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Ray Charles & Terry Howard Using SONAR
“Working with an artist of the stature of Ray Charles, I’m really lucky to have access to any equipment that we want to use. So when it came time for us to make the jump to computer-based recording and editing we looked at a lot of systems and companies. Let me tell you, Cakewalk had us sold on SONAR before I had even heard the audio quality of the program, and in our business that is unheard of. Cakewalk is the most professional software company that we have ever encountered. From their customer service to their support staff, they truly understand working with artists both as professionals and as musicians. Right from the beginning they listened to what we were looking for and then helped us through the whole process." SONAR’s Audio Quality “Once we had our computer system set up (see system specifications below) and SONAR installed, we were even happier." Terry continues, "everything in SONAR worked exactly the way they said it would and the audio quality met the stringent standards that Ray and I require. What I really like about SONAR is that with a quality audio interface like my Frontier Design hardware it’s a transparent application. What I mean by that is that Cakewalk does not negatively color the sound of my audio the way that some other solutions do. What you record in sounds right when you play it back. Recording Ray's Next Album Terry’s initial interest in SONAR was to use it for restoring and remastering old Ray Charles recordings (read the tip). After that experience, they decided to make SONAR an integral part of their new recordings as well. “Ray and I got so jazzed up about the way SONAR handled restoring the old recordings that we decided to use it in the recording, editing and production of his next album. "Here’s the process we’re using: "We start by doing our initial tracking through our Quad 8 WestStar mixing console to our 48-track digital Studer A827 DASH. We then transfer the files to our analog 24-track Studer tape machine to warm the sound up. Ray and I really like the sound of these components and feel they are part of the signature sound that we are looking for. We usually do three takes on a tune to give us a variety of sections to work with. I then submix each take down to 32 tracks and record them into SONAR. "Once I have all the takes in the computer system, I use SONAR to combine the various elements of the different takes into one perfect master. One thing that I like is that while we’re working through a song, I can quickly export a mix of it at any stage and burn a CD for Ray or I to take home and review. Having the realtime effects patched means I can get an accurate approximation of how everything will sound in the final mix without having to commit to printing those effects to the tracks themselves. "Speaking of effects, one plug-in in particular that really impressed me was the BBE Sonic Maximizer DX. I was a little skeptical when I heard about it, but I could not believe how well it works. This plug-in sounds as good as the hardware version and really enhances your mix. You only need to apply the BBE plug-in just slightly to hear an improvable difference in your tracks. "Once I have the song edited and mixed to our liking, I then record it back to the Studer to send it to our mastering lab. Even if I didn’t have a $200k mixing console and tape recorder, and access to a $1M mastering facility, I would still be happy recording with SONAR." The Future Because of SONAR’s built-in support for accessibility features for the vision impaired, Ray Charles himself is talking about using SONAR. “This Cakewalk stuff is impressing the hell out of me. I can’t wait to get more into it. We’re really very, very happy.” You can look for Ray’s new album in 2002. Ray & Terry's Computer Specifications Recording 32 simultaneous tracks of digital audio while synchronized to SMPTE time code is a demanding task, even with today’s powerful computer systems. What kind of computer can handle this you ask? Here’s the spec for the system that they are running: Processors: 2 - AMD Athlon XP 1800 (1.533 Ghz
Palomino) CPUs
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