're able to use the software. When you start Pro Tools you can go order pizza and even eat it until it finally loads.

[saturdaysaint]

Because top flight recording engineers/producers, few of whom are exactly "software enthusiasts" like those here, need to be able to walk into any studio they work and have essentially identical workflow.

[Hink]

during my time in retail Pro-Tools digi 001 came out (somewhere I should still have the VHS tape showing off 001), my department was recording/pro audio/keyboards/dj but at the time I did not even own a computer. I sold a lot of ADATs (I mean a lot) using the same words "ADAT is the industry standard" which simply meant that it could be found in most studios.

Kind of a lost art these days with the internet but as a salesman it use to mean that it was my job to help the customer get what fits him/her the best. Industry standard helped sell products but it didn't matter to a lot of people though because they did not need to take their work to other studios. Still though it was a strong selling point because often people would record their own parts but when it came to mixing they would book studio time to mix. We didn't have all the software we have now so having decent DSP and FX was costly and many home enthusiasts just did not have the means to afford these multi thousand dollar processors so industry standard did have a place. In fact it was "over 70,000 are in use today in studios all over the world" and that was a strong selling point for many.

Pro-tools became the industry standard because of the same reason, it still holds true today as many studios still use Pro-tools. However things have changed a lot including the fact there are translators now for different formats, EDL and some software can export to OMF (like samp). Still it does not recall everything because of the difference in how each DAW works. The thing is though depending on your skills and your needs not to mention your gear you may not worry about that as much these days because typically if going to a studio to mix you're going to mix things down to stems anyhow.

So Pro-tools being industry standard imo is more about sales these days than the actual application of an industry standard. Still it does matter to some people and some people like to carry their projects around on thumb drives or other portable storage devices. So in that aspect industry standard has not changed much, what has changed is the amount of people that applies to. Once again it would be a salesman's job (if he is a true salesman and not a store clerk) to help the customer determine what is best for them. Unfortunately we have less salesmen and more people coming to forums like KvR to ask what they should get which often just turns into a popularity contest.

I cant speak for Logic, when I was working at MARs I wanted to Logic over PT but I had a friend at eMagic. Logic went to all mac and when I did get my first computer a year or so after I left Mars it was a PC. So I started my journey there and in 07 landed on Samplitude. I learned over the years to not let fluff words make my decisions. I can say that I have never had a cause to question whether I should go with an industry standard, midi, wav, mp3, flac, VST, VSTi, sample rates and such are the only real industry standards I concern myself with and so far not a single issue as a result.

BTW FTR (or at least this is how I learned it) "Pro" in Pro-tools does not stand for professional, it stands for production.

[Dewdman42]

I don't know. PT became a standard because of the DSP hardware they made back in the day when a computer alone could not really do what it can do today. Once it became a standard with a lot of pros that knew how to use it, then it had critical momentum. While PT has a lot of great audio editing and batch processing features that came out of practical considerations of pro work on slow computers, it is by no means the best tool for some jobs.

A lot of film score guys swear by Digital Performer, which has not been mentioned yet.

As to Logic, I don't know, maybe because its very inexpensive, considering all that is packaged together, so people get it and use it.

All the DAW's now are pretty awesome in their own way. Some have certain things they do better then others, and in my mind there is no clear winner. If you work effectively with one of htem, then use it! Make music. That's it.

[whyterabbyt]

When I first used PT (v4?), there was a sort of 'bridge' for Logic that let it directly access Digidesign hardware. Dont think there was another DAW at that time which had that as an option, but that sort of tied them together as a unified solution - Logic for sequencing, PT for audio editing and mixing to video. I think that would have let Logic kinda piggyback on the ubiquity of PT somewhat.

I dont know why there alway seems to be an intrinsic pejorative to the question 'why is PT an industry standard'; its almost as if there's an implied 'because it should be my favourite toy because I think that's better'. Which fundamentally misses the point.

Its also always worth remembering that its actually a multiple-industry standard; its heavily dominant in the film/broadcast industries as well. Post-production studios dont piss about worrying if they're using your favourite toy; they have a job needs done, and if you're a professional you're there to do that job. Until you run the company, you do it with the tools they provide, and the tool they tend to provide for that particular task is ProTools. If you know PT you can work for most of them. If you dont, your options are much slimmer. Do you want a job, or is your ego so invested in a specific set of toys that you'll forego that on principle?

If you really want a job in the industry, why would you be concerned what the tools used might be? You'd use them to do the job.
For one's own work, though, why would anyone even care what anyone else uses?

All the DAW's now are pretty awesome in their own way. Some have certain things they do better then others, and in my mind there is no clear winner. If you work effectively with one of htem, then use it! Make music. That's it.

Absolutely. Plus, nothing stops you from using more than one, either.

[thewizrad]

@tehlord In the 90s I used Atari and an analog studio with a real console and a real multitrack, until the late 90s when I got into PCs. So I never personally worked with Macs. I've encountered them here and there in other studios, though. I've never liked the "elitism" and the price tag surrounding all these "industry standards". Music can be made with a 4 track and some cans, gears, hammers... now that's an industry standard!

Pro Tools is a standard just as Volkswagen Beetle is an industry standard car... personally, who uses what is of absolutely no concern to me. I use what I like and export WAV/AIFFs. I also receive WAV/AIFFs. That's enough industry standard for me.

What he said.

[Tronam]

Its also always worth remembering that its actually a multiple-industry standard; its heavily dominant in the film/broadcast industries as well. Post-production studios dont piss about worrying if they're using your favourite toy; they have a job needs done, and if you're a professional you're there to do that job. Until you run the company, you do it with the tools they provide, and the tool they tend to provide for that particular task is ProTools. If you know PT you can work for most of them. If you dont, your options are much slimmer. Do you want a job, or is your ego so invested in a specific set of toys that you'll forego that on principle?

That's an excellent point I forgot to consider. In the post production world, especially in TV and film audio, Protools really does resemble an industry standard. It's mainly the composers who are spread out across all of the other DAWs.

[LawrenceF]

On second thought. Never mind.

[spaceman]

On second thought. Never mind.

That's usually the way to go.

[LawrenceF]

Yeah. I forgot where I was for a moment.