Some questions on mixing using Sonar 6
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Posted on May 10, 2007 11:46 pm
terryko
Terry Ko
Member Since: May 10, 2007
Hello all,
I am Terry, and new to HRC,
nice to meet you all here~
I am a musician in HK,
and using Sonar 6,
with MOTU 828mkII, 96kHz 24bit recording.
Please help for following mixing questions:
1. I discover my mixing is weaker(not much, but audible) in volume comparing with commercial CDs. I have normalized my mixed version in Sonar but same result.
2. When I put some commercial CDs in my CD-rom, my Windows Media Player can detect the name of CD and also the name of different track. Some of them can even display the CD cover picture. How can I do that? As I am going to distribute a CD, I'd like to know if I can have a way to do that. I cannot find any options in my CD burner program (such as Nero, Windows Media Player)
3. For Question 1, is that good to normalize all my tracks using Sonar, or do it in my burning program? As I know there is an option for normalize in Nero.
Thanks for you all~~~
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ciinxMember
Since: May 15, 2004
May 11, 2007 01:38 am Hey there Terry;
Welcome to HRC
1. You should've used the Limiter for this and not the Normalizer; and yep you can find a range of volume levels (-14dB to -9dB) in the commercial cds depending on genre and It is very tempting to join this volume race would you agree? I used to get my projects at hotter levels eg -9dB but after some time I noticed some noise/distortion thing coming out at certain frequencies in my mastered tracks especially when heavy distorted guitar sounds were used... I'm shooting at -14dB these days.
2. Good question there Terry, can somebody tell us how to do this?? In the mean time I'll look into this too..
3. There are a few steps in the Mastering process to achieve this and may differ from one engineer to another depending on softwares and equipments used. As for me, this process has never been simple and would require a lot of practice and listening. Basically I attended each file and get the volume level even. Never tried to just 'normalize' the file group in Nero.. Sorry dude.
Enjoy your stay! I believe there are many of us that can help you out here..
May 11, 2007 09:56 am 2. this is called 'metadata' and you can incorporate it in the mastering stage...think of is as an mp3's ID tag....same thing.
terrykoTerry KoMember
Since: May 10, 2007
May 13, 2007 04:31 am thanks all,
however, which software can help for adding metadata in audio CD?
As I cannot find this option in Nero or Windows Media Player.
Thanks~
May 13, 2007 05:03 am Steinberg's WaveLab does it....das all i know.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 13, 2007 10:34 pm You can add the data in Nero as well. It burns to redbook just like the others and will allow you to edit the data contents of the CD as well as Audio.
As for normalizing in Sonar 6. I must ask first which version you have 6 Producer Edition or Studio?
In the Producer Edition there is a pluggin called the VC 64 virtual channel. That is how you will get that final pump up of volume using Sonar. It is a multi-band compressor/limiter and can work wonders.
terrykoTerry KoMember
Since: May 10, 2007
May 14, 2007 12:41 pm To Noize2u,
Unfortunatly, I am using Studio Edition,
hence cannot find this plugin :(
By the way,
I have discovered one interesting(and annoying) thing:
I use Nero to burn an audio CD, with CD text.
However, all these CD text cannot be display in player, no matter WMP or RealPlayer.
If I use WMP to burn, CD text can be seen when I use WMP to play, but not if I use RealPlayer.
Similarly, if I use RealPlayer to burn,
CD text can be seen in RealPlayer but not the other.
That means these CD text is not universal for all player~ It shocks! But why those commercial CD can?
And also, I discover that some of the commercial CDs can retrieve the info of the album from the Internet, like the name and the image of CD jacket. How can I do that?
Thanks all~~
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 14, 2007 09:18 pm Well studio edition should have a compression pluggin and limiter as well.
If you are using Nero then you just need to select the correct ISO properties. Any CD player should read the text data if it is capable of it. WMP and Realplayer may use proprietary text encoding.
As for the CD's that retrieve data from the internet. That is the CDDB data base, and the only way for your CD data to be retrieved is if you submit the details which will include the ISO code for the CD to their data base.
terrykoTerry KoMember
Since: May 10, 2007
May 14, 2007 10:13 pm Thanks Noize2u,
as I am quite new to compressor and limiter,
would you mind telling me more about them?
What should be the configuration for making the final output louder?
By the way, what's the meaning of "correct ISO properties"? I don't know if I have made something incorrect in Nero. Also, I have tried Sony CD architect, same result (cannot display album info).... so annoying :(
Feb 25, 2008 10:12 am Hi All,
I am new to the forum, this looks like a great resource!
As for the text for songs, I believe that you need to encode ID3 into the MP3, i know of a free tool cwenc that will encode ID3 tags onto your mp3's.
