Lookin for input. Suggestions ....
Ok. I'm gonna "try" to 'splain how I my recordings.
HardWare :
----- EchoGina 2(inputs) 8(outputs)
----- SBLive (only used to feed MIDI output)
----- Yamaha 24 channel mixer. [ Each channel has 4 <eq>
------------ L/M/M/H ] and the Final output has a master 16 band eq.
I typically start with a drum line (canned or modified).
I record a track bass or guitar using the Echo(1/2). I use all real effects from some quality MesaBoogie/Roland equipment. So I seldom if ever use any of sonars effects on Guitar or Bass.
Ok .. for simplicity ...lets say I've only 2 tracks-wav (guitar/bass) and the midi. Now I assign the guitar track to outputs 1/2. The bass to 3/4 (assuming stereo - generally I do).
I plug these from the echoCard into my Yamaha mixer using the same numbers so as not to confuze meself -.
Now the drums come off the SBLive Cards output plug(stereo) and into the Yamaha mixer at 5/6.
Then I let listen and MIX WITH MY YAMAHA ... not sonar at all. I adjust my levels ...my High's and Lows' for each (guitar/bass/drums). As I'm doing this I listen thru my PA system (should get a small pair of monitors ...but I'm poor now).
I tweak my output (16band) Eq on the Yamaha to taste (not getting very carryed away because its eazy to do that).
Now I plug the output of the Yamaha Mixer into the EchoCard (1/2 input) ..create a new track in Sonar ... Hit the "Mute" button on the Gina24 1/2 er else I'll get WICKED loop (ouch).
Select Record on the track and record it.
Now I have the recorded final - I trim the ends ( fade or whatever). Select the track, Normalize it.
Export the wav.
I use Lame to create an MP3 walla.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Problems:
a) Normalizing - I have to thru this process of mix and record over and over to achieve a FAT WAV. Many many many times I just don't have the output because some level was too high, or boosted too much somewhere. This gets into the subject of
Frequency Filling. WinAmp has this "frequency" bar that it displays while your playing an mp3 file. A Good Mix will have a uniform amount of boost from Low to High. A bad Mix will appear all low and have "spikes" at varying freqencies. I can look at really solid mixes like GodSmack - Very uniform - This gives the total sound a SOLID PUNCH. I'm have a WORLD of trouble trying to achieve this. How come Sonar doesn't have a Freq analyzer built in? I've tryed to use Cooledit to look at this stuff ...but it analyzes per point in time ...or applyes some bizzare transform thats difficult to comprehend. EEk!
b) Compressions - I've recently talked with some PROS ...they compress all tracks. I'm kinda new to this consept of compression so I don't really understand it. I "could" use cakewalks compression utility to compress my guitar tracks prior to the mix ...but then I'm really dealing with "original data" anymore. What do you think? Compress or not?
c) I use 44.1khz and 24 bit all the time. Wav files at 24 bit aren't recognized by hardly any software. They seem to choke on it. When I go to CD - I have to convert to Mp3 first using.
Listen to some stuff at
http://www.kytty.com/~walt/index.htm
Ok. I'm gonna "try" to 'splain how I my recordings.
HardWare :
----- EchoGina 2(inputs) 8(outputs)
----- SBLive (only used to feed MIDI output)
----- Yamaha 24 channel mixer. [ Each channel has 4 <eq>
------------ L/M/M/H ] and the Final output has a master 16 band eq.
I typically start with a drum line (canned or modified).
I record a track bass or guitar using the Echo(1/2). I use all real effects from some quality MesaBoogie/Roland equipment. So I seldom if ever use any of sonars effects on Guitar or Bass.
Ok .. for simplicity ...lets say I've only 2 tracks-wav (guitar/bass) and the midi. Now I assign the guitar track to outputs 1/2. The bass to 3/4 (assuming stereo - generally I do).
I plug these from the echoCard into my Yamaha mixer using the same numbers so as not to confuze meself -.
Now the drums come off the SBLive Cards output plug(stereo) and into the Yamaha mixer at 5/6.
Then I let listen and MIX WITH MY YAMAHA ... not sonar at all. I adjust my levels ...my High's and Lows' for each (guitar/bass/drums). As I'm doing this I listen thru my PA system (should get a small pair of monitors ...but I'm poor now).
I tweak my output (16band) Eq on the Yamaha to taste (not getting very carryed away because its eazy to do that).
Now I plug the output of the Yamaha Mixer into the EchoCard (1/2 input) ..create a new track in Sonar ... Hit the "Mute" button on the Gina24 1/2 er else I'll get WICKED loop (ouch).
Select Record on the track and record it.
Now I have the recorded final - I trim the ends ( fade or whatever). Select the track, Normalize it.
Export the wav.
I use Lame to create an MP3 walla.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Problems:
a) Normalizing - I have to thru this process of mix and record over and over to achieve a FAT WAV. Many many many times I just don't have the output because some level was too high, or boosted too much somewhere. This gets into the subject of
Frequency Filling. WinAmp has this "frequency" bar that it displays while your playing an mp3 file. A Good Mix will have a uniform amount of boost from Low to High. A bad Mix will appear all low and have "spikes" at varying freqencies. I can look at really solid mixes like GodSmack - Very uniform - This gives the total sound a SOLID PUNCH. I'm have a WORLD of trouble trying to achieve this. How come Sonar doesn't have a Freq analyzer built in? I've tryed to use Cooledit to look at this stuff ...but it analyzes per point in time ...or applyes some bizzare transform thats difficult to comprehend. EEk!
b) Compressions - I've recently talked with some PROS ...they compress all tracks. I'm kinda new to this consept of compression so I don't really understand it. I "could" use cakewalks compression utility to compress my guitar tracks prior to the mix ...but then I'm really dealing with "original data" anymore. What do you think? Compress or not?
c) I use 44.1khz and 24 bit all the time. Wav files at 24 bit aren't recognized by hardly any software. They seem to choke on it. When I go to CD - I have to convert to Mp3 first using.
Listen to some stuff at
http://www.kytty.com/~walt/index.htm