Yup.
 
It is a double-edged sword.
 
Software like Sonar DOES give folks, even those untrained and inexperienced, a way to pursue the ability to create, and it gives what used to be truly only obtainable by vast amounts of money to the masses, which I think is a FABULOUS thing to be able to do.
 
The trick is to become good at it along the way,
 
Bob Bone

eBook is on sale for $5.94!!!

http://www.nookbook.info/-p-28854.html

your best friend in the world is you tube, though its hard to differentiate the real methods of the art one can build even off experimental ideas by tubers with little knowledge bulling there way through a video.
in other words; even the users who have no idea about mixing leave something to the imagination.
 

robert_e_bone
Software like Sonar DOES give folks, even those untrained and inexperienced, a way to pursue the ability to create, and it gives what used to be truly only obtainable by vast amounts of money to the masses, which I think is a FABULOUS thing to be able to do.

Without any doubt.  I have had a lot of software programs over the years.  Band-in-a-box remains the most eerily humanesque one to me.  That is, I have been a professional software person for many decades, and I still marvel at when comes out the speakers sometimes with Band-in-a-box.  "How did they do that?"
 
SONAR is different.  I understand perfectly well HOW they did it.  It is all very much orthogonal programming.  But the amazing thing about SONAR (and probably mostly true of all the leading DAWs) is how they have been able to organize so much complexity and sophistication into a package that really is accessible (after a fair learning curve) by people who are less technical and more artistic.  In terms of the function for the dollar, SONAR is by far the best value of any software I have ever owned.
 
So far, I have been dealing with the program mostly on a mechanical basis, just learning how all the parts fit together.  This morning I went back to work on a project I thought I had completed.  It was an accompaniment for a vocalise by  Bordogni.  I had started that project with an existing MIDI file of Bordogni's piano accompaniment, then layered other instruments into a richer accompaniment.  But the piano always sounded clunky.  I studied that more.  It was evidently entered on a notation program that did not capture velocity.  All the velocities are exactly the same within each 1- or 16-bar section.  I assume the person who entered that added some MF, and PP marks here and there to step the velocities up and down.  But the whole effect is very robotic, and the piano often gets in the way.
 
I found it was actually pretty easy with Sonar to "curve" the velocities, making them sound much more human.  It only took about 10 minutes for a 3 minute song, which is a lot better than I expected.  Now that there are some nice variations in the velocities, I will spend some time with the settings in TruePianos, which I believe can enhance that even more.
 

cclarry
eBook is on sale for $5.94!!!

http://www.nookbook.info/-p-28854.html

So is "Mixing Audio" by Roey Izhaki...
 
http://www.text-ebook.com/mixing-audio-p-23189.html?zenid=vc1f27hjlnc24a5keastbbt6v6
 
I'm snapping this up. I gotta say, I prefer to have the real book version in almost 100% of cases but this is such a bargain...I already have Mixing Secrets in book form and I'd thought about buying this as well but couldn't justify the cost (not when there are a zillion plugins I'm only going to use once out there waiting to be bought). 

Some time ago I did a thread on this. http://forum.cakewalk.com...spx?high=best+practice

• When is it better to group on buses and apply effects as a group versus effects on individual channels? I group similar instruments (e.g., string section, back-up vocals) on a bus with a single reverb on the bus to save CPU power and enable me to change the reverb for all at once.  (It would be weird if the violas had half the reverb of the violins, etc.)  Drums are an exception because, even though it is not realistic, our ears are used to hearing different amounts of reverb on different drums.  For most non-reverb effects, I use a separate effect for each track because some effects sound bad when processing too much data or too many notes at once.
• What effects are better on the master bus rather than individual channels?  I don't put anything on the master bus except what people normally think of as "mastering effects," like compression or limiting.  For group buses, see coments above.
• How can you keep the sound clean?  How much reverb to use?  Use reverb on all voices or just some? Use the same reverb throughout the mix or mix different reverb effects on different instruments? 1-I use way less reverb than most people because I am a freaking weirdo, so best not to ask me how much.  2-I think it makes sense to use the same or similar reverb (but different amounts) on the natural (organic) sounds like voices, acoustic instruments, orchestra, etc.  For electronic sounds, anything goes.  3-About clean: I cringe if something isn't clean but lots of people go dirty on purpose.  Example: Listen to "Siberia" by Lights (current hit).  EVERYTHING but the voice is distorted big time and on purpose.  I like the group and the song but I hate the way they did that.  To each his own.  4-Too many effects, especially plug-ins, cheapen the sound to my ears.  Example:  I like EZMix2, but I am very careful about using some of the presets because I think they sound cheap or dirty.  (Some are great.)  Guitar Rig is very clean sounding for the most part (unless you pick distortion) and is one of the better plugs.  I would not use it on voice.  5-Don't let you mic get too hot.  It is easy to distort vocals even when the handy little Sonar meter is all green because the signal overblew the mic or the preamp.
• Strategies for compression.  Search Sound on Sound archives.  Excellent articles.
• Ways to bring out important voices without making them louder (chorusing, flanging)?  Mild compression helps.  Stereo image helps.  Making sure you don't use too much reverb helps.  Manual compression (riding the fader) helps.  For vocals, a lack of 2-3K power can make voices hard to understand.  (The other edge of that sword is that too much can make the vocal really ugly.)  If you cut too much 1.2-2.5K or so out of the vocal, it will get lost.  One trick is to cut other instruments a little in that range so they don't fight the vocal, or drop them in the mix while the vocal is active.  Similar concepts apply to other insturments: you can temporarily boost the bass midrange when you want a lick to come through.

There are some general mixing tips like setting your bass and kick volume first to get your master at a certain level, then adding in guitars and keyboards, etc. but most of it is trying, fixing, trying again, etc.  I have one project open now that has about 65 tracks and every minor change requires lots of adjustments to lots of tracks.

Nicely put, sir.
 
Bob Bone
 

cclarry
your best friend in the world is you tube, though its hard to differentiate the real methods of the art one can build even off experimental ideas by tubers with little knowledge bulling there way through a video

Yes, there's a massive amount of material on youtube, but it's largely luck-of-the-draw.  The problem is finding what's good amongst all the less-than-worthy-of-your-time material.
 
A better solution, if you've got a hundred bucks and a little patience, is groove3.  They have a good number of professionally produced videos that are well worth taking the time to watch.  They have a sale every now and then (at least twice a year, I think) that gives you a one-year all-access pass for $100.  Money very well spent, IMO.

dmbaer
Yes, there's a massive amount of material on youtube, but it's largely luck-of-the-draw.  The problem is finding what's good amongst all the less-than-worthy-of-your-time material.
 
A better solution, if you've got a hundred bucks and a little patience, is groove3.  They have a good number of professionally produced videos that are well worth taking the time to watch.  They have a sale every now and then (at least twice a year, I think) that gives you a one-year all-access pass for $100.  Money very well spent, IMO.

I agree with the YouTube comment. 9 out of 10 video's suck. People who mumble something like 'Right, well... today I will... er... right... Oh let's get that screen out of the way... okay, now, today we will see... er, try... (coughs softly) oh, what happened there... wait, right, yeah, well, okay, that should do it... oh er... yeah, now, today I will show you how to er... (takes a sip of coffee) how to er... (shouts off mic: yeah, I'll do that tomorrow, mom!). Okay, let's get going. This video will be about (coughs loudly) er...' And this goes on for 45 minutes. And in the end you usually have learned nothing new. Yeah, most YouTube tutorials suck big time.
 
As an alternative for Groove3 (in case you want to mainly learn about Sonar): one of the best video's ever imho is SWA's Complete Sonar X2 Tutorial. It's REALLY complete and very well done.