Steinberg Cubase LE 4 Getting Started Manual

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
Event operations
In this section we’ll learn how to edit events or parts. This 
includes rename, resize, split, glue, move, copy, repeat, 
mute, erase and adding a fade.
Renaming
If we look at the audio events that we recorded earlier, we 
notice that the bass track has an audio event on it called 
“Audio 01_01”. This is because the name of the track was 
originally “Audio 01” and the suffix “_01” means that it is 
the first audio file to be recorded on the track. The second 
audio file would be called “Audio 01_02”.
Naming your audio files keeps your project clean and easy 
to understand. Let’s rename “Audio 01_01” to “Bass”:
1.Choose the Object Selection tool.
2.Click on the event “Audio 01_01”.
3.Make sure “Show Event Infoline” is activated on the 
toolbar.
The “Event Infoline” gives us detailed information about 
an object or objects that are currently selected in the 
event display.
4.Change “Audio 01_01” to “Bass” underneath the 
word “File”.
This changes the audio file’s name directly on the hard drive – easy!
5.Notice that our audio event now says “Bass”.
Resizing
You resize an event by adjusting the start and/or end of 
the event. Used in combination with the split tool this is 
usually all the editing you’ll need.
1.Choose the Object Selection tool.
2.Click on the event you wish to resize.
In our case let’s change the “Bass” event.
3.Position the cursor over one of the squares at the bot-
tom right or bottom left of the event. Click and adjust the 
“Bass” event so that it lines up with “Elec Guitar_01”.
!Load the project called “Event Operations” found in 
the “Tutorial 2” folder.
The name has changed from “Audio 01_01” to “Bass”.
There is extra space on ei-
ther side of the Bass audio 
event that we don’t want.
White squares appear on 
the bottom left and bottom 
right of the event. Resize 
the event with these. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
Splitting
Splitting is used to cut events. You can split or cut an event 
wherever you want or split them evenly to bars and beats. 
Splitting with “Snap” off
Splitting with “Snap” off allows you to cut anywhere with-
out locking to any kind of reference like bars and beats.
1.Choose the Split tool.
2.Make sure “Snap” is off (not highlighted).
Snap allows you to edit to various time frames. The most common one is 
bars and beats. Meaning you can cut exactly to the bar with “Snap” 
turned on. With it turned off you can cut anywhere. See more about 
“Snap” in the chapter “The Project window” in the Operation Manual.
3.You can now split or cut the audio anywhere by click-
ing on the event.
4.Undo your actions by choosing “Undo Split” from the 
Edit menu as many times as you used the Split tool.
Make sure there are no splits in the “Bass” event any more.
Splitting with “Snap” on
Having “Snap” on allows you to split or cut to a time refer-
ence. For example, if you want to cut the “Elec Guitar” 
track to bars or beats.
1.Choose the Split tool.
2.Make sure “Snap” is on.
Snap allows you to edit to various time frames. The most common one is 
bars and beats. Meaning you can cut exactly to the bar with “Snap” 
turned on. With it turned off you can cut anywhere. See more about 
“Snap” in the chapter “The Project window” in the Operation Manual.
3.If you are having trouble seeing anything beyond the 
“Tool Buttons”, right-click in the toolbar (the top bar that 
the “Tool Buttons” are on).
This allows you to change what you see at the top of the Project window. 
Customization is in the heart of Cubase LE.
4.Choose “Show all” to see all available tools.
5.Next, right click again and choose “Nudge Palette” so 
that it is hidden from view.
Now we can see enough for us to continue on with the Split tool.
Here are the splits that were made to the Bass event.
There is more to see but your screen resolution 
may prevent you from seeing everything. Right-click in 
the toolbar. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
6.With most of the snap features in view, choose “Grid” 
from the Snap mode pop-up menu to the right of the Snap 
button.
This means we’ll be snapping to a grid.
7.Next choose “Bar” as the “Grid Type”.
This means you will split to bars.
8.You can now split the “Elec Guitar_01” event pre-
cisely to the bar. Cut on bars 6, 10 and 14.
Splitting with [Alt]/[Option]
1.Choose the Split tool.
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click on the bass event 
at bar 3 and the length of the split will be repeated until 
the end of the event.
You can try this with “Snap” on or off.
3.Select “Undo Split” from the Edit menu and return the 
bass to the way it was.
Gluing or joining events
Using the Glue tool allows you to join events together that 
have been cut using the Split tool.
1.Choose the Glue tool.
2.Glue together the split events in the “Elec Guitar” 
track by clicking just before each split.
Let’s make sure we glue all of them. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
Moving events
1.Choose the Object Selection tool.
2.Move all the events in the Project window from bar 2 
to bar 1. Click and hold the mouse on an empty area of the 
Project window. Drag to create a selection of all the 
events. When you release the mouse button, all the events 
will be selected.
3.With all the events selected, click and drag them to 
bar 1.
4.Click on an empty area of the Project window so that 
no event is selected.
Copying events
Copying can be used to copy an event to another area in 
the Project window. If you want to make several copies in 
one go, see “Repeating” on page 36.
Using Copy and Paste
1.To copy an audio event, click on the desired event and 
choose “Copy” from the Edit menu.
In our case let’s choose the “Elec Guitar_01” event.
2.Position the cursor at the point in the project that you 
wish the copy to be made.
We’ll put our cursor at bar 17.
3.Make sure you click on the track that you want the 
copied event to be copied to. Choose “Paste” from the 
Edit menu.
It is possible that you may have another track selected. If so the “Paste” 
command would paste it to a different track. Always note the track you 
have selected before choosing “Paste”.
4.Now we have two guitar events. Note that we also 
copied the takes that were on the guitar track. We can use 
these later. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
Using the [Alt]/[Option] key
1.Choose the Object Selection tool and hold down [Alt]/
[Option].
2.We are going to copy the “Guitar 2” events. Remem-
ber that there are three events. Select all of the “Guitar 2” 
events by clicking and dragging as described above.
3.Click and hold the selected events and drag to the po-
sition you wish the copy to be made. Then release the 
mouse button.
Don’t worry about the “Scissor” icon that appears. As soon as you click 
and hold on the event you are copying it switches to an arrow with a “+” 
sign indicating that you are copying.
Repeating
Repeats are great for repeating something over and over 
directly after the event you want to repeat.
1.Click the bass event with the Object Selection tool.
2.Choose “Repeat” from the Edit menu.3.In the dialog that opens, choose how many copies you 
wish to make by increasing the “Count” field.
You can choose to select “Shared Copies” if you want. 
Shared copies allow you to make aliases to the original 
event. This means that if you make changes to the original 
event (such as processing or editing), the copies will re-
flect those changes. This is a big time saver!
4.Click “OK” and the repeat will be placed directly after 
the Bass event.
Muting
Muting an event stops you from hearing just that event. 
You may want to mute events on a track so that the track 
continues to play except for the events you mute. Note 
that this is different from muting a track.
1.Choose the Mute tool.
2.Click on the event you wish to mute. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
3.To un-mute an event, click on the muted event with the 
Mute tool again and it returns to normal.
If you drag with the Mute tool you can mute a number of 
events at a time. Equally this will un-mute events that are 
muted.
Erasing
1.Choose the Erase tool.
2.Click on the events you wish to erase.
Adding a fade
You can add a fade to an event to give the effect that the 
event is fading in or fading out.
1.Choose the Object Selection tool.
2.Click on the event you wish to add a fade to.3.Click on one of the blue triangles and move it so that a 
fade appears.
4.For more advanced fades you can double click on the 
fade area to open up the fade dialog. See the chapter 
“Fades and Crossfades” in the Operation Manual for more 
information.
Notice the blue triangles that appear at the top left and top 
right of the event.
Double click here to open the fade dialog. 
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
The Sample Editor
The Sample Editor is primarily used for detailed editing. It 
can be used for detailed sample drawing and Hitpoint ed-
iting.
The Sample Editor is explained in its own chapter in the 
Operation Manual. Before we go into the Sample Editor, 
let’s explain events and parts. Audio events are consid-
ered ‘raw’ pieces of audio that sit in the Project window. 
Audio parts are a collection of events grouped together.
This is what an audio event looks like.
This is what an audio event inside a part looks like. Parts 
contain either audio or MIDI events.To open the Sample Editor, double-click an audio event.
If you double-click on an audio part, you will open the 
Audio Part Editor instead.
You will need to double-click on the audio event once more to reach the 
Sample Editor.
Processing audio
Cubase LE has the ability to make changes to the audio in 
more ways than splitting and resizing. You can Normalize, 
Reverse and Silence to name a few. For a full explanation 
on processing audio, see the chapter “Audio processing 
and Functions” in the Operation Manual.
You can process the whole audio event or use the Range 
Selection tool and select just the section of audio you want.
Let’s show you how to Normalize and Reverse an audio 
event.
Notice the blue triangles a the top.
Notice there are no blue triangles at the top.!Load the project called “Processing Audio” found in 
the “Tutorial 2” folder.
Double-click on the audio event to open the Sample Editor.
You know you are in the Sample Editor by looking at the top left hand  
						

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Tutorial 2: Editing Audio
Normalize
Normalize raises the volume of the audio to the desired 
amount. Usually you adjust the slider to “0” dB or “-1” dB 
so that you get the maximum volume without clipping your 
audio. A common use for Normalizing is to raise the level 
of audio that was recorded at too low an input level.
1.With the Object Selection tool, click on the audio 
event you wish to change.
You can also use the Range Selection tool and select the section of au-
dio you want.
2.On the Audio menu–Process submenu, select “Nor-
malize”.
3.Adjust the slider to the amount you desire. A setting of 
“0” db or “-1” db is common.
4.Click the Process button and your audio is now nor-
malized.
For a description of the “More” and “Preview” buttons, see the chapter 
“Audio Processing and Functions” in the Operation Manual.
Reverse
The “Reverse” command reverses the audio selection. 
This will sound as if you were playing a tape backwards.
1.With the Object Selection tool, click on the audio 
event you wish to change. In our case, let’s pick the bass 
audio event.
You can also use the “Range Selection” tool and select the section of 
audio you want.
2.On the Audio menu–Process submenu, select “Re-
verse”.
3.If you have copied events in the Project window, this di-
alog box will open. It asks if you want all the copied events 
changed (Continue) or if a new version is to be created so 
that only your selection is affected (New Version).
4.Clicking either “Continue” or “New Version” will re-
verse your audio. 
						

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Tutorial 3: Recording and Editing MIDI