Why metronome click is recorded?

Cubase
1

Hello dear forumers,

I’m a complete newbie in Cubase, running trial version of Cubase Elements 8.

I set up a metronome in Cubase and try to record the microphone sound, but for some reason metronome sound is recorded together with microphone (although I use headphones).

Is there a way to disable this?

2

Hi there Svetlana,

I used to have this when I recorded my acoustic guitar through my condenser microphone!

If I understand correctly the click track that is playing in your headphones is being picked up by your microphone. Not at full volume but enough to be heard on the audio track? If you record several audio tracks then you obviously increase the click volume overall so all you have to do is lower the metronome level or volume.

This is done by clicking on Transport > Metronome set up. Mine is probably about the 20% level, which suits me, but a bit of trial and error will probably be needed!

Regards,

Jim B

3

Thank you Jim! The problem is solved by lowering the metronome level.

4

You may be better getting fitted earphones, which are expensive.

Or make your own, using some reasonable-quality low-profile sealed earphones, taking off the rubber/silicone fittings, and using a Radians Custom Molded Earplugs kit to fashion you own. This is just a few $10s.

Note that the kit is normally for making isolation earplugs, which is just a big plug of the stuff. It needs to be done differently to make it work with earphones. You may come across a web page where someone describes how they have done it, but I found that the stuff passed through the mesh on the end of the canal of the earpiece. If you are interested, I can describe the ‘proper’ way to do it.

I used mine for our first YouTube recording. The earphones end up sitting further into the ear than with the standard rubber/silicone bits, which makes them almost totally out of sight in the video.

While fitted tends to lower the bleed levels considerably, it is still best to try to use the lowest level you can clearly hear at.

5

Or alternatively, just lower the level.

This would appear to be a good example of Occams Razor, a principal that I believe should be applied across the entirety of music making and DAW recording.

For those that don’t know of it, Occams Razor is a principal that says:

IN ANY GIVEN SITUATION THE SIMPLEST ANSWER IS INVARIABLY THE RIGHT ANSWER.

Regards all,

Jim B

6

Doesn’t always work because one needs enough level for the foldback to be useful. It may solve the immediate problem, for the moment, but may not have enough margin for other situations.

That leaves the other SIMPLE answer: Increase the isolation!

Sometimes, more than one SIMPLE answer has to be applied.