Mastering to CD level in Cubase?

[kenliu]

FIRST POST! heh heh heh

Anyways...does anyone else here use Cubase besides JR?

I've been doing some recording lately, and am having trouble figuring out how to bring the mixdown level up to normal CD level. Do I have to compress my mixdown sound file (i.e. with Sound Forge)?

Ken

[trpullen]

Cubase here too.

I normally mixdown and then normalize and all in another package to get the whole CD even.

[kenliu]

Can you describe the process you use in a little more detail?

I'm not trying to do a whole CD, I just want to get one track up to the appropriate level. I've got the master faders in Cubase maxed out at mixdown, but the volume level of the song is still too low when I get it to CD.

Ken

[trpullen]

I always take the final mix of Cubase into either Sound Forge if I am on the PC or Bias PEAK on the Mac and Normalize the track. This takes it to the max loudness without distortion. Then burn to CD. You should be able to normalize each track within Cubase also (if I remember correctly...though I do not do this) and then your overall mix should be able to be louder with the faders lower.

Are you on a Mac or PC? On the Mac, there is a piece of software called JAM that allows you to make audio CDs and increase the level of each track when burning it. Pretty stinking cool.

[J.R. Rogers]

I don't know if there is a "normalize" function in Cubase. I personally probably wouldn't use it if it has it because it takes away a lot of the dynamics of the music. You probably just need some modest compression. In the track mixer, click the DYN button up above the fader to access compression. You might also want to enable the limiter as well. Digital clipping is nasty!

J.R.

[kenliu]

Originally posted by trpullen
I always take the final mix of Cubase into either Sound Forge if I am on the PC or Bias PEAK on the Mac and Normalize the track. This takes it to the max loudness without distortion. Then burn to CD. You should be able to normalize each track within Cubase also (if I remember correctly...though I do not do this) and then your overall mix should be able to be louder with the faders lower.

I don't want to deal with each track separately in Cubase, I can do that with compression. I want to bring the whole mix up to appropriate CD level.

Well, I do have Sound Forge. I messed around with the Normalize function, but I'm having trouble getting good results with it. It either is still too low or everything looks like it's clipping. What settings do you use with the Normalize function? Do you just use the defaults?

Ken

[kenliu]

Originally posted by J.R. Rogers
I don't know if there is a "normalize" function in Cubase. I personally probably wouldn't use it if it has it because it takes away a lot of the dynamics of the music. You probably just need some modest compression. In the track mixer, click the DYN button up above the fader to access compression. You might also want to enable the limiter as well. Digital clipping is nasty!

J.R.

Would it be appropriate to use the gain compensation feature on the compressor in the master mixer in Cubase?

Ken

[J.R. Rogers]

Originally posted by kenliu


Would it be appropriate to use the gain compensation feature on the compressor in the master mixer in Cubase?

Ken

Yes, exactly. Use the compressor on the Master mix.

J.R.

[kenliu]

Originally posted by J.R. Rogers


Yes, exactly. Use the compressor on the Master mix.

J.R.

Actually, I knew that I should use the master compressor, but I was wondering if the "gain compensation" is the feature that I'm after.

If I use the gain compensation, do I also have to use a limiter to prevent digital clipping? How do I know what level to set the gain compensation to? Eyeballing it?

Ken