Special low internet price £14.50
Review
'... worth its weight in gold. In short if you have Cubase 4, buy it!'
Keyboard Player August 2007
Review of SX edition
'About as comprehensive a guide as you can get. Author Simon Millward brings the kind of perspective that only an experienced user can bring. Nothing to match the sheer accessibility. Recommended!'
Music Tech Magazine
244 x 172 mm * 480 pages * ISBN 9781906005009
* Installation and setting up
* Audio and MIDI recording and editing
* Mixing, mastering, EQ and effects
* VST instruments
* Media management
* Music production tips and tools
* Hands on projects
The Fast Guide to Cubase 4 provides the information you need to quickly master the program and also explores advanced techniques. The book covers all the important details of the software including recording, editing and arranging in the Project window, slicing and looping in the Sample editor, MIDI editing in the MIDI editors, and mixing and mastering in the Mixer. In addition, installation and setting up are covered, and detailed information on recording techniques, EQ, compression, gating, limiting, effects, automation, surround sound, pattern-based arranging, quantizing, audio warping, tempo manipulation, synchronisation, media management and VST instruments is provided.
The book is packed full of hints, tips and tutorials and includes a comprehensive website list and glossary. 100 special speed tips and a powerful macro library take your music production and programming skills to the next level.
Combining extensive Cubase know-how and theoretical knowledge from the worlds of sound recording and music technology, this book helps take your projects from conception and multi-track recording right through to mixing and mastering.
Simon Millward is a music software specialist. He has a Master of Science degree in Music Technology from the University of York and is one of the UK's foremost Cubase experts.
Contents
1 Description and overview
What is Cubase?
The big picture
Brief preview
Patience, practice and understanding
2 Setting up the system
General computer requirements
Installation
System verification
Overall system setup
3 First steps
Recording in Cubase
Your first MIDI recording
Your first audio recording
First impressions
4 The Project window
The Project window
The Project window tools
Autoscroll and snap functions
The snap, grid and quantize menus
The ruler and the left and right locators
Split, divide, size and track colour functions
Zoom and sizing functions in the Project window
The Quick menu
The Transport panel
Track types
Play Order track
Folder tracks
Group tracks
The Marker track and Marker window
Track presets
The Inspector
The Inspector for audio tracks
Using the tools
Visual clarification
Saving and opening details
Progress report
5 MIDI recording
MIDI basics
MIDI message types
MIDI channels
What MIDI is not
MIDI network details
Record modes for MIDI recording
MIDI recording in detail
How do I include MIDI recordings when I use Export/Audio Mixdown?
Brief summary of MIDI recording techniques
6 MIDI editing
General features of the MIDI editors
General tips for the MIDI editors
Key editor
The List editor
The Drum editor
Smart moves
The MIDI functions
Quantize
Quantize Setup in detail
Advanced quantizing techniques
7 Audio recording
Digital audio
Audio recording techniques
Audio routing in Cubase
Monitoring in Cubase
Tracks, channels and playback priority
Playback priority
Audio recording strategies
Audio recording in cycle mode
Audio events, audio clips and audio files
8 Audio editing
Audio event editing in the Project window
The Audio Part editor
The Sample editor
Regions
Creative audio editing techniques
9 Audio processing
The processing options
What gets affected
Common buttons in the audio processing dialogues
The Process functions
Offline Process History
10 The Pool
The Pool in detail
Getting to know the Pool and Media menu
Archiving your Cubase projects
Switching to a new project folder and making safety backups
Importing and exporting the Pool
11 SoundFrame and the Media browsers
The Media browsers
Using SoundFrame within Cubase
12 Mixing and EQ
Preliminaries
What is mixing?
Ten golden rules for recording and mixing
The Mixer
Input and output busses
Multiple buss and surround configurations
EQ
Mixing decisions
Mixing strategies
Mixer routing
Mixing down
The Control Room Mixer
13 Audio effects
Plug-in formats and standards
Audio effects in theory
Setting up audio effects in Cubase
Common GUI functions for audio effects
Audio effects in practice
Hardware based plug-ins
Integrating external hardware effects units
Combination processing
Plug-in information
14 Mastering
What is mastering and what is a master?
Mastering decisions
Mastering in Cubase
Recommended order of use of plug-ins for mastering
Downsampling issues
Quality control
Burning the CD
15 MIDI effects
The difference between MIDI effects and audio effects
Setting up MIDI effects in Cubase
The supplied MIDI effects
Common graphical user interface functions for MIDI effects
How do I make the MIDI effects a permanent part of the data?
16 Automation
Basic automation
Automation modes
Why use automation?
Automation in four steps
17 Surround sound
Demystifying surround sound
Common surround sound formats
Setting up the surround features in Cubase
Mixing surround sound
18 VST Instruments
What are VST Instruments?
System requirements and performance issues
Installing VST Instruments
Activating and using VST Instruments
VST Instrument automation in Cubase
Converting VSTi tracks into regular audio tracks
Exploring the supplied VST Instruments
Combining Cubase with applications from other developers
Summary and VST Instruments list
19 The Tempo Track
Exploring the Tempo Track editor
Time display format in the ruler
Why use tempo changes?
Matching the tempo of Cubase to the tempo of a musical performance
20 Synchronisation
Bar-based synchronisation
Time-based synchronisation
Synchronisation in digital systems
The SMPTE Generator plug-in
Setting up synchronisation in Cubase
Practical synchronisation in Cubase
21 Production tips and power tools
100 speed tips
Macro magic
Workspaces
22 Recommended reading
23 Useful websites
24 Glossary
Appendix: Computer hardware
Appendix : MIDI messages
Appendix: MIDI controllers
Appendix: General MIDI
Appendix: Additional software
Index
