RICHARD HUTCHINS

Nope, still not fixed. I'm pulling my hair out and at my age I cant afford to do that! So; I re-downloaded the Spitfire App and ran the installer. I changed their suggested path from C/users/me/spitfire/spitfire audio. Changed this to C:/ program files/common files/ vst plugins. I think thats what the forum advice was? I added this path to the plugin manager. I rescanned. I now open a new project to try things out, and I still only can see "LABS" but its the one I've always had, not the piano download, i.e. the wind and birdsong effects. No sign at all of "soft piano" But its on my PC obviously. Grrr Ideas anyone?

Labs seems to be in; VST Instruments at c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\LABS (64 Bit).dll and also in VST 3 Instruments at c:\program files\common files\vst3\LABS (64 Bit).vst3 in the plug in manager list. no idea what this means if anything. Just a duplication? Anyway I definitely downloaded the soft piano, from their site I gave the download path in my first post above. But the LABS plugin seems only to refer to some ambient sounds I downloaded a few weeks ago, NOT the soft piano I downloaded a couple of days ago;; of that there is no sign even though its downloaded. TBH, All of this drives me nuts. ?

All, There's a lot of info and advice here; for me to process it and work through it will take time as I am pretty crap at tech stuff. So if I don't respond quickly and say thanks its because I am stuck for time but this is exactly what I am looking for and I will sort it ! Just didn't want anyone to think I am not grateful for all of the effort in trying to help out, you'll know when I work through this as I'll come back with another dumb question!?

Thanks for all your trouble I'll look at this tomorrow and I'm sure the penny will drop, cheers all!

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