Thanks Brandon. You and Seth did a great job on part 1. Very much looking forward to part 2.

No worries - and thanks

Very enjoyable. Thank you

Seth Perlstein [Cakewalk
]

Sorry about the long wait, and thanks for the patience. Here it is ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rAwiLvmshs
 
SP

Thanks again Guys.

You guys act like you enjoy this :P

and I'll add - Cake is lucky to have you guys. For sure.

Nice work again.

Am I allowed to ask a question here?

In the Webinar, you guys talk about synth plug levels being set too high and distorting by some folks and that thats not a good thing.

But for recorded tracks (microphone or DI'd), what nominal level should I be aiming for?

I do understand that, from a sound quality point of view and the 64bit sound engine it hardly matters, and in contrast to tape, with a DAW it's better to aim low. 

But surely FX plugs, especially compressors, expect a certain level to work properly?

So where should I aim for my average/max peak levels to be on naturally recorded instruments/vocals?

Even if I normalize or up the gain after the initial recording, what average level should I aim for?

Norrie


I am not trolling here but Seth what computer keyboard is Brandon using is it wireless ? I like small keyboards and that looks kinda neat almost like a mac keyboard but in black

someone asked that the last time , they did a webiner


they are micro keyboards.. FBB has one altough not as small he uses for screen sets if I remember correctly, sure he'll chip in. I did post on the thread regarding it also.. there are a few here >


http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Peripherals/cat/Keyboards-&-Mice/subcat/Wireless-Keyboards

Norrie


I am not trolling here but Seth what computer keyboard is Brandon using is it wireless ? I like small keyboards and that looks kinda neat almost like a mac keyboard but in black

I don't know. It's a small keyboard we picked up just for that setup. I'll have a look before the next CakeTV Live broadcast and will let you know.


SP

Watched last night, thought it was great, thanks for taking the time to put these together and keep them coming.
 
Just loving Sonar at the moment!!!

Watched it all last night as I could only see the first 30 minutes of the live session. These webinars open my eyes to different ways of doing stuff for instance, using the matrix to add vocal clips from movie dialogues; thought that was really cool.

Also liked the way you explained gain staging.

At least I didn't have to watch the discussion about time zones all over again :)

Can't wait till the next one.

Seth, thanks for the reply.

I guess I could have shortened my question by asking, "What is the new 0dB" :)
 
With my Tascam 244, we always tried to just flick the needle over 0dB into the red slightly. But in Sonar, the red already starts at -6dB!

OK, so go for between -6 and -12dB.

Thanks!

JazzSinger


Seth, thanks for the reply.

I guess I could have shortened my question by asking, "What is the new 0dB" :)
 
With my Tascam 244, we always tried to just flick the needle over 0dB into the red slightly. But in Sonar, the red already starts at -6dB!

OK, so go for between -6 and -12dB.

Thanks!

Analogue and digital are completely different in terms of meters and signal. The numbers may be the same, but they mean totally different things. Never bring pre-conceived notions about recording analogue into the digital world. -6 to -12 is perfect, IMHO, for modern 24-bit digital systems. If you want to add the 'warmth' that one could get by 'going into the red' in the analogue world, use the Saturation Knob or other plugin. :-)

Another reason why the old notion of 'get the signal as close to 0db as possible' in the analogue world was that the noise floor was MUCH higher. With a 24-bit digital system, that we all run today, the noise floor is DRASTICALLY lower and so there is not really the need to squeeze out every last db of signal to noise ration. I'm not saying go ahead and record at -30db and don't expect to hear the noise floor when you turn that signal up, because you probably will. It's just that -6 to -12 (not exact numbers, but in that ballpark) is an ideal balance between signal to noise ration and headroom between the signal and clipping (0dbfs).

SP

I was all set to watch live last week...and then some work came up. Finally got a chance to catch the presentation on YouTube.

Excellent! No matter how much I think I know about Sonar, you always do something that gives me new insight.

Please keep the training sessions coming. If you continue to help us learn to fully utilize the program, Sonar will rule the world!

Is it me or does adding the Mastering Limiter add a nasty distortion? At the end when the full track is playing the ML is off (by mistake) and when it is added the mix in my headphones sounds.....yuck.
The rest of the video is very interesting and makes me realise there a fair few features in Sonar that are ignored.

Grum.

Hi Brandon & Seth,
 
Brilliant tutorials, I am learning a lot!  I hope you don't mind a quick question:- you had a problem at one point during the tutorial where the midi keyboard was playing the wrong synth, even though the one you wanted was in focus.  It looked like you changed the input echo button somewhere to sort it out.  Can you please explain this?  I get this problem a lot and don't really understand the input echo button, also the button is sometimes half highlighted - what's that mean?
 
Thanks,
Simon

Seth, I loved the way your head started bobbing every time the space bar was hit. Lol. Cheers, RKS