Steinberg Cubase LE Operation Manual

							CUBASE LEExport Audio Mixdown 23 – 451
Mixing down to an audio file
1.Set up the left and right locator to encompass the area that you want 
to mix down.
2.Set up your tracks, so that they play back the way you want.
This includes muting unwanted tracks or parts, making manual mixer settings and/or 
activating the R (Read) automation buttons for some or all mixer channels.
3.Pull down the File menu and select “Audio Mixdown…” from the Ex-
port submenu.
The Export Audio Mixdown dialog appears.
The upper half of this dialog is a standard file dialog, while the lower 
half contains file format options and settings for the mixdown function. 
Note that the available settings and options differ depending on the 
selected file format (see page 453).
4.If you want to include any activated Mixer automation, activate the 
“Include Automation” checkbox.
5.If you want to include insert effects, send effects and master effects, 
activate the “Include Effects” checkbox. 
						

							CUBASE LE23 – 452 Export Audio Mixdown
6.Select a file format with the file type pop-up menu.
7.If you want to automatically import the resulting audio file back into 
Cubase LE, activate the “Import to” checkboxes.
If you activate the “Pool” checkbox, a clip referring to the file will appear in the Pool. 
Activating the “Audio Track” checkbox as well will create an audio event that plays the 
clip, and place it on a new audio track, starting at the left locator.
❐The Import options are only available if you have selected the file format 
AIFF or Wave.
8.Make additional settings for the file to be created.
This includes selecting stereo or mono, sample rate, resolution, quality, etc. The avail-
able options depend on the selected file format – see page 453.
9.Select a folder and a name for the audio file to be created.
❐With some file formats, there is a Stereo Split option (see page 454). If 
this is selected, two files will be created, one for each side. The two files 
will have the same name, but with the letter “L” appended for the left 
channel file and “R” for the right channel file.
10.Click Save.
A dialog with a progress bar is displayed while the audio file is created. If you change 
your mind during the file creation, you can click the Abort button to abort the operation.
•If you have activated the “Import to” options, the file will be imported 
back into the project. 
When playing back the re-imported file in Cubase LE, remember to mute the original 
tracks so that you really hear the true result. 
						

							CUBASE LEExport Audio Mixdown 23 – 453
File Format Specifics
The following pages describe the different export file formats, and 
their options and settings.
AIFF files
AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by 
Apple Computer Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” and are used 
on most computer platforms. When AIFF is selected as export file for-
mat, the following settings are available:
Resolution
Allows you to select 8, 16 or 24 bit files.
• If you are making a mixdown for CD burning, you should use the 16 bit option, 
as CD audio is always 16 bit.
• 8 bit resolution should only be used if required, since it will result in limited au-
dio quality.
Examples of situations when 8 bit audio may be suitable are some multimedia applica-
tions, etc. 
						

							CUBASE LE23 – 454 Export Audio Mixdown
Channels
Sample Rate
Allows you to select a sample rate for the exported audio file. In most 
cases, you should select the sample rate set for the project, since a 
lower sample rate will degrade the audio quality (mainly reducing the 
high frequency content) and selecting a higher sample rate will only in-
crease the file size, without adding to audio quality. However, you 
should also consider the future usage of the file; for example, if you 
plan to import the file into another application, you should make sure 
to select a sample rate supported by that application.
• If you are making a mixdown for CD burning, you should select 44.100 
kHz, since this is the sample rate used on audio CDs.
Option Description
Mono The audio is mixed down to mono.
Stereo Split Two mono files are created, one for each side of the stereo mix. 
The files will have the name you specify in the dialog, but with “L” 
and “R” added, respectively. Select this format if you plan to use 
the resulting file in another application, that doesn’t support stereo 
interleaved files.
If you plan to re-import the file into Cubase LE, we recommend that 
you use the Stereo Interleaved option instead, since Cubase LE 
doesn’t automatically handle stereo split files as one entity.
Stereo Interleaved A stereo audio file is created. This is the recommended stereo op-
tion if you want to re-import the file into Cubase LE. 
						

							CUBASE LEExport Audio Mixdown 23 – 455
Sound Designer II files (Mac OS X only)
The SD II format was developed by Digidesign. It is one of the most 
popular audio file formats on the Macintosh, especially for profes-
sional audio work. The following export settings are available:
Channels
Allows you to select mono or stereo files, with the same options as for 
AIFF files (see page 454).
Resolution
The bit resolution of the file, with the same options as for AIFF files 
(see page 453).
Sample Rate
The options are the same as for AIFF files. See above.
Wave files
Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are the most common file 
format on the PC platform. Wave files can be uncompressed or com-
pressed, as described below. For uncompressed Wave files (the 
most common choice), the following settings are available:
Channels
Allows you to select mono or stereo files, with the same options as for 
AIFF files (see page 454).  
						

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Resolution
The bit resolution of the file, with the same options as for AIFF files 
(see page 453).
Sample Rate
The options are the same as for AIFF files. See page 454.
Coding (Windows only)
The Coding pop-up menu allows you to select a compression scheme 
for the Wave file, creating smaller files (with a loss of audio quality).
• Which options are available depends on the installed and activated codecs in 
the ACM (Audio Compression Manager) under Windows.
See the operating system documentation for details.
• When a compression option is selected, not all Channels, Resolution and 
Sample Rate options may be available (depending on the selected compres-
sion scheme).
The Attributes pop-up menu displays the currently selected properties for the file.
• For regular, uncompressed Wave files, select “PCM / uncompressed Waves”.
❐Wave files exported by Cubase LE for Macintosh are always uncom-
pressed. 
						

							CUBASE LEExport Audio Mixdown 23 – 457
MPEG Layer 3 files
You can export to MP3 20 times as a “trial” feature (fully functional), 
after which the function is disabled. 
When the MP3 format is selected, a text at the bottom of the Export 
Audio Mixdown dialog shows you how many remaining encodings you 
have left. 
You can upgrade your Cubase LE copy to include unlimited MP3 en-
coding by clicking the “Order now” link in the lower right corner of the 
dialog (this takes you to Steinberg’s online store on the web - a work-
ing internet connection is required).
MPEG Layer 3 files have the extension “.mp3”. By use of advanced 
audio compression algorithms, mp3 files can be made very small, 
maintaining good audio quality.
The following options are available for MPEG Layer 3 files:
Channels
Use the radio buttons to select mono or stereo files. This setting af-
fects which options are available on the Attributes pop-up menu (see 
below).
Sample Rate
Determines the frequency range of the audio – the lower the sample 
rate, the lower the highest audible frequency in the audio. This setting 
will also affect which options are available on the Attributes pop-up 
menu, as described below. 
						

							CUBASE LE23 – 458 Export Audio Mixdown
Attributes
This pop-up menu allows you to select a bit rate for the mp3 file. As a 
rule, the higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the larger 
the file. For stereo audio, 128 kBit/s is often considered to result in 
“good” audio quality.
• Note that the available options on this pop-up menu depend on the 
Channels and Sample Rate settings.
This is because for mono audio and/or low sample rates, there is no point in using the 
highest bit rates – they would simply create larger files without adding to audio quality.
Algorithm
These options determine the “depth” of the encoding algorithm and 
thus the quality of the resulting file. In the “Highest” mode, the encod-
ing will take the longest time, while in the “Fast” mode, the audio qual-
ity may be lower. The file size is not affected by these options.
Options
Clicking the Options button opens a dialog in which you can enter in-
formation about the file. This additional information (called the ID3 tag) 
will be embedded as text strings in the file, and can be displayed by 
some mp3 playback applications.
• For the information to be included in the file, you need to activate the “In-
sert Options” checkbox in the dialog. 
						

							CUBASE LEExport Audio Mixdown 23 – 459
Real Audio G2 files (Windows only)
Real Audio files allow very high compression rates and can therefore 
be made very small. This makes the format especially useful for down-
loading and streaming multimedia from the internet. The files have the 
extension “.rm”.
The following options are available for Real Audio files:
Coding and Content
By selecting an option from the Coding pop-up menu, you specify the 
desired audio quality for the file. This information is divided in two pop-
up menus: Coding (determining the bit rate) and Content (specifying 
the typical audio content – voice, music, etc.) 
When you select a Coding/Content, a descriptive text appears in the 
field below the pop-up menu, describing the suitable use of the se-
lected format.
• Note that the choice of mono or stereo is included in the Coding/Con-
tent options.
Options
Clicking the Options button opens a dialog in which you can select 
one or more modes (each explained in the dialog) for the file. You can 
also enter information about the file. These text strings will be embed-
ded in the file and can be displayed by some Real Audio playback ap-
plications. 
						

							CUBASE LE23 – 460 Export Audio Mixdown
Windows Media Audio files (Windows only)
Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by Microsoft Inc. 
Due to advanced audio compression algorithms, Windows Media Au-
dio files can be made very small, maintaining good audio quality. The 
files have the extension “.wma”. 
The following options are available for Windows Media Audio files:
Attributes
This pop-up menu allows you to select a bit rate for the WMA file. As 
a rule, the higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the larger 
the file. For stereo audio, 96 kBit/s is often considered to give “good” 
audio quality.
Options
Clicking the Options button opens a dialog in which you can enter in-
formation about the title and author of the file, as well as copyright in-
formation. These text strings will be embedded in the file and can be 
displayed by some Windows Media Audio playback applications.