Hi again, Danny D. Some things can't die? Maybe the title of one of your albums? What am I talking about you ask. I keep trying to let you out of this strange "help" thing but you keep causing me to come back! You are too prolific, I think. Its probably one of your downfalls in life-helping people that is. Don't worry, you are in good company. I felt that I had to comment on your latest offering given that I may understand this far better than you think. Everything is connected, as you said. I don't think we will ever truly know all the connections. But, there are connections connecting all things. I am no new-age person and might almost be able to fill in the blanks on what you are talking about. Yes, this is vague and ambiguous by design but its enough for now.
I think that you are one of these secret genius kind of guys that I run into every once in awhile. I am always happy to meet them because they know so much in their field. I bet that you can hardly sleep often because you have so much going on in your head. If you happen to read this and choose to reply I shall haunt you once again by asking you just 2 simple things that you need not answer terribly deeply unless you want to. This is for the purpose of making your time productive so that you can justify the time it took you to read this. You poor, poor, employed musician.
Here it is if you want to answer it. I mean, why should I ask someone else when I know that you know the answer and can explain it so well? This is a joke of course Danny D. I will not be offended if you ignore this completely but will certainly be better off if you do answer it. I will think you are a good person either way.
I do not see the Concrete Limiter that I said I would use after you recommended it. Do you know where it is? I told you they were easy.
Second, I have recently listened to a sample of something from IK Multimedia called "Stealth Limiter". They claim it is the very best-above all the competition. Do you agree with this statement? It certainly was boomin' in their comparisons with several other makers of limiters.
Bonus question: Is it possible to get a "razor tool" in a simple plug-in-without buying an entire, expensive suite? I mean like you can do with IK Multimedia products? I am really curious about this "choppin' the tops off for more headroom" thing that I hear about.
I hope you answer these questions because I believe whatever you tell me on this which is strange.
 
Hey, Danny, thanks for continuing to read my nonsense that occasionally contains questions. I still say you are a heck of a guy even if you don't choose to answer these questions. Maybe someday I will fly out to catch a show. Don't worry, I would never approach you and say, "Hi! I'm Bob! You know...from the internet?". You would never even know I was there. Its not my style at all. In fact, I would that say that I am all but incapable of doing that. I guess I may have even blown it by telling you this. Dang! If only there were some way to erase that. Oh well. 
 
I'll come back to the "Danny D helps out the goof" thread and see if anything is new. If you don't have time (poor, poor employed musician/producer etc.) I promise you I will understand and still think you are great! Until then.
 
bob

LOL if anything, both of us are entertaining the forum. :)
 
I guess it wouldn't sound as sarcastic (tongue and cheek here) if it read "you rich, rich employed musician". :-P Ah you know how it goes, everyone thinks you're loaded when you own a business. They never realize how much you have to pay out before you see a dime. I like to consider myself "blessed and fortunate". :)
 
Hahaha I'm far from a genius type. So sorry if I gave you that impression. Hahaha! I must be slipping. If you ever heard me talk, you'd crack up. I got a pretty funny accent, don't use proper grammar or proper English most of the time, and can't even say the word "water" without it sounding like "wooder". :) But yeah, I do have a few problems sleeping. Most of the time because of all the things going on in my head....whether they be song ideas, production related, stuff I need to do for a client in the morning....stuff I SHOULD be doing for a client instead of sleeping....and then there's the girlfriend and the dogs who get upset when I'm not home at a decent hour. I used to do this stuff nearly 24/7...maybe sleep for 2-4 hours. Life is too short man....gotta wake up and live life too because it passes too fast.
 
Most of the IK plugs I really haven't liked that I have tried other than their guitar or bass oriented plugs which rock! As for the Stealth limiter, I've never heard of it and haven't really been keeping up on the latest and greatest in the plugin limiter realm. As for their statement, that's hype the same as any other company saying they have the best <insert product of choice here> around. Once you get a nice arsenal of tools that work, you stop looking and that's where I am. Technology changes so fast, if you read too much and want too much of the new stuff, you NEVER get anything done. I know guys that buy every plugin that comes out....they don't use them, don't know how to use them, and either never finish a project, barely finish a project or spend hours fighting with tech support because their iLok or some other thing they bought just won't work right. New technology, though good...is never fool proof. I like to work for my people or create my own stuff. I don't have time to tweak and indulge in these new things that set us back hours, days, weeks. It's actually pathetic the way this industry is...as much as some of it is intriguing.
 
I am dreading switching to Windows 10 because I have such a well-oiled machine with 7. The last thing I feel like doing is buying new programs because my old ones won't work, or messing around with drivers because nothing works. I can't afford to be down an hour let alone a day or longer.
 
Anyway.....
 
Waves has the option to buy single plugs....I believe Fab Filter does also. The concrete limiter you asked about is in Sonar Producer X2, X3, Sonar Platinum and shows up in Pro Channel. If you aren't using those versions of Sonar, you won't see it. I believe you HAVE to be running Sonar Producer to have it. What version of Sonar are you using? Get a Waves L1+ or Waves L2 and don't look any further. They are great for most things...especially the material you listed on your first post.
 
-Danny

Hi again Danny D. and once again, thanks for the reply. I won't take much of your time here, I promise. First, I have to say, if there are people reading all this then wow man, they must find something else to do! Or, we truly are that entertaining. I don't know which is true.
 
But, moving along as I promised...
I am no where near the east coast and have only heard that type of accent on the TV. So, I am guessing that is the sound you speak of. I mean, I have worked with people from that region and I did find it somewhat difficult, at first, to understand them well. Still, in comparison to some relatives I know in Scotland its not bad at all. Now, THAT'S rough! I just stare at them blankly hoping that I may have got a tiny bit of what they just said. Sorry Scots!
I guess that was the humor part of this reply. I must now move on to the "business" part. I hope the readers are still following all this.
 
I know exactly what you mean about tech support and that dang iLok thing. I bet you spend or have spent, far more time with this than I have. It is terribly unpleasant to me. And, I am trying to do just what you said-find the stuff you like and stop looking. I figure that the go to limiter is a fairly big piece of that equation. I don't have enough limiter experience so I have to ask these questions. I just want my reliable limiter standing by when I need it and pop it in. I think that I do not have this concrete limiter that you mentioned because I do not have Producer but have Professional or what was once called Artist. Therefore, I am back to needing my go-to limiter. I have heard for some time about this Waves stuff but have never actually used it or even know much about this company. I have heard they are good though. And now, you are backing that up so I will pursue. WAVES!
 
I am sure that I am not telling you something that you don't already know but regarding the Windows 10 thing, maybe you should just set up other machines, slowly, and have them standing by for the hard drive failure or switch. I did just this almost 1 year ago and it was hell-as you know too well. All this and without the need to have all systems running all the time (life and death) like you have. I would almost pity you but you ARE in the big leagues buddy! Nah, I am sympathetic but unconcerned because you wouldn't still be here if you couldn't handle this stuff. I know you don't need my advice. I am just trying to be supportive-not that you need that either, you poor, sad, professional business person you. 
 
The real gold for me this time is the Waves L1 or L2 plug in. I will try to get the poop on this and dig in. I wonder if these companies actually rig their sound samples on their websites? Wouldn't that be a shame? You know, if they just made them seem louder and better but really, they just turned their sound sample up and turned the competition down. Surely not? Who am I kidding, these people will do anything for money, won't they? That's why I value your opinion so much Danny D. Unless, of course, you secretly work for one of these companies. Hmm...come to think of it you DO have that strange accent!
 
Thanks once again Danny D.-80's sounding heavy metal legend. As you can see, I have asked nothing from you this time. Oh, I have questions aplenty, but you have helped me get on the right track with all this. I hope it has not been to much of a drag for you with all these questions. All I can say is thanks dude (if I may), and please try to answer any of my questions that you see-if you have the time, of course. I wish you nothing but great success in all your endeavors. I feel more than confident that your efforts have not gone in vain and that you will hear from me again in the not-to-distance future. My memory won't allow me to forget names, places, faces and so on. Its horrible really.
 
Reply only if you have any actual down time in your studio and biz. I know you are busy, man!
 
Thanks again,
 
bob
 

i'll say it one more time.....
 
only louder.
 
"crunchy mixes."

Haha good stuff! :) My accent isn't too bad....then again, it depends how much of a language professor you are. ;)
 
Oh man....the Scots! You are soo right! However, I believe the people in England called "scousers" (Karyn, correct me if I'm wrong on that spelling/name?) were the toughest for me to understand. I did a show in a place called Wigan England where people from all over the world came to see us. So many awesome accents....but the hardest for me were the ones I mentioned above. I had a lady talk to me for nealy 5 minutes when she says "Danny, youav no idea what I've said doya?" And I looked at her like a sad puppy dog and said "no, I'm so sorry....between the loud music playing through the pa and the accent....you lost me 3 minutes ago." I really did feel bad....but who knows, she probably couldn't understand me either. I remember ordering a drink and had to say "water" instead of "wooder" the way we say it here. LOL! Anyway...
 
I actually don't believe much in "upgrades" to a computer OS. I'd rather start fresh on a new machine. They are cheap enough these days. I have all my computers with the original OS that was put on them. All the way back to Win 98SE. We just got rid of the Win 95 box. LOL! Thanks for the advice though.
 
Yeah you can go with the Waves stuff or see if Concrete Limiter can be purchased for the version of Sonar you are running. You're fine with boost 11....just be careful with it and don't push it too hard or try to compare your mix volumes to commercial stuff. There are so many things that walk hand and hand that you need to be aware of. A limiter alone won't make a huge difference as much as having the mix "ready" for a loud master. I wouldn't stress over any of this, Bob. If you're just doing this for fun, Boost 11 is fine...honest. I'm not just saying that. You just can't push it as far as you can other limiters.....BUT....if your mix is just right, even Boost 11 will do a good job. It's just not a fave of mine for what *I* do. :)
 
Thanks for the wishes...back at ya man.
 
-Danny

As so many have said, what this boils down to is perceived loudness. Take the difference between a television show and the commercials you see while watching it. The commercials always seem louder than the shows. This is because the commercials have compression going most of the time, so there is very little difference between the highest and lowest volumes. The normal television show does not do this. Well, sometimes they do, but whatever.

The red light are there to indicate that a level is reaching clipping range, but not that it is being actively clipped (depending on device or software). I think it is ok, in the context of SONAR, to have one red light flash occasionally.
 
Another thing to consider is sound to noise ratio. The more you cut a fader, to make the sound balance with another fader sitting a 0db, the more noise you introduce. What I do, I set all the individual faders so that they max out, without clipping. I then send them through sub-busses, grouped by type. Synths all in one, drums all in one, guitars all in one. I then set overall group volumes using the sub-busses. Now I can go back to the individual faders and cut only where needed.

This way, you have max volume, greater control and less noise.

Hope this helps.