Originally Posted By: lambada
I see the envelopes, but what do they actually do? Sorry if it's a stupid question! Is it just for demo purposes on the screen to show how they have been used or are they actually doing something?


If you go to the song indicated on my site: Dust on the Floor, and listen to that song... this screenshot is approximately at the section right before the solo starts. Listen to how things are coming in and going out throughout the entire song. Volume envelopes in Sonar are controlling that process. And yes, if you watch Sonar in the Console view, you see the faders moving in relation to the envelopes that control them. Unlike other types of automation envelopes, you don't have to link these to the things they control. That's already done in the software. It makes things fast and easy when working with volume and panning envelopes.

The envelopes are automation envelopes. As the song is playing and the time line is moving forward, the control connected to the automation envelope, in this case of the YELLOW envelopes, the volume of that track follows the automation.

So yeah, they control the volume in the tracks. It's what I use to bring things in and out without having to do everything manually and in real time.

In Sonar, I also use panning envelopes. For example.... if I have one guitar playing fills and solo, it's generally centered. But lets say, at the 80% point in a solo, I have another guitar come in to play harmony notes to the lead. Obviously, I don't want it centered, so I may set it at 60% left panning, nor do I want the guitars to be lopsided in the mix. So I use an automation panning envelope to move the original lead guitar to 60% right panning for that harmony part, and then back to center when the twin guitars are finished.

If you listen to any of my songs, you will hear something like a mandolin or dobro come in to do a short lick fill and then it disappears from the mix until the next fill and so on. Envelopes that automate the volume faders do that. Using them surgically, you can easily have them in 2 or more tracks and pick and choose small sections of notes from one track, another section in another track and so on to complete a small fill. I use that technique a lot.

Envelopes are worth learning about and using.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
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