SWA Sonar mix clinic

Now I'm not one to normally moan, in fact I think this the first time I ever have reference anything Sonar related.

I just finished watching this video, ok, the music (Dubstep- I went in eyes open) isn't to my liking but I did expect a detailed mixing video, instead what I got was something I  felt was a rushed half baked video that left me wanting to ask more questions than it answered. The author rushes around EQ settings, compressor, delay settings etc, firing numbers at the listener giving absolutely no reasoning as to why those choices were made, in fact it just sounded like he was reading a pre-written script.  The tune was ok at the end but I really wanted to know how he got there irrespective of genre.

The video is broken into 7 chapters ( I think) one on rhythms, synths, vocals,  finalising the mix (covering. Automation- which was adding a fade to the masterbus) I forget the rest the last was mastering. I think the average running lengths per chapter, were about 10 mins each apart from vocals, covering main and backing which lasted 30. Mastering yes mastering covered in 5.

I'm sure I could add more........

Now when I compare this to groove 3 mixing rock which covered every minute detail, this is a very poor showing, sorry Cake/SWA, I just don't think this is anywhere near the quality expected! 

Yeah, I watched both groove3 sonar X2 intro and Karl's one and I thought they were both amazing..... But this latest Mix clinic to me is a shocker, with some tit bits of useful info.  I'm not an expert or beginner but I wanted a lot more from this , but that might just be me. 

jb101

STinGA


Yeah, I watched both groove3 sonar X2 intro and Karl's one and I thought they were both amazing..... But this latest Mix clinic to me is a shocker, with some tit bits of useful info.  I'm not an expert or beginner but I wanted a lot more from this , but that might just be me. 

I recognised his voice from  his free videos on Youtube.  They are terrible.  He doesn't seem to know what he's talking about.  He thought that the best thing about the PC2A was how it looked.  I'm so glad I did recognise him, or I might hace bought it.
 
I am horrified that Cake would sell a video by him.  Surely they watched his other ones.  MCIHomeStudio, i think they're called.
 
Karl's videos, on the other hand, are very good.

I couldn't agree more. 

And that's the exact same method of dynamic levelling he uses in this video. I know it's priced well that's why I bought it, I wouldn't have for this particular genre if it was higher priced, but, every day is a school day, so why not learn about a genre that's not for me. I figured there may be some techniques that I would learn that would be useful.  I just don't think this one is at all well authored. I know I don't have to use his settings, BUT, I would like to know why those choices were made instead of arbitrary numbers which meant nothing to me. Just my thoughts. 

Jeff Evans


I think at the current sale price that SWA video is probably not so bad. You will always get something out of any instructional video. You don't have to do what he is saying either, you have the choice to either use or not use his concepts.

For example I was watching one video of his where he was trying to level out a dynamic vocal track. He added gain from a Sonitus EQ (not the best way to add gain either) and slammed it into a Boost 11 limiter to level out the vocal line. But Boost 11 is a poor quality limiter and I would never use it on anything.

A far better way is to set up a compressor carefully on the vocal track. By setting the right parameters especially the Threshold it is possible to get a very even sound from a dynamic vocal track as a result. It will sound very transparent and be of much higher quality as well. A more correct place to add gain in that case is from the makeup output gain control on the compressor.

And yes Karl's videos are very good and I like his voice too! 
 
+1 to compression to level out dynamic vocal.  I like the PC2A on nearly all vox.
 
+2 to Karls voice..