So, I’ve spent the last month getting into the basics of Cubase Pro 8. I’ve read a lot in the manual, watched tutorials, read guides and forum post for advices and techniques and of course done a lot of trying and failing. So far I have scratched the surface of most main subjects like sound design, recording, adding effects, mixing, mastering and so on.
Now I’ve come to the point where I could need some explanations to things that really confuse me before I move on.
First and most, I’ve noticed that on almost every tutorial I watch, people have only audio-tracks in their projects so obviously they have converted their MIDI tracks to audio. It also seems like they add EQ, effects and automation after converting to audio. So I’m wondering why people do this? What are the advantages and what is the correct procedure? Do I record as MIDI, convert it and then add EQ, effects and automations afterwards? Can I add effects and stuff before converting, why should/shouldn’t I do so? What if I just leave the tracks as MIDI and move on to mixing? This really makes me confused…
Second I’ve noticed that I can add a bunch of effects in the “strip” section in the mixer, but most of them seem to be the same effects that are available through the inserts. So if any, what is the difference between adding an effect in the strip versus inserts?
And third, most tutorials about mastering seem to have exported the project into a single stereo track after mixing, but not all of them seem to do so. Why/why not do that?
I’m sorry if the answers to my questions are very obvious, but it’s a lot to get into as I’m all new to this, and I couldn’t find any satisfying answers myself. I don’t expect anyone to give me a full explanation of it all, and I understand that there are many ways to do stuff, but some pointers and tips for tutorials or articles on the subjects are very appreciated and would make me less confused.