It used to be that I got sidetracked all the time when writing. In the majority of the cases, the issue was w/ drums. I'm talking about the old days here, when I used to put drums tracks together w/o any really adequate drum library, bit by bit. It was such a long and laborious process - even more in the pre-Sonar days, when there was no Virtual Instruments - that it could absolutely kill the momentum.

Which is why I'm so absolutely fond of Superior Drummer - it totally changed the way I work and I allowed me to focus on the actual song. It's so easy to put together a decent drum track which you feel comfortable working w/ and tweak it later.

Usually, if I'm really inspired, I don't lose focus that easily. I try to get things in the ballpark, taking notes for later if necessary, using markers, etc. Sometimes, in order to avoid getting caught into a creative loop, I'll record place holders. Say, I have this sweet idea for a string part, but I know it'll slow me down if I start messing w/ libraries and such, I'll record the idea on the guitar or the piano and simply name that track Temp - Strings Idea.


The idea here is to approach different things differently. Though I sometimes record keepers in the early stages, I try to plan actual recording sessions, w/ some time to warm up, make sure everything is in tune, dial in the sounds and all. This also allows me to make sure that I am prepared when I "walk in" to record - putting on fresh strings the night before the session, cleaning up the instrument, etc.

If in the middle of a session I do hit upon something which I think deserves my attention, I save the project w/ a different name - i.e. Song X bass tweak 12-28, and focus on that for a while. But I always try to only go as far as I need to not to lose the idea, so that I can get back to my main project.

One really handy feature which I wish Cakewalk includes in Sonar at some point if I'm to work w/ it again is the selective import feature in Logic, allowing you to import parts of other projects into the one you're working on, directly from the browser. This could be, say, all the drum tracks from another project version w/ their plug-ins, i/o's, sends, notes and automation. This can save you a lot of time when you're dabbling w/ different versions of a song. And the way I work, I usually have dozens of versions of the project even before I start to actually mix the song.




Also, as Danny says - record every idea. I keep a template w/ just a sampler and a piano library loaded. It's my go to project when I'm not working w/ the guitar. Sometimes I'll record a bunch of ideas in the same project, even if they have nothing to do w/ one another - the idea is just to capture everything as quickly as possible, save it and build some sort of pool where you can look for ideas wen you're stuck.

The crucial element when you're wearing all hats is to keep things as organized as you possibly can. Templates, track templates, consistent naming conventions, project notes, consistent color coding, markers and file versioning. That and allocating some time off working w/ your host and plug-ins, learning keyboard shortcuts and experimenting or messing w/ the new synths you've bought, exploring libraries, saving presets ideas, etc. 

The time you spend doing that is far from wasted - it pays back exponentially when you start working on an actual project. Planning some time to mess around and experiment can have a tremendous impact on your workflow.

Ah ... diligent song-writers and producers respond sympathetically and differently; +1 all.

I'm re-working a piece that makes me cry ("My Kite is Gone").  But emo (passion) works for me.  An emo may quirk, complain, believe, forgive, love, grind-an-axe, sing, cry, etc. ... pro or non-pro ... neurotic or sane.

For my vocals to get real, they must be DEEP emo and spiritual ... never some mushy copycat of xmas commercials.

Hook lyrics seem stronger with deep emo and spiritual convictions first and foremost  The same is true with portrait painting and communication per se.

.... engineering becomes automatic after that.  JMO/IMHO.

I take the path of least resistance. It's my hobby. I do what's fun. I play if I want to play. Mix if I want to mix. I take breaks if I'm spending all my time mixing some other band's gig. I take shortcuts and mix faster to get it done if I don't like it. I learn about things I want to do better. I cycle through the process again and again and again. I make screensets and get good at just making my current screen whatever I need then return to changing screensets. I make templates, then get fast at newing up projects from nothing then return to templates. I keep going round the merry go round, happy and smiling.

Rain


It used to be that I got sidetracked all the time when writing. In the majority of the cases, the issue was w/ drums. I'm talking about the old days here, when I used to put drums tracks together w/o any really adequate drum library, bit by bit. It was such a long and laborious process - even more in the pre-Sonar days, when there was no Virtual Instruments - that it could absolutely kill the momentum.

Which is why I'm so absolutely fond of Superior Drummer - it totally changed the way I work and I allowed me to focus on the actual song. It's so easy to put together a decent drum track which you feel comfortable working w/ and tweak it later.

Usually, if I'm really inspired, I don't lose focus that easily. I try to get things in the ballpark, taking notes for later if necessary, using markers, etc. Sometimes, in order to avoid getting caught into a creative loop, I'll record place holders. Say, I have this sweet idea for a string part, but I know it'll slow me down if I start messing w/ libraries and such, I'll record the idea on the guitar or the piano and simply name that track Temp - Strings Idea.


The idea here is to approach different things differently. Though I sometimes record keepers in the early stages, I try to plan actual recording sessions, w/ some time to warm up, make sure everything is in tune, dial in the sounds and all. This also allows me to make sure that I am prepared when I "walk in" to record - putting on fresh strings the night before the session, cleaning up the instrument, etc.

If in the middle of a session I do hit upon something which I think deserves my attention, I save the project w/ a different name - i.e. Song X bass tweak 12-28, and focus on that for a while. But I always try to only go as far as I need to not to lose the idea, so that I can get back to my main project.

One really handy feature which I wish Cakewalk includes in Sonar at some point if I'm to work w/ it again is the selective import feature in Logic, allowing you to import parts of other projects into the one you're working on, directly from the browser. This could be, say, all the drum tracks from another project version w/ their plug-ins, i/o's, sends, notes and automation. This can save you a lot of time when you're dabbling w/ different versions of a song. And the way I work, I usually have dozens of versions of the project even before I start to actually mix the song.




Also, as Danny says - record every idea. I keep a template w/ just a sampler and a piano library loaded. It's my go to project when I'm not working w/ the guitar. Sometimes I'll record a bunch of ideas in the same project, even if they have nothing to do w/ one another - the idea is just to capture everything as quickly as possible, save it and build some sort of pool where you can look for ideas wen you're stuck.

The crucial element when you're wearing all hats is to keep things as organized as you possibly can. Templates, track templates, consistent naming conventions, project notes, consistent color coding, markers and file versioning. That and allocating some time off working w/ your host and plug-ins, learning keyboard shortcuts and experimenting or messing w/ the new synths you've bought, exploring libraries, saving presets ideas, etc. 

The time you spend doing that is far from wasted - it pays back exponentially when you start working on an actual project. Planning some time to mess around and experiment can have a tremendous impact on your workflow.

Hi Rain,
 
We actually do have something like that. We have our own browser window also that allows us to bring in parts of other projects. It's not as intense as the Logic method, but between track templates and project templates, we can do everything you're doing here....we just can't do it in one step. BUT...we can do it in one location which is really cool. Our browswer window allows us to bring in audio, midi, project templates, instrument templates, plugs and everything else right on the fly. It also has a preview button so you can listen before you commit to anything and drag and drop it.
 
For example, any time I finish a project that has "moved me" so to speak, two things I like to do are save the template of that entire project without the audio/midi and save individual track settings as "instrument templates". This gives me all the settings, plusg used, pans, busses, everything. So if I ever want to import this into a project, I can do it via my browswer window. The browser also allows audio imports from other projects.
 
We never had this until the X series in Sonar, so it may be to your liking. It's not a one shot deal like what you have, but it's pretty powerful and would take maybe 2 or 3 steps completing the same thing you are currently working with but it can all be done in the same window browser. I've made you a little video so you can see it as well as the capabilities it has. :) Short one...less than 2 mins. :)
 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/BrowserWindow.wmv
 
-Danny

Danny Danzi

Hi Rain,
 
We actually do have something like that. We have our own browser window also that allows us to bring in parts of other projects. It's not as intense as the Logic method, but between track templates and project templates, we can do everything you're doing here....we just can't do it in one step. BUT...we can do it in one location which is really cool. Our browswer window allows us to bring in audio, midi, project templates, instrument templates, plugs and everything else right on the fly. It also has a preview button so you can listen before you commit to anything and drag and drop it.
 
For example, any time I finish a project that has "moved me" so to speak, two things I like to do are save the template of that entire project without the audio/midi and save individual track settings as "instrument templates". This gives me all the settings, plusg used, pans, busses, everything. So if I ever want to import this into a project, I can do it via my browswer window. The browser also allows audio imports from other projects.
 
We never had this until the X series in Sonar, so it may be to your liking. It's not a one shot deal like what you have, but it's pretty powerful and would take maybe 2 or 3 steps completing the same thing you are currently working with but it can all be done in the same window browser. I've made you a little video so you can see it as well as the capabilities it has. :) Short one...less than 2 mins. :)
 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/BrowserWindow.wmv
 
-Danny

Great help Danny!


Thanks!

Thanks Danny.

As to how/why it's used... Here's a novel - sorry about that, bro. :)

First, I must say the import functionality is very comprehensive - it can optionally import pretty much everything including Global Tracks (that is, your markers, tempo/tempo changes, meter/meter changes and all) plus midi, audio + associated channel settings, automation and all. 

As I mentioned, for me it is handy because I do rely on versioning a lot. Not only versioning of the same arrangement, but I often have as much as 5 or 6 possible arrangements of the same song idea.

To illustrate that, say that I'm working on a funky mix and a rock mix, in parallel. The rock mix is going good but the chorus could do w/ a touch of funk and a hint of that wild midi clavinet part from the funk arrangement would be just perfect. That one hasn't been bounced to audio, but, if I did my homework, I probably saved that sweet sounding clavinet as a channel strip template and all I need to do is to load that strip and play the part again. Meh...

I don't know about you, but I can (and do) save lots of channel strip templates, the ones I need systematically seem to be the ones I overlooked, because I was just rehearsing a temporary part or groovin' away, you know... On top of that, I'm not sure I'll actually be able to top my previous performance and/or I don't have time to slip back into recording mode - or whatever lame reason I have... Quick solution: partial import feature. 

A couple of clicks and that midi part and its settings are extracted from the funk project and merged into the current one. 

Next, and that one is a matter of personal workflow, so it may or may not apply. I'm done recording and arranging, I've bounced everything and I am getting ready to mix. Personally, I like to start afresh and create a new project, with only the relevant audio, and maybe a couple of alternate tracks, just in case. 

First use of the selective import feature - importing all the tempo and meter info as well as the markers. Obviously, you could accomplish the same thing by just deleting everything except that info in your project and saving it as a new project to rebuild your song. I just like the convenience of being able to re-create a project from scratch w/ only one or two clicks.

As I'm working on the mix, I suddenly realize that the song could be a bit more exciting if only the drums were just a tiny bit busier towards the end of the last verse, to build up a bit before the finale. Or that the snare sound just won't work as optimally as I expected, or that I'd like to keep only the left hand pattern on the piano part for the break and kill the melody. 

Of course, I could re-open a previous version of the project, tweak there and re-export. Or I could use the selective import to add just what's needed in the current project, w/ the added benefit of being able to audition the changes against my current mix. Maybe muting all the melody wasn't such a great idea after all - I could use a couple of the more significant 16th notes here and there...

Another more obvious use, one which fortunately I haven't had to use - should a project ever get corrupted, selective import allows you to rebuild it entirely and to salvage a whole lot more than you would normally be able to retrieve in other DAWs - not just audio but markers, automation, midi, plug-ins, etc. 

Overall, it just makes it so that, no matter if you prefer to bounce things early on for whatever reason and/or constantly tidy things up as you go, you can have all the advantage of file versioning w/o actually having to re-open those old versions.

Tom: no problem!

Rain: You never have to apologize to me for a novel...you've read enough of mine! LOL! I appreciate the response and explanation. It all makes sense now. In all actuality, we can do all the same things (sort of) that you're doing there. You'd just have to go about them a bit differently. Like for example, we could just save complete project templates and track templates and put them in a folder inside the project folder and call it "project templates and track templates". This way we could just bring in anything we want like you're doing, but we'd have to literally save those two things first where you just have everything ready to go.

The only thing we can't do at all is grab a midi from an already create project. We'd have to save the part as a midi (which is what I do these days) and just put it in the project folder. Why Sonar doesn't show the midi files in work files is beyond me. If a project gets corrupt, we can rebuild as you mentioned as well...however, because the midi is never actually seen in the work folder, a corrupt project can be the death of any midi work you may have created. So I always make it a point to save my midi data outisde of Sonar in the event I DO have a corrupt project. I can always rebuild it with all the audio and then just drop the midi in that I saved. So we're close to what you can do, there would just be a few extra steps and it's not as tidy or informative as the "Logic" way. Good stuff brother, thanks again. :)

-Danny

Aw, man - I'd just finished a little video to show you what I meant. lol

Oh well, at least I've learned how to use that Quick Time screen capture thingie. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr8fN2MCMvU

Very cool Rain! Thanks for sharing....and your accent rocks! ;)

-Danny

Rain


Aw, man - I'd just finished a little video to show you what I meant. lol

Oh well, at least I've learned how to use that Quick Time screen capture thingie. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr8fN2MCMvU

That is a very cool feature. Thanks for sharing. You sound waaayyyy different to how I imagined you would, not in a bad way or anything, just kinda like reading the book and then seeing the film and realising that you've been mispronouncing someone's name in your head all the time you were reading it if that makes sense. Usually I like the book better, but in this case I think I prefer the film ! ;)