Reference Guide

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Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments
5. Click the Output drop-down menu to select the track’s output.
The available outputs for the track are displayed.
6. Select the output port that you want the audio track to play through during playback. This is how
you ultimately route the audio to your speakers. You will usually choose 1 and 2, because these
are most commonly the outputs that speakers or audio monitors are connected to.
7. Click the track's Record Enable button .
8. Click the Input Echo button if you want to hear the input during recording. Many sound cards
and audio interfaces have an option to do this automatically on the hardware level. If you can
already hear the input signal, simply move on to the next section.
Getting ready to record
At this point, we need to check the input levels to make sure they are sufficient and not distorting.
Perform as you would if you were recording and watch the meter on the track respond to the sounds
you produce.
If the meter never even comes close to the maximum, increase the input level. If the meter even
occasionally reaches the maximum, decrease the input level.
Input levels are usually adjusted via a knob next to the input jack on the sound card, but features like
this may vary slightly between devices. So, if you have never recorded an instrument or microphone
with your sound card, you may want to read about doing so in the device's manual.
Figure 16. The record meter shows the input level
Recording your performance
Now that everything is set up, let's record something!
1. On the Options menu, select Project and then click the Metronome tab.
2. Set the metronome for a 2 measure count-in.
• Click Use Audio Metronome, select the Recording check box and set Record Count-in to 2
Measures. For details about each metronome option, click Help.
3. Make sure the track has been record enabled by clicking the track’s Record Enable button. The
Record Enable button on the track should be lit in red like this: . Again, if you don't arm a
track, SONAR will not know where to put the audio and the transport Record button will be
disabled .
Note: SONAR only allows recording to tracks that have been record enabled. This is
necessary since SONAR allows for multi-track recording. This tells SONAR what track you want
your new material recorded to. Otherwise, every track would be recorded to during every take.
Input may be too low
Input is too loud