The New Guy

So I've basically been recording for about 2 months, and been using Audacity, because it was free and simple. Well I decided to pick up Sonar X1 today and give it a try..and it's so confusing. I Just want to be able to mix and master my songs to sound better, and its quite literally impossible for me to learn. I just learned I cant play MP3's, but have to use wave files. But when I import as a wav, the audio sounds absolutely horrible. I do get that its definitely more in depth and gives much more options, which is what I want honestly. But I can't find any guides for beginners or such. I would seriously appreciate some help here

Sorry, but literally none of those help.

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Have you tried doing any tutorials, or watched any videos from CaketTV? There is a lot to learn, so do not be discouraged if the learning curve seems steep. There is a huge amount of knowledge on this forum, and the more info you give, the easier it will be to help you.
Best of luck. 

tylerk82
Sorry, but literally none of those help.

They will if you purchase and watch the videos. However to start with do tutorials at the start of the Reference Guide that comes with Sonar. Seriously you MUST do those if you want to get up and running reasonably quickly. The tutorials use materials provided by Cakewalk (like audio and MIDI tracks) that are found in the Cakewalk Content part of your Sonar installation.
 
It will guide you through all the basic tasks, areas and functions of Sonar so you can get a general idea of how to do things and what everything is. It will also help teach you some of the terminology used within the program (and general terms used in digital production).
 
It is good you started with Audacity. It is a much simpler program than a full featured DAW like Sonar (but Audacity actually does have a lot of complexities as well if you look for them) so you likely have done some of the basic stuff like importing/exporting, controlling playback and recording, adjust levels, etc. Now you have to go beyond that and it is NOT going to be easy... but it doesn't necessarily have to be "hard".
 
I always refer to using Sonar (or any similarly complex DAW) like trying to fly a helicopter. It is very complicated at first, you need to have a knowledge of the controls and procedures and it can take years to get really good at BUT it is ever so cool and worth the effort. Using Audacity in a minimal way such as you described would be more like driving a car in comparison. Simpler and will get you somewhere but it ain't as cool as flying.
 
You are lucky though because Sonar has the best user support system around IMO (this forum) and has mountains of free/inexpensive educational materials.
 
I was in a very similar situation to you only a few years ago. After being patient and carefully studying the program as much as time would allow I am able to use it semi professionally (and I am doing some pretty fancy stuff these days). I still need to reference the manual regularly and ask questions here on the forum but most of the time I can easily get things done because I put the work in. Even the hardened veterans and full on pros around here still ask questions and have to look things up. It's just the nature of extremely complex programs and loosely defined creative "sciences" such as music.
 
You will get out what you put in.
 
For an example I will try to offer some guesses/solutions to the problems you mentioned in your OP even though they are a little vague (which is why it is important to figure out what may be related to what within your hardware, the OS, your program, the material such as audio files, etc).
 
Sonar WILL import and playback mp3's. You should be able to just Import them and Sonar will know what to do to make them useable. However there may be an option in your Edit > Preferences menu (press P to open this very important area of the program) that needs to be set.
 
EXPORTING mp3's (which is the act of outputting a mixdown audio file from your project and more specifically in this case an mp3 file which is a special option in the Export dialog) requires an add on program that handles the mp3 conversion. The mp3 patent is still active so it costs money to include it into a program. Therefore Cakewalk has left this functionality out and offers a paid mp3 codec/add on that integrates into the software. You can buy it in the Cakewalk store (I think it's like $15 or something). However you can also use the free LAME encoder that is available online (google it). I think Audacity includes the LAME encoder with their download so you would not have noticed any problems like you would in a default install of Sonar.
 
As far as the sound quality of your files when played back in Sonar (you said everything sounded screwy) this could be cause by a whole pile of issues. The main one being that your computer is choking because it cannot handle the demands Sonar is putting on it and/or it is not setup correctly (the Tuorials section in the Reference Guide will help you do basic setup of your audio devices).
 
So usual questions when a newcomer is having audio issues is...
 
a) Are you using a dedicated audio interface that uses an ASIO driver or are you using the computer's onboard soundcard? If you have an interface which interface is it?
 
b) What are your system specifications (what kind of CPU are you using, how much RAM, how fast/large are your hardrives or are you using SSD's, is this a laptop or a desktop, what operating system are you using, etc)?
 
Answering these questions will help the (very friendly and helpful) user forum (that's us) help you solve any issues.
 
I had audio issues when I first installed Sonar three years ago despite custom building a system specifically to use with Sonar. By answering those questions and answering any followups I learned exactly what the issue was within a few hours (in a single thread... one of my first posts actually) and had it all sorted out a week later. I was able to put together and post my first modest creations about a month later thanks to the help of the forum and reading the suggested tutorials/materials.
 
So yeah... don't give up. It's going to be rough and frustrating at first but it's not even close to impossible to get things sorted.
 
I HIGHLY recommend buying the SWA video series posted above. It is extremely thorough and helpful as far as a beginner-intermediate tutorial and reference. I own it and reference it often to brush up on general topics.
 
Welcome to the forum and good luck.
 
Cheers.

Yeah, it's hard to get started. Not only that, once you know your way around the software, it's even harder to create a mix/master that sounds worth a crap. You have lots of levels of proficiency to ascend before you can produce consistently excellent results, and that's true regardless of the software you choose to use. Mostly it's because you have to somehow absorb over 70 years of lessons learned the hard way.
 
But the journey is a worthwhile and enjoyable one!

tylerk82
So I've basically been recording for about 2 months, and been using Audacity, because it was free and simple. Well I decided to pick up Sonar X1 today and give it a try..and it's so confusing. I Just want to be able to mix and master my songs to sound better, and its quite literally impossible for me to learn. I just learned I cant play MP3's, but have to use wave files. But when I import as a wav, the audio sounds absolutely horrible. I do get that its definitely more in depth and gives much more options, which is what I want honestly. But I can't find any guides for beginners or such. I would seriously appreciate some help here

If you're new to recording (and using DAW software), understand that you've got a steep learning curve ahead.
Be patient with yourself... as this is a long journey of learning/discovering.
Recording/editing/mixing/mastering is quite literally a lifetime's study/work.
 
I miss old-school printed manuals.  Reading those cover-to-cover, you could learn/absorb a lot.
 
I'd break things down into smaller (more digestible) "chunks".
Learn "what you need... as you need"... rather than thinking about all available options.
Sonar's Help Menu should get you up-to-speed with the basics.
It may be tedious/boring, but there's a lot of information to absorb.  
Once you've got the basics, you'll absorb the finer details quicker/easier.
 
Novices often get frustrated because their mixes/masters don't (immediately) sound like "records".
Understand that having the gear is but the first step.
As with any skill, it takes many hours to become proficient.
Be patient with yourself... and enjoy the journey.
Know up-front that there are going to be times of frustration...
But... there will also be times of great break-through.
 
I think many of us are drawn to music/recording precisely because it's challenging.
 

Once you have a strong grasp of the fundamentals, spend time reading Craig Anderton's articles/posts/etc.
Craig is a wealth of information about all things music/recording.
 

Mixing with SONAR https://player.groove3.com/mixing-with-sonar.html contains massive amount of best practice advice and real life examples, quite good (just a bit outdated)

And by the way, SONAR can accept MP3, WAV, and AIFF files. It a file makes sound, the odds are quite good SONAR will recognize it and if not, the odds are even better it can be imported, even including things like audio CD tracks.

Jim Roseberry
Scott Garrigus has written numerous books on using Sonar.
http://www.garrigus.com/powerbooks.asp
 
That would help get you up-to-speed quicker
 

Sonar Power books are great.  If you go through the first several chapters, you'll be well up to speed.