Seeking editing advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hubbawho
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Hubbawho

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I am very new to Cubase SX3...can anyone tell me the BEST (not necessarily the fastest) way to edit individual tracks? (specifically referring to editing out mistakes from poor performances) I understand that there are a couple of different screen shots, or ways to edit in Cubase. The program I was using for years before I got cubase was a basic mp3 mixer. It was just an unlimited amount of tracks stacked on top of eachother with simple volume envelopes over the tracks. This provided for endless editing possibilities. Say if the drummer went slightly out of time in one spot...I could easily highlight a small portion of the audio clip, cut it out, slide it up to the above available track, put it down but moved slightly to the left, and allign it in place so that now it was in time. If the drummer was horrible, I could do this all over the place until the sound clip looked like a minced jumbled mess. (but it sounded in time) I can't seem to have this freedom in Cubase. In Cubase, I believe you are limited to editing a sound clip only within it's track.

Now that I've explained what's comfortable for me, can anybody explain how I can achieve these same editing freedoms in Cubase? (I'm referring to EXTENSIVE editing of individual instruments only..not just simply lining up the tracks so that the bass, guitar, and drums all start at the same point.) I need to specifically remove mistakes recorded by horrible local bands. lol, I'm sure most of you out there can understand my position. I hope someone with more experience can point me in the right direction within Cubase. Thanks
 
I understand your question fully, because I've also been looking at these things.

Basicly, you can do many things in many ways in Cubase. For instance, changing the volume of a single part, can be done (as far as I know) in at least three ways:
- right-click -> proccess -> gain
This adds gain to the actual wave file.
- moving the fader
- moving the square in the middle of a part up or down changes the volume of that single part without touching the wave file.

What I have found the easiest way to edit this kind of stuff is like this:
I have two buttons of my keyboard under my left hand setup to switch between the selector and siccors tool. I have two other buttons setup to horizontal zoom in and out. Then first I zoom in to find out where the problems are, cut them loose, perhaps cut some silence before and after away aswell to make some space. Then I switch back to the selector tool and I always have the stretch function setup as "stretching aplies timestretch". This can be setup somewhere at the top of the screen. Now I have a loose audio part, of which I can change the volume by dragging the square in the middle of the part up or down, I can change the position simply by dragging the file, and I can change the length by grabbing on of the squares at the start or end of the part and moving it left or right. Another handy thing is to have the Crossfade function under a hotkey, so that you can move parts other eachother if necisary. Then just hit the crossfade key and they crossfade. If you want even more control you can also put the Pitch function under a shortcut to do some fine tuning in that area.

Hope that helps!
 
that helps a lot dude, thanks

However, if I were to cut a wav file using the scissors, but NOT move it, can you hear that cut during playback? I ask this because the volume envelopes only come in 3's over the entire wave, if I want to change just a very small portion, I'd have to cut that very small portion in order for it to now have it's own set of volume envelopes. but as long as I don't move the file at all, are you still gonna hear the pop from the cut? Or is there a way to just add more volume envelopes directly over the wav file.

I need to easily manipulate the volumes over an entire track to fix vocals and such. A vocalist that I usually record has a tendency to waver in his volumes, and I always have manually fixed it in post production.

I discovered the "draw" option already which seams to be what I'm looking for, however it isn't. The difference is because it changes the "input" volume or gain of the wav file, not the overall volume. It may work fine for vocals, however, this is completely usless if I have a guitar emulator running on just that track, and then I go to lower the "volume" by drawing in a reduction...Instead of lowering the volume, it just takes away the gain as if I were playing my guitar through an amp and had just turned the volume nob down on my guitar. In other words, it just makes it sound shittier. lol I want to know how to control the overall volume, such as the mixing volumes, but directly on the wav file itself.

My last program only worked with envelopes like these, and it was the easiest and most useful way of editing ever. I will try the many suggestions that you gave me, however, is there an option on Cubase to perform the specific task I'm looking for?

Just out of curiosity, how do you set up hotkeys?

Thanks again.
 
Well, you can just add peaks and dips with the volume envelope, you can select the file in question and right click> process> gain. That will affect the whole waveform. You don't even have to use the scissors. If you have "snap to zero crossing" enabled, you won't hear any cuts. You will hear the cut on ANY program if you cut without using zero crossing points.
 
I belief you do not hear cuts if you don't move the file, because the DA convertors or your monitors will not see a difference.

You can create hotkeys in the File -> Key Commands menu.

You can also use the Right click -> Process -> Envelope. You will still have to cut the part loose though, or it will do the envelope on your entire track.
 
Halion said:
I belief you do not hear cuts if you don't move the file, because the DA convertors or your monitors will not see a difference.

You can create hotkeys in the File -> Key Commands menu.

You can also use the Right click -> Process -> Envelope. You will still have to cut the part loose though, or it will do the envelope on your entire track.
Click to expand...

its much easier to create a crossfade. Bear in mind.. when you chop up audio in cubase, you aren't chopping up the file. You're just modifying the playlist. The reason you hear pops or clicks at times is because the amplitudes of the adjacent regions don't match up. They make an instant jump.. ceating an audible click.
 
Thanks guys...I recorded the band and everything went terrific. I love this software, and I've found all the editing options I was looking for. Now I just have to get comfortable using them.
 
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