Cakewalk Forum

Hello Andychap,
I'm having trouble getting an authentic recording. I use a Mackie DFX-12 and a JV1080 with Sonar 2.0, Compaq Presario, Soundmax soundcard, 16 bit. Playback always sounds like I've added phasing FX but I have all FX turned off. Strings are awful. Vocals are fine.
Thx... Jo Nuvark

This is probably a question well beyond me but I think it might be something to do with DC offset.

Rather than muddling through an explanation I have copied this from the Sonar 5 help files. I hope it can be applied in Sonar 2.

To Remove DC Offset From Existing Audio

Select the audio data and choose Process-Audio-Remove DC Offset. This
launches the Remove DC Offset dialog.

Choose from the following options, and click OK:

DC Offset Threshold (dB)--you can set a minimum dB threshold. If the analyzed DC offset is below this value, no removal takes place.

Analyze Left Channel (dB) and Right Channel (dB)--this field displays the DC offset separately for the left and right channels. Press the Audition button to update the display.

Compute DC Offset from first 5 seconds only--to speed processing, select the Compute DC offset from first 5 seconds only checkbox. Only the first five seconds of a sound file will be analyzed when measuring the DC offset. The only time that five seconds is not sufficient is if a long fade-in or mute has been applied at the beginning of the file.

To Remove DC Offset During Recording

Use the Process-Audio-Remove DC Offset command to open the Remove DC Offset dialog.

In the DC Offset Threshold (dB) field, set a minimum dB threshold, and click OK to close the dialog. If the analyzed DC offset is below this value, no removal takes place.

Open the Audio Options dialog (Options-Audio command), and on the Advanced tab, enable the Remove DC Offset During Recording checkbox, and click OK.

This option filters out DC Offset according to the threshold value that you set in the Remove DC Offset dialog.


If we are not on the right track here than post back and we will have alook at something else.

Hi Andy...
I can't find a DC Offset option in Sonar 2.0, and it's not in my Help topics. Is there another term for this? When you say DC are you talking about Direct Current? or does this mean someting else in Sonar-Speak? Normalizing didn't help and I don't know which eq to apply as this is a phase problem. Could it be my pc? Thx... Jo

DC Offset is the change in input voltage required to produce a zero output voltage when no signal is applied to an amplifier. Basically you get DC offset when there is a mismatch between the impedences of different bits of equipment in your signal chain..

That was all I could come up with but I had a look around and it seems there is a common phasing problem experienced with digital mixers and a few people are discussing it over at the mackie forums.

Might be worth popping over there and checking it out, you never know.