Please Note:

Euphonic Studio has undergone a complete overhaul of our recording systems and are now offering you even better services at the same low price.  We have improved every aspect of our process including upgrading the PC to multicore, upgrading sound cards and preamps, monitor amp and distribution system, microphones, and so on.  After you finish this page, please visit our new recording studio site www.euphonicstudio.us for all the details.

Euphonic Studio Digital Recording Services

Cakewalk Sonar 5 & 8.5 PC-based recording

With digital recording offering unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, virtual synthesizer plugins, built-in signal processors, zero self-noise, zero maintenance, precision editing, automated mixing, and scores of other features, tape studios are now a quaint curiosity teetering on the brink of total obsolescence.  But everyone loves the "analog sound".

Euphonic Studio is presently using Cakewalk's Sonar 5 and 8.5 digital recording systems software plus a collection of analog outboard gear to keep things from getting too sterile. Sonar is rich with features that put software emulations of literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of signal processor and digital recording equipment in your hands. This page is included to show just a tiny fraction of what Sonar 5 can do and describe some of the outboard equipment that works with it.

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To the right above you see the basic project view that shows existing tracks collapsed down to their smallest size. This project is one I created for testing microphones. A frequent question I hear is "How many tracks can you record?" I have not as yet seen a definitive answer to that question. It depends on the available hardware resources of your computer, the type of analog/digital interface you have, and the type of tracks you record. Audio tracks take more processor power and storage than MIDI tracks that play external synthesizers. I have never run out of audio or MIDI tracks for any of my projects at Euphonic Studio.

To the left you see the expanded view of tracks 3 and 4. You can record a track in stereo or mono, and we have examples of both here. Further, you can record in sound-on-sound mode or overwrite mode. This means that you can record multiple takes of a difficult spot and then select the best take and splice it into the track. That's a great time saver! The items on the left side of the tracks are for setting up the track's source, routing, effects, and so on.

Software Signal Processors

Sonar includes a rich collection of signal processor applications that you load as VST or Dxi plugins. There are plenty more available on the internet as freeware, shareware, or commercial software. These expand the possibilities without having to expand your processor rack while depleting your budget.

There seems to be a community of software engineers who enjoy writing audio processing software for fun and some of them have come up with VSTs that outperform commercial packages.  These are available for free or for a fraction of the cost of commercial packages.  For anyone doing a home studio, I recommend that you research this topic very carefully on the internet.  You will be surprised at what you can get for simply taking the time to sort through the pack.

The picture you are viewing in this section is Cakewalk's Sonar 5 basic reverb application. I have the pulldown menu visible to show the presets. Another great time saver!

Euphonic Studio purchased Sony Vegas Pro (up to version 10), Melodyne Celemony Studio Bundle, and Antares Autotune to provide more electronic support for your recordings.  Melodyne is very useful for extending your performance limits.  There may be small flaws in a track, but that can be fixed without having to go back later and try to recreate the same sound as the original setup to fix it.  This just gives better recordings and saves you money.  No two ways about it.

Along with the Sony, Sonar, and other signal processing software, Euphonic Studio has a number of hardware processors available. We have several digital multi-effect processors as well as a pair of ART Tube-PAC compressor/limiters. The Tube-PAC units warm up a microphone by allowing you to drive a 12AX7 vacuum tube into distortion to the desired level. We also have hardware by Alesis, Behringer, and other ART processors besides the Tube-PACs.

Software Synthesizers

Along with audio tracks that most people are familiar with, you can also record sequencer tracks to play a variety of synthesizers. These can be real keyboards or sound modules that connect through MIDI or virtual synthesizers such as the DimensionPro pictured to the left. These virtual synthesizers can be played in real time with very low latency or can be plugged in as an output for an existing MIDI track for virtually zero latency. For example, I can record a drum track on my Ensoniq SD1 or Sonar's new Session Drummer 3 loops using the Roland drum map and then choose from dozens of drum kits in DimensionPro to find the drum sound I need for that kit. DimensionPro is one of the most popular plugins on the market and it is here for your use at Euphonic Studio!

You may have seen my A&H mixer console on the "Other Gear" page. Sonar provides its software studio with a software mixer. All the tracks you create can be reordered, bussed, grouped, and routed to any software or hardware device. The flexibility of this is truly astounding to those of us who kept piles of patch cords handy and spent hundreds of thosands of dollars on automated mixers.

This console is designed for compatability with the Peavey StudioMix control surface described at the bottom of this page. Each control can be mapped through a MIDI interface to a hardware button or slider on the StudioMix.

Sonar also created Project 5, a loop-based composition system.  It provides additional tools for the software studio, although the software is now considered by some to be obsoleted by Sonar 8 and above. Pictured at left is the Project 5 Stereo Chorus.

Here's a more conventional-looking "analog" synthesizer emulation called DreamStation. There are a dozen or so more synthesizers to add to a project, and some of them are designed to emulate a specific keyboard synthesizer. Combine those with the dozen or so hardware synthesizers here at Euphonic and there are nearly endless possibilities!

DirectPro Aardvark 24/96 and M-Audio Delta 1010

In order to record audio to a computer disk, the audio signal has to be processed and converted to digital data. This is accomplished by sampling the audio and recording the value as a data stream on the computer hard disk. Playback is reverse; the digital data stream is converted back to audio.

Euphonic Studio uses equipment manufactured by DirectPro and M-Audio. The quality and functionality of their equipment is outstanding . I have 4 DirectPro Aardvark 24/96 A/D-D/A converters, which is the model name and signifies the word size (24 bit) and the maximum sample rate (96 KHz). Almost all the work I'm doing is 16 bit with a sample rate of 44.1 KHz. This provides CD quality sound. The topic of sample rates is somewhat arcane; Sonar uses higher sample rates for intermediate files.

The DirectPro 24/96 has 4 audio inputs on the front panel, which means that presently I can record 8 tracks (or 4 stereo tracks) at the same time. You can stack up to 4 DirectPro 24/96 units on the same system. The front connectors are Neutrik dual jacks that accept either a XLR or 1/4" connector. The inputs are padded and processed through a mixer applet (described below). The front panel also has a stereo headphone jack for monitoring.

DirectPro preamps are known for their nearly silent operation.  These babies are QUIET.  This is probably why there is a solid cadre of diehard users who jump through hoops trying to bridge the growing gap between PC motherboards, Windows versions and applications, and DirectPro drivers.      

The rear panel has 4 line outs on 1/4" jacks, 2 line outs on RCA connectors, SPDIF input and output ports, MIDI input and output ports, and the 25 pin sub-D connector to interface with the PCI card installed in the computer.

The software interface for the DirectPro in/out box is another mixer. This mixer controls the gain, as you'd expect. But it also includes a compressor, metering, and real-time reverb that can be recorded and monitored with zero latency. This allows you to use outboard processing since the electronics for these signal processors are external to your PC.

The input pads have 3 general settings for low, medium, and high gain plus a knob for fine tuning.

Another cool feature of the DirectPro mixer is the software patch bay. You can route signals through the various ports by just dragging a line from point to point on a graphical screen. There is a way to save patches for easy recall later. Again, this is an appreciated and useful technological advance for those of us who have worked with tape machines and hardware mixers over the years.

Although I love the Aardvarks, there comes a time when technology marches on to incompatable things.  To that end, I have purchased an M-Audio Delta 1010, which is functionally similar to the Aardvarks except that it doesn't have preamps.  In order to get the signal in I have purchased an ART Opto-8, which is actually designed for expansion of ADAT systems but also works great to provide 8 really nice preamps for multi-tracking.  I am currently looking at other preamps as well.  The best thing about running a recording studio is that you never run out of things to buy.

Peavey StudioMix Control Surface

This piece was designed as a cooperative effort between Peavey and Cakewalk. It is a combination audio and software mixer and has been supplanted by control surfaces that are designed specifically for newer versions of the software.  However, it is still supported and works great. All the controls except the jog and shuttle dials are programmable to emulate and interface Sonar functions. Each channel has two programmable rotary pots and a programmable motorized slider pot. There is a group of buttons that are designated as song position transport controls.

A typical setup for the StudioMix might be to have 3 or 4 sliders controlling submix buses and the rest doing solo instruments or vocals. Sonar 5 supports automation, so you can run through a song and capture the changes you make on this mixer as data. Then the StudioMix mixer will automatically adjust itself during playback. Automated mixing makes your life a lot easier in a mixdown session.

I'm currently using an M-Audio USB MIDI interface, the 4 channel version, and have this piece directly wired through it. I have enough cable to get this control surface to wherever I need to use it while recording. Another option I'm considering is wireless MIDI transceivers but it's not a high priority.  They are a high price, however.

Over the years, I'll admit to not being that great of a Peavey fan, although they've been very popular due to price, features, and reliability. However, the Peavey StudioMix is an extremely handy piece of gear for anyone who uses a digital recording system. It allows me to control my software mixers and Sonar 5 transport from up to 50 feet away from the PC, the MIDI standard, which I find very useful at Euphonic Studio.  Should you need to go further away, or even into a separate room, you can buy wireless MIDI transceivers to give you extra range and no cabling.

Since the StudioMix came out, there have been many advances in control surfaces, ranging from extremely handy small gadgets that give you just the basic stuff you need to punch yourself in while overdubbing a track to whole studio control boards that give you a hardware interface to many of the commonly used recording functions.

Call Bill at (319) 895-8002 to arrange a tour and demonstration

Euphonic Studio Digital Recording Services

Mount Vernon, Iowa

Serving the Cedar Rapids - Iowa City Corridor

For information about music lessons and digital recording services at Euphonic Studio, call Bill at 319.895.8002