suggestions on volume levels in cakewalk for a multi-track song (see post)

M

MegaGoo

New member
heres the low down of my song:

acoustic alone, then comes in a clean solo on another track. that ends, then that ends, and the drums come in at the same time. so its just acoustic and drums for a verse.

chorus is drums/acoustic/heavy distorted electric guitar. then next verse: acoustic/drums/clean electric.

chorus is the same. then for the interlude, it is only heavy electric and drums, then all at once, the acoustic comes in, the clean electric, and the distorted electric/drums that were already playing. then about 2 bars later a solo comes in

my question is: how should i set up my volume sliders? i obviously want the acoustic in the first verse to sound loud since its the only thing being played (except drums) (and bass, and vocals but that comes much later. last infact). but i wanna suddenly slide down the acoustic when the chorus comes in, becase the electric joins. and in the interlude where the heavy electric is very prominant, i want that to stand out of course. and right after that, all at once, i need to have those instruments at good levels.

thanks to someone on this bb, i know about snap shots. thats no problem. but i dont know where to start. should i l eave the volume sliders at 0 db for the tracks, and a specific setting for master? should i manipulate the master volume at ALL so that certain instruments stand out? i would guess not because i will have drums at every part and want to keep those constant (don't i?)

and should i have any "velocity" setting? i do currently because it seems thats the only way i can hear myself. i have the drums at 17, and my acoustic at 9. if i turn my mic volume up, it clips.

please help me out here. i've spent months and months working on this song, and now that im ready for final production and final recording, i need to get my volume levels going good. but i dont know where to start.

thanks in advance, and if you would like something explained, please reply asap and i'll let you know

Edward Gandolfi
 
what is that? and is that anything to do with suggested settings for volume sliders?

was hoping for a more elaborate explanation :)

eddie
 
Hey Megagoo,
What getthis was talking about; is in the audio view right click on the audio waveform and click on "envelope - volume" what this does is insert a red (the pan envelope is green) line across the middle of the audio clip, you can change the volume of each track buy dragging the line up or down. Then if you right click on the line and choose "add note" you can change the volume in certain spots on the track without effecting the others. I like this a lot more than the audomation and snapshot because you can see how it looks and it's a lot easier to edit. One thing to keep in mind though, is if you have split the audio tracks before hand you have to add a volume envelope to each clip. Also if you have the volume set to where you want it up to a certain point (say the verse) and now the chorus comes in and you want to raise the volume up add a note at the spot you want the volume to change BUT DON'T MOVE THE LINE YET, go a little bit to the right side of the note (it doesn't matter how much) and add a nother note. DON'T MOVE THAT LINE YET, now listen to the chorus until the next verse (or you want the volume to come back down to where it originally was. Add a note there and a note just to the
left of the first one. There sould now be 4 notes, 2 at the beginning of the chorus (or where you want the volume to change) and 2 and the end of the chorus. NOW grab the line in between and drag this one to the volume that you want it to be. This will also do a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end, you can control how much of a fade in or out by grabbing the notes and moving them left or right. Pretty cool huh?, and a lot easier and smother sounding than the snapshot. Try this out and if you have questions on how to use the envelope let us know.

Incase your interested: the pan envelope works in the same way as the volume; moving the line up pans it left and down pans it right, and you can add notes to make it pan left and then sweep right then go back to center.

I hope this helps

-tkr
 
i will try that, but the point of the post wasnt so much HOW to move the sliders, but where to have them set up. leave the instrument sliders all the way up? but then what about the point in the song where its only 2 tracks. the tracks have to stand out and be turned up correct? so do i put every track slider in the middle and work from there? and what about master volume? do i change that ever?

eddie
 
You can just leave all the faders up and use the volume envelope. The enlelope is put in the middle of the screen so you can still go louder even with the faders all the way up. But the envelope does have a maximum that you can go up to, and if you still want it louder you can (in the audio view) split the audio clip at the point you want it to go lounder (and also where you want it to quite back down), right click on the waveform and choose "3dB louder" which will turn it up 3dB, then you can use the envelope to fade it in smoothly. You can do this as many times as you want and each time you click the "3dB louder" command it will turn it up 3dB more each time.

TIP: Every time you "split" the audio to use the 3dB command, up in the left corner it names the new audio clip (ex. take 1/0), if you change the name to "3dB louder" or "3dB louder x 2" if you do it twice, you can always remember what you did and you can get back to your original settings by doing the (3dB Quieter) command hower many times you did the 3dB louder. This isn't necessary but this is something that I usually do and it helps me to keep track of what I've done.

Turn up the main faders at the end of the song (once you get your balance) to set the overall level to how loud you want it to be.

-tkr
 
ok i'lll try that then. i kinda looked around for a envelop thing. i right clicked the wav, but didnt see envelop. is it something different? i thought it said that in the help file too but i didnt see it. we're talkin cakewalk home studio 9 here huh? i cant try now since im at work.

if anyone has any other suggestions, keep em coming

thanks
eddie
 
I have Pro Audio 9, but I don't see why the envelopes would be any different for Home Studio 9. Do you have a manual for it?
 
Megagoo,
I just read your E-mail but if you don't mind I'm going to reply to you here (I'm trying to get my post count to 250 so I can put up my custom avatar).

I'll also post your E-mail, so others can give their input too.

E-mail from MegaGoo
hi. megagoo frm home recording bb.

i think one thing that was messing me up was that i had a velocity set on different things. i set them all to 0 and when theres, one instrument, cakewalk seems to take care of its self when 5 other tracks pop in all at once.

so should i record everything first, then mess with everything, tweaking it with the envelope thing? or do i need to know something else that could make a difference in the levels of my instruments when i record? .. i understand the envelope thing, but one thing i dont like is that it only plays the track when you drag the mouse. i need to hear all the tracks. but i guess since now i only have very minor enveloping to do, i can just set it about right, and plyback all tracks. and adjust if needed.

sorry, i have cakewalk pro audio 9. not home studio like i had said.

any other recording/mastering tips? isnt mastering basically what i am doing (setting levels on tracks) basically? i think i've got everything down. only thing i dont have available to me, which hopefully wont make much of a difference as far as setting up my volume levels and such, is the bass track and vocals. a friend is gonna do vocals at the end, and a bass track is gonna be done by a friend and sent via email.

thanks a ton
eddie
Click to expand...
Yes, you should record everything first, then tweak with everything. It's best to listen to the song after everything is recorded and get an idea of how you want your song to sound before you start messing with everything. The 3dB louder & 3dB quieter commands (that I mentioned before) will also change the volume level of your instruments. The "Draw Audio Tool" (in the audio view it is the tool on the right of the scissors in the tool bar) is another good one because you can chage certain parts of the audio clip by dragging it up or down.

One thing I dont like is that it only plays the track when you drag the mouse
Click to expand...
I think what that is, is the "scrub tool" (the speaker looking tool, to the right of the draw audio tool) which allows you to listen to the audio clip when you drag the mouse. The envelope lets you adjust the volume, then push play and you should be able to hear it, the same way you would if you were moving the faders, (you can also adjust the envelopes in "Real Time" as your listening to the song).

I really don't know how to explain mastering, seeing as how I'm not exactly sure myself what the fine line between mixing and mastering is, maybe someone in the know can let both of us in on this.

Having the bass sent via E-mail? "Awesome Idea", don't you just love the internet? :) The bass plays a major part when mixing your songs. Usually you mix drums and bass first (they're pretty much the floor that you build your mix upon) then add guitars, keyboards, and whatever else, then the vocals. If your just adjusting the volume you should be fine for now (as you can always go back and fix it) but don't EQ anything until you get the bass down.

If you have anymore questions post them here unless you don't mind waiting a few days for a reply, I'm usually pretty bad about checking my mail :(

I hope this helps

-tkr
 
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