pro audio 9 questions from a newbie

[willow]

hi,

i'm usually pretty good at figuring out programs but this one is stumping me, even when i read the manual.

i have an outdated puter and cakewalk 9

i have a song in waves loaded in, but that is as far as i can get

i will probably have a professional studio do it for me, but in the mean time i was just tinkering but not really getting anywhere

if someone is so kind as to give me some tips, i would really appreciate it

the two main things i would want to do first would be...

1. some of the guitar tracks were recorded part by part, with volume fluctuations on a single track. how can i even out the volumes on individual tracks, so that the whole track from start to finish is consistant in volume??

2. i want to cut and paste a few drum parts. since there is 7 tracks of drums and there was a little bleeding, i will have to mix down to two tracks first. I want to substitute some rythms with others, but how do you go about the cutting and pasting process??

thanks for you time,
airwreck

 

[AGCurry]

Your first question, about evening out volumes:

Option 1: Open the Console View. Play the track soloed, writing down (time) where it needs to come up and where it needs to come down. Then, turn on the automation recording button. Play it again and make the adjustments on the track's slider. Turn off the recording.

Option 2: I've not done this, but you can draw volume envelopes. You'll have to figure this out on your own.

Second question.

Cutting/copying and pasting are pretty much the same as any other Windows program. You will likely split tracks (track view, highlight track, right click track, select Split). From there, Ctrl-C or Ctrl-X to copy or cut, Ctrl-V to paste...

 

[dachay2tnr]

Go for volume envelopes. Easy as pie and twice as nice.

My feeble memory says that I think in PA9 you need to do this in the Audio View. Insert a volume envelope from the appropriate menu. That should give you a new, colored, straight line across your track. This is the envelope. Initially it will be set at whatever volume level your track is set to.

When you get to a point where you want to make a volume change, double-click on the envelope (or right click and "add node"). This will create a square point on the envelope called a node. Now double-click again directly next to the first node to create a second node. Click-and-hold on the section of the envelope directly to the right of the second node, and drag it up or down (up to increase volume and down to decrease volume).

Continue to follow this same procedure any time you need another volume change on the track. You can always go back and readjust later - that is the beauty of envelopes. Complete flexibility.

(BTW, you can also even out the volume of a track by applying compression to the track. This might be quicker and easier, but the volume envelope will give you a degree of additional control. However, in some cases compression might be a better approach. Personally I would recommend staying away from Track Automation as described by AGCurry - more hassle than it's worth IMO - but YMMV.)