Helpful ReplyEaseist way to arrange parts of a song?

Author
mikeinFL
Max Output Level: -80 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 536
  • Joined: 2005/02/19 01:08:21
  • Status: offline
2015/12/10 19:01:09 (permalink)

Easeist way to arrange parts of a song?

Got Sonar Pro.  What's the easiest way to arrange a song- the intro, verses, choruses, etc?  In another DAW I know, of you can highlite a block of measures and name that block anything you want, ie verse, bridge, etc.  And that block becomes a different color.  Then you can very easily drag/copy verses, choruses, etc around as blocks of measures.  Can Sonar do that?  I know you can copy and past measures, but it's not elegant.  Or  is there an arranger function making this task easy I don't know of?  thx
#1
brundlefly
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 14250
  • Joined: 2007/09/14 14:57:59
  • Location: Manitou Spgs, Colorado
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/10 19:19:36 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby lingyai 2015/12/11 10:47:17
Assuming sections are already split into separate clips, you can right-click and drag to lasso all the clips in a section, and then right-click, and Create Selection Group. Each group gets a group number and will move as a unit. If clip boundaries aren't exactly on measure boundaries be sure to set Snap to By instead of To so that they maintain their offset relative to bar lines.

SONAR Platinum x64, 2x MOTU 2408/PCIe-424  (24-bit, 48kHz)
Win10, I7-6700K @ 4.0GHz, 24GB DDR4, 2TB HDD, 32GB SSD Cache, GeForce GTX 750Ti, 2x 24" 16:10 IPS Monitors
#2
Anderton
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 14070
  • Joined: 2003/11/06 14:02:03
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/10 20:49:50 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby lingyai 2015/12/11 10:47:21
You can also Select All, drag in the timeline to select the clips , and follow Brundlefly's instructions above for grouping. Some SONAR users put a dummy track at the top where they add blank clips, name them, and make them part of the group so it's easy to see which is the verse, chorus, etc.

The first 3 books in "The Musician's Guide to Home Recording" series are available from Hal Leonard and http://www.reverb.com. Listen to my music on http://www.YouTube.com/thecraiganderton, and visit http://www.craiganderton.com. Thanks!
#3
Tunerman
Max Output Level: -87 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 186
  • Joined: 2010/03/18 20:08:57
  • Location: Northern California
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/10 22:14:11 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby lingyai 2015/12/11 10:47:28
Also with the 'dummy track' Craig Anderton mentioned, via the Inspector, you can add colors for each section of the track identifying verse/chorus/intro/outro etc. Highly visible!   

“When I sit at my worm-eaten piano, I envy no king in his happiness" -F.J.Haydn
Sonar Platinum v22.9.2; W10-64; i7,950,3.06Gz;12GB ram;Korg BX3; Korg M1; Roland FP dp. Two grand pianos: 1929 Steinway M 5'7" &  a 1913 Steinway B  6'11"; Focusrite PRO24 & 18i8; Yamaha NS10M, JBL LRS305.


"Myrna's Love" - Slide show movie of a piano rebuilding process, with original music, recorded using Sonar 8.5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANU-lrom_Y0
 
#4
mikeinFL
Max Output Level: -80 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 536
  • Joined: 2005/02/19 01:08:21
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/10 23:25:12 (permalink)
I'll try it thanks!
#5
mudgel
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 12010
  • Joined: 2004/08/13 00:56:05
  • Location: Linton Victoria (Near Ballarat)
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 01:10:44 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby lingyai 2015/12/11 10:47:34
When you create a number of markers, clicking the area just to the left of a marker changes the tool used and automatically highlights all data in the time line from the previous marker. Any tracks in that region become selected.

Mike V. (MUDGEL)

STUDIO: Win 10 Pro x64, SPlat & CbB x64,
PC: ASUS Z370-A, INTEL i7 8700k, 32GIG DDR4 2400, OC 4.7Ghz.
Storage: 7 TB SATA III, 750GiG SSD & Samsung 500 Gig 960 EVO NVMe M.2.
Monitors: Adam A7X, JBL 10” Sub.
Audio I/O & DSP Server: DIGIGRID IOS & IOX.
Screen: Raven MTi + 43" HD 4K TV Monitor.
Keyboard Controller: Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88.
#6
Anderton
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 14070
  • Joined: 2003/11/06 14:02:03
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 10:04:38 (permalink)
mudgel
When you create a number of markers, clicking the area just to the left of a marker changes the tool used and automatically highlights all data in the time line from the previous marker. Any tracks in that region become selected.



Nice!

The first 3 books in "The Musician's Guide to Home Recording" series are available from Hal Leonard and http://www.reverb.com. Listen to my music on http://www.YouTube.com/thecraiganderton, and visit http://www.craiganderton.com. Thanks!
#7
lingyai
Max Output Level: -85 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 259
  • Joined: 2008/03/01 13:40:22
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 10:36:39 (permalink)
Great helpful tips guys!

Sonar Platinum Hopkinton, Windows 7 64 bit Pro SP1, i7-37400QM CPU @2.70 GHz, 16 GB RAM, Focusrite Saffire 6 USB 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tDj_VanH3g
"The limitations are limitless" -- Beck
#8
Jim Kalinowski
Max Output Level: -85 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 296
  • Joined: 2003/12/13 22:28:04
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 11:56:03 (permalink)
Never before have I learned so much in just one thread on this forum.  Thanks for all of the replies.  I have a bunch of new stuff to try 

i7 860, 8GB RAM, Win10 x64, UA-25EX, SONAR Platinum 
https://www.soundcloud.com/jim-kalinowski
http://www.soundclick.com/jimkalinowski
#9
SF_Green
Max Output Level: -62 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 1403
  • Joined: 2005/09/13 20:37:55
  • Location: San Francisco
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 12:11:24 (permalink)
Wow. Great tips folks. Thanks.

AMD FX-8370, Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3,  Win7x64 SP1, 16Gb CorsairDDR3-1600, GeForce GTX 950 (390.65), SSD 525Gb (OS), SATA 3 & 1.5Tb, MOTU microlite, RME FireFace 800 (D 3.124, fw 2.77), UAD-2Q, Adam A7X, A-800 PRO, CC121
Cubase Pro 10.0.5, SonarPt-2017.10 (x64), Reason10.2, Live 10.0.5 Suite, Wavelab Elements 9.5.40, Komplete10Ult, POD Farm2.5, Omnisphere2.5, BFD3, Alesis QS7.1, Arturia BeatStep Pro, POD HD500, Alesis ControlPad, ARP Omni, many things with strings. GrSltz My Studio
#10
Beepster
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
  • Total Posts : 18001
  • Joined: 2012/05/11 19:11:24
  • Status: offline
Re: Easeist way to arrange parts of a song? 2015/12/11 13:05:00 (permalink)
Even though there are indeed some decent workflows for arrangement possible in Sonar... we REALLY could use a good, easy to use "Block Arranger" type system. That would make me ever so happy.
 
The way I do this though (and likely similar to other things mentioned) is to record my tracks (audio and live MIDI), set up my loops (groove and MIDI or whatever) and create song segments with the general beats, basslines, riffs I want to be more or less together.
 
So now I end up with "riff/beat/bass/etc 1, riff/beat/bass/etc 2, riff/beat/bass/etc 3... etc" all on their own tracks, routed to the appropriate synths/busses/whatever.
 
Now I have my song segments. I ensure they are all split into those segments ON the measure/beat. That way I can click the top track's clip, hold Shift and select the bottom track's clip to move the ENTIRE segment and all its elements to another area on the timeline.
 
If I need to create room for a section to occur I just lasso all the clips of all the clips that occur on all the tracks after that point (with Snap enabled) and move them en masse further down the timeline to create the necessary gap (this can also be done with that weird Insert Time or Measure or whatever it's called but I just prefer to play Clips Pane Tetris with it all).
 
If I want a beat or part to continue through a segment that does NOT include that part and/or want to mix and match beats/bass lines/elements/etc I can exclude those clips from the move or delete just those clips and replace them with what I want or whatever.
 
I'll usually keep a bunch of elements WAY down the timeline (out of the way of the working area) for one offs or possible substitutes or riff variations (also snipped into measures or segments). That way I can easily drag them into the working area to replace specific segments/parts.
 
Once I have everything composed how I like I'll re-record the live tracks and tweak any MIDI and... well just generally refine the whole thing. For loopty looping that's probably not necessary but I'm trying to emulate "live band" type stuff.
 
The Clips pane really is great for this stuff BUT still a nice block arranger would be better. I'd like to be able to just click on a button at the top of the Clips Pane to select (or define) a section and be able to move/copy/replace/move over/replace/etc segments of the song (using all elements in that range or selected elements of that range)
 
That's mah story and I'm stickin' to it.
 
Cheers.
#11
Jump to:
© 2025 APG vNext Commercial Version 5.1