Mixing and mastering

Sonar in and of itself does not have anything specific/unique to the art of mixing and mastering.
 
Yes, maybe a knob or two might look different on a Sonitus/ProCHannel EQ/Delay compared to say Waves or UAD or Fabfilter etc. but the concepts might more of what you need? If so, try watching and reading anything you can.
 
But please be aware (as I am sure you are) one video and/or one book will not make you a pro mixer or ME overnight. 

Into the Lair by Dave Pensado on youtube covers many things. He doesn't use Sonar but you will learn a lot.

You would go about mixing and mastering in Sonar, the same as you would mix and master it in any other program platform. Each song/project will need different things done to it. no 2 songs will need the same exact levels and effects. 
 
So train your ears and learn how to use your plugin effects and/or hardware effects and you can mix and master in any program. The program doesn't matter.

Yea, the best thing is to attend a mixing and/or mastering session and see how the engineer deals with things and issues. But note there are different issues with each song, so there are no step by step instructions.
 
Cj

The Vintage Channel (VC 64) plugin has nice mastering presets.
Blending this to your mix can be a start.
Then Sonitus or LP64 multiband can help, specially to boost bass while keeping it smooth.
(only enabling 1 or 2 low bands with a nice preset)
Free mastering plugin (left this awesome guy a donation).
http://www.terrywest.nl/utils.html   (at bottom list download the 'After' plugin).
Easy add clarity, body, punch or NYcompr with just 1 knob.
 
Here's a professional mastering engineer at work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53oGeuTZ6IY

preview of Bent's vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LS4SZI0TOs
I think 'mixing with sonar' is not that helpful, but that's just an opinion.
bought all Sonar vids, vids by Anderton + Krantzberg very helpful, I think.
 
Graham has nice vids on mixing/mastering I think, unfortutaly in Pro Tools but help me learn understand still
http://www.youtube.com/user/recordingrevolution?feature=watch

+1 on the groove 3 vids. I got some really good mastering information from this one as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FpX200S1s

konradh
What would be helpful would be examples in which someone played a mix or track, talked about it, and then showed specifically what was used to correct various problems.  For maximum value, this would consist of various tracks and songs that had different characters.  Tutorials on a single song are interesting but limited in value.

Shameless plug alert, but I can't think of any way else to explain this, so forgive me. There is a method to my madness, so hang with me a sec.
 
I do exactly what you asked for in my video lessons. The difference is I use your song, your plugs. This way you see how YOUR song sounds with the compressor/effects you use while learning HOW things can be used. All tracks in your song can be used if you want, each track instrument at a time, or certain instruments. I show you before and after as well as why things were decided upon on my end. You find out where you may have went wrong, where you went right, what else can be done, subjective additives, tips and tricks, ways to improve your work-flow, techniques....it's nuts. Each lesson custom made for a person based on their needs or I can create a lesson for them based on conversation. Nothing stock, scripted or used for another person. *end shameless plug* (sincere apologies)
 
With a decent engineer driving the bus, your "what would be helpful" would not work unless he purposely recorded sounds that needed work. To me, there's no reason for that as again, it doesn't really help you if your sounds are recorded better. I mean granted, someone could create a "polish a turd" video where every sound is horrendous. I would bet my farm your sounds are not even close to horrendous. I'm sure some of the surgery involved with polishing a turd could probably help, but in my opinion you need your own examples of your stuff, not someone elses.
 
The reason something *I* would create wouldn't work in your situation (if we used my instrumentation).....my stuff sounds decent without doing a thing. (IMHO) That does you no good other than to make you really think about your initial sound being the best it can be before you record a thing. We need to find out what YOU are doing wrong with YOUR recording. How YOU are eqing things and are you possibly misusing eq, compression or doing something wrong? This is what turns fair engineers into good/great ones. You have to know where your problems are before you can fix them. Before you can fix your problem areas, you have to know what to listen for. Sometimes we need to be taught...literally.
 
I can show you 3 different ways to compress my own material. None of those compression settings will work on your stuff unless you have a similar recording style and similar sounds. None of the high passing or low passing/sculpting eq work on my stuff will benefit you on your stuff. You'll see examples of things which can help a bit...but again, it does nothing to help with what YOU are experiencing. This is why certain books, videos using material that is not recorded by you, plugs and programs you do not use, hardware you do not have....will never help teach you as much as you think it might. That's just my take on things though. YMMV.
 
-Danny 

JClosed,
 
Thank you so much for that link.  It really is that easy.  Even better, I'll just make one preset and run all my songs through it, just to save some time.  

"Sonar in and of itself does not have anything specific/unique to the art of mixing and mastering."
 
If that were true how on this earth do people mix using Sonar? You do know that it comes with mixing and mastering plugins? Pro Channel is a configurable channel strip for mixing.  

konradh
For example, you often hear the advice about boosting the EQ and sweeping the frequency until you hear the bad thing.  You are supposed to note that frequency as the place to cut.  In real life, when you boost like that, almost every frequency sounds horrible if boosted significantly.  

Konradh,
 
I've thought this to be true (in my experience) but was always a bit apprehensive about saying it out loud.
 
Maybe I just dont' know what to actually listen for??!!??