DAW mixing

[austinerary]

If i mix a song in reason 6 the exact same way i mix a song in pro tools 9 (using stock plugins for both), will it have the same sound quality. Im confused because Ive heard that pro tools sounds better and ive heard that its all about the mixing and if you mix the same song the same way in any DAW it comes out the same. opinions? facts?

 

[Billboard Beatz]

There are slight changes in the sound algorithms used in different DAW's, but nothing you would notice, and it's definitely not a quality thing. Reason, FL Studio, Pro Tools, and other DAW's of that caliber all have the same sound quality. This doesn't mean that they all sound the same, but the differences are slight at best. Pro Tools is completely overrated, and I personally hate it's interface. I say stick to Reason, the sound quality thing is a myth.

 

[MarcDHall]

One way they vary wildly is the algorithm they use to downsample sample rate and bit depth. Even DAWs that seem high-end can be terrible at this. If you go and find comparison analysis of software that render audio youll find the results are seemingly random. I would have thought (ignoring different plugin settups) this is probably the biggest factor in sound differences between DAWs. After that it would be the DAWs internal summing architecture, doubt that amounts to much difference.

Another area of difference might be how they deal with delay compensation, but assuming both do it properly this wouldn't cause any difference in sound... and this is probably mostly mucked up by 3rd party plugins.

 

[Xabiton]

The last thing I would worry about when choosing a DAW is how it will sound in the final mix. All DAWs will give you a professional sounding mix if you can mix at a professional level. If not its you not the DAW. Every DAW has its ups and downs but there is no one best for mixing DAW. Maybe Pro Tools might have better mixing plug ins stock than most DAWs but I haven't touched Pro Tools since around 2006/2007

 

[krushing]

And of course, getting around SRC is simple as using the same sample rates/bit depths throughout - but of course, in modern production, where the samples can come from various sources (instead of simply recording everything at the target rate), this is rarely the case...