What Recording Software Do You Use and Why Do You Use It

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:02 pm

Ken,

I use SONAR 3.

The ProTools vs. "other tools" argument seems to be a bit like the old (ancient?) fight between Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 users : in terms of overall functionality, they pretty much do the same thing, it just depends on which one you started on and what you're most familiar with.

The second dividing line seems to fall with "Professional" vs. "Non-professional". I only know maybe five or six people who actually make their living as a musician or music industry professional, and they all use ProTools. Probably because most of their colleagues and peers use it as well. The guitarist in my band works as a professional in a recording studio and uses ProTools. He would put most religious zealots to shame in his efforts to "convert" me. It's hilarious.

It doesn't mean you can't get very "professional" results with other software, IMO that depends more on a) the hardware you're using, b) whether you know what you're doing in the first place, and c) the performance of the musician.

I must say my due diligence in searching out other options was hobbled by the fact that I have used Cakewalk products before, and that the interface I chose (Aardvark Q10) also happened to be compatible with SONAR (in fact comes with a SONAR Lite-like package). I was also driven by the computer hardware. I didn't want to have a third system in my house that a) wasn't compatible with the other two (althought some may argue that would be a good thing) and b) if I eventually decide to get out of the music/recording hobby, I'll have a PC which I can use for other things.

In my initial search I also seemed to read fairly often that the learning curve for PT was much longer than for SONAR. I would have to say, without having ever used PT, that I was up and recording with SONAR within an hour of installing it. If you're from the old school mixing console crowd, you appreciate the GUI that SONAR offers because it's very intuitive. I can't speak for other non-PT products.

All that being said, I think you need to ask yourself what your goals are. If you intend to make a living at recording and want to be taken seriously by other professionals (rightly or wrongly), I would say go with ProTools. If you're doing it on a semi-professional or hobbyist basis, I'd say invest the difference in price in better hardware, room treatments and studio furniture.

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:18 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Ethan Winer:
Ken,

Again, I'm serious about the invite. Since you're so close, if you'd like to come by some evening to see Sonar in person, I'd be glad to have you over.

--Ethan

Ethan, thanks for the offer! I would like to take up your offer in the near future, as it sounds like a very educational experience...But I must tell you, I'm a guitar player that doesn't Drink Surprised

But A Pepsi would work!

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:19 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by David French:
Ken in Connecticut. Hmm... Please tell me your last name isn't Keniff. Wink

David,
I went to High school with a David French from New Hartford?????

keniff is not my name...

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:26 pm

Mbira,

Al you would have needed to do is print each individual track to a wav file, with or without effects (your choice), starting from bar 1 to the end of the song. Same for VSTi's or DXi's or whatever.

Take those 12 or 24 or 95 tracks, burn each one to a data CD or two or three, take that CD(s) to the new studio and import each individual track into the Pro Tools session to a different track. Simple.

I tell everyone I work with that my Logic studio is compatible with PT and every other studio, because it is.

Because you weren't aware of it, you let the owner of the pro tools rig milk you for a couple extra billable hours.

mitz.

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:32 pm

Ken,

Ken Keniff (from Connecticut) is a recurring character from skits on Eminem's albums. Just a joke. And no, I'm not the David you went to highschool with. How's that for off topic?

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:59 pm

Mark-
Let me clarify. I've got the PT rig. I had a band that recorded at a "pro" studio that did all the tracks and overdubs to his mackie hd system. We are unhappy with the mix that we got from him, so I want to get the files into my PT rig. Now there are only 3 songs (about 30 min. total) with 24 tracks used so far. There are also punchins on some of those tracks (on their own tracks). Now he's telling me that the quickest way will be to play back the tracks in realtime and I'll get 8 tracks at a time thru ADAT. basically taking about 2-3 hours w/ setup. Now remember this is a studio where they just want my money. For CD burning, he only has a masterlink which you may know, needs to be imported (realtime) into it and then burnt to disc. 4x max. It sucks. I wish he had PT and could just get me the files that way. Joel
I'm off to build some PCB's so take care! Smile

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 10:02 am

Quote:

Originally posted by Mbira:
I had a band that recorded at a "pro" studio that did all the tracks and overdubs to his mackie hd system.

ahhhh... got it! i wasn't trying to suggest that you didn't know what you were doing Mbira... just trying to simplify the process and maybe save you some bucks...

Is $75 his regular studio rate? Seems a little slimy to charge you full price for data dumping... it's not like the guy has to be a seasoned pro to hook up the systems and press play. Your the one whose has to set your PT system up to accept the audio files... that's the harder half of that exchange... all he has to do is hand you one end of a cable.

I know that those Mackie systems have a removable hard drive bay... i don't suppose that would help you at all? does Mackie uses a proprietary sound file type or something you could work with?

cheers,
greg

<small>[ January 17, 2004, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: teleharmonic ]</small>

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:10 pm

Mbira, Do you have firewire on your PT rig? The Mackie external drive bay is set up to accept a Lian Li RH-58 drive caddie. You can take this drive setup over to him and copy the songs onto the external drive (once formatted to the Mackie OS, takes about 3 seconds) in about 10-15 minutes, then dump them onto your PT drive. The file format on the Mackie recorders is broadcast wave. This works in Sonar, I have to believe it's PT compatible also. You can also take an external drive (any configuration, ie: standalone drive in its own case) and hook up to the USB Mass FTP jack on the rear panel of the Mackie...a little slower than firewire, but a lot faster than what he's suggesting. Sounds like he's trying to settle a score to me.

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 4:41 pm

Mbira,

I see now. My bad.

mitz

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 6:51 pm

Hi,
Unfortunately-another downside for PT Very Happy

-is that the 002 only has audio and ADAT inputs. Yeah-I feel a little -er- violated that this guy won't lower his price for this simple operation. This after giving him $1500 for a demo that we're not really happy with. I should have spent that on a descent studio channel which I believe was the only thing at the time keeping me from getting the results I wanted in the first place. The Mackie does use external HD's but they are a propriatary thing and beed a special mounting thing to make it fit with a regular PC-gee, maybe he'll let me borrow his Very Happy

. Though he did offer to sell me the HD that we recorded on for $200 Rolling Eyes

Oh well. PS the studio I'm refering to is considered the "best" studio in New Mexico. I wouldn't say the name of the studio here, but if anyone out there is in NM get with me before you check out studios...Joel

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 6:55 pm

PS Rivers Edge-Thanks for the advice. I do have an external USB 2.0 drive. Is that something that I could take over there and dump the files a broadcast wav files and then just import?
Joel

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 5:21 am

Mbira, Yup, you can import from your USB drive! The files are stored in two seperate folders, "audio" and "project". When I fly tracks into Sonar, I only import the audio folder. I use a Mackie SDR hard disk unit to track on, and I built a couple external drives with caddies for under $100 each, and use a firewire case to house the external drive in, hot swapable, no rebooting! I burn projects to DVD for backup, or if someone wants to take them somewhere else for overdubs, mixing, whatever.

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 5:23 am

PS: Broadcast wave is the default file format for the Mackies.

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 9:18 am

Ken,

> I would like to take up your offer in the near future, as it sounds like a very educational experience <

And fun too, I'm sure. You can email me any time from the Contact page on my company's site, linked below.

> I'm a guitar player that doesn't Drink <

Party pooper! Wink

--Ethan

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 3:33 am

I use Sony's (used to be Sonic Foundry) Vegas 4.0. It's really awesome with handling audio and the learning curve is quite low. I've tried Sonar, Samplitude, and Pro Tools but the editing in Vegas just blew them away. It's so easy and intuitive to use and sounds just as good as the rest of them. What Vegas lacks is midi/vsti stuff. I don't do much of that but for what I do I use Sony's Acid. These two with Sound Forge don't leave me wanting for much.

Dave

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