RICHARD HUTCHINS

Hi I downloaded the Spitfire soft piano plugin, it sends it to c:/users/richard/spitfire/spitfire audio. But cakewalk cant see it; The plugins seem to live in program files and I know I need to use the VST plugin manager to point cakewalk in the right direction but thats the limit of my feeble knowledge. I always have this hassle with plugins... any help out there?

Sorry, ignore this, I kept searching and sussed how to do this, temp view, insert temp change, simple when you know how!

Hi all, I'm back to writing songs again after a Hiatus, ( writers block, "my songs suck", why do I bother etc!) but I snapped out of it and I am writing an instrumental which goes from a sort of sad bit to an upbeat louder section. Its 100 BPM for the quiet intro on Piano and then in come drums but they need to be at 130BPM. but if I change the BPM all of the Midi stuff follows it and I end up with one time of 100 BPM or one of 130BPM instead of a change from 100 to 130. I'm sure this is a simple problem, but as some will know, I'm a simple person and find all this tricky. And i did look it up but the answers were not what I needed? Richie

I didn't understand the difference. Now I do thanks. I'll check this out.

Aha! I didn't know melodyne did that. I dont have a bass, my tiny "studio" is full up and more guitars would trigger a Divorce. Thanks all.

Okay, I downloaded ample bass P lite. Have to say Sounds ok especially for free! To those with patience here's my question; it works ok using the mouse, I get the bass notes on to the track. But my guitar wont trigger it. Now often I use a plug in like TH-U for my rock guitar sounds all works fine, I click on the + sign and add the effect from the VST drop down menu. Simples. But not this. I've messed around for a long time trying various things but I reckon this is filed under the head slap Duh! category. Can someone save me an hour or two and tell me why it isn't working? ( To those of a short fuse disposition just make a cup of tea and count to 10! I even try my own patience with questions like this)

Thanks everyone, I'll check these ideas out.

Thanks will look at this. Until I get my recording deal it'll have to be at the cheap end of the market sadly.?

Hi all, Firstly, I hope this is the right forum section, if not let me know. I have a couple of tracks with bass parts on them, I usually use my Juno as a MIDI controller to add bass but this track was written on a guitar and the bass part is tricky to do on a keyboard. Does anyone know a decent VST plugin similar to my guitar plugins but with a good bass sound? Richie

Cheers John. My youth was (mis) spent in loud Rock Bands and watching Jethro Tull or Queen at Newcastle City Hall right next to the speakers, have also taken their toll on my ears. For days our ears were ringing after a concert, and being young we thought it was a huge joke and a badge of honour. Ah the stupidity of youth, how I miss it! ?

Hi all, Tried out all the advice and watched and listened to Johns video, all is now greatly improved! Thanks for taking the time to help, really appreciate this.

Not irrelevant at all. I checked and I had it half way! Sounds louder now, and I am making progress with more sensible levels after the advice above from John et al. Thanks for this!

Just downloaded it tonight, trying it tomorrow.

Thanks for this John, it illustrates your points very well. I watched the video too, so I'm going to try and sort this tonight. I also downloaded the Loudness plugin.

Yes, very much a guide vocal but obviously its not right at all in terms of volume

Cheers John, watching it now. It will then take a depressingly long period of time to sink in! Straight away I learnt that the faders and the gain control at the top are not the same! Gives you an idea of my level of knowledge. Onwards and upwards though..

Hi Guys, Yes I'm back! Thanks John for your concern but I snatched a week away from Hutchins Towers as me and my wife were going 100% stir crazy in Lockdown! No signal where we were staying.. which is a mixed blessing; mostly but not always a good thing. Anyhow, I just picked up the thread, and thanks again to you all for posting. I will look at your video now John. As to the other questions, I use a Steinberg UR22 interface Tezza. The readings I am talking about are in the meters on each track, I did a screenshot as the track was playing. ( I know, its a mess!) I went through this song and started over trying to get the signals to peak -12 and average -18, but as I said, when I came to do the same for the vocals they almost disappeared in terms of relative volume. I am therefore starting over as from today, to see if I can fix this. All those parts to play again(sigh) If my learning curve gets any steeper I'll need crampons. ?

Yes I think I may start over, and try to get it right stage by stage, the other tracks are fine but its the vocals that are a problem. Maybe a clean sheet needed.

Hi all Back again after an absence where ( Cakewalk) things seemed to go well! I'm learning all the time, and am trying to rely on google and you tube to sort stuff out instead of bothering the forum. But on this I am struggling; I am recording a song and trying to avoid clipping which my earlier recordings suffered from due to my novice status. So...I record the various tracks and get the signal on these to around -18db on the VU, all okay so far. I use my Steinberg interface to adjust the gain. But my vocals are almost imperceptible when I record them at this level, maybe peaking at -12db, average 18. To get them sounding ok in the overall mix I have to up the faders and then it just distorts. But following the guidance on gain staging etc. the vocals sound remote, buried in the mix and not acceptable. I know I am doing something very wrong but what? Also I'm sure I posted this sort of query a couple of months ago but cant find it so sorry to repeat myself.

Yes thanks I've sorted this now mainly through trial and error!

I'd forgotten about that! I'll check it out. Thanks

Hi I have a song with lots of vocal bits, each done in small chunks as my voice is pretty pathetic, and I need lots of takes etc for every phrase. I end up with fairly okay vocal takes, but my problem is the relative volume of each take. Some loud, some clipping in the red, some too quiet. I now know how to use automation clip gain, but I still cant quite get this to be consistent through the track. And it takes a long time to draw the nodes and drag them up or down. Is there a quicker way to choose a median signal, say -12db and hook everything onto that? I know those who help me have a far more subtle approach to this, but for me I just need it simple! This might be a dumb question, so apologies in advance if it is.

Thats interesting John. For me where I am technically at the moment there would be lots of controls I don't use, ( not least because I dont understand them!) but as I progress hopefully this fix will make sense.

Thanks.

Ha ha, Thanks! I'll ask Gandalf how to change my user name to LOWER CASE! seriously though, that worked a treat, really not sure how I messed this setting up, given the fact I didnt even know that widget was there!