caminitic
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Mixing & Mastering
Hey folks. Newbie here to the forums...semi-newbie to home recording and mixing. In short, I'm taking the plunge into X1 after using (gasp) Sonar 4 (then 6) with my handy-dandy Aardvark Q10 for a bunch of years on my XP SP3 computer. Gonna upgrade to a new desktop/sound card soon...just thought I'd get the hang of X1 first. Check eBay soon for a Q10 sound card for sale! ;) Anyway...the way I've always mixed and mastered my "doctored up" Nashville demos is by bouncing the tracks to a stereo track (usually having to freeze some along the way due to CPU restraints...), then adding (in order) Ozone, VC-64, and L2 to the FX bin. I NEVER use a master bus. Is this "wrong"? I've been doing A LOT of reading and YouTube watching re: X1 and it seems like I may be going about the process in a non-efficient/incorrect way. Any help/insight is appreciated. My normal recordings consist of your standard Nashville tracks (AG, EG, bass, vocals), plus my soft synths (piano/B4, Steven Slate drums). Now back to Sonar X1 Power! and more YouTube videos... Thanks, Rizzo
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Kalle Rantaaho
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/05/29 02:05:08
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There's no reason why you shouldn't do things the way you're used to.
However, having every track routed through Master Bus doesn't prevent you from continuing the same way, either.
I usually do several bounced stereo tracks inside the project, with slightly different mix. Then I add the mastering FX in the Master Bus and export a few versions, to be able to test which mix translates best in the outside world.
The Master Bus-routing is just a way to make sure that all signals are under control and taken care of. In a big project it might happen that accidentally some tracks go through Master, some directly to soundcard etc. which might lead to inconsistencies depending on how FX are positioned and used.
It may happen you're not exporting what you actually hear.
SONAR PE 8.5.3, Asus P5B, 2,4 Ghz Dual Core, 4 Gb RAM, GF 7300, EMU 1820, Bluetube Pre - Kontakt4, Ozone, Addictive Drums, PSP Mixpack2, Melda Creative Pack, Melodyne Plugin etc. The benefit of being a middle aged amateur is the low number of years of frustration ahead of you.
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Sylvan
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/05/29 10:31:51
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Hey, I was an Aardvark Q10 user for ages! I loved that interface. I cut my teeth on that thing and engineered my first commercial full-length CD on it using SONAR 4...ha ha ha.
I upgraded to the RME FireFace 800 and never looked back though. I am now eyeing the RME UFX.
But the Q10 was indeed great. Too bad they went out of business.
SONAR Platinum RME Fireface UFX Tascam US 20X20 Tascam US 16X08 Intel i7-5830K LGA2011V3 (6 CORE) Asus X99-AII Corsair Vengeance DDR4 32GB Geeforce GTX 970 4GB
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CJaysMusic
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/05/29 11:09:22
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I would maybe explore the use of using a master bus, especially when mixing. It just gives you so much more control over your overall signal level.
Cj
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HeatherHaze
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/05/29 16:46:31
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I would maybe explore the use of using a master bus, especially when mixing. It just gives you so much more control over your overall signal level. Absolutely. At the very least, it's a good idea to stick a limiter on there to control spikes and make sure all the tracks play nice together. It's easy to lose control of track levels if they're not all going through the same bus, and it'll leave you scratching your head wondering why the final mixdown doesn't sound right. If you're going to master the mix in Sonar then a master bus is essential, since that's where you put all your mastering effects.
)-|-( HeatherHaze http://heatherhaze.com/ "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." ~ Leonard Bernstein Cakewalk by Bandlab Studio One 3.5, Cubase 9.5 Intel Core i7 8700, 32Gb RAM Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 V-Studio VS-700 Slate Raven MTi2 Windows 10 Professional 64-bit ...and a whole bunch of other stuff.
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lawajava
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/06/23 15:41:42
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Sonar X1 is great with buses - including a master bus. It's cool to route various like items into specific busses and then route those buses into a master bus. You can gain a lot of convenience, control and advantages with that approach.
Two internal 2TB SSDs laptop stuffed with Larry's deals and awesome tools. Studio One is the cat's meow as a DAW now that I've migrated off of Sonar. Using BandLab Cakewalk just to grab old files when migrating songs.
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newbie_hobbyist
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/06/23 16:30:48
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A related question I did not want to make a separate thread about: is there any suggested literature on mixing and mastering for someone who (believes he) has a decent theoretical understanding of how individual effects, buses etc. work but doesn't have much actual experience?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
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Reeks
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/06/30 00:21:47
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re:Mixing & Mastering
2012/06/30 02:56:02
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CbB, Platinum, 64 bit throughoutCustom built i7 3930, 32Gb RAM, 2 x 1Tb Internal HDD, 1 x 1TB system SSD (Win 7), 1 x 500Gb system SSD (Win 10), 2 x 1Tb External HDD's, Dual boot Win 7 & Win 10 64 Bit, Saffire Pro 26, ISA One, Adam P11A,
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