Badtimes Banjo

2 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

There's no right or wrong way, honestly. This is all entirely subjective, that's kind of what I was getting at - sorry if that came across as glib or unhelpful!

To me, I might hear a crossfade and think "you know that feels a bit short" and then the next person hears it and thinks it's perfect.

There's not really a definitive answer here, it's going to come down to what you think sounds good, the opinions of other people on the actual mix itself (the Songs forum is a great place to get feedback on this kind of thing), and really experience as you grow your mixing and listening skills.

No worries, you were helpful. Maybe I just needed a little more explanation, which you provided here in the follow up.

The only thing I really want to do with the dry mix is to cut out mistakes and pull good parts out of different takes to paste back in. I have a good case of tinnitus so I definitely don't trust my ears to mess around with EQ or effects, those things I outsource.

Great idea about posting to Songs. I recently moved all of my recording equipment and DAW desktop out of my one bedroom apartment and into a spare bedroom in my friend's house. So it may take a few days to get over there and export some projects to WAV for posting here. Thanks again!

On 8/15/2023 at 12:29 AM, Lord Tim said:

How does it sound?

If it sounds good then it's the right amount. If it doesn't, do more.  

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.

That is part of why I am seeking guidance here. To my unprofessionally untrained ear, a cut and pasted track may sound great, but to your trained ear, it may sound like a turd. I play instruments and write in order to sing and record myself. Other than reading a couple of books and bothering people on forums, I don't have much training on how to do all this.

So if I may please ask the question differently. Let's say there is a right way and a wrong way to apply crossfades and I, Badtimes Banjo, cannot hear the difference. What is a better method to apply so that other people, who can hear the difference, will have an enjoyable listening experience?

Thank you 🖖👽

Hello, I have recently revolutionized my music creation by recording more than one take and, if needed, to split and copy/pasta tracks in order to eliminate mistakes or miscues.

So my question is: When you do this, how long are your crossfades? I have been zooming in and applying crossfades at one frame on either side of a split and paste. Is this sufficient or should I extend the distance? Obviously I'm going for seamless so there will be variables. I'm just trying to find out if there is a "standard" method I don't know about that can be adjusted as necessary. Thanks.

35 minutes ago, scook said:

To install SONAR 7 requires the installation disks. There is no downloadable installer and copying the program is not the same as installing it.

Gotcha, thanks! I just checked my box of spare parts and I do still have the disk. Excellent

Thanks for all the helpful replies everyone!

13 hours ago, mettelus said:

1. You can still install SONAR 7 on the new machine. There are a lot of new features and layout changes since SONAR 7, so having that version installed may give you a comfort zone while learning the newer version.

Interesting. So SONAR 7 Studio Edition, which ran on Windows XP, can be installed on a Windows 11 machine? Can SONAR 7 even be found anymore? Or would I be able to transfer it from the XP machine to an 11 machine? Sorry for the tedious questions.

Hello. I have an old DAW computer that runs XP and Cakewalk Sonar 7 Studio Edition for recording. I've had much success with the setup since 2008 and recently finished a couple more projects. If I were to upgrade my system and transfer all my music projects, does Cakewalk still use the CWP file format? Or would I need to export individual tracks to WAV and re-import them into the new Cakewalk software? Thanks!

7 hours ago, scook said:

Dithering is used to mask the effects of reducing bit depth.

Dithering is not involved in sample rate conversion

You may export a project at any sample rate supported by the DAW. 

Excellent. Thank you very much!

Oh yeah, now I have a different dithering question.

I've dusted off my recording computer and equipment to set up my home studio for the first time in 4 or 5 years. Somewhere somehow I set my Cakewalk settings to record at 44.1khz/24bit. I recorded a really good take of a song and want to get it to 48khz/24bit like the rest of my songs. So would I be able to dither the 44.1 up to 48 and not change the bit rate? I'd rather spend 30 seconds doing that than re-record the song. Thanks!

On 7/18/2023 at 8:18 AM, Alan Tubbs said:

Dithering is the last process to do for a final mix file.  Don’t dither unless it is a final file that you don’t plan on working on that file anymore.

check both dithering algorithms and use whichever one sounds best to you.

Thank you. One example of why I dither prematurely sometimes is so I can create a WAV file that will play on my other computer that will not support a CWP file. I'm pretty sure Windows Media Player will not accept 48khz/24bit. It's pretty much for reviewing purposes only, the original CWP file will remain unchanged for when I send it off to be wrapped up and made CD ready.

Thanks for the replies y'all. Sorry for my late follow up, I've been out of the house for a week or so and my internet usage has greatly decreased. Anyway, after searching more around this site, I determined that I should indeed keep my mix at 48/24 and let the mastering guys do the dithering. Thanks again!!

Hello, I have a question about dithering while exporting a CWP file. I'm using Cakewalk Sonar 7 Studio Edition but I don't think the version should matter here.

All I want to do is export a single song CWP file into a WAV file but the song was recorded at 48khz/24bit. Of course I am trying to get it to 44.1khz/16bit, hence the dithering. In the Export window, the only options I have are rectangular and triangular. Which one of those is optimal for what I described? This is a recording of one instrument track (miked clawhammer banjo) and one vocal track.

Neither the instruction manual that came with the software nor the additional book I bought (Sonar 7 Power) mention dithering. Thank you!