CDK
-
Posts
60 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by CDK
-
-
11 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:
My apologies for getting off topic here.
Personally I never “normalize”, but Craig Anderton (I think) talks about quite a bit. Gain is a great tool, but generally pre effects, so you have to be careful. If your tracks are peaking about-18db, you’ll have some headroom to work with. Generally, I find most VSTi come in peaking in the -6 range and I have to pull the faders down. Load EZD, (I think you mentioned you have it) start auditioning some of ezd midi, and I’m clipping; consequently my Toon templates pull the internal levels well down. As to matching “commercial” levels, I’m not a Masterlng engineer. You’re holding yourself to an impossible ideal. Ozone is popular, but there are numerous cheaper limiters that will get you close. Mixing is like playing guitar or keys, it’s something you have to “practice”. Wish I could tell you there’s a “Silver Bullet”.
Tom
Thanks Tom.
As one example I have a drum track that is peaking around -18db and at the start of the mix process it's far too quiet. Turning the fader up doesn't make a big enough improvement so would you adjust the gain knob? Or use a plugin to increase volume? Or go back to the original MIDI track and increase the volume?
-
3 hours ago, Lord Tim said:
That's a big question with a lot of answers. I would, however, recommend against normalising the audio unless you have a good reason for it, since that's a destructive process.
You can use the track edit filter and set it to Clip Gain and turn stuff up on a clip by clip basis (including setting points to change the envelope in the clip too if you like) if you'd like to even things out like that, but with the Pro Channel you have a fantastic compressor built into every track and some very good presets to get you started.
Lots of good tutorials in general out there on YouTube that's not specific to CbB but the info applies to any DAW. I especially recommend Warren Huart's Produce Like a Pro channel - he has a few great introductory episodes on compression and gain staging on there and he's a great teacher. I'm sure other people have other really good suggestions here too
Thanks for your message, great advice.
In my current project after adding eq & reverb I'm still getting the occasional master volume spike of maybe 1.1db. What's the best thing do to here, assuming anything above 0db will clip? Can I simply turn the master down a little? Or am I really sounding like a rookie now?
-
1 hour ago, scook said:
You have posted this same message on at least 5 other threads in a very short amount of time. Please do not do this again.
Apologies, that was not my intention. I'll delete the other messages.
However any advice on my question would be great, thanks
-
I'm also looking for some mixing advice/tutorials (specifically Cakewalk if possible) on mixing/normalizing/compression if you have any suggestions?
Just not sure what kind of levels I should be aiming for to get my track similar in level to a radio/commercial track without clipping.
E.g. do you suggest normalizing tracks then adjusting gain (or the fader)?
-
I'm also looking for some mixing advice/tutorials (specifically Cakewalk if possible) on mixing/normalizing/compression if you have any suggestions?
Just not sure what kind of levels I should be aiming for to get my track similar in level to a radio/commercial track without clipping.
E.g. do you suggest normalizing tracks then adjusting gain (or the fader)?
-
I'm also looking for some mixing advice/tutorials (specifically Cakewalk if possible) on mixing/normalizing/compression if you have any suggestions?
Just not sure what kind of levels I should be aiming for to get my track similar in level to a radio/commercial track without clipping.
E.g. do you suggest normalizing tracks then adjusting gain (or the fader)?
-
13 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:
You need 2 busses to do this right.
First, make 2 busses: Master and Reverb.
Master should have the output go straight to your soundcard hardware outputs.
Reverb will have the reverb plugin on it, set to 100% wet in the plugin, and the output of that should go to Master.
Then for each of your tracks, make sure the output is set to go to Master, and you make a send on each of them that goes to Reverb, which you can adjust to taste or automate if you like.
Thanks Lord Tim, works perfectly. Not sure if you were replying to me but it's what I was after!
I'm also looking for some mixing advice/tutorials (specifically Cakewalk if possible) on normalizing/compression if you have any suggestions?
Just not sure what kind of levels I should be aiming for to get my track similar in level to a radio/commercial track without clipping.
E.g. do you suggest normalizing tracks then adjusting gain (or the fader)?
-
1
-
-
Hey guys, jumping on the end of this one - how do I create an aux track or reverb bus through which I can route all my audio tracks?
-
11 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:
Are you freezing the tracks and then exporting? Why? If you want to preserve the midi only file, save as songmid. Then in the original file, freeze your tracks and begin mixing. No need to export individual tracks. Or ignore my advice if I’ve misunderstood what you’re trying to achieve. All my projects include a combination of midi (usually frozen, but not always) and audio tracks, I’m sure most work this way. HTH
Tom
Hey Tom,
I was freezing then exporting because a) I was trying to solve the issue with the bad audio results from exporting, b) I've been using Cakewalk/Sonar for many years now and have never really used the freeze option; historically I have just exported whatever audio I needed without any problems.
Thanks for your advice.
-
Hi,
I have a completed MIDI track and I'm ready to export my audio and move on to mixing etc but all my exported tracks are crackly, distorted in places, jumping all around in level etc.
I've tried exporting tracks one at a time and it makes no difference.
The only way I can get a clean export of my tracks is to freeze each synth but that that way the exported tracks don't start from the beginning of the song and everything ends up out of sync.
I don't understand what's causing the problem. Any suggestions, please?
Thanks.
-
On 10/8/2019 at 12:33 AM, Robert Bone said:
I do agree that using one's ears is a critical part of the whole music production, from start to finish, however I have seen many sources give -18 dBFS as a good target peak for digital audio recording.
From a Sound On Sound article on Gain Staging: "If you take the sound with the highest peak levels and set it so that it peaks at between -12 and -18 dBFS, you shouldn't run into problems with plug-ins or summing on the mix bus".
In any case, I initially set instrument volume and gain to a target of around -18 dBFS for my digital audio recording projects, without involving faders at that point. (Avoid using faders for initial gain staging, because they affect signal after the plugins, and by adjusting instrument volume and gain, you are setting appropriate levels for sending signal to the plugins).
Bob Bone
If we're talking virtual instruments for a moment - so when you get to the mixing stage (after you've done all your gain staging), do you export your audio into a new project and begin adding eq/fx etc from there? Would you normalize your tracks first?
-
Actually one last question for today/tonight.
Can anyone suggest a good tutorial on using compressors/limiters (in BandLab) to get my finished track up to a volume level similar to commercially produced tracks, please?
-
Thanks for all your replies, everyone. I'm a very experienced MIDI programmer but not as experienced in audio processing. I appreciate all your help
-
12 hours ago, John said:
If you have more than one instance of Kontakt it will be labeled Kontakt 1 and Kontakt 2. and so on. Be sure you are sending your MIDI to the right one.
Yep done that. I can't seem to get MIDI input on my controller keyboards where I want it.
-
11 hours ago, arlen2133 said:
Hi CDK..
Are you sure you have the echo button on?
If not, click that after you've set your midi outs (midi in should be from your controller).
Hey, yes echo is on. Clearly I've missed something somewhere else. I'll figure it out!
-
Hi all,
MIDI routing question, specifically Kontakt.
I have a few different instances of Kontakt in one project but if I set MIDI input to say, Kontakt MIDI Ch. 1 or Kontakt MIDI Ch. 2 I get no MIDI signal. Why is that? What have I done wrong?
Similarly, if I wanted, say a Trombone and a Tuba in the same instance of Kontakt, to play on MIDI channels 1 & 2, I can't get any MIDI signal happening.
I actually have at least 3 different Kontakt VST options come up in BandLab when I go to insert a soft synth so I'm not sure if maybe I'm selecting the wrong one for what I want to do?
-
On 10/7/2019 at 7:06 AM, Philip G Hunt said:
This may seem like a dumb question, but have you tried plugging the audio interface in with a different cable?
Sometimes the USB cables break. Try subing it with a different cable.
Also, try cleaning the USB connection pins. They can get dirty over time.
My money is on the Windows update *****in up the drivers. Have you tried rolling back? Or clean installing the drivers?
Yep I've tried all the above - except for cleaning the USB connection pins, I'll try that too! So annoying.
-
On 10/6/2019 at 12:43 PM, Robert Bone said:
Some VST instruments really peg their preset volumes way louder than they should be - there is no standard, so from one instrument to the next initial plugin instrument volume can be all over the place. Lots of plugin authors like their presets to sound 'punchy/loud' and they are set to initial values that are way too loud.
Whenever I load a plugin instrument or live instrument/mic, I always set the combo of the plugin output volume and the assigned/associated audio track(s) gain setting to a peak of around -18, so that I have lots of room to work with.
Bob Bone
So just to clarify, for a VST instrument for example, you set the associated audio track/s gain so it's peaking around -18dB? Or do you lower the fader the on the synth audio track?
Amongst the the things I've read/watched this week one suggestion has been to set the audio track/s level at -10dB either in the composing (MIDI track) stage or at the mixing stage (in a new project after exporting all MIDI tracks to audio); then I'll have plenty of room to play with when mixing/mastering the final product. Does that make sense to you?
-
13 hours ago, JonD said:
Have you connected with a different DAW/audio app? How about just in Windows (Does the Quad-Capture work as a general sound card)?
Yes it works fine with other apps (Transcribe, Chrome, iTunes, system sounds etc). When it disappears from BandLab it still shows up in Sibelius, just without the ASIO driver mode.
-
13 hours ago, JonD said:
Have you connected with a different DAW/audio app? How about just in Windows (Does the Quad-Capture work as a general sound card)?
Yes it works fine with other apps (Transcribe, Chrome, iTunes, system sounds etc). When it disappears from BandLab it still shows up in Sibelius, just without the ASIO driver mode.
-
25 minutes ago, Jack Stoner said:
Did you recently install anything or remove anything? Or even update anything?
What version of Win 10 are you on? (1903?)
I've updated Windows to the latest, v1903. I've run CCleaner a couple of times and removed some duplicate files from my system drive. Can't think of anything else though?
-
1 minute ago, Jack Stoner said:
Have you tried a different USB port for the Roland. If you are using a rear port, try a front port (if you are using a desktop). DO NOT use a USB hub. Also try a different USB cable.
Also when uninstalling, remove both the device and driver then REBOOT the PC (don't skip this step). After Windows restarts do a new install.
Yep, done all that but the problem remains. It’s worked fine for a couple of years but now this. I don’t get it.
-
13 hours ago, Jack Stoner said:
I had this error after a corruption of my MOTU driver. I had an issue with selecting my MOTU and deleted a "generic driver". Deleting the generic driver corrupted the MOTU driver. I had to uninstall the MOTU device and driver, restart Windows 10 and then do a complete new install of the MOTU driver and support software. Then Cakewalk detected the MOTU again.
See my other forum thread on the problem.
I've removed the driver and reinstalled it. I've unplugged all my USB cables and re-plugged them (which solved the problem for a few hours), I've updated Windows and I've restarted 6,000 times and just now the same error message just popped up out of nowhere. This is driving me crazy and interrupting my workflow.
I've contacted BandLab and Roland support but I'm not expecting to hear from them for a few days. Any other ideas?
-
10 hours ago, pwalpwal said:
Each multi has its own audio output? Otherwise you're mixing that inside kontakt, but same, mix the audio rather than the midi
Do you mean each multi has its own audio output for each MIDI channel/instrument?
Gain Staging basics question
in Q&A
Posted
Hey Al, just asking for other people's advice here. I'd prefer not to normalize but just trying out different things.
As one example I have a drum track that is peaking around -18db and at the start of the mix process it's far too quiet. Turning the fader up doesn't make a big enough improvement so would you adjust the gain knob? Or use a plugin to increase volume? Or go back to the original MIDI track and increase the volume?