Let's talk about CUBASE!

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Hey guys!

Just want to introduce myself. My name is Chris Selim, a French Canadian producer, recording, mix engineer and owner of the website and Youtube channel Mixdown Online. I've been producing, recording and mixing with Cubase as my main DAW for the past 15 years. Warren told me about the academy and how great you guys are and that some of you are actually Cubase users. So I decided to jump in and help you guys out with your Cubase issues and questions when it comes to recording and mixing.

So let's talk about CUBASE 😉

Chris

[Michael BParticipant]

Hey Chris. Fan of the channel. Love the accent. Sounds like family to me.

Cubase user here. Been learning a lot here and on YT (thanks!).
Picked up the Slate bundle and have been pushing my macbook pro to the limit.

I feel like I'm constantly freezing tracks and adjusting settings. I tried Logic again recently and it seemed way better CPU wise. But my mixes are better in Cubase. I just love the workflow.

Curious what you use for your computer. Do you fight with performance?

Cool.

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Hey Michael,

Nice to meet you! Belanger seems pretty French Canadian to me 😉
Happy you dig the content on YT 🙂

To answer your question, I don't have performance problems up to now.
I have a 5-year-old Hackintosh that I build myself, 32gRAM - 3.6gHz 6Core running on Maverick (I need to update soon)
Run Cubase 9.5 and work with Stock and Premium plugins when mixing. I work with UAD2 Plugs as well. Since they run on the UAD2 chips which doesn't need much processing off the computer, that helps a bit for sure.

When Mixing I always keep my Buffer Size at the highest (2048 samples), that helps the CPU to perform better.
When working in Cubase, open the Activity Monitor to check if there's not another software(s) that takes a lot of CPU.
If you have a lot of virtual instruments in your mix session, try to bounce everything in Audio and get rid of the VST Instruments before you start mixing, they're CPU hungry.

There's also a free app you can download that will clean up your Mac, it's called "Onyx". Check some YT vids on this app before using it. I mainly use it on my MacbookPro (2012) once in a while.

I'm actually getting a new UAD2 Satellite to mix off my MacbookPro. I'll let you know how it goes.

Keep me posted!

[Michael BParticipant]

Thanks Chris. Perhaps I need more RAM.

Do you have thoughts on metering in Cubase?
- streaming level targets?
- Peak vs RMS, LUFS etc

Awesome!

[KipParticipant]

hello Chris
was very happy to hear you were gonna be over at PLAP since i am a subscriber to your youtube channel.its my 1st stop when i get stuck in cubase
However it has come to my attention that you are unamerican... i can not in good conscience support or take advice from outside my wall
in Merica we dont need no learning bout recording
we make bigly records on neve mixers...yeah american neve's

no i really do like your video's and i am super jazzed that your here this is one of my favorite community's
but i dont run into as many cubase users as id like so this will be great

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Michael,

Metering in Cubase, now that depends if I'm recording, mixing or mastering.
I don't use RMS or LUFS when recording or mixing. I mainly use dbfs (peak) metering and try to record at an average of -18 tp -16 dbfs.
I often calibrate a VU meter to -18 so 0VU is close to -18dbfs.
I do this for several reasons, you can check my vid on Gain Staging on Cubase for more details. https://youtu.be/6DVsO0-7lIM

For mastering, RMS and LUFS are more useful. Most of Streaming services have a streaming target loudness -14 LUFS.
Here's a good Mastering video done by Ian Shepherd for PLAP https://youtu.be/3pZlasr3e9Q

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Kip, you just killed me LOL!!!
Happy here my friend!

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Chris, great to see you in here! I'm excited to hear your thoughts on all things Cubase! Have a marvellous day my friend!

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Thanks, Warren, I'm very pumped to be part of this amazing community! Good day to you brother 🙂

[Michael BParticipant]

Thanks Chris.
I love the meter setting tip.

I am wondering why I don't see anyone discussing the good or bad reasons to do the following in Cubase:

- select all audio files
- hit F7 to bring up offline processing
- normalize all waveforms to 0. Done.
- select all audio tracks using quick link and ABS mode, set pre gain to -18

[KipParticipant]

michael thats a good one ill giv it a try
how i do it i have my meters turn green to yellow at -18
so in the session(while playing) i select all audio tracks and drag them down till the meters are just touching the yellow
that way i can still have my faders at zero

a side effect is that ive had clipping issues with waves plugins...not sure why they are so finicky but this helped me

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by Kip.

[Chris SelimKeymaster]

Michael,

To be honest with you, I never normalize stuff. I just take the habit to gain stage during the recording. If I need to gain stage a mix that I didn't record, I just select all the problematic audio events and bring them down manually. Pre-Gain is also a good way to do this... I use the -18dbfs rule as an average level to aim for and not necessarily as a peak level.

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