Using Control Room Full-Time – Workflow & Tutorial Recommendations

Cubase
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Hi everyone,

Although I’m currently using Nuendo, I thought I might get more engagement by posting here in the Cubase section.

I’ve been using Control Room for over 15 years, primarily when tracking clients. Lately, I’ve been strongly considering reworking my templates to use Control Room 100% of the time, even for mixing and everyday production tasks.

I’m curious:

  • Are any of you using Control Room full-time as part of your workflow?
  • Have you found it reliable and flexible enough for all stages of production?
  • Also, does anyone know of a truly comprehensive tutorial or deep-dive resource that covers all aspects of Control Room, including practical, everyday use?

I’ve found a few decent videos on YouTube, but they tend to skim over some of the more advanced or nuanced capabilities. I’d love to learn more about how others are maximizing it.

Appreciate any insights or resources you’re willing to share. Thanks everyone.

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Hi,
I use the CR all the time not only during tracking. There are so many hidden gems related to the CR that it might be difficult to find one fully comprehensive tutorial.
Having said this, I would suggest to take a look at Chris Selim’s YT playlist. I think that he covers nearly all aspects with his tutorials. They are well organized and you can easily skip through the chapters if you already know about a specific feature.

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  • Yes. All the time. I have a setup of four monitor channels I can switch with key commands, each with different plugin on the (monitor and headphone correction). Also a set of analytical plugins on the global inserts (Supervision, SPAN etc). Also use the listen dim function sometimes.
  • Yes. No problems. Love it. Wouldn’t want to live without it.
  • I don’t know about tutorials. I personally don’t like youtube video tutorials, because most of them are too long winded. I prefer just mucking around and see what happens, and if nothing else works, consult the manual.
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I use the CR all the time, even if only with a fraction of its capability.
For me it’s

  • easy volume control for the monitoring signal (sometimes it needs to be loud but ears also need a break)
  • seamless switching between different monitors
  • easy integration of a reference track and A/B switching between it and my mix
  • the Listen bus
  • quickly checking for mono compatibility

All of the above is useful even if you are all by yourself. And none of it “corrupts” the project.

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To add a few more

  • separate Inserts for each monitor system (e.g. SoundID reference)
  • Inserts on the Main Out with no risk of interfering with the Stereo Out during mixdown
  • easy switching between different setups
  • presets for different tasks/systems
  • highly customizable
  • easy access via key commands
    Makes life so much easier - I would not want to miss it or ever do without. There’s more but that’s just out of the top of my head.
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Haha, yep- I use it all of the time, and I just converted at least one other person over to Control Room over the weekend. I use it to set up submixes for when I am sound designing or arranging or comparing against reference tracks. I almost never use Mute or Solo anymore. I don’t even have anything mapped to Cubase’s “Stereo Out” anymore. I just use Control Room’s monitor out.

And one little thing you can easily do in control room that you can’t do otherwise (at least not without jumping through some hoops): Listening to an FX track on its own without hearing the track that’s sending to it.

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The best videos on CR I’ve found is:
thedigitalaudiomanual. com
Jon

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I use it for post, always. I think it’s great. Zero problems. I wish nuendo had more monitor sources available though.

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Thank you sir. Chris is great!

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Thanks for the reply. the headphone plugin really does interest me as well. I want to get as close to the Harmon curve as possible.

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Thanks so much! I am headed that direction.

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Perfect. thank you sir. It all looks like the way to work.

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thank you for the reply. I’m in!

14

thank for that info. I am going to sign up with him.

15

With the caveat that I am strictly an amateur user, I found the YT videos on Control Room by Lanewood Studios to be helpful (and beyond my needs, so they might help you more than me).
A couple below:

  1. https://youtu.be/IqMAsKzYGrk?si=jalrjvdBZmGvZkEk
  2. https://youtu.be/1ExuUs7ZLu8?si=swavBLCfzc27TT0E
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Thanks for the info. I like his vids as a lot. He does a great job and knows cubase extremely well. I am bookmarking those links.

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