Pro Tools: Making waves
Digital music editing software democratized and revolutionized an industry, and now is facing a whole new set of possibilities in the age of AI.

Pro Tools—and other digital editing software like it—has become so entrenched in music creation that attempting to dislodge it would be akin to separating Google from the internet. But what did music-making look like when a studio relied on specialized professionals and expensive equipment? And can Pro Tools, which has now been around for decades, hold its own in a changing world? (Presented by Deloitte).
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Featuring
Heather Landy is an executive editor of Quartz and co-host of the Quartz Obsession podcast. She is obsessed with bank crises, workplace psychology, and Bono.
Nathan Prillaman is a composer who scores for film, dance, and musical theater, and is on the faculty of the Center for Innovation in the Arts at the Juilliard School.
Show notes
Music editing software we mention: Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, GarageBand, Cubase, Fruity Loops (now FL Studio)
Sound City (2013) — dir. Dave Grohl
Heather’s daughter’s favorite band (the one that demonstrates how they use Pro Tools to engineer tracks)
Credits
This episode of the Quartz Obsession was produced by Chad Chenail, with additional support from executive editor Susan Howson and head of video Garth Bardsley. Our theme music is by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Suguira. This episode was recorded at G/O Media headquarters in New York.