Mix Your Own Tracks And Learn The Essentials Of Cubase

Quickly learn by doing… with hands on training in audio editing and music mixing for the home studio engineer

What you'll learn
Learn how to mix your own tracks with more professional results
Configure EQ and Compressors to do 90% of your mixing work
Use Frequency Spectrum Monitoring to mix a better track visually
Correct recordings with lousy pitch using Cubase's VariAudio
Configure and apply Mid-Side processing to widen your stereo mix
Automate your mix by recording or manually drawing automation curves
Start mixing with prepared audio stems right away!
Requirements
Students who have Cubase Pro 9.5 will get the richest experience, but lessons can be applied to many DAWs and Cubase versions.
This course focuses mainly on EQ and Compressors, so those tools should definitely be available to students.
Description
When your song is written and your tracks are recorded, do you want to hand it off to a stranger?  If you're like many artists, you want creative control until the recording is mixed and finished.  Suddenly, you're not a musician anymore - you're trying to understand EQ, multiband compressors, stereo widening and so on.  
Mixing your own tracks can be overwhelming and discouraging.  Often the manuals are hard to read and the explanations are mathematical, instead of musical.  Making a great mix requires 2 core skills - learning how and why to use EQ and Compression.  This course will explain how these powerful tools work and allow students to look over an engineer's shoulder as a raw collection of tracks is transformed into a cohesive and compelling final mix!
Mix and remix using downloadable projects and audio files (stems)Keep it simple by focusing on EQ and CompressionDiscover how when and why to use automation… in 2 modes
Make It About the Music.
All Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) contain an overwhelming collection of plugins and instruments, these days.  Which ones do you need?  Not only will this course help you create a shortlist of the most useful plugins, but you'll also get a headstart with downloadable presets for the plugins you need most.  This course is designed to make the processing of mixing your track feel more like music and less like engineering.  You'll learn how EQ and frequency spectrum monitoring work together to help you make the right musical choices for each track in your mix - visually.  Also, you'll learn what to listen for when using a compressor.  With these skills, you'll be able to stay focused on your music without having to compromise on a half-baked final mix.
Content and Overview:
This course has cherry-picked the best features from Cubase, including pitch-correction with VariAudio, reusable FX chains and automation.  You can get up and running with the most valuable mixing tools and benefit from watching them being used in a real world mixing situation.  Plus, you'll discover that Cubase offers more flexibility than many people realize.  Find out how to widen your stereo mix by creatively using FX channels to setup a powerful Mid-Side bus.  Then, watch as we apply different FX to different spatial elements in your mix!
In the first major section of the course, we'll cover the individual features and controls that you'll want to use for every mix you ever do.  You'll also develop a well-rounded understanding of topics related to Cubase (and all DAWs, really).  We'll cover everything from licensing and 64-bit plugins to master channel FX and optimizing your project for a better organized workflow.
The course continues with 2 sections about mixing drums and instruments.  Each instrument and drum will get its own dedicated lesson, so that you can see how they differ and how each instrument needs unique consideration in your mix.  The range of tracks in our multitrack collection offers a huge variety of challenges.  For example, you'll see how and why an 808 drum sometimes needs a longer attack, while the frequency rich content in an FM synth pad can be sculpted to play well with others.
Mixing individual HH, Snare, Kick and PercussionBlending organic-sounding Fender Rhodes with a brash FM synthLearn how to record a vocal, pitch-correct it and even create a 3-part harmony!
Rough Mix vs. Final Mix:
Professional mixing engineers often divide their workflow into 2 distinct phases: a rough mix and a final mix.  This course will teach you an optimized workflow, starting with simple fader mixing, then leveraging automation, panning and side-chain compression tricks to create a robust and professional rough mix.  Discover how mixing in mono can help diagnose mix flaws and even add creative edits - like automating a delay to create a stutter/echo effect on the last musical note of the outro.
Many dedicated musicians have created a decent rough mix - after weeks of struggle, dozens of web searches and thumbing through incomprehensible audio engineering books and manuals.  But, the professionals have some tricks up their sleeve that usually make the audible difference between a home studio mix and a pro "final" mix.  In the last mixing section of this course, students will walkthrough setting up Mid-Side processing using Cubase's built-in audio routing features.  Students will also get a chance to see how and why a multiband compressor can be used to elevate and enrich any mix (although it is best applied to a completed "rough" mix).  Finally, we'll cover export options and important considerations for preparing your final mix file for hand-off to a mastering engineer.
Maintain creative control over your musicLearn the ART of mixing, not just the scienceDevelop good habits, understand the pitfallsUse hotkeys and optimize workflowGet the most out of your computer with CPU optimization tips

Overview

Section 1: Introduction and Fundamentals

Lecture 1 Introduction and Stems Overview

Lecture 2 Instructor Introduction

Lecture 3 Creating Your First Project

Lecture 4 Installation and Licensing Basics

Lecture 5 64 bit Hosts and Plugins

Lecture 6 Plugins Overview

Lecture 7 Learn to Use EQ

Lecture 8 Learn to Use a Compressor

Lecture 9 Master Channel Limiting

Lecture 10 Organizing Tracks Better

Lecture 11 Frequency Spectrum Monitoring

Lecture 12 Hands On: Importing Audio Stems

Section 2: Mixing Drums

Lecture 13 Drum Mixing Overview

Lecture 14 Stylistic Considerations

Lecture 15 Hands On: Building Reusable FX Chains

Lecture 16 Optimizing Latency for Mixing

Lecture 17 Gating a Kick Drum

Lecture 18 Hands On: Kick Compression Tips and Tricks

Lecture 19 Hands On: EQ for Kick

Lecture 20 Hands On: EQ & Compressor for Snare

Lecture 21 Hands On: EQ & Compressor for High Hat

Lecture 22 Hands On: EQ & Compressor for Cabasa

Lecture 23 Hands On: EQ & Compressor for Congas

Section 3: Mixing Harmony & Instruments

Lecture 24 Instrument Mixing Overview

Lecture 25 Hands On: EQ & Compressor for Rhodes

Lecture 26 Hands On: EQ & Compressor on FM Synth Pad

Lecture 27 Hands On: Using Cubase's Instrument Channel

Section 4: Correcting Pitch and Timing on a Recording

Lecture 28 Setting Up an Audio Interface for Recording

Lecture 29 Recording a *VERY* Basic Vocal

Lecture 30 Tempo Matching Audio to "The Grid"

Lecture 31 Basic Timing Correction Edits

Lecture 32 Pitch Correction with VariAudio

Lecture 33 Creating a 3-Part Harmony Using VariAudio

Lecture 34 Send FX, Reverb and Delay

Section 5: Rough Mix

Lecture 35 Mixdown Overview

Lecture 36 Mixing with Faders

Lecture 37 Placing Instruments in the Stereo Field with Panning

Lecture 38 Recording Manual Panning as Automation

Lecture 39 Drawing in Automation Lanes

Lecture 40 Automating Plugins and FX

Lecture 41 Conversation Analogy and Mixing Philosophy

Lecture 42 Hands On: Side-Chain Compression

Lecture 43 Hands On: Mixing in Mono

Section 6: Final Mix

Lecture 44 Final Mix Overview and Strategy

Lecture 45 Can Cubase Produce Pro Results?

Lecture 46 Hands On: Multiband Compression

Lecture 47 Hands On: Configuring Mid-Side Signal Routing

Lecture 48 Hands On: Mid-Side EQ

Lecture 49 Pre-Master Considerations: Leveling & Dithering

Lecture 50 Export Options Explained

Section 7: Conclusion

Lecture 51 Edit Faster with Custom Hotkeys

Lecture 52 CPU Optimization in Cubase

Lecture 53 Bonus Lecture: Additional Resources and Cubase Challenge!

Beginners who want to understand how to use Gating, EQ and Compression to mix and edit multitrack audio in Cubase.,Beginner who want to get started with multiband compression, pitch-correction and/or automation in Cubase