Hi everyone,

I would like to get some advice about the sound quality using Cubase. Specifically when I export to an audio-mix.
Also I’d appreciate som tips on “how to record” a Cubase-composition including the Graphics and the audio.

When I want to upload a song to Youtube I currently have to do two separate recordings. One being the Cubase-graphics using “Win+G” and the second one being the audio.

I have to use a third program to synchronize these recordings to one video which (or is it “witch”?) I can upload to Youtube. Due to these separate steps I’m losing a lot of the sound quality.
The original Wave file, for example measures 80Mb while the total of the uploaded video (audio and video) is only 35Mb.

Currently I’m using a simple audio-mixer (4 channels) and a USB-connection, both attached to my Pc. I wonder if this is the correct way of connecting or if I need a separate controller or interface (no idea what these do exactly)

Thanks in advance for your tips ;-).

Ed

Hi Ed,

Several conversions of the same audio can certainly cause you a loss of quality.

I can’t really speak about the video side of your project, but there are things you can do, even in the way you currently do things to minimise loss of audio quality.

Standard CD audio is always 16 bit / 44.1 kHz. Wav or AIFF.

Standard CD audio for mastering is always 24 bit / 44.1 kHz (to eventually be dithered down to 16 bit). Wav or AIFF.

Standard Broadcast audio is 24 bit / 48kHz. Wav or AIFF.

When you upload anything like these to you tube, you tube will convert and compress the audio to AAC, which is a lossy audio compression format, and it sounds fine, as long as you present it with audio that hasn’t been compressed and converted already.

When mixing down in Cubase, choose one of the three formats I’ve mentioned and stick to it.

When I say stick to it, I mean make sure that those settings are always dialled in on any program you use after you’ve mixed down from Cubase, because it could be that those programs are set by default to convert and compress your audio to other formats during import and possibly export.

If they do not allow you to dial in audio settings for both bit rate and sample rate, then it’s probably time to use something else.

Remember that you tube will always compress your final audio no matter what, but things tend to start sounding bad when audio that has already been compressed and converted is compressed and converted again.

You’ve got to be consistent until you’re ready to upload to you tube and the only way you can do that is by dialling in your own settings and avoiding default settings, during any other process.

Currently I’m using a simple audio-mixer (4 channels) and a USB-connection, both attached to my Pc. I wonder if this is the correct way of connecting or if I need a separate controller or interface (no idea what these do exactly)

If everything sounds good in Cubase, and your mix down sounds good, then I wouldn’t change anything. It does sound to me like the various conversions and compression being applied to your audio after that, is the main thing getting you down.

I suspect that you need to rigorously check audio import and export settings in everything you use and keep it consistent.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your reply. I think your right about the video-software being the bottleneck.

I currently export my audio in Wav, 32 Bit (float) and use 44.1 kHz. When I play back these files on my Pc the quality is fairly good. An average exported file measures 60Mb.

When I’m exporting a composition (audio + graphics), the program I use offers 50 (or more) different audio formats to chose from.

Since the program seems to have the priority set on graphics I used the default settings. For audio it uses Aac-format.

I just checked the other possible settings and noticed also Wav- and AIFF are selectable, each with several settings for Bit-rate and kHz.

Next time I upload a song to Youtube I’ll experiment with these settings and like you suggested try to maintain these also in Youtube.

Greetz,

Ed

You’re welcome.

Yes, keep it WAV or AIFF because they are uncompressed formats.