Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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Recording 4 – 51
Automatically activating recording
Nuendo can automatically switch from playback to recording at a 
given position. This is known as “automatic punch in”. A typical use for 
this would be if you need to replace a section of a recording, and want 
to listen to what is already recorded, up to the recording start position.
1.Set the left locator to the position where you want recording to start.
2.Activate the Punch In button on the Transport panel.
Punch In activated.
3.Activate playback from some position before the left locator.
When the project cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automatically activated.
Stopping recording
Again, this can be done automatically or manually:
•If you click the Stop button on the Transport panel (or use the corre-
sponding key command, by default [0] on the numeric keypad), record-
ing is deactivated and Nuendo goes to Stop mode.
•If you click the Record button or use the key command for recording, 
by default [*], recording is deactivated but playback continues.
This is known as “manual punch out”.
•If the Punch Out button is activated on the Transport panel, recording 
will be deactivated when the project cursor reaches the right locator.
This is known as “automatic punch out”. By combining this with automatic punch in, 
you can set up a specific section to record – again very useful if you want to replace a 
certain part of a recording. See also page 88.
Punch In and Out activated.   
						

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4 – 52 Recording
Cycle recording
Nuendo can record and play back in a cycle – a loop. You specify 
where the cycle starts and ends by setting the left and right locators. 
When the cycle is active, the selected section is seamlessly repeated 
until you hit Stop or deactivate cycle mode.
•To activate cycle mode, click the cycle button on the Transport panel.
If you now start playback, the section between the left and right locator is repeated in-
definitely until you stop.
Cycle activated
•To record in cycle mode, you can start recording from the left locator, 
from before the locators or from within the cycle, from Stop mode or 
during playback.
As soon as the project cursor reaches the right locator, it will jump back to the left lo-
cator and continue recording a new lap.
•The results of cycle recording depend on the selected cycle record 
mode and are different for audio (see page 66) and MIDI (see page 81).
Audio pre-record
This feature allows you to capture up to 10 minutes of any incoming 
audio you play in Stop mode or during playback, “after the fact”. This 
is possible because Nuendo can capture audio input in buffer mem-
ory, even when not recording. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the File menu and open the Preferences dialog.
2.In the list to the left, select “Record” to open the Record page.
3.Specify a time (up to 600 seconds) in the Audio Pre-Record Seconds 
field.
This activates the buffering of audio input, making Pre-Record possible.  
						

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Recording 4 – 53
4.Make sure an audio track is record enabled and receives audio from 
the signal source.
5.When you have played some audio material you want to capture (either 
in Stop mode or during playback), click the Record button.
6.After a few seconds stop the recording (unless you wish to continue 
recording).
An audio event is created, starting at where the cursor position was when you acti-
vated recording. This means that if you were in stop mode, and the cursor was at the 
beginning of the project, you may have to move the event to the right in the next step. 
If you were playing along to a project you should leave the event where it is.
7.Select the Arrow tool and place the cursor on the bottom left edge of 
the event so that a double arrow appears, then click and drag to the left. 
Now the event is extended and the audio you played before activating record is inserted 
– this means that if you played along during playback, the captured notes will end up ex-
actly where you played them in relation to the project.
The recording was activated at the start of bar 9. This is indicated by a blue line in 
the audio event.  
						

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4 – 54 Recording
Audio recording specifics
Selecting a recording file format
The format of recorded files is set in the Project Setup dialog on the 
Project menu. There are three settings: sample rate, record format (bit 
depth) and record file type. While the sample rate is set once and for 
all when you start working on a new project, the bit depth and file type 
can be changed at any time.
Record file type
The Record File Type setting determines which type of files will be 
created when you record:
•If you select Broadcast Wave File or AIFF format, you can specify 
Author, Description and Reference text strings that will be embedded 
in the recorded file.
This is done on the Record–Broadcast Wave page in the Preferences dialog.
File type Description
Wave File Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are the most common file for-
mat on the PC platform.
Wave 64 File Wave64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic Foundry Inc. Audio-
wise it is identical to the Wave format, but the internal file structure makes 
much larger file sizes possible. This is useful e.g. for long live recordings 
in surround format, where the audio files could become huge.
Broadcast 
Wave FileIn terms of audio content, the same as regular Wave files, but with em-
bedded text strings for supplying additional information about the file (see 
below).
AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Computer 
Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” and are used on most computer 
platforms. Like Broadcast Wave files, AIFF files can contain embedded 
text strings (see below). 
						

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Recording 4 – 55
Record format (bit depth)
The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit and 32 bit float. Use the fol-
lowing guidelines:
• Normally, select the record format according to the bit depth delivered by 
your audio hardware.
For example, if your audio hardware has 20 bit A/D converters (inputs), you may want 
to record at 24 bit resolution, to capture the full bit depth. On the other hand, if your 
hardware has 16 bit inputs, it’s pointless to record with a higher bit depth – this will 
only make the audio files larger, with no difference in audio quality. The exception is if 
you record with effects – see page 72 for an example of this.
• The higher the bit depth, the larger the files and the more strain is put on the 
disk system.
If this is an issue, you may want to lower the record format setting.
Setting up the track
Creating a track and selecting the channel configuration
Audio tracks can be configured as mono, stereo or surround tracks, 
with almost any combination of channels (LCRS, 5.1, 7.1, 10.2 etc.). 
This allows you to record or import a file containing multiple channels 
and treat it as one entity, with no need to split it up into several mono 
files etc. The signal path for an audio track maintains its channel con-
figuration all the way from the input bus, via EQ, level and other mixer 
settings to the output bus.
You specify the channel configuration for a track when you create it:
1.Select Add Audio Track from the Track list context menu or the 
Project menu (or double click in an empty area of the Track list when 
an audio track is selected – when a MIDI track is selected, double 
clicking in the Track list creates a new MIDI track).
A dialog appears with a channel configuration pop-up menu.
2.Select the desired format from the pop-up menu.
The most common formats are listed directly on the pop-up menu; the remaining sur-
round formats are listed on the “More...” submenu. For a list of the available surround 
formats, see page 303.
3.Click OK.
A track appears, set to the specified channel configuration. In the mixer, a correspond-
ing channel strip appears. You cannot change the channel configuration for a track. 
						

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4 – 56 Recording
Selecting an input bus for a track
Here we assume that you have added and set up the required input 
busses (see page 15). Before you record you need to specify from 
which input bus the track should record. You can do this in the In-
spector or in the mixer:
•In the Inspector you select an input bus on the “in” pop-up menu in 
the top section.
As described on page 98, the Inspector shows the settings for the selected track. You 
show or hide the Inspector using the Inspector icon on the Project window toolbar.
Click here to select an input 
bus for the track. Click here to show/hide the Inspector.   
						

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Recording 4 – 57
•In the mixer you select an input bus on the Input Routing pop-up menu 
at the top of the track’s channel strip.
If this pop-up menu isn’t shown, you need to click the Show Input and Output Settings 
field in the common panel to the left. See page 209 for more about the mixer.
Click here to 
select an input 
bus for the 
track. Click here to show 
or hide the input 
and output set-
tings.   
						

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4 – 58 Recording
Selecting a folder for the recorded audio files
As described in the Getting Started book, each Nuendo project has a 
project folder containing (among other things) an “Audio” folder. By 
default, this is where recorded audio files are stored. However, you 
can select record folders independently for each audio track if needed:
1.To select the same record folder for several audio tracks, you need to 
select them by [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking in the Track list.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the Track list for one of the 
tracks to bring up the track context menu.
3.Select “Set Record Folder”.
4.Use the file dialog that appears to navigate to the desired folder (or 
create a new folder with the Create button).
Tip: if you want to have separate folders for different types of material (speech, ambi-
ent sounds, music, etc.) you can create subfolders within the Project’s “Audio” folder 
and assign different tracks to different subfolders. This way, all audio files will still re-
side within the project folder which will make managing the Project easier.
•It’s fully possible to have different tracks record to totally different lo-
cations, on different disks if you like. However, if you need to move or 
archive the Project, there is a risk of missing some files. The solution is 
to use the Prepare Archive function in the Pool to gather all external 
files into the project folder first – see page 497. 
						

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Recording 4 – 59
Setting input levels
When recording digital sound, it’s important to set the input levels 
correctly – loud enough to ensure low noise and high audio quality, 
but not so loud that clipping (digital distortion) occurs.
Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware, when a too loud ana-
log signal is converted to digital in the hardware’s A/D converters. 
•It is also possible to get clipping when the signal from the input bus is 
written to a file on your hard disk.
This is because in Nuendo, you can make settings for the input bus, adding EQ, ef-
fects, etc. to the signal as its being recorded. This may raise the level of the signal, 
causing clipping in the recorded audio file.
To check the level of the “unprocessed” signal coming into the audio 
hardware you need to switch the level meters to “Meter Input”. In this 
mode the input channel level meters will show the level of the signal at 
the input of the bus, before any adjustments such as input gain, EQ, 
effects, level or pan:
1.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the Mixer window.
The Mixer context menu appears.
2.Select the Global Meter Settings submenu and make sure “Meter In-
put” is activated.
3.Play back the audio and check the level meter for the input channel.
The signal should be as loud as possible without exceeding 0 dB (the Clipping indica-
tor for the input bus should not light up).
The Clipping indicator.
4.If necessary, adjust the input level in one of the following ways:
•Adjust the output level of the sound source or external mixer.  
						

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4 – 60 Recording
•Use the audio hardware’s own application program to set the input 
levels, if this possibility is provided.
See the documentation for the audio hardware.
•If your audio hardware supports the ASIO Control Panel function, it 
may be possible to make input level settings.
To open the ASIO control panel, open the Device Setup dialog on the Devices menu 
and click the Control Panel button on the VST Audiobay subpage with the name of 
your hardware device.
The next step is to check the level of the audio being written to a file 
on your hard disk. This is only necessary if you have made any adjust-
ments to the input channel (level settings, EQ, insert effects, etc.). 
Note also:
•If you record in 32 bit float format the bit depth will not be reduced – 
which means there’s no risk of clipping at this stage.
Also, this preserves the signal quality perfectly. Therefore, you should consider using 
32 bit float format when you are recording with effects (see page 72).
•If you record in 16 or 24 bit format the available headroom is lower 
which means clipping can occur if the signal is too loud.
To avoid this, set the signal level in the following way:
1.Bring up the mixer context menu and select “Meter Post-Fader” from 
the Global Meter Settings submenu.
2.Set up the input channel, adding EQ and/or effects as desired.
With some effects you may want to adjust the level of the signal going into the effect – 
use the Input Gain knob for this. Note that you need to press [Shift] or [Alt]/[Option] to 
adjust the Input Gain.
3.Play back the audio and check the level meter of the input channel.
The signal should be reasonably loud but should not reach 0 dB (the Clipping indica-
tor for the input bus should not light up).
4.If necessary, use the input channel fader to adjust the signal level.