What are your steps to writing, recording, mixing, mastering with X1?

OK, I got Sonar X1 in front of my screen - where do I go from here?

1 write a great song
2 record it brilliantly. The addition of great musicianship will help. 
3 mix it fabulously and with great skill. This skill will be acquired with study and shed loads of practice. 
4 if it by some chance turns out quite well it would probably benefit from some mastering.

I find this approach can yield good results though not always as I can often not do all these bits as well as some other people do, who do these bits better than me do them. If you catch my drift. 

Really?

I will record all my midi tracks first.  When they sound right, I commit them to audio.  Add what other intruments I might need, vocals etc.  Mix and master.  ; )

I put the metronome on and record a sketch of the song with my acoustic quitar, singing jibberish if the lyrics aren't finished (they usually are, my songmaking always starts with the lyrics). If i have an idea of guitar or horn section riffs and such, I sing them also .

This is the best way for me to maintain the groove and small rhytmic details I have in the back of my head. If I start building, say, the drums and bass patterns first (in order to create a groove) they get stiffened in the process of searching for the right kind of beats or recording/designing drum patterns with a keyboard.

I'm seriously thinking about buying Band in a Box to get some more full sketches quicker. I'm a really poor instrumentalist, and it takes me painfully long to get the basics together. I'd like to be able to hear earlier, if the song is worth any more work or should I dump it.

On writing...

I practice on a daily basis (acoustic guitar and piano). I never us a metronome, but rather a drum track. A glorified click track as I like to call it. And more often than not, that will be the start of something as I always branch off into a tangent when practicing (improvisation is something I love to do). All of my musical ideas usually start this way. Then I move on to the bass. I like to take care of these 2 elements (drums and base) early on as they also usually become the foundation on which I can improvise further if the muse is hard to come by. And I always try to envision the arrangement and how complimentary the instruments I choose will be in the audio spectrum.


On recording...

I use templates all the time. What I don't need when I'm ready to record is to putz with the laborious (in many cases) set up process to get going. When recording my acoustic 12 string for example, I changed the strings 24 hours prior and do a very fine tuning adjustment just before the session. I also warm up on the instrument for a good 15 to 30 minutes. Then I loop either the first verse or chorus (whatever section I feel ready to tackle at the time) and engage layering for that "mono" track. The reason I do this is that I rarely manage to play an acceptable part performance-wise on the first pass, but rather need to ease into it and give myself a little bit of time to forget that I'm recording and just loose myself in the music. Each time I loop, a new layer is automatically created giving me the opportunity to review each take independently when I'm done and choose the best one.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of being completely satisfied at this point with the performance of the live instrument..., if not I simply start over until I am ( not my friends, not the neighbor, nobody else).


On mixing...

I still consider myself pretty much a noobie when comes mixing time but I like to think that I'm a well informed noobie. If I've come this far and am ready to mix, then that means that I did a satisfying job (according to my personal criteria) performance-wise. And this makes my mixing job a heck of a lot easier. I check for phase problems all the time, especially when dealing with samples. I check for mono compatibility all the time. And what I'm listening for when doing this is..., that whenever I switch to mono, the transition has to be smooth. Almost as if there's no difference between mono and stereo. All instruments need to be heard and are as clear/defined as I can make them. I usually reserve the low end (approx. 170Hz and lower) for the kick and bass, which are up the middle. That means I'm going to cut/shelve the low end of all the other instruments that are part of this mix and so on and so forth.


On mastering...

I use iZotope 5 for this and presets as a starting point. I also usually prefer to adhere to a standard such as the K-12 or K-14 system. And if ever I get to finish this CD project I've stated, I'm seriously going to consider hiring a pro that I can watch and pester with a quazillion questions.



This seemingly long-winded post is actually my short answer to a very wide and deep subject and is of course my HO.

Writing - My primary instrument is guitar.  I like to keep my chops up, so I practice each day.. I find when I am working through my routine, I regularly come up with an idea and expand on it.  Before I start to practice at home, I have a "practice" project opened up. When an idea hits, I push the record button and go through a few variations... X1 starts in the process by being my notepad so to speak.  By the time I am ready, I have a pretty good idea of where I am headed with the song.  To me, writing and performing float my boat. 

Recording/setup.  I have a base project template I always start with. It has tracks for rhythmn and lead electric guitars, bass, a session drummer 2 (for scratch), a few acoustic tracks, a lead vocal track, a few harmony vocal tracks. I have 8 submix busses, 1 for guitars, 1 for vocals, 1 for drums, 1 for keys, 1 for fiddle/pedal/banjo.. 1 for low end, and the other 2 are for specific buss effects I might use.  This just makes it easier to get started.  I make sure the insruments are cleaned up - new strings always - arranged in a comfortable location I can get to easy.  Easy and comfortable are two main points for me. Then, I take time to choose and setup mics where I get a nice hot, well rounded signal without a lot of room bleed.  I copy over the "notepad work" as a reference. Can't forget the lights, room temperature, water, snacks etc... 

Recording/performance. First - no work unless I am ready. I try not to force it. I do this for fun.  A can do attitude works miracles. If I am not starting right away with a drummer, I bring up session drummer 2 and get beat going that I like. Then I let er rip, tater chip, one take at a time until I am absolutely certain I love whats recorded.  Its my preference to do a whole take - listen to it, then another whole take and listen to it again.  Did the take fit the context of the song, does it work dynamically, is it beat perfect, does it take away from or distract from any other part of the song. I save each time I like what I hear.    If its with a group, I involve each of the folks to listen through each good take. I don't try to over analyze - there are millions of mistakes recorded on top quality songs every year in the world. Sometimes the flaw itself is perfect.  At the end of a session - I BACK UP EVERYTHING.  Not only X1 - I check synths in the area and see if there are setups on them that need to be noted.  I check each amp and draw up the settings on them.  If someone brought in the latest new zombie pedal from mars, I write down its setting. I haven't had to go back and redo a take a lot - but when I had to, having the settings down helped keep the change or insert difference to a minimum. 

Mixing - I mix without a lot of stuff happening around.  I like to get a rough mix happening as soon as possible, but sometimes the recording event fatigued the ears, or even blew them out, so I walk away and rest a bit when that happens.  Everything starts dry - I don't add effects till the overall project levels and pans work. I start with balancing (volume, pan, eq) - first up is getting the overall drum mix in the ballpark.  Then the guitars. Next bass. At this point I tend to check the overall bass output between the kick and the bass guitar, making sure they don't compete. Then pimary keys. Then fiddle. Then pedal steel. (How country is that).  Once I get that all together, I bring the instrument submixes down, and start work on the vocals - lead, then harmony.  Once I get that working - I bring the instruments back up and check EQ so that there is little competition - vocals are always first and formost..   At this point, I am hearing the whole song.  I walk back through and make slight changes - usually in dynamics, and I REALLY like the new compressor / limiters Cakewalk has created here.  Now I can think through using effects - but sparingly.  I find I am using them on a submix or a buss - like a single verb used on the drum submix.     Finally, I bring levels up to -6 db or a bit higher - If I need to, I add a concrete limiter, either Cakewalks or Waves, then mix down to a test CD. I check it out in my car, on the home stereo - every place I can to make sure something isn't over competing, which is usually bass for me.


Mastering. Not any good at it - have it done for me. 


Best regards,

L

Jazzsinger:
"Get some loops, throw them together to make a song, send the result to P!nk's manager and get rich."

I'm afraid I just can't this as serious. Are you having some fun, are you really getting rich from these 3 simple steps ?
Seriously.

Ha !  Might be worth a try !

I keep forgetting there's a use for Sonar that does not involve music or the ability to actually play it. I wonder what the proportion of Players to Diddlers is these day's. :?

1) Open up 3 midi tracks with a piano patchs  that eventually become dummy tracks

track 1 is the melody of my song
track 2 harmony or chords
track 3 is the bass

2) open staff view on the 3 tracks.  On track one (melody) I input chords and lyrics.

3) once the song is composed, mute the 3 tracks.  Change the screeset so that i see staff view(On Monitor 2) track 1 (Melody, chords and Lyrics).  Under that staff view I open Console view and set up a mix.

4)  Start recording live musicians or midi tracks.  Orchestrate the song. 

5)  mix and then send the song out.

6) 9 months later check the mailbox for royalty checks (It takes about 9 months after a song aires on TV for ASCAP and BMI to send the money). 


That's my life in a nut shell.  12-16 hours a day 7 days a week...was about 360 days a year until the recent recession.


     

!...I get myself into a groove on my so-called drumkit
2...I then fiddle around getting a groove going on the bass-such as that is...
3...guitar tracks come in next..with outboard and on board effects...if necessary
4...I then worry over my lyrics...and then sing the basic melody part..and then get my wife to sing as well...
5..when all is recorded as such then I go through the thing and edit the thing down to pieces which might work...
6...I then play around with other synths and such to build the thing up 
7...then it gets 'produced'...whatever THAT is....

How many of you,always[or more often than not] find,that Your"First Takes"-are always the best,or often better,than if you labour over it?

Regards

Bob.

Sometimes, sometimes not, usually my unpracticed first takes sucks...