Nowadays people shouldn't be saying RTFM they should be saying RTFM and/or ask FBB :)

It was a great comment You'll never know

RTFM? Respecting The Forum Monkeys?

I don't think I've ever said RTFM, and my almost 16000 posts show that I don't mind helping anyone. I spent at least 20 minutes of my time creating and posting the screen shot to show the OP the difference between a mono and a stereo track. Even the best teachers will try to show you how to help yourself so you can be independent. And I did say "No offense." I'm sorry if he took it wrongly.

I think its time for me to spend more time working on my own music. 

I see some the old-timers getting a bit grouchy because newbie doubts them, and I see a newbie insuffciently prepared, and miffed about it.

At one time I worked customer support (technical) for over four years. Seen it all. Been there, done that. I was probably the most determined and nicest guy you'd ever speak to. You'd never know it, but there were customers who I considered wholly unqualified to to operate the equipment I was supporting. There were times, after I'd get off the phone, that I'd have walked out of the office and chain-smoke half a pack of cigarettes because of an obtuse customer.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are plenty of decent, well-meaning people out there willing to help someone. (I'm one of them - although new to Sonar, I'm not new to DAW's.) The best way to thank those folks is to be honest about what you do and do not know, and communicate that.

Often, when you hear someone holler 'RTFM', it is because it is obvious that, although the person's immediate problem may be solved, they are an accident waiting to happen. You can sense the a lack of basic conceptual comprehension. For the experienced user, it can be frustrating - so often they resort to simply giving a very direct answer without further exposition, because doing so would be futile, and there's no need to embarrass anyone.

However, when the person being helped bypasses the recommendations given them and continues to solicit, it can be a but too much.


But anyway - scratch. No winners here.

SteveStrummerUK

daveny5

We're not here to hold your hand and walk you through using the program. 

Speak for yourself
 
If I can, I'll gladly help anyone through any process or technique. Step by step. With screenshots and diagrams if need be. Please don't tar me and countless others with your own brush.
 
Anyway, it's nice to see you've cheered up a bit since the last time our paths crossed Dave.
 
And nice to see that your advice has evolved as far as "RTFM" from your previous position of implying that anybody not possessing the basic skills to run the software was obviously using a pirated copy.
 
Toodle-pip. 
  
 
Much appreciated! 
 
 

daveny5


I don't think I've ever said RTFM, and my almost 16000 posts show that I don't mind helping anyone. I spent at least 20 minutes of my time creating and posting the screen shot to show the OP the difference between a mono and a stereo track. Even the best teachers will try to show you how to help yourself so you can be independent. And I did say "No offense." I'm sorry if he took it wrongly.

I think its time for me to spend more time working on my own music. 

You have a ton of knowledge, and your help in posting the screenshots is truly appreciated. My point is, rather than be condescending to someone (“it’s time you did some studying” “we’re not going to hold your hand” “we don’t get paid for this”), just move on to the next person if you are looking for someone to help. I have nothing against studying the subject, as you will see in another post I plan to make.

Now that this has turned into a discussion about who “deserves” help and who doesn’t, I’ll add two more cents:
 
I have no background in recording and have no one teaching me, which is fine. I love music and just wanted to do it.
 
I researched what I needed to buy, and made the purchase. (A feat in itself, at my level.)
 
I did actually look at some videos, tutorials, and I even bought the SONAR X1 Power! book, if you can believe that! (Many of you are so advanced that it is hard to rewind back to having zero knowledge. Even when you watch, listen, and read, it is like learning a language you never heard before. If they aren’t talking about exactly the same thing you are trying to do, it is still confusing to follow. If you have never seen a car before, but you know you need one to get from A to B, you wouldn’t even know how to get in it, what a “door” is or how you open it…..or that you NEED to open it. And guess what? The owner’s manual doesn’t tell you about that.)
 
Anyway, I managed to set up my gear and record instruments on multiple tracks. The stuff actually works, so I have researched enough to get this far. (And if you notice the number of posts I have PRIOR to this thread, I would not say that I have bogged this forum down too much with “Where is the ON/OFF switch?” type questions, or many questions at all.)
 
I then get thinking I should try to pan some of the tracks to get a better sound. It looks very simple; just move the knob. I move the knob but don’t get panning. As I go left or right, the volume reduces equally in both monitors, or the phones. So, I go to my Sonar book and try to look it up, and have no luck solving the problem.
 
So here I am. I’m being educated about mono tracks and stereo tracks (much appreciated), and that’s probably where the problem lies. From your info, I see that my tracks are “one lane”, so that means mono I assume. I wonder why I’m not familiar with the kind of track I have, so I dig back into the instruction to create tracks. It said to click on “Insert”, and then select “Audio Track” (providing you don’t want midi or whatever – and when you know NOTHING, you have to figure out if you need midi, audio, etc.). So all I know is I have an audio track, and it has worked so far. Stereo or mono was not part of that selection process. All the things I have done “so far” have worked, and most of it is probably by luck or accident.
 
Yes, on a scale of 1 to 100, (with you folks being much closer to 100), I am probably at 5. I can do some things, but if I so much as hit a wrong button, I likely don’t know how to get back where I was before. (“Save” frequently so you can just close without saving that last goof, and then re-open the file – LOL.) I try to learn about what I need to use. I do have a “day job”, so time is limited, and if I tried to learn everything first, I would not have even recorded one note yet.
 
So…….at least part of my point here is that I’m not just a lazy person wanting easy answers. But if people need to work with someone more advanced than me, I completely understand. I am very willing to spend time learning what I need to know. From what’s gone on here, it sounds more enticing to eat glass than ask questions!

muzeek


Now that this has turned into a discussion about who “deserves” help and who doesn’t, I’ll add two more cents:
 
I have no background in recording and have no one teaching me, which is fine. I love music and just wanted to do it.
 
I researched what I needed to buy, and made the purchase. (A feat in itself, at my level.)
 
I did actually look at some videos, tutorials, and I even bought the SONAR X1 Power! book, if you can believe that! (Many of you are so advanced that it is hard to rewind back to having zero knowledge. Even when you watch, listen, and read, it is like learning a language you never heard before. If they aren’t talking about exactly the same thing you are trying to do, it is still confusing to follow. If you have never seen a car before, but you know you need one to get from A to B, you wouldn’t even know how to get in it, what a “door” is or how you open it…..or that you NEED to open it. And guess what? The owner’s manual doesn’t tell you about that.)
 
Anyway, I managed to set up my gear and record instruments on multiple tracks. The stuff actually works, so I have researched enough to get this far. (And if you notice the number of posts I have PRIOR to this thread, I would not say that I have bogged this forum down too much with “Where is the ON/OFF switch?” type questions, or many questions at all.)
 
I then get thinking I should try to pan some of the tracks to get a better sound. It looks very simple; just move the knob. I move the knob but don’t get panning. As I go left or right, the volume reduces equally in both monitors, or the phones. So, I go to my Sonar book and try to look it up, and have no luck solving the problem.
 
So here I am. I’m being educated about mono tracks and stereo tracks (much appreciated), and that’s probably where the problem lies. From your info, I see that my tracks are “one lane”, so that means mono I assume. I wonder why I’m not familiar with the kind of track I have, so I dig back into the instruction to create tracks. It said to click on “Insert”, and then select “Audio Track” (providing you don’t want midi or whatever – and when you know NOTHING, you have to figure out if you need midi, audio, etc.). So all I know is I have an audio track, and it has worked so far. Stereo or mono was not part of that selection process. All the things I have done “so far” have worked, and most of it is probably by luck or accident.
 
Yes, on a scale of 1 to 100, (with you folks being much closer to 100), I am probably at 5. I can do some things, but if I so much as hit a wrong button, I likely don’t know how to get back where I was before. (“Save” frequently so you can just close without saving that last goof, and then re-open the file – LOL.) I try to learn about what I need to use. I do have a “day job”, so time is limited, and if I tried to learn everything first, I would not have even recorded one note yet.
 
So…….at least part of my point here is that I’m not just a lazy person wanting easy answers. But if people need to work with someone more advanced than me, I completely understand. I am very willing to spend time learning what I need to know. From what’s gone on here, it sounds more enticing to eat glass than ask questions!

if you want you can scale down your project with one audio track and email it to me and I will take a look at it. rbeach4960 at aol dot com

if you want you can scale down your project with one audio track and email it to me and I will take a look at it. rbeach4960 at aol dot com

Excellent suggestion!

Regarding earlier suggestions that the track was a mono signal on one side of a stereo recording, I think the OP has pretty much refuted that, but it should have been clear from:

CJ – I think I am doing mono to mono. My inputs are “1/2 Left” etc. (not stereo).  

"1/2 Left" means mono input 1. No need to wager.