Re-use a mix

Hi all,
 
I'm new to SONAR, but, this question is probably more suited for this forum that for the getting started forum.
 
So, say I'm recording a country-rock album.  Loaded my template (which is setup with drums and pilot piano track and pilot vocal track already going to the cans, so that the drummer can hear and record along.  We do all the drum tracks for all the songs over the next several sessions, awesome.
Bassist comes in, and he wants less pilot vocals, more pilot piano and more bass.  So, I setup the mix to his cans to accommodate this on the first song.  Now I load the second song...WHOOPSY!  I have to RE-SETUP all of that for him - again, and....thirteen more times for the next thirteen songs.
 
But wait...lol...that's not all, now the acoustic guitarist comes to record the fifteen tracks...whoopteedoo...he wants less bass, more vocals, less piano.  Set it up for him - great, he's happy.  Next song (oops...and oops for the next 14 songs...because) I have to setup this for him each time again.
 
Here comes the guitarist - same story, and then the keyboardist, and now the vocalists, of which there are going to be four different individuals.  You get the picture!?!?
 
I've gone through the manual, and asked a buddy who also uses X1 Producer - no joy!  Surely there must be a way to simply "load" a specific mix setup for a series of channels into a current song?  This would obviously make my nightmare a dream :-)  In the previous software that I used (which I turned away from due to the fact that it did not support Re-Wire, was still 32bit - NOT because of functionality issues), I could simply save all channel setups to file (in one go - all of them), then, when I load a new song, I could very easily "mark" the channels for which I wanted to load file-saved-mixes, and say "LOAD".  The software would then load the saved channel mix (eq, all fx units, routing - the works) to the corresponding marked channels.
 
I am aware that one can load one channel at a time, but still, seriously, then I have to (after each artist has "setup" their first song), remember to save each affected channel, and then load each individual affected channel in the next song, which could be anything from two to fourteen, depending on where in the recording we are.
 
I'm convinced that I'm just missing something here, so, please folks...if anyone could advise, please let me know how to achieve this functionality?
 
Thanks all
 
Cheers

Yeah, just use submixes.  Basically, what you need to do is create a "custom" mix for whoever is recording at that moment.  Here's how I'd do it (someone correct me if I'm saying it wrong):
 
Let's say you have:  Vocals, guitar, bass, keys, drums
 
Now, let's say the singer is coming in to do the final lead vocal tracks.  To give him or her a "custom" mix (and be able to SAVE it in your template), you'd simply route the audio from each instrument to a bus.... then, route each of THOSE buses to a grouped bus with all the instruments called a "HEADPHONE MIX BUS."  This way, you can control the individual volume of EACH instrument for the person recording and also raise or lower the volume collectively, but not affect the overall mix (i.e., the "real" mix).
 
The ONLY thing that might get tricky is... if you use buses already for effects.  Like, if you have two rhythm guitars going to a single bus because you are using a single instance of reverb or delay or multiple vocal tracks going to a single bus, etc. 
 
Then, the routing would be a little more complicated. 
 
 

Track templates.  Create and save your custom track templates.
 
In Sonar you can import your track template(s), which will also include busses and routing.  The only shortcoming is, unlike ProTools, where you can import session data and essentially merge your existing tracks into the template, Sonar will import the template, but you have to manually move each clip to the appropriate track within the template.
 
I hope that made sense
 

Project template for each type of mix?

Bibs

riaaneloff
Hi Mike, 
Yes, thanks, I hear what you're saying.  Could one import a group of track templates, or does it need to be one at a time?
 
The copying of the clips is obviously a frustration, but, my thought is:  it's a single "select" and then drag-drop all once, so it's not too hectic.  My bigger frustration would be having to import every track template individually :-)

You can make a track template to include as many, or as little tracks/send/effects as you want. 

I think the easy way would be to use your audio interface to do this but it will depend on the interface you use. With my fireface I could have a master mix sent to my monitors and then send each of the busses off to different outs which can be summed for the headphone mix.

To the OP,
 I am intrigued.
 
 What software had the feature you describe in your first post?
 
 I've had the same frustration you are describing.
 
 I usually get the first project set up for the day and then make a project template of those routings and efx etc. and then I drag and drop (as you mentioned) from previous project files in to the newer template. It's sort of a pain but it's the least painful way I know of to do it when you have, as you described, a bunch of projects to do it too.
 
 I've never sweated it too much because I like to monitor through SONAR with all the same effects I mix with so the effort seems worth it. All things considered I feel lucky that I'm not mixing with a mid grade console and  bunch of mid grade hardware so I do the drag and drop thing as if it is a matter of course..
 
 I'd like to know where you were able to use the features you described as being available in some other DAW. It sounds pretty cool.
 
 Thanks.
 
 
 best regards,
mike

MelodicJimmy
rianneloff:
 
I understood what you meant.  If you use my method, you can save the project exactly the way in which you described.  You'll have the "main mix" saved and you'll have the head phone mix saved because each instrument will be routed to its own "headphone bus," so if you save it, the panning, volume, etc will be saved and won't affect the main mix.....

 
I think the problem for me with this method is what you mentioned - I use several buses for fx. However, the op could create a tracking template like you described.