#SONAR VOCAL RECORDING SOFTWARE HOW TO#
#SONAR VOCAL RECORDING SOFTWARE SERIES#

While recording, it simply appears that you're recording into the track, and new takes wipe out any evidence of previous takes. However, you won't actually see the layers until you stop recording. Recording will commence, and each pass will create a new layer within the track.

Record-enable the track, then click on the Transport's Record button.

This is very convenient for editing, so I'd advise ticking 'Store Takes in a Single Track' (see screen on the first page of this article). But version 4 allows the track to be opened up so that each take is displayed as a separate layer (similar to how loop recording is handled in Cubase SX). Prior to Sonar 4, I would have recommended storing takes in separate tracks, because takes stored in a single track had to be separated out into tracks manually anyway.

You can set the desired option by going Transport / Record Options, then selecting the one you want under Loop Recording (the Recording Mode setting doesn't matter).

Next, decide whether you want each take to go in its own track, or be layered with other takes in a single track.

Generally, you'll want to leave a measure or two before the part begins and a measure or two afterwards, to give the performer a bit of a chance to regroup after doing each take.

Begin by defining the region you want to loop, using the right and left loop-locator points.

The Show Layers command, new to Sonar 4, is extremely useful with composite recording. The first aspect of composite recording is loop recording, which is what allows you to put down take after take without having to stop recording. Sonar has always been able to do composite recording, but version 4 adds several new tools that make the process far easier and quicker. However, with today's DAWs and their virtually unlimited track counts, it's now no problem to spread a vocal over just about as many tracks as you'd like. Sections that were judged not good enough were punch-recorded and replaced, leaving the rest of the track untouched. Where track counts were limited, punching-in came into the picture as well. The old tracks could then be erased to make space for additional instruments or takes. By a process of muting and soloing, the best sections would be isolated and then bounced down, in real time, to an empty track. In the days of tape recording (analogue or digital), the singer often recorded new takes on individual tracks.

Of course, this technique is not limited to vocalists (guitarists, for example, will also find it very worthwhile for assembling solos), but it's particularly applicable to vocals, because there are spaces between phrases that make it easy to split large parts into smaller sections.

You determine where the best parts are and then edit them together into a single vocal track. This is extremely common with singers, where, for example, the best version of the first verse might be in the fifth take, the best version of the second verse in the third take, and the best chorus in the first take.

#SONAR VOCAL RECORDING SOFTWARE HOW TO#

Here's how to do the job in Sonar 4.Ĭomposite recording is the process of recording multiple takes - usually in quick succession - then editing the best sections together into a single, cohesive part.

#SONAR VOCAL RECORDING SOFTWARE SERIES#

Today’s SONAR LE is based on SONAR 8.5, the newest technology from Cakewalk, the world’s leading developer of powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording.The audio sequencing facilities we have at our disposal these days make it easier than ever before to produce world-class vocal recordings by taking the best parts from a series of takes and producing a composite from them. SONAR LE was designed to provide a simple-yet-complete solution for creating audio with hardware.

Sonar vocal recording software