Recording a song(HELPP)

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EmHalavac

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1.) First I want to ask something about the way that I record my music. When I begin a project the project setup is like this:
"00:00:00:00 Start
00:30:00:00 Length

30 fps Frame Rate

Seconds Display format
00:00:00:00 Display offset
0 Bar Offset

44.100 kHz Sample Rate
32 bit Float Record Format
Broadcast Wave File Record File Type
-3dB Stereo Pan Law"

Is that a good setup because I don't really have an "exellent" computer. What I'm wondering about is the record format. Is 32 bit Float the best format to record with or should I used 16bit because of the not-so exellent computer I have.
Another question I have is about the Record File Type. Is the Broadcast Wave File the best file type to use, or should I use the Wave file type??? Last question about the setup is the "Stereo Pan Law". What does this mean? Is it good the way it is at -3dB??


As you already probably guessed, I'm a big newbie to Cubase, and just want to know more about it and hopefully u can help me out on these questions.

2.) Next, after the project setup, I'm wondering about how should I record. I already have music(or instrumentals/beats). When I go to "Import Audio File" what format should I open. I have the instrumental in ".mp3" and ".wav" format. Should I open the .mp3 or .wav format? After I choose the file I want I get the "Import Options" pop-up. What does the "Sample Size(16 bit to 32 bit)" and the "Split channels" mean? Should I have these 2 checked off or not?

3.) Ok, so after that the instrumental goes in Track 1. Should the instrumental be "Stereo or Mono".

4.) What I want to know now is how should I record a Chorus for the song. Should I have 2 tracks enabled for recording and then record the chrous? Or should I record a chorus on one track, and then go over it on a 2nd track. Which will sound better, if I go over it, or just have 2 tracks enabled at once? Also, should it say "Mono" or "Stereo" below the "M" and "S" icons for my recorded tracks. BTW all the recorded tracks are my vocals.

5.) After recording the stuff, what effects/plugins/processes would be the best to make the recorded vocals sound nice. I want them to be sharp and sound clean. Should I use the Dynamics, Chorus, and Flanger at all. Would they help make the vocals sound good.


6.) Finally, after I'm done recording everything, and mastering/mixing the sound and I like how everything sounds... what file format do you suggest is the best to save the song as? Should I save it as .mp3, .wav., etc.??? Let's say I want to save it as a .wav file type, how should I have everything setup? What should the "Channels" box say(Mono, Stero Split, Stereo Interleaved). What resolution should I have(16bit, 24bit, or 32bit (float)??? Then, the sample rate, is the 44.100kHz sample rate the best?
Under outputs should it say "BUS 1 (Stereo)"? And what about the "Real-Time Export" and "Update Display" Should does be checked or not?
Last, there is the "Import to" sections. Should the "Pool" and "Audio Track" be checked or not?


I just want to get a high quality song out of all the hardwork that I put into it, and hopefully I'll get some help here.
I KNOOOOOOOW, I'm a newbie, but I really want to learn how to record better. It's way hard for me to mess around with everything because at the end I always mess up things. Hopefullyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, if there is god, you guys/girls can help me out with the questions that I asked.
(I divided each section in numbers)
 
that setup is ok, but not all too handy. Lets have a look:

00:00:00:00 Start <- good
00:30:00:00 Length <- a project of half an hour seems a bit much, cut it to 10.

30 fps Frame Rate <- only usefull for video syncing, forget about it. Leave it.

Seconds Display format
00:00:00:00 Display offset <- good
0 Bar Offset <- good

44.100 kHz Sample Rate <- good
32 bit Float Record Format <- too high. try 24 bit or even 16 bit (works fine with me)
Broadcast Wave File Record File Type <- good, no real alternative here.
-3dB Stereo Pan Law" <- good, never touched it.
Then for your questions:

2) sample size needs to be the same as the project's (so if you're gonna follow my advice and go for 16 bit, you have to check the boxs to convert the file).
Split channels means you will get 2 mono channels when importing a stereo file. Might be handy, might not, pick one.
Mp3 files are converted to wave files when imported, so no problem here.

3) probably stereo. If you've never touch a pan-knob, you might have a problem. It depends on what's in your instrumental track. Guitars? If so, one left one right, or both in the center? Mess around with it. Just remember that whatever the channel setting is (stereo/mono), it will always come out like that, even when the file itself is the oposite.

4) on the mono/stereo question, ask yourself these 2 questions:
1 - how many mics am I using? if one, mono, always. Vocals is a single source with a single mic, so mono. Recording the same thing on 2 tracks is absolutelly useless. If you want a thicker sound, try recording it twice, first on one new track, than on the other. Try panning them around a bit aswell.

5) the magic question, no answer from me here, hehehe. There's no formula for "good", ever, for anything. But, I would suggest using not too much effects for a clean sound. A bit of compression (dynamics) but stay away from the chorus and flanger. If you want a brighter sound, try adding a little bit with the EQ at 8khz, fairly broad band.

6) depends on what you wanna use if for. Wav files are way too big for internet spreading. When you're gonna put it on a cd, you should use wav. For internet, use mp3. Just remember, mp3 compresses the file, and causes (some) quality loss. Channels box should be set a Stereo Interleaved (that means 2 channels [left and right] in one file. Bitrate no higher than what you've worked with, so 16 bit. Remember that virtually no multi media computer and absolutally no cd-player can play higher-than-16bit files. Output BUS 1 is good. Realtime export and update display off. Import both off aswell.

Hope that helps! Just a tip: the messing around and messing stuff up is totally part of the learning curve. You will never become a good studio engineer without messing stuff up ;) (that's could be the fun part aswell! Just try using everything I adviced against, like chorus/flanger and see what it does!)
 
Thx

Thanks a lot Halion.

I'm wondering about what you said about the 32bit float being better off at 24bit or 16bit. I was doing this song/project and I had the 32bit float in the project setup. Everything sounds real good I must say. But should I put it to 24 or 16 bit? If I do that will it effect the project/song. Right now the song sounds good on 32bit float, will changing the Record Format on Project Setup make it sound better or worse? OR, should I just leave it at 32bit float, and then when I mixdown the song, put it to 16bit and mix it down???

About the adding effects to the vocals... What would u say about the MultibandCompressor and VSTDynamics, if used, do you think they would be negative or postive to the vocals? The VSTDynamics has a lot of good effects in it, but in ur opinion which ones would you use if you wanted the vocals to sound better and clearer?

Also, I already tried audio mixing this one song. I mixed it to a bunch of different file types(wanted to see which ones sound good). It doesn't hurt the song in the project at all when I mix down the song, right?? What I mean, is that the quality of the song when viewed in Cubase won't be touched(it will remain the same) if the song is mixed down.

Thanks again.
 
Your project won't be affected by the mixdowns you make. If you've already imported everything and your project is set to 32bit float, just leave it like that, but next time, switch to 24 or 16. That's not really a quality thing to me. To be honest, I have never been able to hear the difference between any modern music at 16 bits or at 24 bits, so I highly doubt 32 bits would make much of a difference.

Leave the multiband comp alone (for now), much to complicated and un-needed. VSTDynamics would be good. What you might wanna try is setting the ratio to 4:1, the attack at 30ms, the release at 200ms or something. Not all that important yet. Then hit the play button and slowly lower the threshhold from 0 to where it sound fuller, but not overly flat (probably somewhere around -20 to -30 db, but try all you want). If you want a brighter sound, try the EQ. Add 3 db at 8khz for a start. Raise that slowly just like the threshhold. Don't over do it!

If you want "better" vocals in the sence that now you don't really like them, but hope you can make them better to the point of "good", you will be dissappointed. All you can really do is turn bad into almost decent, turn decent into mwoa, turn good in very good, turn amazing into wow and so on and so on. The single biggest misstake I've made is trying to make something sound good after I've recorded it. Pretty much never works.
 
I didn't want to make a new topic about this, but I have this project where I imported the instumental(this was before I made this topic) and I had the "Split Channels" box checked and I got 2 tracks of the instumental... one that was the "L" and one that was "R". Now I used the "L"(guessing it stands for left) channel and the "R" I muted. The "L" channel(track) I used with the vocals to make a song.
Does this make diffence, what did Cubase do when I imported the instrumental with the "Split Channels" box checked??
Is the "L" different from the "R"???
 
It depends on what's in the channels. How did you record? If the stereo file has the same signal left and right, and you check the split channels box, then you get the left signal on one mono track, and the right signal on one mono track. If they are the same, it doesn't matter if you mute R and use only L. If you did record in stereo (2 microphones or sources) you should be missing half of what you recorded. If you don't hear anything missing, that's ok, you can just use L and mute or delete R. The fact that you recorded the file in stereo is not so usual, since you might only have one source, but it's no real problem (just redundant).

Maybe you can mixdown an mp3 so I can have a listen and give you some tips/feedback?
 
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