Hi.Help.How?

[michael@holdsworth245.ora]

Hi. I bought an Edirol UA25 and Cubase SX3 for my son who is only 12 but a 'natural' ,close to perfect pitch and learns guitar effortlessly. Sickening really. Anyway I work in Special Schools and thought it would be good for a class of young teenagers to record a song they had composed to promote a 'fictional' company they had devised. (Flirty Flowers...plants to fall in love with)WE recorded the song but in one go and they ebbed and flowed from the mike. My question is....is it possible to do some editing to make them sound a lot better, and, how do I put the end product on to a CD? I am really ignorant about using the program and find the help section way above me because it uses jargon but does not explain anything in plain english. I have a week to try to come up with sthg or else they'll be looking for a new manager!!
Thanks
Mik

[CharlesIncharge]

You should be able to export your file from cubase, make it a "wav" file and burn it to CD. try going to file-then-export audio.

[michael@holdsworth245.ora]

Hi. Thanks a lot for responding. Have just spent an hour trying to work out how to save as .wav file with no success. Used 'help' and tried file>export> but got nowhere. How do i save as a .wav?
Thanks again
Mik

[Electriclight]

Originally Posted by michael@holdsworth245.ora

My question is....is it possible to do some editing to make them sound a lot better? Thanks
Mik

There are many ways to improve sound quality and the experts here may shudder at the following advice, but you need something quick and easy, right?

The easiest thing you can do as a beginner would probably be to look at the wave file in cubase for those parts that are smaller in size (lower in volume). Select those parts like you would select text in a WORD document, right click, then select PROCESS > GAIN > and then select a value, say +2 dB of gain. Click OK and compare the new size of the waveform to determine if it needs still more gain.

When everything is pretty much even, as best you can make it, then select the entire waveform from beginning to end (click and drag cursor) and then right click PROCESS > NORMALIZE and then select -1 dB and click OK. Now you've got a sound file that is fairly even and fairly loud.

Now set the markers on top. Put your cursor up on the ruler near the top of the window. When it turns into a pencil, then left click. What you are now looking at is two markers close together. Drag the Left marker to the beginning of the recording and the Right marker to the end of the recording. (Make sure you are creating a blue line not a red line, if red you are going the wrong way with the markers.)

Go the the FILE menu. Select EXPORT > AUDIO MIXDOWN. Give it a file name and select 44.1 KHz and 16 bit rate. Press OK. Then use whatever CD burning software you have and point it to that file to burn it on CD. Any questions please ask. Good Luck, Dave

[michael@holdsworth245.ora]

Well thanks to your help I have managed to get sthg on to a CD using .wav file. It wont play on my CD player but plays on my computer. I was quite excited when it finally worked.The only thing I had to do was set the 'locators' and the Help section actually explained what to do! I have just tried it on my old PC Win 98 and it didnt work, or even register there was anything on the CD. Well, if you do have time to explain how to overcome this Id be grateful. Have not yet tried your other suggestions but will do very soon. I am so grateful for your help. Thanks! Mik

[Electriclight]

What software are you using to burn CD's? If you exported the file at 16 bits and 44.1 Khz it should play on any device. There may be some option that you have incorrectly selected?

[michael@holdsworth245.ora]

Hi. Just used windows media player. The settings were, by default, 16 bits and 44.1 Khz. It saved as a Wav 64(?) the first time and it didnt work so I selected .wav which seemed to work..at least on the laptop(I use vista on that one) Guess i should just try again maybe? I do appreciate your help.