{"id":13628,"date":"2013-12-11T14:57:53","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T18:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=13628"},"modified":"2013-12-11T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T18:57:53","slug":"a-holiday-miracle-in-sonar-x3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2013\/12\/11\/a-holiday-miracle-in-sonar-x3\/","title":{"rendered":"A Holiday Miracle: 24 Hours To Write, Record, Produce, Mix A Commercial Track in SONAR X3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cAudio Production Jobs\u201d come in all shapes and sizes these days;-) \u00a0Yes, the music industry in general has shrunken to an all-time low in terms of major label budget projects, but the flip side is that there are many nooks and crannies out there to stay creative while making money.\u00a0 I think the key these days is getting into as many industry circles as possible, and then over-delivering.\u00a0 If you\u2019re handed a job for writing, mixing, producing or even recording, and you knock it out of the park the first time with low-no hassles to the client, you will certainly come to mind on the next round.\u00a0 I would also be willing to bet that your name will be referred to other folks outside of that job\u2019s \u201ccircle.\u201d\u00a0 You just never know to where things are going to lead.<\/p>\n

Stemming from this theory, I have been fortunate enough to work on some pretty diverse projects ranging from title tracks for Pok\u00e9mon DVD\u2019s to Major Label artists and just about everything in between in one form or another.\u00a0 For the work I do now, the one thing that gives me an edge using SONAR X3 Producer over other DAWs is the quickness of the workflow; which contributes to music creation diversity.\u00a0 Sounds deep right? \u2026well it kind of is.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a real-world example with italicized words in red representing why SONAR X3 features are crucial to me <\/em><\/span>when facing tough audio jobs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Just a few weeks ago I was contacted by NYC singer-songwriter Jodi Good\u2019s music attorney Steven Beer on a Friday night to discuss an opportunity for a \u201cHoliday Song\u201d to be placed with a major publication [for Monday].\u00a0 Now usually, \u201cHoliday Songs\u201d are recorded around August or September and we were already at the end of November, so I knew this was going to be a tough one to accomplish especially since the song had to be written, recorded and mixed fast.\u00a0 The other strike against me was that this one was a bit out of my rock, and pop-rock comfort zones, but I knew the challenge would be a good experience on many different levels, so I decided to fire up the eggnog and go for it. \u00a0Plus I had the comfort of knowing that Jodi is a great songwriter especially in the lyric department, so it was “weekend on.”<\/p>\n

Literally that night Jodi was sending me vocal-only words and melodies as text messages on my Samsung S4.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t play an instrument and we didn\u2019t have the benefit of time, so we had to start writing via virtual and digital means.\u00a0 I instantly forwarded them via email to my HP Z400 main rig where I drag-and-dropped them into a session for reference where they automatically created audio tracks.<\/em>\u00a0 The next move was simply pulling them down to a midi track where Melodyne\u2019s ARA technology kicked in instantly giving me the notes in Midi.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span> This helped me to figure out the best chord structures for the verses and pre-chorus and also allowed me to see where I could go writing the chorus melody.\u00a0 After about a half hour on my trusty acoustic, I had the bones to send back to Jodi via text.<\/p>\n

[I’m going out on a limb here for your laughing pleasure \ud83d\ude09 Here’s the actual writing file on my phone which is what I texted back to Jodi when we were writing the melody – so you can hear how the song started, and where it ended.]
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