Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual
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71 Recording Monitoring In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input signal during recording. There are three fundamentally dif- ferent ways to do this: via Nuendo, externally (by listening to the signal before it reaches Nuendo), or by using ASIO Direct Monitoring (which is a combination of both other methods – see below). Monitoring via Nuendo If you monitor via Nuendo, the input signal is mixed in with the audio playback. The advantage of this is that you can adjust the monitoring level and panning in the mixer, and add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as during playback (using the track’s channel strip – not the input bus!). The disadvantage of monitoring via Nuendo is that the mon- itored signal will be delayed according to the latency value (which depends on your audio hardware and drivers). Therefore, monitoring via Nuendo requires an audio hard- ware configuration with a low latency value. You can check the latency of your hardware in the Device Setup dialog (VST Audio System page). ÖIf you are using plug-in effects with large inherent de- lays, the automatic delay compensation function in Nuendo will increase the latency. If this is a problem, you can use the Constrain Delay Compensation func- tion while recording, see “VST Instruments and Instrument tracks” on page 189. When monitoring via Nuendo, you can select one of four Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences (VST page): Manual. This option allows you to turn input monitoring on or off by clicking the Monitor button in the Inspector, the Track list or in the mixer. While Record Enabled. With this option, you will hear the audio source connected to the channel input whenever the track is record enabled. While Record Running. This option switches to input monitoring only during recording. Tapemachine Style. This option emulates standard tapemachine behavior: input monitoring in Stop mode and during recording, but not during playback. In the Preferences (VST–Metering page) you can find the option “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct Monitoring)”. When Direct Monitoring is activated in the Device Setup dialog, this op- tion allows you to map the input bus metering to monitor-enabled audio tracks. This gives you the opportunity to watch the input levels of your audio tracks when working in the Project window. When Direct Monitoring is activated in the Device Setup dialog, this function works as follows: When “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct Monitoring)” is activated, audio tracks show the metering sig- nal from the input bus they are routed to as soon as the track is record-enabled. Note that the tracks are mirroring the input bus signal, i.e. you will see the same signal in both places. When using mapped metering, any functions (e.g. trimming) you apply to the audio track are not reflected in its meters. When “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct Monitoring)” is not activated, metering works as usual. External monitoring External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Nuendo) requires some sort of external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a stand-alone physical mixer or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or similar). When using external monitoring, you cannot control the level of the monitor signal from within Nuendo or add VST effects or EQ to the monitor signal. The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the mon- itor signal in this mode. ÖIf you want to use external monitoring, you need to make sure that monitoring via Nuendo isn’t activated as well. Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page) and don’t activate the Monitor buttons.
72 Recording ASIO Direct Monitoring If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup- port ASIO Direct Monitoring. In this mode, the actual mon- itoring is done in the audio hardware by sending the input signal back out again. However, monitoring is controlled from Nuendo. This means that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off automatically by Nuendo, just as when using internal monitoring. ÖIf you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio hardware, make sure that the pan law is set to -3dB in the card’s preferences. To activate ASIO Direct Monitoring, open the Device Setup dialog on the Devices menu and activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for your audio hardware. If the checkbox is grayed out, your audio hardware (or its driver) doesn’t support ASIO Direct Monitoring. Consult the audio hardware manufac- turer for details. When ASIO Direct Monitoring is activated, you can se- lect a monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page), as when monitoring via Nuendo (see “Monitoring via Nuendo” on page 71). Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possi- ble to adjust monitoring level and panning from the mixer. Consult the documentation of the audio hardware if in doubt. VST effects and EQ cannot be applied to the monitor signal in this mode, since the monitor signal doesn’t pass through Nuendo. Depending on the audio hardware, there may be special restrictions as to which audio outputs can be used for di- rect monitoring. For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation. The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct Monitoring. Recording Recording is done using any of the general recording methods (see “Basic recording methods” on page 65). When you finish recording, an audio file is created in the Audio folder within the project folder. In the Pool, an audio clip is created for the audio file, and an audio event that plays the whole clip appears on the recording track. Fi- nally, a waveform image is calculated for the audio event. If the recording was very long, this may take a while. ÖIf the option “Create Audio Images During Record” is activated in the Preferences (Record-Audio page), the waveform image will be calculated and displayed during the actual recording process. This real-time calculation uses some processing power – if your proces- sor is slow or you are working on a CPU-intensive project, you should consider turning this option off. Undoing recording If you decide that you don’t like what you just recorded, you can delete it by selecting Undo from the Edit menu. The following will happen: The event(s) you just created will be removed from the Project window. The audio clip(s) in the Pool will be moved to the Trash folder. The recorded audio file(s) will not be removed from the hard disk. However, since their corresponding clips are moved to the Trash folder, you can delete the files by opening the Pool and selecting “Empty Trash” from the Media menu, see “Deleting from the hard disk” on page 302.
73 Recording Recording overlapping events The basic rule for audio tracks is that each track can play back a single audio event at a time. This means that if two or more events are overlapping, only one of them will be heard at any given time. What happens when you record overlapping events (record in an area where there are already events on the track) depends on the Linear Record Mode setting on the Transport panel: In “Normal” or “Merge” mode, recording where some- thing has already been recorded creates a new audio event that overlaps the previous one(s). When you record audio, there is no difference between “Normal” and “Merge” mode – the difference only applies to MIDI recording (see “About overlap and the Record Mode setting” on page 79). In “Replace” mode, existing events (or portions of events) that are overlapped by the new recording will be removed. This means that if you record a section in the middle of a longer existing recording, that original event will be cut into two events with a gap for the new event. Which event will be heard? If two or more events are overlapping, you will only hear the events (or portions of events) that are actually visible. Overlapped (hidden) events or sections are not played back. The functions “Move to Front” and “Move to Back” on the Edit menu (see “Moving events” on page 44) are use- ful for managing overlapping events, as is the “To Front” function (see below). Recording audio in cycle mode If you are recording audio in cycle mode, the result depends on two factors: The “Cycle Record Mode” setting on the Transport panel. The “Audio Cycle Record Mode” setting in the Prefer- ences (Record-Audio page). Cycle Record Modes on the Transport panel There are five different modes on the Transport panel, but the first two modes only apply to MIDI recording. For au- dio cycle recording, the following applies: If “Keep Last” is selected, the last complete “take” (the last completely recorded lap) is kept as an audio event. In reality, all laps you recorded are saved in one audio file divided into re- gions – one region for each take. You can easily select a previous take for playback – this is done as when recording in “Create Regions” mode (see “Create Regions mode (Preferences)” on page 74). If “Stacked” is selected, each take will appear as an event on a separate “lane” on the track. This is useful when you want to view and edit the different takes and eventually combine them to one recording. In this mode, the Audio Cycle Record Mode preference doesn’t matter. Stacked 2 (No Mute) is the same as Stacked, except that all the takes will be audible. See “Recor- ding audio in Stacked mode” on page 75. If any of the other cycle recording modes is selected, the result depends entirely on the “Audio Cycle Record Mode” setting in the Preferences (Record-Audio page). These options are described below.
74 Recording Create Events mode (Preferences) When “Audio Cycle Record Mode” is set to “Create Events” in the Preferences (Record-Audio page), the fol- lowing will happen when you record audio in cycle mode: One continuous audio file is created during the entire recording process. For each recorded lap of the cycle, one audio event is created. The events will have the name of the audio file plus the text “Take *”, where “*” indicates the number of the take. The last take (the last recorded lap) will be on top (and will thus be the one you hear when you activate playback). To select another take for playback, proceed a follows: 1.Right-click the event and select “To Front” from the pop-up menu that appears. A submenu appears, listing all the other (obscured) events. 2.Select the desired take. The corresponding event is brought to front. This method allows you to quickly combine the best parts of each take, in the following way: 1.Use the Scissors tool to split the events in several sec- tions, one for each part of the take. For example, if you recorded four lines of vocals (in each take), you can split the events so that each line gets a separate event. The events after splitting. Note that since the original take events overlap each other, clicking with the Scissors tool will split all takes at the same position. 2.For each section of the take, use the “To Front” func- tion to bring the best take to the front. This way, you can quickly combine the best sections of each take, using the first vocal line from one take, the second line from another take and so on. You can also compile a “perfect” take in the Audio Part Editor, see “Assembling a “perfect take”” on page 294. Create Regions mode (Preferences) When Audio Cycle Record Mode is set to “Create Re- gions” in the Preferences (Record-Audio page), the fol- lowing will happen when you record audio in cycle mode: One continuous audio file is created during the entire recording process. The audio event in the Project window shows the name of the audio file plus the text “Take *” (with “*” being the number of the last completed cycle lap). If you play back the recorded event, you will only hear what was recorded during the last lap of the cycle record- ing. The previous “takes” recorded in the cycle are still available, however. The audio clip is divided into regions (called takes), one for each lap of the cycle that was recorded. If you locate the audio file you just recorded in the Pool, and click on the plus sign beside it, you can see the regions that have been created, one for each lap of the cycle that was completed during recording.
75 Recording “Take” regions in the Pool window. To play back the different “takes”, proceed as follows: 1.In the Project window, right-click the event that was created during cycle recording. The Quick menu appears. 2.Select the “Set To Region” menu item. A submenu appears with the takes you recorded during cycle record. 3.Now you can select any of the takes from the submenu and it will replace the previous take event in the Project window. Use this method to listen through the various takes. Select the best single take, or compile a “perfect” take by cutting out the best bits from each take and putting them together (see “Assembling a “perfect take”” on page 294). Create Events + Regions mode (Preferences) In this mode, both events and regions are created. If you work with the takes as events in this mode, you can edit the events freely (e.g. splitting them), see “Create Events mode (Preferences)” on page 74. However, in case you want to go back to the original takes, they are still available as regions (on the “Set To Region” submenu, in the Pool or in the Sample Editor). Recording audio in Stacked mode When you record audio in cycle mode and the “Stacked” Cycle Record Mode is selected on the Transport panel, the following happens: Each complete recorded cycle lap is turned into a separate audio event. The track is divided into “lanes”, one for each cycle lap. The events are stacked above each other, each on a different lane. This makes it easy to create a “perfect take” by combining the best parts from the different cycle laps: 1.Zoom in so you can work comfortably with the stacked events. If you play back the recorded section, only the lowest (last) take will be heard. 2.To audition another take, either mute the lower take(s) with the Mute tool or move the takes between the lanes. This can be done by dragging or by using the functions Move to Next Lane/Previous Lane on the Quick menu or the Edit menu. 3.Edit the takes so that only the parts you want to keep can be heard. You can cut events with the Scissors tool, resize them, mute them or de- lete them. The sections that will be heard are indicated in green. 4.When you are satisfied with the result, select all events on all lanes and select “Delete Overlaps” from the Ad- vanced submenu on the Audio menu. This puts all events back on a single lane and resizes events so that over- lapped sections are removed.
76 Recording 5.To turn off the lane display mode for the track, click the Lane Display Type button in the track list and select “Lanes Off”. If the button is hidden, you can bring it to view in the Track Controls Set- tings dialog – see “Customizing track controls” on page 507. The Lane Display Type button. Recording with effects Normally you record the audio signals “dry” and add ef- fects non-destructively during playback as described in the chapter “Audio effects” on page 168. However, Nu- endo also allows you to add effects (and/or EQ) directly while recording. This is done by adding insert effects and/ or making EQ settings for the input channel in the mixer. Note: ÖThis will make the effects become part of the audio file itself – you cannot change the effect settings after record- ing. About the record format When you record with effects, you should consider setting the record format (bit depth) to 32 Bit Float. This is done in the Project Setup dialog on the Project menu. Note that this isn’t required in any way – you can also record with ef- fects in 24 or 16 Bit format. However, there are two ad- vantages to 32 Bit Float format: With 32 Bit Float recording, you don’t risk clipping (dig- ital distortion) in the recorded files. This can of course be avoided with 24 or 16 Bit recording as well, but re- quires more care with the levels. Nuendo processes audio internally in 32 Bit Float for- mat – recording in the same format means the audio qual- ity will be kept absolutely pristine. The reason is that the effect processing in the input channel (as well as any level or EQ settings you make there) is done in 32 Bit Float format. If you record at 16 or 24 Bit, the audio will be converted to this lower reso- lution when it’s written to file – with possible signal degradation as a result. Note also that it doesn’t matter at which actual resolution your audio hardware works. Even if the signal from the au- dio hardware is in 16 Bit resolution, the signal will be 32 Bit Float after the effects are added in the input channel. An example This example shows how to apply the “SoftClipper” effect while recording. Note that this is only an example. The prin- ciple is the same for all effects (or combinations of effects). 1.Set up an audio track for recording and select the de- sired input bus. For best results, you should also activate monitoring as this allows you to hear and try out your settings before actually recording. See “Monitoring via Nuendo” on page 71 for a description of monitoring via Nuendo. 2.Open the Mixer and make sure the full extended view is shown. To show the extended mixer view, either click the arrow icon (“Show Ex- tended Mixer”) in the Common Panel, select “Show Extended View” from the Window submenu on the Mixer context menu or use a key command (this can be set in the Key Commands dialog, see “Setting up key com- mands” on page 518). 3.Locate the input channel (bus) from which you record. If the input channels are hidden, click on the Show/Hide Input Channels button to the left. 4.Check the input level (of the signal coming into the au- dio hardware) as described in the section “Setting input levels” on page 69 and adjust the level of the source audio if necessary.
77 Recording 5.Pull down the View Options pop-up menu for the input channel and select “Inserts”. The View Options pop-up menu is opened by clicking the arrow button between the fader panel and the extended panel. Now the extended panel for the input channel shows the insert slots. 6.Click on an insert slot and select an effect from the pop-up menu that appears. As you see, the included effects are sorted into submenus – you will find the SoftClipper effect on the “Distortion” submenu. The effect is loaded and activated and its control panel is automatically opened. 7.Adjust the effect parameters to your liking. For detailed information on the Effect parameters, see the separate man- ual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4”. 8.When the effect is set up as desired, you can check the level of the input channel by setting the Meters to post-fader (see “Setting input levels” on page 69). Use the input channel fader to adjust the level if needed. 9.Activate recording. 10.When you’re finished, you can play back the recorded audio track. As you can hear, the effect you applied is now a part of the actual audio file. 11.If you don’t want to record more with the same plug-in, you should deactivate it by clicking in the insert slot and selecting “No Effect”. MIDI recording specifics Activating MIDI Thru Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru activated in Nuendo, and Local Off selected in your MIDI Instrument(s). In this mode, everything you play during re- cording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI out- put and channel selected for the recording track. 1.Make sure the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated in the Preferences (MIDI page). 2.Record enable the track(s) on which you want to record. Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again for all record-enabled MIDI tracks. ÖIf you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI track without recording, activate the monitor button for the track instead. This is useful e.g. if you want to try out different sounds or play a VST instrument in real time without recording your playing. Setting MIDI channel, input and output Setting the MIDI channel in the instrument Most MIDI synthesizers can play several sounds at the same time, each on a different MIDI channel. This is the key to playing back several sounds (bass, piano etc.) from the same instrument. Some devices (such as General MIDI compatible sound modules) always receive on all 16 MIDI channels. If you have such an instrument, there’s no specific setting you need to make in the instrument. On other instruments, you will have to use the front panel con- trols to set up a number of “Parts”, “Timbres” or similar so that they receive on one MIDI channel each. See the man- ual that came with your instrument for more information. Record Enable button Monitor button
78 Recording Naming MIDI ports in Nuendo MIDI inputs and outputs are often displayed with unneces- sarily long and complicated names. However, you can re- name your MIDI ports to more descriptive names: 1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu. 2.Select the MIDI Port Setup item in the Device list. The available MIDI inputs and outputs are listed. Under Windows, which device to choose depends on your system. 3.To change the name of a MIDI port, click in the “Show As” column and type in a new name. After closing the dialog, the new name will appear on the MIDI Input and Output Routing pop-up menus. Setting the MIDI input in the Inspector You select MIDI inputs for tracks in the Inspector (the area to the left of the Track list in the Project window): 1.If the Inspector is hidden, click the Show Inspector button on the toolbar. 2.Select the track(s) by clicking in the Track list. To select multiple tracks, press [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] and click. The Inspector shows the settings for the first selected track (for details, see “The Inspector” on page 26). 3.Click the track name in the Inspector to make sure the topmost section is shown.4.Pull down the Input Routing pop-up menu and select an input. The available MIDI inputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on the type of MIDI interface you are using, etc. If you select the “All MIDI Inputs” option, the track will receive MIDI data from all available MIDI inputs. If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI input, this is selected for all selected MIDI tracks. Setting the MIDI channel and output The MIDI channel and output settings determine where the recorded MIDI is routed during playback, but are also relevant for MIDI Thru in Nuendo. Channel and output can be selected in the Track list or in the Inspector. The proce- dure below describes how to make the settings in the In- spector, but it can be done in largely the same manner in the Track list as well. 1.To select the track(s) and show the settings in the Inspector, proceed as when selecting a MIDI input (see above). 2.Pull down the Output routing pop-up menu and select an output. The available MIDI outputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on what type of MIDI interface you are using etc. If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI output, this is selected for all selected MIDI tracks.
79 Recording 3.Use the channel pop-up menu to select a MIDI chan- nel for the track. If you set the track to MIDI channel “Any”, each MIDI event on the track will be sent out on the channel stored in the event itself. In other words, the MIDI material will be played back on the channel(s) used by the MIDI input device (the MIDI instrument you play during re- cording). Selecting a sound You can select sounds from within Nuendo by instructing the program to send Program Change and Bank Select messages to your MIDI device. This is done using the “Patch Selector” and “Bank Selector” fields in the Inspec- tor or Track list. Program Change messages give access to 128 different program locations. If your MIDI instruments have more than 128 programs, Bank Select messages (set in the “Bank Selector” field) allow you to select different banks, each containing 128 programs. ÖBank Select messages are recognized differently by different MIDI instruments. The structure and numbering of banks and programs may also vary. Consult the docu- mentation of your MIDI instruments for details. ÖNote that it is also possible to select sounds by name. For descriptions of how to set this up, see the separate “MIDI Devices” PDF document. Recording Recording MIDI is done according to the basic recording methods (see “Basic recording methods” on page 65). When you finish recording, a part containing MIDI events is created in the Project window. About overlap and the Record Mode setting MIDI tracks are different from audio tracks when it comes to overlapping parts: ÖAll events in overlapping parts are always played back. If you record several parts at the same locations (or move parts so that they overlap), you will hear the events in all parts on playback, even though some of the parts are obscured in the Project window. When recording overlapping parts, the result depends on the Linear Record Mode setting on the Transport panel: If the record mode is set to “Normal”, overdub recording works as with audio tracks, i.e. if you record again where something has already been recorded, you get a new part that overlaps the previous one(s). If the record mode is set to “Merge”, the overdubbed events are added to the existing part. If the record mode is set to “Replace”, the new recording re- places any existing events in the area on that track. About punch in and out on MIDI tracks Performing and setting up manual and automatic punch in/out recording for MIDI tracks is done in exactly the same way as for audio tracks. There is one thing to note, however: Punching in and out on recordings with Pitch Bend or controller data (modulation wheel, sustain pedal, volume etc.) may lead to strange effects (apparently hanging notes, constant vibrato etc.). If this happens, you may need to use the Reset item on the MIDI menu (see “The Reset function” on page 81). About the Automatic MIDI Record Quantize function If Auto Quantize is activated on the Transport panel (the “Auto Q” button), the notes you record are automatically quantized according to the current Quantize settings. For more information about quantizing, see “The Quantizing functions” on page 352.
80 Recording Recording MIDI in cycle mode When you record MIDI in cycle mode, the result depends on which Cycle Record mode is selected on the Transport panel: Cycle Record mode: Mix (MIDI) For each completed lap, everything you record is added to what was previously recorded in the same part. This is useful for building up rhythm patterns, for example. Record a hi-hat part on the first lap, the bass drum part on the second lap etc. Cycle Record mode: Overwrite (MIDI) As soon as you play a MIDI note (or send any MIDI mes- sage), all MIDI you have recorded on previous laps is over- written from that point on in the part. An example: 1.You start recording in an eight bar cycle. 2.The first take wasn’t good enough – you start directly with a new take on the next cycle lap and overwrite the first take. 3.After recording the second take you let the recording roll on and listen, without playing anything. You find that the take was good up until bar seven, for example. 4.On the next lap, you wait until bar seven and start play- ing. This way you will overwrite the last two bars only. 5.Make sure you stop playing before the next lap begins – otherwise you will overwrite the entire take. Cycle Record mode: Keep Last Each completed lap replaces the previously recorded lap. Note: The cycle lap must be completed – if you deactivate re- cording or press Stop before the cursor reaches the right locator, the previous take will be kept. If you don’t play or input any MIDI during a lap, nothing happens (the previous take will be kept). Cycle Record mode: Stacked/Stacked 2 (No Mute) In this mode, the following happens: Each recorded cycle lap is turned into a separate MIDI part. The track is divided into “lanes”, one for each cycle lap. The parts are stacked above each other, each on a different lane. All takes but the last one are muted (Stacked). If Stacked 2 is selected, no muting takes place. This makes it easy to create a “perfect take” by combining the best parts from the different cycle laps. You can edit the parts in the Project window (by cutting, resizing and deleting) or you can use a MIDI editor as in the following example: 1.Unmute the muted takes by clicking the parts with the Mute tool. 2.Select all takes (parts) and open them in the Key Edi- tor for example. 3.Use the part list pop-up menu on the toolbar to select which part to edit. See “Handling several parts” on page 365. 4.Remove or edit notes as desired. 5.When you are happy with the result, close the editor. 6.To turn it all into a single MIDI part (containing your “perfect take”), select all parts and select “Merge MIDI in Loop” from the MIDI menu. 7.In the dialog that appears, activate the Erase Destina- tion option and click OK. The remaining events in the parts are merged together into a single part.