Recording Tutorial 101 ( Cubase, Nuendo )

A Recording’s Success includes the successful co-operation of three parts

The Computer

The Sound Engineer

The Performer

 1.The Computer

In order to record a musical track successfully u are going to need a Computer(!):P

1.1.The Hardware

You are going to need a soundcard.There are external and internal soundcards.

Internal Soundcards can be either onboard or pluged in a PCI Slot.

On board soundcards are mostly designed for gaming and movie watching.I
am pretty sure you’ve heard 5,1  / 6,1 / 7,1 Surround modes etc.

All these features are not designed for music creation.So if u don’t want lousy quality and jacks’ incompatibility you need a soundcard that specializes in sound recording.

I would recommend an external soundcard and since you are new,a cheap one.

Here u can find two suggestions I have used:

Line6 Toneport UX2 (200$)

PreSonus Firebox (270$) (Changed my mind)

Motu UltraLite (550$)

Most external soundcards have Line inputs , XLR inputs,Midi inputs and Stereo Classic jack outs.

1.2.The Software

You are going to need a Digital Audio Workstation.A Computer program that offers recording, producing and mixing of sounds in order to make music production.

This tutorial will teach you the ways of recording , using Cubase or Nuendo.

So you are going to need one of them.The prices are really high.I don’t care how are u going to get it,but if u want to move on u need to find it :P

You are going to need Plug-ins.External or semi-external applications that use Nuendo or Cubase as a host application to produce the result they are ment to.

Suggestions:

Drums:

• Groove Agent 2 : Virtual Drumer.Can either play your compositions or Play its own.Fast,Easy,Light a little unrealistic though.
• Ez-Drummer: Virtual Drumer. Can either play your compositions or Play its own.Easy,Very Realistic,High memory and Cpu usage.Totally worths it though.

Guitars:

• Line 6 Gearbox Plugin:You can only use this if u have Line 6 Toneport. Powerful guitar and bass amplifier emulator.Realistic Amps,Very nice Stomp pedals,Easy interface ,lots of presets. Light. Impossible to use with any other soundcard
• Amplitube 2 : Guitar and Bass amplifier and pedal emulator.Ultra High quality, easy interface,many presets,excellent emulation,many amps ,pedals ,cambinets ,microphones etc.High Cpu
  and memory Usage.
• GuitarRig 2 : Guitar / Bass amplifier
  and pedal emulator,general effect station. guitar and bass amplifier emulator.Realistic Amps,Very nice Stomp pedals,Easy interface ,Vastly(:P) lots of presets,Vocal Fx,Medium Cpu ,Medium memory
  usage.High Quality.Not So Professional.

 Compressors,Equalizers,Reverb,Delay,Panners,Filters:

There are many alternatives.even Cubase and Nuendo have some (ULTRA-Basic though) by default.

There is only one suggestion I can make:

Complete “Waves” Bundle.

In this Pack you can find almost everything you need.

Tuners: 

    Autotunes:Vocals,Instruments. You enter the Key and the Scale.The rest is the program’s work.The result sounds electronic though.perfect for dance.not so good for other genres cause it sounds fake.

Celemony Melodyne:

The Best tuner ever. Vocals,Instruments.You can move every single phrase of a vocal track to the correct key.a little tough to use not very useful as a plugin but extremely useful as a standalone.
 Now we are done with your computer’s setup we can move on to the serious stuff.

The Sound Engineer

You are.

You need to combine all those elements to create music.

Lets get Started.

 2.1 Channel Types

The main channel types you are going to need today are 3.

Audio,Midi and Fx.

 2.1.1.Audio Channels

I won’t be bothering you with annoying theory.An audio channel is a channel that enables you to play and edit audio.Audio is a sound you can record from your microphone , an mp3 , a wav, a guitar recording from your line in.

2.1.2 Fx Channels

These channels host effects such as delay and reverb.So an audio channel plays.If you like you can route it through the Fx channel,Fx channel takes what it needs ,Audio plays as it is and Fx plays only the filter’s result.Most probably u did not understand.Check the diagram:

Of course you can choose the amount of effected and pure sound,also known as wet and dry.

You noticed something is missing right ?

MIDI

2.1.3 MIDI Channels

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface, IPA: /?m?di/) is an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments,computers, and other equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other. MIDI allows computers, synthesizers,MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to control one another, and to exchange system data.

says Wikipedia..In other words far simpler than Wikipedia's:

Example.

You play the piano and you have a Bach's Sheet music.A sheet music defines and describes the tempo,the character,the chords,the melody,the tone the key and provides every single piece of information, you need so you can play the song in the unique way the artist wants you to.

This is exactly what you need to use MIDI for simple but enough and effective procedures.So a MIDI channel is a precise description of what you want the computer to play.It is DATA and NOT audio.It can be “translated” to audio via a VST instrument.

The term VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology , introduced by Steinberg Creator of Nuendo & Cubase and then used by the most music editing software creators.

A VST ,among others, is a VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT PLUGIN ( V.I.P (just joking:P)
which can be used to define the sound that the computer will export when it reads a sheet music.OR MIDI.

In most cases it reads the midi and translates it to audio using prerecorded samples. MIDI
enables you to choose the instrument you want your computer to use,to play Bach's Sheet music (Or every sheet music you import or compose) and play it for you in perfect timing,dynamics, feeling,tempo,volume etc.

MIDI makes your computer a flawless instrument player!

I think u got it.Just making sure:P