I am curious to techniques about high/low end rolling off, and isolation of frequencies so each instrument sticks out.

I would think the high and low roll off is more during the mastering stage?

Any advice for singer-songwriter and/or rock music in general terms?

I am reading some articles about isolation, and do some folks on here have presets for the EQ's that have been included with Sonar the past few versions?

Wrong thread area. This is really a Techniques question. You should post there. People that are good with helping in this area may not be in this thread so much, they are in the Techniques area. What you are asking is common to all DAW's and is very general in it's nature, not specific to X1 or X2.

To all those who are asking questions. Have a good think about the best place for your question. It may not be in this thread at all.

To give you some ideas though it is complex area. It works at track level and at mastering level over a whole mix. At track level you only roll off if there is an excess of bottom or high end on individual sounds. But if a track is lacking bottom end or high end you wont be rolling off, you may be boosting instead.

Same goes at mastering level. You may roll off the extremes of the spectrum only if there is an excess at the extremes. If a mix is lacking in bottom end or high end you may have to boost instead. No golden rules apply. You have to use your ears and judge. And also during mastering it is a good idea to compare your mix to that of a well mixed and mastered commercial CD in the same genre. It will tell you a lot.

Jeff Evans


Wrong thread area. This is really a Techniques question. You should post there. People that are good with helping in this area may not be in this thread so much, they are in the Techniques area. What you are asking is common to all DAW's and is very general in it's nature, not specific to X1 or X2.

To all those who are asking questions. Have a good think about the best place for your question. It may not be in this thread at all.

To give you some ideas though it is complex area. It works at track level and at mastering level over a whole mix. At track level you only roll off if there is an excess of bottom or high end on individual sounds. But if a track is lacking bottom end or high end you wont be rolling off, you may be boosting instead.

Same goes at mastering level. You may roll off the extremes of the spectrum only if there is an excess at the extremes. If a mix is lacking in bottom end or high end you may have to boost instead. No golden rules apply. You have to use your ears and judge. And also during mastering it is a good idea to compare your mix to that of a well mixed and mastered commercial CD in the same genre. It will tell you a lot.

I couldn't agree with you more.
but I should probably take a lesson from you explaining this, because each time I say this it must come out wrong and someone takes offense.
 
but its true, you cant get the proper help you need and it makes the people who are having real issues pushed to the back of the line.
a great example was 2 week's ago someone posted in the sonar x1 /x2 forums about a deal that had expired on the " buy sonar and get the waves plug in bundle at a reduced value" I think.
no doubt it belonged in software. someone took it personal, (not even the person with the issue) claiming I must be embarrassed to have mentioned it.
the thing that really bothered me was I had a post sitting unanswered for 3 days even after a bump.
I could have easily posted it here in sonar x1 /x2 where the high traffic is. probably would have had an answer in less than an hour.
 
I come here and give my time to help people cause I want to, I have no problems with that.
but its difficult sifting through a mess of threads in wrong places and I'M not afraid to mention it.
This of course has nothing personal to do with the OP, so please don't take that the wrong way.
I do think in your case however Jeff is right, you may fare better in that section where people who specialize in technique's will show you masterful tricks. 
 

While on one hand I agree with you both, the fact is most people(and the ones that can help) don't even browse in those forums. 

The Techniques forum, as with most of the other forums, are barren in comparison to the one we are in now.

I'll probably better served to go to a more on-the-point-I-need forum.

You could wait 24 hrs getting a reply in the techniques forum. I'm not saying it's not helpful, there are some real pros like Danny who frequent it occasionally, but I think people end up posting here because they want a quicker reply. 

I think the Techniques forum just needs people to ask questions.

There are a few interesting threads right now including a fantastic one on recording classical guitar.

It may be a bit slower paced, but that is probably a good thing.

Another thing to remember is that threads that are posted in the X1/X2 area will quickly go down and eventually be off the page due to the traffic that is going on in the X1/X2 area. But in the Techniques area those questions will also remain visible for a much longer time, hence the chances of being seen and answered are better.

Also there people there like Danny and myself too that are willing to take the time to think about and give some responses. I have put over 300 pages of A4 responses in the Techniques area since joining.

Surely you are not in such a hurry as to get an immediate response. That type of question takes time to answer, digest and try out the suggestions. Sorry but it is a Techniques question and that is the best place for it.

I agree though that if a Technique question is posted in the X1/X2 area but does involve very specific solutions that directly involve plugins / approaches etc that are X1/X2 specific then yes it is the right area. But your question as I have said is very general and that sort of issue can be solved with any DAW.

Actually, I've been playing with a mix tonight, so I cast a net to get answers sooner than later. I also was researching multiple places at the same time.

I was using the eq plugs used with the last few versions of Sonar, so I was seeing what others with those products do.

Hi there hockey OK I can see where you are coming from and there are plenty of tools within Sonar to solve HPF and LPF issues for sure.

Another good reason to post techniques type questions in Techniques is that because I don't actually use Sonar as my main DAW the chances of me being in the X1/X2 area is quite limited (although I do have to set FreddieH in line from time to time though!  ) but I do enjoy reading and answering questions in the Techniques area. So to get me for example to answer a question that is by far the best area to catch me.

Good luck with it. I know the search options in the forum may not be ideal but there has been some excellent discussion on this in the past as well.

I tend to HPF nearly all of my tracks, even though to the ear there might not be a lot going on down there, but stick a half decent meter on the track and you'll be surprised just how low down into the bass end a lot of non-bass instruments can intrude.

This leaves the way totally clear for your real low end instruments - kick, bass, tuba, bass trombone (yeah, I've been working on an orchestral piece!!)