Hi all,
 
Since 2002, I created lots of music over the years using Sonar, then took a hiatus for a few years, and then resumed recording in 2012 with first X1 and now X3. And now that I'm starting to mix that material down after my hiatus both for my own archives, and to possibly upload to YouTube and the like, I'd like to do it right. I'm using X3 with a Fireface UCX, and an A/B box connected to M-Audio BX5 and Avantone mixcubes, and trying to follow the advice in Mike Senior's Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio book, rather than my old technique which was to mix it according to my ears, and then slap Izotope Ozone on the master bus and hope for the best.
 
So here are my questions:
 
Do you use mix down to two tracks, and then run that track through Ozone? If so, do you use any bus compression on the initial mix?
 
Do I need to worry if I'm not hearing any distortion while monitoring, but the meter still pings the red line occasionally? To avoid that issue, what level do you set your master bus output?
 
Is there a layman's guide to gain staging?
 
Any Sonar-related mixing/master advice would be appreciated.
 
Thanks,
 
Ed

The common method is to mix to stereo.  That is your mix.  Then run that through your mastering stuff to get, well, a master, or finished file (back in the tape days you had to top and tail, etc.)  Some people do run a mix through a buss comp/limiter while they mix, so it depends.  Upon the person and the song.  I usually don't use a comp on the whole mix, but for most of the stuff I master at home I usually check it several times w/ mastering, burning a CD to listen elsewhere.  If you don't know how a compression/limiting on the master affects the sound, it is worthwhile to try a comp bus until you do.
 
It shouldn't matter, but I wouldn't want red on my master bus.  Tracks and other busses it doesn't matter.
 
Gainstaging is like much else in music production, there are ideas but not fast rules.  Basically, you want a nice strong signal that doesn't overload the next thing downstream.  0 on a mixer is 0 dB, or unity, not silent.  It is best if everything is set as close to unity as possible.
 
Sound on Sound has a lot of great articles that include gainstaging in them.  I would start reading those back articles.  And then it is just practice until good levels become 2nd nature.
 
@

Here is a link to Sound On Sound's guide to gainstaging:
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep13/articles/level-headed.htm
 
Good luck

Thanks fellas, much appreciated!

I master everything in Sonar. My A bus always has a brick wall limiter on it set to -0.1 dB.
My B Buss is the only thing that feeds into my A bus and B always has a multi band compressor on it and often a 6 band parametric EQ. I set the level of the B bus to try to get the A bus to hit the top as little as possible but to always hit it at least once. All other bus feed into the B bus.
I'm happy with the way it works for me.
I'm not into the volume wars, but if I was, I'd just push against that brick wall on A until it was loud as hell,
and it would get loud as hell, and still only peak at -0.1dB.

The thing about doing it all in Sonar is you don't have to mix down to two tracks first (you leave yourself lots of room to get it how you want!), you get to "master" it in the Master buss, or do the NYC parallel compression thing there. I believe it was Michael Brauer who set his vocals on one buss and the rhythm section on another and compressed/limited them separately, then blended them in the master buss (with maybe a  final limiter there). I'll try to find that... Craig Anderton has certainly written and video'd that approach. There's a 7 part CW tutorial here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rBieaGA2js
 
The simple rule of thumb for gain staging would be, Master buss at 0db, with sub group/busses lower yet, and individual channels/tracks lower than that......more or less.
You'd put your master buss compressor/limiter on, or use a compressor and then a brickwall limiter.
This is a nice multipart overview workshop video from Bobby Owsinski, even though it's with T-Racks, the theory is the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq2trw-FUVA
 
Is that what you're trying to work out?
Michael

Steve_Karl
I master everything in Sonar. My A bus always has a brick wall limiter on it set to -0.1 dB.
My B Buss is the only thing that feeds into my A bus and B always has a multi band compressor on it and often a 6 band parametric EQ. I set the level of the B bus to try to get the A bus to hit the top as little as possible but to always hit it at least once. All other bus feed into the B bus.
I'm happy with the way it works for me.
I'm not into the volume wars, but if I was, I'd just push against that brick wall on A until it was loud as hell,
and it would get loud as hell, and still only peak at -0.1dB.

you should drop that peak down to at least -0.3db.
\
many reasons for that,
i'll leave it up to you, to do the homework on why.
hint.
 
mp3's.........

bassman999
Here is a link to Sound On Sound's guide to gainstaging:
 http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep13/articles/level-headed.htm
 

excellent link.
 
this should be the bible for anyone new to digital mixing.
 

If you haven't listened to Bat's stuff yet, go do so now! He has got it!

heheh,
penti,
i'm not so sure!!
 
LOL
 
funny thing,
i'm in the middle of final mixing 6 of the 10 new songs i've got,
and one song in particular, 
i have painted myself into a corner with 'too hot' fader levels,
having to bring all my sub faders down,
and i believe i'm going to have to scratch it all, and start over.
 
 
 
 
set those levels right to start with!!!
 
and that means,
use that snare (or whatever you have peaking the most) and keep that peak so it's not going over about -12, 
and bring everything else down around it, 
and keep those sub bus faders all the way up to zero!!
 
 
LOL again....
 
i know this, i know this, and yet i still shoot myself in the foot.