Back in the “analog” day, life in the audio world was simpler. You could go anywhere in the world there was a tape machine and know that you could play your music. This is not the case any longer. In our digital world we have music software codes that differ from one manufacturer to another, file format differences, different types of storage and delivery systems for your masters, and so on. Technology is changing so rapidly that today’s format may not play on next year’s equipment. This course helps the student understand the operational differences of the various digital audio workstations (DAWs) and how to work with and around them. The student learns about quantization, aliasing, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion, digital delays, AC-3, DTS, and MPEG compression algorithms—all critical issues when creating a product. The course features a hands-on component allowing students to work on individual computers mixing music selections using industry-standard DAW software. This hands-on experience allows students to explore music mixing techniques, non-destructive editing, virtual patchbays, effects plug-ins, and CD burning.