Sonar Workflow
From Sonar
Contents |
Basic Recording Setup
Recording Audio
Recording MIDI
From Softsynths, Samplers, Etc.
From External Controllers / Synths
Mixing Procedures
Exporting Procedures
Converting to Your Favorite Format
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.
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.
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.
FLAC also 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.
