Probably a pretty intense plug to start with but it seems just turning the thing on makes things sound a lot nicer. Plus I've got Mr. Garrigus' guide to help me along the way. Sadly this drum track is a stereo export from BFD Eco so I have no real separation but I've cloned the stereo track and I'm gonna tweak the first one to draw out the kicks, toms and meat of the snare and draw out the cymbal highs and stick/beater attacks in the second track. I may add a third if necessary but I don't really want to waste too much time on this tester track (I'm more interested in the guitar/bass tones). I'm sure this is completely back arseward but it will likely be the only time I start with stereo drums (hopefully).

Well that didn't friggen' work. Grr. Guess I'd better just EQ it in PC or something and save the Strip for later when I've got isolated drums. Seriously that only took the sound to craptown no matter what I did. Urf.

Yup. PC EQ/Comp is WAY better. Now I know. And yes I'm just blathering as I go. ;-)

oof... I'm gonna have to try this again tomorrow. That was a comedy of errors. Apparently I can't even keep track of on/off buttons in the PC. I'd think I was disabling a module when I was disabling the whole PC then I'd think I was disabling the whole PC when I was only disabling a module. I know how it works but gosh darnit to poop I was getting tripped up. Doesn't help I'm new to compression and I'm used to a ten band graphic EQ. I know there's more than one EQ in Sonar but I gotta learn this knob/button fiddling in the PC. Man... I really feel like a dumbarse right now. :-/

Beepster


oof... I'm gonna have to try this again tomorrow. That was a comedy of errors. Apparently I can't even keep track of on/off buttons in the PC. I'd think I was disabling a module when I was disabling the whole PC then I'd think I was disabling the whole PC when I was only disabling a module. I know how it works but gosh darnit to poop I was getting tripped up. Doesn't help I'm new to compression and I'm used to a ten band graphic EQ. I know there's more than one EQ in Sonar but I gotta learn this knob/button fiddling in the PC. Man... I really feel like a dumbarse right now. :-/

Beep, it took me years to get a handle on MIDI than more years to get a handle on digital audio. What you have accomplished in a very short time is very remarkable. So now you didn't do everything perfectly. So what! That is why I choose Sonar in the first place. It is non destructive and I can't destroy anything using it.no matter how hard I try. Don't you think that is cool? Its that philosophy that allowed me to learn. I didn't have to worry about messing up.

@John... Yeah, I hear ya. It's all part of the learning process. Even though I've been trying to take it slow I have been forcing the learning curve a bit. I got plenty done today in regards to volume edits and setting up my track list in anticipation of this stage (despite a ridiculous amount of distractions). You know how it goes though. You want that nice little sonic payoff at the end of the day but it was getting late and I had probably overloaded my brain already. My intention kind of was to try out all the major effects one by one on the various tracks following the Power Book just to get a feel for them. Just got cocky and thought I could dive right in. Tomorrow will be better. :-)

Give vladg sound a try. A very nice 64 bit Compressor and Limiter. The Molot comp is great on bass and drums....Limiter 6 is great on the mastering buss.

@clint... Thanks for the suggestions. I think my main problem is being stuck with the stereo BFD tracks. I already applied a preset to them before exporting (this was just intended as a quick test and turned into an epic adventure in metal) so they're already processed and anything I do to them seems to just destroy everything so I have to rethink this a bit. Really I just want to add some low end beef to the kicks and toms and some high end sizzle to the snare cracks and cymbals. I know I can do this with some basic EQing but my brain just wasn't working well with the PC tonight. If it comes down to it I'll pull out the fancy multibands but I think this is a good chance to find my way around the PC stuff. The Percussion Strip was sounding good but it was introducing some nasty pops and digital distortion even with my latency settings cranked way up and keeping a close eye on the in/out levels (why are there no clip lights on those?!). I think the term is "artifacts". I managed to figure out how to get rid of it but it made the tracks sound worse and dropped the level significantly. I could go on but I'm just chalking this up to a learning experience. Tomorrow will be better. Stupid computer thinks it's smarter than me. I'll show it who's boss! ;-)

You might want look at the Sonitus EQ instead of the PC module, it is considerably more flexible.

Right on, scook. I think these drum tracks are gonna be my chance to take a good hard look at all the effects like I've been meaning too... but yeah, I played with the Sonitus Eq a while back and IIRC it's a little more similar to what I'm used to. I'm shut down for the night though so I'll start fresh tomorrow. I think I was getting a little ahead of myself to be honest. I just kind of want to get this track in the bag so I can move on. It's really not even that interesting of a tune. Cheers.