Sonar Workflow

From Sonar

Revision as of 12:57, 15 September 2006

Basic Recording Setup

Recording Audio

Recording MIDI

From Softsynths, Samplers, Etc.

From External Controllers / Synths

Mixing Procedures

Exporting Procedures

Exporting From Sonar

Once you've finished composing, tracking, mixing and exporting your music, you'll end up with one of four file types with SONAR's File | Export | Audio function: RIFF WAV, Broadcast WAV, Windows Media Advanced Streaming or MP3 (if you have paid separately to use the MP3 codec that comes with SONAR).

RIFF WAV and Broadcast WAV files are the file types of choice for mastering, as they are lossless formats.

MP3, on the other hand, is a lossy format, meaning that you not only lose information (read: quality) by encoding a file as MP3, but you also lose additional quality every time you modify the file's content (though not, of course, its metadata). This makes MP3s suitable for casual listening, but not for mastering or even demanding listening.

If you choose not to buy the shareware codec that comes with Sonar, you can still produce MP3s with an external codec. By far the most highly recommended of these is LAME, which is open source. It is also widely considered to be the best MP3 encoder around, making it preferable to the codec bundled with SONAR even without condidering monetary factors.

Exporting MP3s from SONAR using LAME

Here are step-by-step instructions for setting up LAME (from the Cakewalk Forum Thread by Jesse G:

• Open SONAR 3, 4, 5 and go to Tools → Cakewalk Ext. Encoder Config
• In the Friendly Name Field write: LAME MP3 Encoder
• In the Extension field write: .mp3
• In the Description field write whatever you want
• In the Path field write the path where the Lame encoder is located. That is where lame.exe and lame_enc.dll are located. I keep my Lame encoder in my "C:\\Program Files\\Cakewalk\\Shared Utilities\\LAME Folder" or (copy and past the extracted zip file to your Sonar shared utilities folder and then when you have to perform this step, click the browse button to find the location
• In the Command Line field write: lame -b 192 -m j %I %O
• Press Save button
• Uncheck Keep Wave File

This will export to a 192Kbps, joint stereo mp3 file. If you want 128Kbps, replace 192 with 128 in the Command Line field. The next time you click on File→Export→Audio in SONAR 3, 4, 5 you'll find 'LAME MP3 encoder' as a type of audio.

Transcoding Into Other Formats

You may want to transcode a file exported from SONAR into another format for any number of reasons -- getting better sound per byte than MP3, getting the same quality as MP3s in a smaller size, archiving mixdowns, and so on. To do this, you need an external codec, either lossy or lossless. These may have built-in graphic interfaces for easy transcoding (drag-and-drop, for example), or they may be command line utilities, with or without a graphical front-end.

Lossy Formats

You can convert a (RIFF) WAV file exported from SONAR using any number of lossy converters.

These include OGG/Vorbis, AAC, Dolby AC3 and Musepack.

WMA gives you the choice between lossy or lossless compression; the lossy compression is roughly comparable to that of MP3 files at equivalent bitrates, and the same caveats for the MP3 format apply to WMA lossy compression.

Comparisons of lossy codecs are available here, here and here.

Lossless Formats

Assuming you wish to keep archival (lossless) copies of your mixdowns, but want to use a minimum of space, you have the option of converting RIFF WAV files to a compressed lossless format, which can provide a considerably smaller file than the source WAV, while retaining 100% of the audio information in the recording, unlike MP3 or WAV lossless files.

One of the most popular lossless encoders is the open source FLAC. FLAC is available for most every operating system around, and in addition to providing substantial lossless compression, it is also directly playable on a growing number of home and car stereos, portable music players, and software music players. Some find it to be the ideal compromise solution for digitizing their CD collection, providing perfect playback but taking up less space than WAVs (though quite a bit more than MP3s).

FLAC allows an unlimited amount of metadata (including arbitrary, user-made tags) to be included in files, which can be quite useful when preparing files for long-term storage. FLAC files can be converted back into WAV files that are bit-for-bit identical to the source WAV. FLAC can be downloaded from the FLAC homepage. A filter that allows FLAC files to be edited directly in Cool Edit or Adobe Audition can be had here.

Other lossless codecs are Monkey's Audio, WavPack and WMA Lossless.

Comparisons of FLAC and other lossless codecs can be found here, here, here and here.

Long-Term Archiving and Storage of Projects

Formats

• CWP + Audio Files Folder
• CWB/BUN Bundle Files
• Mixdowns

Physical Media

• Hard Drives
• DVDs / CDs
• Tape
• Online Services

Archiving Security Software

Whatever format and physical media you choose, there are additional steps you can take to protect your valuable (or invaluable) recordings.

• QuickPar

QuickPar is a free utility that scans your files, divides them up into virtual blocks, and creates a series of PAR (parity) files that allow you to recover corrupted files from any type of media. It works on the same principles as RAID.

For example, if you choose to use virtual blocks 1MB in size, create 500MB of QuickPar files, and burn them along with 3.8GB of SONAR projects onto a DVD, you can recover up to 500 corrupted file chunks of up to 1 MB in size (it doesn't matter if the chunk has 1 byte or 1 MB of corruption). In other words, you can save up to 500MB of audio files that have been utterly corrupted by a dying DVD -- files you would never be able to access again otherwise.

This is very, very good insurance. And it works for any type of physical media.

• SFV

SFV, or Simple File Verification, scans your files and creates a checksum for them. This allows you to determine if any of them have been corrupted. But unfortunately, it doesn't have the capability to recover corrupt files. For that, use QuickPar.

Lists of SFV utilities for download are available here and here. Most are freeware.

• MD5

MD5 does the same thing as SFV, and has the same limitations -- it can tell you your files are corrupt, but it can't do anything about it. Again, for that use QuickPar.

A free MD5 utility is available here.