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 chapter assumes the following:
•You have installed and set up your audio hardware.
•Your audio source (a mixer or tape recorder, for example) is properly 
connected to the inputs of the audio hardware.
•The outputs of the audio hardware are connected to some sort of lis-
tening equipment, allowing you to listen to the recorded audio during 
playback.
•You are monitoring your audio source externally. 
That is, when you are recording, you listen to the audio source before it goes into 
Cubase LE. A typical setup would be to have an audio source connected to an external 
mixer, and feed the signal into Cubase LE via an auxiliary bus or send, while listening to 
the output of the mixer. 
Note that this is just to make things simple in this chapter – there are various ways to 
monitor the signal through Cubase LE, as described in the Recording chapter in the 
Operation Manual.
•You have launched Cubase LE. 
						

							CUBASE LETutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 6 – 63
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 the desired location of the project folder, and select it by 
clicking OK, or click “Create” to create and name a new folder.
The project folder is created on disk, and an empty Project window appears.
At this point, you can make various settings for the project, such as 
sample rate, resolution, etc. However, to keep things simple we will 
use the default settings for now.  
						

							CUBASE LE6 – 64 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
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. 
						

							CUBASE LETutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 6 – 65
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 Devices menu and select “VST Inputs”.
The VST Inputs window appears. This lists all audio inputs on your audio hardware, 
allowing you to turn inputs on or off.
2.Locate the input pair to which you have connected your audio source, 
and make sure its “On” button in the Active column is lit.
If not, click the button to turn the input on. 
						

							CUBASE LE6 – 66 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
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 for 
recording.
5.Select the input pair to which you have connected your audio source.
Your audio source is now routed to the audio channel, so that it can be recorded on 
the audio track.
Leave the Mixer window open for now. 
						

							CUBASE LETutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 6 – 67
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 meters reacting.
3.Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the meters go as 
high as possible without going up to 0.0 dB.
Check the numerical peak level indicator above the meter in the channel strip. 
						

							CUBASE LE6 – 68 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
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 recording.
When you click, the project cursor (the black vertical line) is automatically moved to 
the click position. In our example, recording will start from the project cursor position.
Setting the project cursor position in the ruler.
4.To set recording to start at the cursor position, pull down the Trans-
port menu and make sure the item “Start Record at Left Locator” is 
deactivated (unticked).
You are ready to record! 
						

							CUBASE LETutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 6 – 69
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 done with recording, click the Record Enable button in the 
area to the left of the track, so that it goes dark.
Playing back what you just recorded
1.Move the project cursor to the beginning of the recorded audio event.
This could either be done by clicking in the ruler, or by using the Rewind button on the 
Transport panel.
2.Click the Play button on the Transport panel.
Your recording will be played back.
3.When you are done, stop playback by clicking the Stop button on the 
Transport panel. 
						

							CUBASE LE6 – 70 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
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 a new audio track
This example shows how to record a new audio track, while listening 
to the first recording.
1.Create a new audio track by using the “Add Track” submenu on the 
Project menu.
2.Decide whether you want the new track to be stereo or mono by using 
the Stereo/Mono switch in the area to the left of the track.
3.Pull down the Devices menu and open the Mixer.
As you can see, a new channel strip has been added to the Mixer.
4.Use the Input pop-up menu at the top of the channel strip to make 
sure that the correct audio input is selected for the new track.
If the audio source is another than the one you first recorded, you need to check the in-
put level again – see page 67.
5.In the Project window, record enable the new track by clicking its 
Record Enable button.
Make sure that the Record Enable button for the first track is disabled – otherwise you 
will be recording on both tracks at the same time.
6.Move the project cursor to the desired start position.
7.Activate recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel.
While you are recording, the first audio track is played back.
8.When you are done, click the Stop button on the Transport panel.