Learning With Friends

The next time you need to learn a new DAW, plug-in, or a hardware unit with advanced functions, consider teaming up with someone. Harvard University’s Academic Resource Center (ARC) shares that, “Study groups can be an excellent way to strengthen your understanding,” and “are safe spaces where you can ask questions, [and] practice participation.” Not everyone is in a situation where they can partner up with someone. However, if things line up where this is possible, you might want to consider forming a learning group. (“Learning group” describes this better, as studying for an exam or developing test-taking strategies is not the focus.)

A few years ago, I switched to a different DAW. Every DAW has its own UI (user interface design) and UX (user experience design). As such, there’s always some type of learning curve when it comes to learning the ins and outs of a new DAW (no pun intended). I happened to be working with drummer Grant Calvin Weston, who was also new to the same DAW. Upon reflecting how Weston and I teamed up to learn the UI and UX of Cockos REAPER (the DAW we switched to), I realized that we unexpectedly and unintentionally formed a learning group. We were highly focused on becoming proficient with REAPER as quickly as possible, and learning together made it much faster and easier.

As an educator, I’ve always found study groups to be beneficial for students. Working with Weston in this situation was no different. Weston and I found ourselves on the phone or using Zoom to share our knowledge and troubleshoot together. “Well, in Pro Tools I did it this way.” “Hey, I don’t see how to bounce the session.” “Oh! Render and Bounce mean the same thing!” Whether it’s learning the language of a DAW, or finding something that you know is there but seems hidden, these challenges can often be solved more efficiently when in a learning group. (Having two people was a good fit for what Weston and I were doing, but learning groups can obviously include more participants.)

Of course there are plenty of tutorials out there, and Weston and I referred to them all the time. (Kenny Gioia’s REAPER Mania tutorials on YouTube are excellent!) But it is not possible to have real-time conversations with a tutorial, and this is where the learning group setting can really help. There were many times when Weston and I would watch tutorials together when trying to solve a problem. In fact, we had a running joke that we should just skip to the 3-minute mark because it would often take that long for the person to get through the seemingly endless amount of chatter before addressing the topic of the video. “When is this person going to begin discussing how to create a headphone mix?” (Gioia’s tutorials don’t have these long introductions!)

Explaining how to do something, or asking a question using DAW-specific language, can sometimes be a challenge. Learning groups can help with this too. As suggested by Harvard’s ARC, “Having the opportunity to explain concepts in your own words helps solidify your understanding of those concepts.” In other words, learning something new in a group setting can improve how you communicate about the topic at hand. (It did help that Weston and I were working on demos together. We had lots of material to work on, which was a major motivating factor in becoming proficient with REAPER as quickly as possible.)

Let’s face it, audio engineering can often be a solitary activity. Along with accelerating one’s learning, working in some type of learning group situation can be good for your mental health. Being part of a learning group gets you out of that solitary space audio engineers often find themselves in. What’s more, you can commiserate with your learning partner(s) about the frustrations one often encounters when learning to operate a new tool for the studio. Harvard’s ARC suggests, “Being in a group with a common goal supports and encourages focus on the work at hand.” This was certainly the case with Weston and I, and it absolutely accelerated our learning.