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Free course · Cubase · 9 lessons

Cubase course

Arrangement, mixing and mastering in Cubase — nine written lessons, three chaptered video walkthroughs and three printable workbooks. Free, no account needed.

Start the lessonsProducer roadmapYour dashboard
Three stages

From a shaped arrangement to a delivered master

Work the stages in order. Each one has three lessons with exact click-paths, a video that follows the same running order, and a workbook you can print and tick off at the desk.

Sign in to save your progress as you work through it.

Arrangement stage

Arrangement: give the song a shape before you fill it in

Markers and the Arranger Track, arranging by subtraction with Track Versions and folders, and transitions that make the joins the best part.

Video walkthrough

Cubase arrangement walkthrough

Marker Track, Arranger chain, folder mutes and the one-bar drop, in the order you would actually do them.

Cubase arrangement workbook

All three arrangement lessons with the click-paths, a section map to fill in and a transition checklist.

PDF · 2 pages · free

Download the workbook

All three workbooks are free — grab the other stages from their tabs above.

Cubase is the DAW that most rewards deciding the shape before you fill it in. Add a Marker Track and drop cycle markers for INTRO, VERSE, PRE, CHORUS, BRIDGE and OUTRO at the bar numbers you expect, even before the parts exist. The empty timeline stops being intimidating the moment it has named rooms in it.

Then add an Arranger Track. It lets you play the sections in any order without moving a single event, so you can audition 'chorus first' or 'drop the second verse' in ten seconds instead of an afternoon of cut and paste.

Do this
  1. 01Project → Add Track → Marker, then draw cycle markers for each section at 8- or 16-bar boundaries.
  2. 02Project → Add Track → Arranger and drag the markers into the arranger chain.
  3. 03Play three different chain orders and keep the one that surprises you.
  4. 04Flatten the chain (Arranger → Flatten) only once you have committed to an order.

Check yourself

You can name every section of the song out loud, with its bar numbers, before you touch a plugin.

Where this leads

After the nine lessons

The roadmap turns these moves into a weekly plan, the starter kit gives you MIDI to arrange, and the other DAW tracks explain the same ideas in a different accent.

Producer roadmapFree starter kitAll three DAW tracksFL Studio courseAbleton Live course