With his unconventional approach, Mac Demarco revolutionized and redefined the true sense of the music industry. Away from the traditions, his unequivocal approach led him to challenge the overall sonic vision by making the listeners taste the unfiltered raw musical experience.
For this unique experience, he focuses on developing new landscapes to challenge the digital age. Although he compiled all his songs from his bedroom, his generational approach, using different equipment in different decades, made him a legend.
So, by acknowledging the possibilities of Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), he redefines the industry values and empowers independent singers.
Table of Contents
Who is Mac Demarco?
Known for his unique musical style, Mac Demarco, the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, has a strange musical sense. Beyond the traditions, his aesthetic sense of music with creativity made him rule the industry. After the start of his career, the success of his outstanding albums quickly got public attention.
His music sense has garnered him a worldwide fan following, and there’s a continuous demand for remaking old but natural music albums. And he segmented the music into different periods, and each period ended with a unique album.
His unique and irreverent appearance in studios and the stages made him build a natural connection with the audience. He also embarks and resonates with the industry with the embodiment of do-it-yourself.
With his enchanting melodies and delightful persona, Demarco has brought himself a special place for himself in the industry and the legend of indie rock. Besides this, he has also collaborated with other artists and enhanced their leverage on digital audio workstations.
What DAW does Mac Demarco use?
Throughout his career, Demarco has been influential in using different DAWs that have revolutionized the industry with his creative ideas and unequivocal approach. Besides this, the classical DAWs enrich him with new innovative ideas to blend the music to create unconventional music.
However, the commonly associated DAWs with Demarco’s are Logic Pro and Ableton Live.
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is an extensive instrumental equipment that sparks curiosity with its comprehensive recording and production abilities. He uses Logic as his primary DAW equipment because of its better quality and production. “He runs Logic as his primary DAW and always has Reaper handy.” from exclaim.ca’s description
Most well-known work has become digital after the successful start from analog gear.
However, he records compositions, keeps his performances unique and raw, and stresses the band. “I would make sure that, ‘Okay, I’m going to do a take, and this is the take, and there’s no second try. Let’s get it good this time.'”
After setting up the mobile studio, the logic pro helped during road trip recordings, developing new ideas and creating a breakthrough “Five Easy Hot Dogs” album with portable and high-fidelity gear. The classical albums reflect the artist’s extraordinary efforts and unique approach with high-fidelity logic gear.
And with Logic’s stunning capability to handle multiple tracks, he focuses on recording the bass and guitar without an amplifier. He says, “I play the whole take — I’m just a classic.” However, he also puts significant effort and cares into producing a breathtaking result.
The versatility of logic gear enables Demarco to experiment with different sounds for making the unique sonic version. For this, he’s not focused on editing the natural quality, “It just feels more organic that way; it just feels more finished, he says.”
What is a logic pro, and why it’s popular?
The second most powerful digital audio workstation, after Ableton Live, the Logic Pro brings technological revolution with its outstanding music software. The Apple-owned logic pro is a professional application for its versatility and MIDI sequencing, ultimately providing quality crisp sound.
And its prominent handy features include:
• Software Instruments: These instruments can be used and activated by the MIDI sequencing interface and produce sound differently. And it is also essential for recording and editing sounds from different devices.
• Live Loops and Multi-touch: Loops’ real-time functioning enables blending ideas and mixing them with multi-touch capability.
• Audio Effects: With different effects, plugins, and filters are essential for recording in different environments.
• Distributing Process: Logic can transfer data in real-time depending on workload and speed of CPU.
Besides this, Logic Pro can handle multiple stereo sound channels effectively and up to 1000 audio tracks. Also, the MIDI allows real-time processing and monitoring of vocals and enables premium quality recording.
Reasons for Popularity
The crucial reason is its seamless ability to deliver natural and raw sounds with perfection, and Demarco uses this for its incredible features and deliverability.
1. And the most prominent reason for its popularity is the cutting-edge technology of software applications used for creating diverse compositions. The Logic Express is the user-only interface desired for its seamless integration with Apple devices.
2. In addition, the multi-track recording and editing is another milestone in achieving creativity and seamless audio quality.
3. Also, it brings the flow of ideas and enables the artists to control their voices and bring smoothness to them.
The only way to use the logic pro is through Apple devices but with the lowest prices, and it brings creativity to new heights.
Ableton Live
With its outstanding software, Ableton Live provides artists with creative musical ideas, making it perfect for live performances. It’s a globally well-renowned digital audio workstation with stunning stability and an intuitive interface excellent for live performances.
Furthermore, Ableton’s world-class capabilities have drawn attraction of famous artists, and it states, “With a diverse list of famous users, including Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Mac Demarco, Grimes, Deadmau5 & Daft Punk (RIP!), you’re in excellent company.” from Ableton Live’s page.
The Ableton has the potential and capability to handle the pressure and deliver seamless work. And with upgraded Ableton Live 11, incredible features can handle a diverse workload, enabling Demarco to produce raw and organic sound.
It’s evident that “Ableton have knocked it out of the park with Live 11, creating the most refined, capable, and inspiring version of their groundbreaking music production software.”
Ableton’s portability and multi-track recording enable Demarco to blend and produce new music ideas. And this digital DAW technology has been instrumental in providing natural music its life with wealthy features.
As Demarco is considerate about getting out with its irreverence to stages for live shows, the use of Ableton becomes essential. “Ableton Live” is a fantastic DAW for multi-track recording and production” and “it also excels performance tool with cemented Live’s reputation as a top choice for live use with fantastic new features.”
What is Ableton Live, and why it’s popular?
The Ableton Live, a globally renowned digital audio workstation (DAW), is an exceptional choice for live performances and for producing enriching raw quality. And its powerful digital software technology is compatible with macOS and Windows users. Also, it can handle multiple tracks with ease and perfection.
The desired incredible features include:
• MPE: stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression, which is compatible with MPE devices and used for extended musical performances. And it also manipulates notes and optimizes devices as an added advantage.
• Introducing New Devices: Ableton collaborated in producing new and hybrid inspiration devices and uses instruments to utilize natural and fresh processes during recording or live shows.
• Improved Sound: After collaborating with Spitfire, it enhances the creativity and productivity of artists.
• Push 2 Controller: It provides hands-on access to Ableton’s full potential, and poly pressure abilities, making it handle multiple soundtracks.
Reasons for popularity
1. The critical reason for its popularity is the stunning and desired feature, ‘the Comping,’ used for multiple recordings, and, afterward, it can be fused to make one audio track. And it’s perfect for editing and blending different clips into one piece.
2. It provides excellent performance capabilities for creative and one-to-go artists with real-time processing and manipulation.
3. This DAW technology uses Upgraded Macros and MIDI sequencing for professional editing and recording, and it’s essential for outstanding musical performances.
4. Another milestone achievement is constant and continuous updates with added features to bring seamless recording and live performances.
5. Compatibility is another blow to the popularity making it essential equipment for artists during live shows and for unique creations.
Bonus Tip: More Audio Equipments Mac Demarco Common Use
With captivating style and mesmerizing music, Mac Demarco plays a pivotal role in shaping the music industry with his traditional signature styles. Although the DAW Logic Pro and Ableton Live have revolutionized their unique and raw music production, he also uses other audio equipment (from Mixdown’s description) in their journey.
• During an in-depth interview, Demarco said that he uses the setup of Ableton with Neumann condenser microphones with Neve Portio preamplifier and develops the unique signature sound.
• And his signature lo-fi sound is the blend of Tescam 334, Alesi’s micro limiter, and Roland Space RE-201. This unique mixer is Demarco’s love, distinguishing him from other artists.
• With his crunchy but roaring guitar sound, he set up the guitar on stage, and during each, he switches between the amplifiers. However, Fender Amplifiers and Roland Amplifiers have preferably used for making stunning music.
• Demarco is known as a singer and guitarist, and he uses stunning guitar models to develop unique sounds. It includes Fender and Vintage Models and creates new sounds.
Known for his exquisite sound quality, Demarco uses Gibson J-45 to record “This Old Dog,” a remarkable blend of love and music.
And during an interview with Stingray Music, he documented his audio equipment “I’ve got a (Sequential Circuits) Prophet 5, we got a (Roland) Juno 60, (Roland) JX-3P, (Yamaha) DX7, (Yamaha) DX100 whatever you want,” he said.
Besides the leading DAW types of equipment, he uses different blends to make unique compositions last for ages.
Conclusion
Mac Demarco enjoyed freedom from music boundaries and developed new captivating compositions throughout his career. And the leading DAW Logic Pro, with its versatile features and intuitive interference, enabled him to create unique combinations. He trusted the logic gear in creating raw and amazing melodies. Besides Logic, Ableton Live has also been instrumental in Demarco’s live shows and provides a dynamic experience.
During each period, Demarco revolutionized and transformed the music industry, setting new boundaries with his artistic freedom.
