Steinberg Cubase LE Getting Started Manual

6
Tutorial 1: Recording and
playing back audio 

CUBASE LE6 – 62 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
About this chapter
This chapter contains a step-by-step description of how to make a sim-
ple audio recording and play it back. The purpose is for you to try out 
some of the most common recording and playback features. However, 
you should make sure to read the Recording chapter in the Operation 
Manual before doing any “serious” recording, as there are a lot of set-
tings, options and methods that are not mentioned here.
Before you start
This...

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Creating a new project
Before you can start recording, you need a working environment – 
a project:
1.Pull down the File menu and select “New Project”.
A dialog appears, listing a number of project templates for various purposes.
2.Make sure the “Empty” item in the list is selected and click OK.
A file dialog appears, allowing you to specify a location for the project folder. This will 
contain all files related to the project. 
3.Navigate to...

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The next step is to create an audio track to record on:
4.Pull down the Project menu and select “Add Track”.
A submenu appears, listing the various types of tracks available in Cubase LE.
5.Select “Audio”.
An empty audio track appears in the Project window. 

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Preparing to record
Before you can start recording, there are some preparations to make:
Selecting stereo or mono
You need to decide whether you want the recording to be in stereo or 
mono. This is done by clicking the Stereo/Mono switch in the area to 
the left of the audio track.
•In this example, set the track to stereo by clicking the button so that it 
lights up and shows a double circle.
Activating and routing inputs
1.Pull down the...

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3.Close the VST Inputs window, and open the Mixer from the Devices 
menu.
This is Cubase LE’s mixer window, used for setting levels, etc. The Mixer contains a 
channel strip for each audio, MIDI and group track in the Project window, so currently 
there will be a single stereo audio channel strip.
4.Pull down the Input pop-up menu at the top of the channel strip.
This is where you select which audio input should be routed to the audio channel...

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Checking the input level
To avoid clipping, you need to check the input level before recording:
1.Click the “Record Enable” button next to the fader on the Mixer chan-
nel strip.
When the Record Enable button is lit, the level meter will show the input level (as op-
posed to the level of the playback signal). 
Record enabling the track can be done in the Mixer (left) or in the Track list.
2.Activate your audio source.
You will see the level...

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Making the track ready for recording
1.Make sure the Transport panel is visible.
If not, pull down the Transport menu and select the “Transport Panel” item at the top.
The Transport panel
2.Make sure the buttons on the Transport panel are set up like this:
If any of these buttons are lit, click on them to deactivate them.
3.Click in the ruler (the time scale area above the track in the Project 
window), at the position where you want to start...

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Recording
1.Start recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel.
The project cursor will start moving.
2.Play your instrument, etc.
During recording, a rectangle will appear, covering the recorded area. This is the re-
corded audio event.
3.When you are done, click the Stop button on the Transport panel.
Recording stops. Cubase LE will calculate a waveform image of your recording and 
display it in the audio event.
4.If you are...

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Recording more events
At this point, you may want to continue recording audio, on the same 
track or on a new track.
Recording more on the same track
To record more audio on the same track, move the project cursor to a 
new start position and proceed as when you recorded the first time.
❐It is possible to record audio events that overlap each other, but only the 
visible events (the events at the top) will be heard when you play back.
Recording...