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6. Ducking with audio edits in Cubase

1

Using plugins is all very well, but there’s nothing quite as satisfying as getting hands-on with audio start points and fade curves. This enables us to really fine-tune the interaction between two sounds and helps us squeeze every last drop of potential loudness out of our mix. Start by dragging DnB kick.wav and LFO bass.wav onto separate audio tracks in Cubase at the start of bar 1. 2

By checking the peak level on Cubase’s master fader, we can see that when the sounds are played simultaneously they peak at -7.6dB. Let’s see if we can get this peak level down while maintaining the solidity of the sound. At the start of the sound, we only really need to hear the kick drum’s attack transient, and we can do without the bass until that has passed. (Audio: Kick and bass.wav) 3

Press the J key to turn Cubase’s snap to grid function off, and drag the left-hand edge of the bass sample to start at 34ms. On playback it’s not obvious that the start of the bass has been delayed, but there is an audible click caused by the audio starting at a non-zero value. (Audio: Bass click.wav) 4

We can smooth this out by fading the bass in. Drag the triangle at the top left-hand corner of the kick to the right so that the fade lasts until about 86ms. Play it back again and you’ll hear that the click has gone. (Audio: Bass without click.wav) 5

While we’re at it, let’s fade the kick out as the bass comes up. Move the end of the kick to the point at which the bass has faded in, and drag the kick’s fade so that it starts at the same time as the bass. (Audio: Faded kick.wav) 6

Click the master channel’s Meter Peak Level to reset it. Play the project back and you’ll see that the master now peaks at -11dB. This means that we can turn the kick and snare up 3.4dB and the master will still only peak at the same level as it was in Step 1. For yet more control over the sound, change the shape of the fades with Audio»Open Fade Editor(s).