VIDEO tutorial Pt2 (how to sync MPC to cubase)

Im back and i am responding to the mass of questions about tracking.

THis is a qucik bootlege tutorial i whipped up in 10 mintues.
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~jason12/cuba ... g_lofi.WMV

It goes over the barebones basics on how to slave your MPC to cubase. I also go over the "cut & past" multi track tecnique which saves alot of time.(its what the pros do)

This video is jut for you to understand the concept, u have to work out the details on your own.

I aplogize for the shotty camera work, but u can only do so much with one person.

*explaination of what i am doing in writing(as far as tracking is concerned)*

Once your MPC is synced to your multitrack software( i use cubase)
All u do is solo each track on your MPC and record the 8 bar loop(or whoever long your loop is) into your software program

So if my sequnce it 8 bars
in cubase I will record and end up with the following audio files

8 bar loop of kick
8 bar loop of snar
8 bar loop of pinao etc...


Since the MPC is synced to your software the loops will line up perfeclty.

Once u have them, u just higlight thebars of all of them and cut and past to the length you want the song. THis is how the pros do it.

ITs totally unesscarry to sit there and record the full length of each track


class....
FYI(for some reason the hats are off in the beat im playing)

So what about little hits and breakdowns that you have throughout the track. Are you saying loop the bars until the breakdowns or whatever occur? I've been in a commercial studio before and I'm sorry to say that's not how the "pros" do it. Not to take anything from your video though. It should help a lot of people.

JiggSaw wrote:So what about little hits and breakdowns that you have throughout the track. Are you saying loop the bars until the breakdowns or whatever occur? I've been in a commercial studio before and I'm sorry to say that's not how the "pros" do it. Not to take anything from your video though. It should help a lot of people.

Thats what automation is for man, ones the tracks are pasted out u can mute certain tracks etc automaticly(if u know cubase or protools u know this is fairly simple).

IF u have differnt seqences or bridges u just record the 8 bar loops of those and cut and past those where u want in the song. This is alot more flexable casue u can move the breakdowns around in the song(just cut and past the entire breakdown loops) Instead of sitting there and tracking out the ENTIRE thing in song mode on your MPC.


U gotta understand once tha track loops are pasted out they are the same as if u sat there and recorded each track for 5 mintues.

WHne u record each track for 5 mintutes ALLL ur recording is a loop!!!. THis tequniuqe cuts out that process

And im sorry man i dont know what studio you went too.
but this is how most professinals track . TIme is money and u will not see guys sitting there recording each indivualdal track for 5 mintues at a time
thats a waste.


classs.

classic is right, sorry jigg


thanks i needed that, i jsut got cubase and my mpc1000, all i need is a soundcard now

if your song is like two or three sequences looped over and over thats fine.

but if you have mad changeups and fills/breakdows/etc it would seem pretty retarded to sit there and realign everything by hand.

punchdrunk wrote:if your song is like two or three sequences looped over and over thats fine.

but if you have mad changeups and fills/breakdows/etc it would seem pretty retarded to sit there and realign everything by hand.

Acutally it does make sense becasue once u have the audio files of those break down sequnces tracked out in their loops, U can move them around in the song WHEVER u want without having to re-record the entire track again. U can highilight multipule tracks at a time( ur 4,8 or 16 bar break down sequnce) and move it around within the song in cubase. According to where u want it to happen. This is ESPCIALLY helpful when a vocaist comes in to play and u want to move things around.

U wanna know whats really retarted............
Sitthing there recording a track for 5 mintes, then realising u want the beakdown to happen at bar 24, rather then bar 16, then having to go back re-arraange the song again on your MPC, and recording that 1 audio track all over again over again(another 10 mintues wasted). And having to do that for each track that u want to change

Look im not hear to agrue with peoples ways of doing things, im just tryin to help some folks out buy sharing some of my knowlege, u can take it or leave it.

Peace

class...

whoa whoa....easy there buddy.

everyone can work whatever way they want.

i have all my stuff midi'd up and usually seqeunce my stuff the way i want it to be in the mp. if i need to add bars or move stuff around i can always do that later on. you make it seem like once you track it in you can't chop up tracks and move them around. if its midi'd up its fine. you can do it WHEN ITS NEEDED.

but otherwise i just dump my tracks in while i'm watching tv and i'm all done. not saying people gotta do it one way or another. just trying to provide a suggestion of an alternative way of going about it.

no need to get uppity.

Thanks class, always a pleasure to get a seat in the classic lab

One basic question? What's the benefit of tracking your songs into Cubase? It sounded pretty good already on the MPC.

btw, dont listen to the hate. Keep doing this! It's real helpful.

BIGTOE wrote:Thanks class, always a pleasure to get a seat in the classic lab

One basic question? What's the benefit of tracking your songs into Cubase? It sounded pretty good already on the MPC.

btw, dont listen to the hate. Keep doing this! It's real helpful.

You track out your beats(in cubase,protools whatever) so the engineers can mix and master your tracks, vocals can be recorded on them, they can be composed and automated.

Make sure you do a search on tracking and mixing and mastering.

class...

yo classic, that video helped man..good lookin' out. how is the sound on the m-audio firewire??? i'm lookin' to get a soundcard and was thinkin bout purchasing it. i want something that will make my beats sound clear

great job! once again class

thanks again classic this was real helpful...im lookin forward to the next video

ALboogie875 wrote:yo classic, that video helped man..good lookin' out. how is the sound on the m-audio firewire??? i'm lookin' to get a soundcard and was thinkin bout purchasing it. i want something that will make my beats sound clear

This sound is exllent and im really feeling the way the m-audio is set up. Plenty of in's and outs for me and there is a software mixer that comes with it that is great.

class...

The software thing always seemed like a good idea because the way technology is today its always advance..Im just sorry i missed out on the hardware aspect .. Speaking of, i own a VS 1880 a $1200 purchase..If i track using cubase will i still have need for this unit.WAIT..I suppose i can do vocals with it...The thing is I would love to use cubase for cuttin down on time, editing tracks..but i would have to invest a lot of money if i wanted to record audio.. (CPU, interface). What can i do to keep my VS 1880 in place but use Cubase..Uh oh what role does the MPC play for sequencing ...Im confuse

dehromie wrote:The software thing always seemed like a good idea because the way technology is today its always advance..Im just sorry i missed out on the hardware aspect .. Speaking of, i own a VS 1880 a $1200 purchase..If i track using cubase will i still have need for this unit.WAIT..I suppose i can do vocals with it...The thing is I would love to use cubase for cuttin down on time, editing tracks..but i would have to invest a lot of money if i wanted to record audio.. (CPU, interface). What can i do to keep my VS 1880 in place but use Cubase..Uh oh what role does the MPC play for sequencing ...Im confuse

Cubase(and protools) are multi track ediiting programs. Meaning u can record each audio track serpratly into them and mix and master, add effects etc.... This is also where u lay vocals. What i did in the video is how it usually works. Once a beat is recordind in cubase or protools u can pretty much work on it from start to finish

This is the typical life cycle of making a track with using hardware(give or take a couple of small steps)

1.A beat is made on an MPC(or any other hardware u have,MV, trition etc...)
2. once the beat is finished. You track out the loop of each instrament into multi track software cubase(or protools).

3. Once that is done, u cut and past the loops to the lenght of the song.
4. Then the artist comes and records the vocals(cubase or protools)
5. THe track is then Mixed(automatition,compression etc..)
6. A mixdown is made of the track(in the software), then it is masterd
7. ur done

*depending on the circumstances either one of these steps may invovled u exporting ur track from your home setup, to a studio*

Now as far a sequncing with cubase, it is possible and thats one of the advantages it has over protools. It has a much more developed sequincing cabailitites. BUT most people (like myself) just use it to multi track.(record audio) and stick to sequncing on their hardware.

im assuming VS 1880 is an hardware mutli track, if u did by cubase or protools this would become obselte, but again it depends who u ask. Did u do ur reseach before u bought this VS 1880????

you have to understand that knowlege is not gonnna happin over night. You really have to do ur reseach, and not just on MPC stuff either, u have to understand all the processes your beat will go threw from start to finish
U need to figure out how MIDI and audio work, and understand the process of mixing and mastering. Lean that before u even THINK of making a decisison



class....