My work flow is similar to Noel"s.... with perhaps not so many steps, but the same basic intent.

Band In A Box
1. I compose using my acoustic guitar and BB. Tempo and key are determined early as I work. Style is also determined and set early.

2. I write the lyrics in the quick document window in BB. Print when done if I need it written out.


Real Band
3. I move the project to Real Band. Here I render the tracks from BB as waves and try various other instruments not included in the BB style.

4. I export them to a holding folder for everything related to that song project.

Sonar
5. Import the tracks to X1. Generally there are about 8 to 10 tracks max at this point.

6. Add plugs, envelopes, and edits as needed.

7. Record the "live" tracks of acoustic/electric guitar, piano, vocals.

8. If needed, go back to the project in RB and render more, or simply new tracks and instruments as needed. I delete anything not needed in the song.

9. Once satisfied with the project, I go through and tweeze the tracks and work on the final mix for export.

10. After export, in a 3rd party wave editor (Wavepad) I trim the start & end and normalize the file. Check it for any problems and call it done. Either post it or submit it.


I normally limit the vocal takes to 3 main and 2 harmony if the song calls for it. Most of my vocal takes and live instrument takes are one track/one take. I pick the better one for my main and let it roll. I don't have the time or patience to sort through a bunch of vox tracks to find the best phrasing for a comp track. The other 2 vox tracks, that are not the main, become the layered tracks. I generally don't even bother with ME on them.

If I'm comping a solo, it's generally from the real band tracks and not always even then. Depends greatly on what RB gives me. For example, the solo guitar and piano fills in The Best Christmas are comped from 5 guitar tracks and 3 piano tracks.... that one sticks in my mind as being a whole lot of work and effort to get what I got there. Generally I don't work that hard to get what I get. And really, in Sonar, my DAW, working on the envelopes is really simple and easy, so while the tracks look like a real mess with the envelopes, the task was not that difficult. It's one of the things I like about Sonar. Of course too, I have been working with just that one DAW for many years now so the workflow process, and knowing where everything is and how to get things done makes it a breeze. THAT, if anything, is the one main reason I choose to stick with one DAW and not have a bunch of them hanging around on my computer.

Just upgrading from MC4 to MC5 and then to MC6 and finally X1 ..... all of them within the cakewalk family, proved to be a bit of a learning curve since each one had the same basic functions, but a different GUI. I had to find out where cake had moved things, and get used to that new GUI each time. A few days, to find the functions I used, and I was good. Now if I go back to open MC4, it's a case of "now how do I do this?"..... so I don't often go back to the older DAWs on the computer. I can't imagine having 3 or 4 DAWs from different companies and trying to stay current on them all and be able to work efficiently, although I don't doubt it's possible.... I just don't care to do that.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 01/27/14 06:46 AM.
You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.