Is Ableton Live or Logic Pro better for music producers? What are the advantages of each?
Having been a full-time music producer and engineer for almost 10 years now, I've used most of the DAWs around. Personally I use Ableton for all of my writing and arrangement work because once you learn the system layout (flicking between the session screen and the arrangement screen, dragging and dropping VSTs in, hot-replacing audio files, stretching on the fly, etc) the entire creative process is faster than anything else out there.One of the beautiful things with Ableton for me, is that I can write an entire track from start to finish, from working on short looped ideas and chord phrases, to the full arrangement, without ever pressing the stop/pause button.The second major selling point for me is that Ableton (Suite) comes with all sorts of amazing FX units, and I rarely ever go outside of the box for effects, especially when I also have Max For Live built in too.Every time I go back to using any other DAW, it feels like every time I want to make a small insignificant change to something, I have to fill in an application form to do so. Cumbersome menu systems, complicated bussing, and a lack of intuitive routing.
Cubase vs vs ProTools vs Nuendo?
If your main focus is electronic music as you've said here, then Pro Tools is /not/ for you. Pro Tools is definitely more focused on live instruments than midi input. I admit, I haven't tried Nuendo myself, but both Cubase and Ableton are great. I would say that if you are going to want to perform live, tweaking your tracks in performances, go for Ableton. It's flexible, fun, and a great, great piece of live software. However, if you're more focused on the composition/production side of things, I'd go with Cubase. In general, it's a case of whatever you use more will be the better tool. Cubase users will say cubase is best, ableton users will say ableton is best. If you can, get some trials and see which style you prefer.
What are the best ways to use Audacity to improve the audio quality of live recordings?
I use Audacity a lot, and it has its place. Cleaning up sketchy live audio recordings isn't its strong point. There are tool sets available for Audacity, but they are not very good for this type of job (they can't be used in real-time).Besides starting off by recording live audio to the best quality possible with the best equipment choices possible suitable for the conditions (good mixer/soundboard, good directional or condenser microphones or line recording when possible), your best bet to clean up live recordings would be to use Pro Tools or something similar with a good suite of mixing and mastering tools (i.e. compressors, limiters, noise filters/EQ, de-essers, etc).