Why You Should Use VCA Faders | Cubase Secrets with Dom

[@DavidDavis-FA-photog]

OMG, now I finally understand the whole VCA thing. I think this will speed up my work flow a lot!

[@juliancroot]

Such a great teacher. Whether I learn anything new or not, I always appreciate the way you deliver these types of video. Thank you Dom.

[@edgriggs3544]

Thanks for the refresher. I'm pretty sure I watched this a while back. It looks like you re-did the entire video word-for-word, move-by-move in Cubase 13. Nicely done. Kudos to Steinberg for re-enlisting one of their best teachers.

[@rennebach2]

Best DAW out there! And Dom is the Don of Cubase! Happy to see him back at the Cubase Channel

[@kelvinlee18]

Nice video! One of the most useful thing of the VCA fader to me is it allow automating the level of your tracks while retaining the send relationships of individual tracks. Group tracks cannot do that.

[@i_jetlag]

Oh! thanks a lot, I didn't think of that. I was wondering why I would even wanna use a VCA when the group channel fader does the same volume adjustments.

[@Lectrosoul]

Nice to know!

[@skippyweb]

You can automate group tracks.....

[@kevvinster]

Exactly the reason to use VCA over groups. Keeping the sends in check of your source tracks. If your source tracks don't have post fader sends then a group will do the job.

[@kelvinlee18]

@@skippyweb I automate both 😎. Having both group and VCA at the same time offers great flexibility when doing mix revision for my client. Just within a few clicks you could change automation as a group / individual tracks. Great for balancing lead vocals / dub / backing vocals. Try it! 👍

[@poisonbrainproductionsgr]

This is a gamechanger!!!!!!! Thanks Dom !Hail from Greece!

[@Bartysquire]

First of all dom thank you so much for all these videos that you make. You have increased my understanding of cubase a hundredfold. I’m wondering though, do you ever use third-party plug-ins or do you mostly try to stay within the product that Steinberg provide provides?

[@1madcats]

Now I get it! Thanks Dom, this is the clearest explanation with uses for the vca faders I've seen. Using these are going to save do much time. 👍🏾

[@DavidDavis-FA-photog]

This is just what the Dr. ordered. This will help me speed up my mixes.

[@TONDJO-STATION]

C'est tellement plus claire avec les sous titres en français...merci Dom !!!

[@TuncerToklu]

I partly knew but for all the details you described, I wasn't using it in practice. I will definitely use VCA from now on.

[@DeepakKumarSatellites]

WOW Dom that was so helpful Thanks

[@LouieKalouie]

All your tips and tutorials have opened my eyes more on Cubase. Thanks Dom!

[@Webzterr]

Never knew what they were for... Glad I watched

[@alexanderivakov]

Just the video I needed! Always wanted to learn about VCA faders but never could get around to doing it! Thank you, Dom! You're the best! 🙏🙏🙏

[@Reticulan_Techno]

Second day learning Cubase but this is super helpful already! Thanks! Have been using Logic and Ableton but excited to get stuck into this DAW now!

[@steffengiesel4992]

Hey Dom, really helps me a lot! I have recorded a choir with 16 singers where each one has an own mic. I can for example reduce the breathing noise of everybody with automating one fader.

[@dirk-jancornelisse3875]

Very clear explanation! Thanks a lot!

[@LindaMissad]

OH MY, I've been using Cubase for a long time and never understood this idea. Thanks so much for your clear explanations. I will definately be using the VCA fader now.

[@milogiraldoagain]

Dom, you're a legend!!

[@shashanksangole]

Most easy N understanding language also effective video🫡💯

[@blurredaudio]

Wouldn't you be able to drive the compressor on your group channel harder by boosting the pre-gain on the group channel? Or is there a difference that i'm not seeing here?

[@hassejansson]

Cubase is the best!

[@alexanderewing3779]

A wee bit confusing but i will persist. Thanks again, Dom, for very useful tips. Cheers!

[@javierpenya]

Great. As always. Thanks. Learning a lot with your videos.

[@jelnet]

I still don't get what the VCA fader does that the group doesn't, apart from driving the compressor, which in any case I'd have as an insert on the individual channels. I get the usefulness of linked channels but not the VCA fader, on the group channel I can still control the overall level while keeping the individual sources mixed relatively and I can do all the sends etc. on the group channel. Maybe I'm missing something? 🤔

[@VictorTrifu]

Very interesting feature. I own Cubase 5.5.3 and I'm about to buy the Cubase 13 version, this is why I'm watching these videos. To this "feature", I must say that - unless removed in newer versions than 5 - after you select the two tracks, by pressing the up and down keys on you keyboard, you can get the same effect as with the VCA fader. The volume of the 2 tracks will be lowered or raised, also while keeping the relative volume between them. It will NOT work with the mouse, unless the channels are linked. Then, you can also use the mouse. In this way you can save a channel strip, that the VCA fader will otherwise occupy. VCA are probably more intuitive if you have used them on an analog console.

[@MartinStolzMusic]

Hi Dom, great video - I'm going to use them in future. It would be great to have a video about mixing with wind instruments like sax, clarinet and flute. Especially the eq, reverb and delay. I play all of these instruments but I don't get the modern sound out of them ;-)

[@Artur_Chernyavsky]

Thank you, Dom! A useful piece if info!)

[@djfkshg]

very interesting thank you

[@franky7103]

I thought VCA faders were only used to link many channels' fader together so I can lower them all when my signals gets too hot without loosing all the effects on them. That's much more useful than I thought! I'll start using them more! Thank you for this video!

[@harryolive1853]

Your approach to teaching is really great - it's well explained and organized. Thanks a lot for that. I've been working with C13pro to test the fastest CPU on the planet, the AMD EPYC 9654..

[@Harrysound]

I’m going to have to experiment with this. Those acoustic guitars sounded really well recorded.

[@psychotrout]

Whoah this was really a great one! Thank you! An incredible time saver!

[@DaveDickens]

Really helpful video Dom, thank you. Cheers Dave

[@Ace_of_DiscaL]

Lovin' the T-Shirt, Boss

[@MrCraigSayer]

Best DX7 tee shirt ever!

[@RalfBiermann777]

I didn't know that and I think it might be very useful for Orchestra Libraries, the strings for example.

[@ufo_alien_arcturus]

Thank you!!!

[@jockeysacato8284]

Excellent

[@jeremythornton433]

This is fantastic stuff! Thank you!

[@simonlawrence1234]

Very useful

[@raoofco]

Thanks 🙏

[@ir8123]

Top notch DAW

[@ehabsh9427]

I'm already using the VCA faders but mainly for controlling volume. Honestly I wasn't aware of their full potential especially the idea of linking the sends and EQs. Big thanks for this video.

[@jensloetzsch]

You can also select the channels and hit the Q-Link Button on the top of the mixer. Now you can also process your selected channels simultaniously ;)

[@mcsweet1966]

Cool video Dom

[@Starfire42]

Always so educational! Bravo!

[@yams900]

Thx Dom !

[@TuncerToklu]

Very very usefull

[@CorradoLoffredi]

Hi Dom, many thanks for this video. I'd like to know if it is possible to create a vca fader to use it for other cc's than cc7, f.e. cc1 or cc11.

[@sanjayasooriyaarachc]

Great thanks...

[@luxxinterior5200]

Just not seeing why I would add clutter to my mixer with a VCA fader when it seems that I can accomplish the same exact thing by just using the "Link" feature for multiple channels.

[@anthonyh1298]

Would love to know what that hardware controller is!

[@roszgyurka]

thx!

[@ZZZhu1234]

helpful

[@laurentschark]

The VCA are a great tool indeed. The reason why I don’t use them is because I prefer to “group” te tracks (group option not creating a group fader) if needed. When you do so, you can also choose which common elements (eq, volume, etc) you want to include. Why do I prefer this over VCA faders ? I don’t have an extra fader in my mix console. If I need to modify one common thing on many track at once without the need to group then, I use the super cool Q-Link shortcut :) it is however great that cubase is giving you the VCA option as many people prefer the comfort of a VCA fader which makes sense for many users.

[@triniticoclough6387]

I do see the benefits of using a VCA...I may start using them but not for tradtional VCA functions...only in the cases where I would need multi tracks to push more into their plugins with out changing the fader position of my group channel itself!

[@andrewsun4385]

Awesome!!!❤❤💯💯

[@lamybenjamin7922]

Hi Dom thanks for the video. But I still not notice the interest of the VCA Fader Channel compare to Group Channel... That seems really useless and minimal to me... I use group channel that I can send to an FX channel for example...

[@_pokies]

Thanks

[@KlausSchmuck]

I like VCA to, but just came in to my mind. Can what you showed not also be done with the gain lever of the groupe? I mean the volume thing.

[@PiotrLYRRE]

In my workflow I also use them to automate the faders even on single tracks - doing so I can still change the volume of the track later, but the relative volume in time stays as I wrote with VCA.

[@pedromiche9]

How to make the input of a reverb plugin stereo? so that if i have a panned guitar on the left, the reverb also is panned to the left?

[@susyquark]

Nice video. In my case I use VCA when I have a grout track with automations and I need to increase or decrease the volume of that automated track. So I create a VCA of the group track (not the individual tracks because I do not want to modify how "attack" the plugins in the group track, I only want to level that track and I do not want to modify all the automation points).

[@marcrobertson4735]

Is it possible to UnLink multiple channels at once? I've had times when I needed to temporarily unlink, for instance, 3 different snare channels and having to unlink one at a time is very time consuming. Highlighting all the channels and selecting unlink does not work. I'm still on C12 btw.

[@benngoma537]

Are there vca faders on cubase 13 artist?

[@stevenleonmusic]

Except you actually should *NOT* use VCA faders in Cubase 13 right now because they have bugs that are being worked out. The VCA fader is causing a weird issue when you try to input numbers into the volume parameter of a track connected to the fader and when you close/re-open Cubase the volume gets reset to whatever the last value it is in your VCA fader's automation. I don't even know how you made it work for this video; I had to just stop using them altogether.

[@d.rubtsov]

13.0.30 fixes this bug, but for some reason only a half. Input now works correctly. But the problem with VCA automation and re-opening cubase is still there. So yeah, don't use VCA

[@sandrovanhetgroenewoud5817]

Hello Dom, great info, as usual! However, when listening to your guitar tracks you use, I stumble on the same problem I have. the quantize makes it too perfect and de-humanizes the guitars. is there a function where you can 'humanize' the quantizing?

[@curiouscatlabincgetsworrie7755]

Yeah! There are actually multiple functions within human capabilities to achieve that FX. They're called practice and rehearse! :D

[@diegoalejo15]

you may soft quantize, i.e quantize at 80% or modify a little the swing, etc in the Quantize panel

[@Jura_JS]

I have issues with VCA faders. They broke my mixes couple of times so I'm afraid to use them Say I have main vocal at 0db, double vocal at -6db, and I create VCA fader for them, and for example I move it -3db in the bridge. I save project, quit. On the next day I open project and I have main vocal at -3db, double at -9db at start, and it moves to -6/-12 at bridge correspondingly

[@shwanaskari]

I have the exact same issue. I avoid VCAs completely now. I feel like they're not stable in Cubase unfortunately. Especially when using automations

[@ggmanestraki]

You need to write automation for the tracks connected to the VCA fader. If you write at least one value at the start of each track, things work as they should. Otherwise, your fader levels will be offset by the amount dictated by the VCA's automation, which is not predictable behaviour.

[@corradospada]

so do you recommend sending all the drum channels to a VCA and the VCA to the channel group or the tracks to both the VCA and the channel group?

[@DomSigalas]

I always like to use a combination VCA and groups: VCA controls all the elements of the drum kit but the routing still goes to the Group (which is not controlled by the VCA ;)

[@ThomsenTower]

@@DomSigalasThis is where I get confused. In this video, once you set up the VCA, AND linked group, with inserts and sends enabled, what is left for a Group track?

[@DomSigalas]

@@ThomsenTower it processes the sum of the channels! :)

[@ThomsenTower]

@@DomSigalas Ah, I see. I forget that linking Sends through VCA still keeps them separate; it is just a "remote control" for controlling sends of several tracks simultaneously. Thanks for clarifying!

[@Mix3dbyMark]

Did they fix the bug where VCAs would forget my channel values when I restart Cubase?

[@HughflynncomposerMP3]

I had very unpredictable results a few years ago when I used VCA faders with the Arranger track. After flattening the arrangement, the faders were not in the same positions as the unflattened arrangement. The difference was quite large.

[@diegoalejo15]

ey, didn´t know this VCA linking property, now they turn much more useful for me (as Dom says how cool is that!), the one thing that need to take into account is that while adding inserts that slot must be empty in every linked channel.

[@jensloetzsch]

You don't need a VCA Fader for this, just select the tracks you want to automate and hit the Q-Link button in the mixer ;)

[@diegoalejo15]

@@jensloetzsch I know that but VCA link stays "forever", I use Q-link more for temporary links

[@aftabkhan27]

Need help on this. If I use vca in my cubase project and run automation thought it . Same project I open in nuendo the vca does not. Plz suggest what to do. Lot of clients work in cubase and send me cubase projects to mix . I use nuendo. Plz help

[@kti01]

I don't quite understand the advantage of applying effects to all grouped tracks via the somewhat awkward linking in the VCA track. It seems much more logical to me to apply effects to the grouped tracks via the group track.

[@voidabstraction]

This is only for Pro right? Otherwise for Artist users etc, we just use groups.

[@Blueberrystop]

❤

[@nikolaostsimpetonidis4243]

Φοβερός όπως πάντα με πολύ καλή εξήγηση και επαγγελματική προσέγγιση! Many thanks for the useful advice, Keep up the great work!! :)

[@SoundPeaks]

How do I share my Groove Agent Kit with my friend? This sampler literally has no way of doing that :(

[@Godspeed_ViViX]

What's frustrating about VCA faders in Cubase is that they work in a different manner than in Nuendo and they aren't compatible with each other.

[@KeshavDhar]

Nuendo doesn't let me add more than 4 VCA faders in a project. Is this normal?

[@Sheriffvlogs]

​@KeshavDhar, that is not true thay work the same maybe u are using an older version.

[@KeshavDhar]

I'm using 12… @@Sheriffvlogs

[@GaryR55]

Voltage Controlled Amplifier?

[@anthonyh1298]

Yeh, that's the original implementation in analog desks. Obviously it no longer applies, but name has stuck.

[@jesperborgstrm3385]

Q-link next?

[@alanredversangel]

I still don't see the point of vca. You already have a crazy number of tracks, folders, group channels, why would you add another fader to it all? I'm pretty sure you can achieve everything a vca does without a vca in Cubase. I may be wrong.

[@i_jetlag]

I was also thinking the same thing until I saw the other comment. Replying just so you can find the comment too. Don't wanna copy that person's comment though. It's probably the second comment there. 👍

[@i_jetlag]

Read @kelvinlee18 's comment

[@alanredversangel]

@@i_jetlag Surely you can have sends pre fader then automate the fader on a group channel,or just link tracks and automate those faders? Maybe I'm missing something. This all comes down to signal path

[@i_jetlag]

​@@alanredversangelOkay, you could do that I guess. I'm a rookie in mixing so I don't know much. Thank you for the tip.

[@alanredversangel]

@@i_jetlag My advice is don't listen to all the advice, just trust your ears. I mean you could for example gain stage everything to -12db then run it into a vca fader then into a compressor and adjust the fader to make it compress more, OR just turn up the input gain on the compressor. There are far more fundamental things that need time/ attention in a mix IMO.

[@chucktripi491]

Hi Dom, Would you consider using a fairly complex instrumental tune instead of a pop song? I’d like to think that I’m not the only subscriber who doesn’t work in the pop genre? Thanks!

[@xicoamc]

I was kind of excited to update to Cubase 13 but the GUI doesn't look great at all.

[@trmusic4035]

maja aaya

[@dmillionaire7]

Shout out TimBo and Justin H/m BrittBritt "Cry Me A River"

[@peteypablo09]

Didn't watch the video but VCA faders are still broken/bugged in Cubase and they still haven't fixed it. Ruined a mix on a film for me and I had to redo it with the automation point workaround. Beware, everybody

[@assistantassistant5516]

I wouldn't recommend using VCA's in cubase. There is still an unresolved bug that can seriously screw up your projects if no automation data is written to the VCA and you reopen your projects. Reported several times and forums are filled with info on this.

[@alexissongsforyou]

This is why I'm holding off on VCA faders. I guess the fix is to put one automation point on each VCA track, have I understood that correctly?

[@assistantassistant5516]

@@alexissongsforyou Yes exactly!

[@kontemplatemusic2189]

Or you could just bounce both tracks into one stereo file.......

[@karayuschij]

I'm sorry, but these aren't VCA faders, Cubase uses the wrong terminology. They're bus faders. You can't insert effects on a VCA fader... A VCA fader, as its name indicates, Voltage Controlled Amplifier, controls the volume of a group of channels, nothing else. VCAs: Can Only Control Volume Levels Of Different Channels (Remotely) Any Audio Channel Can Be Assigned To VCA’s Cannot Receive Or Send Audio Signals Cannot Process Audio Signals Might Have The Option Being Muted Or Soloed Groups & Buses: Can Control Volume Through Their “Own” Faders (Direct) Any Audio Channel Can Be Assigned To A Group, Which Can Be Routed To A Bus Can Receive Or Send Audio Signals Can Process Audio Signals Can Be Muted Or Soloed.

[@johnnybregar]

He explained exactly that… maybe you didn’t make it past the group fader discussion into the actual VCA discussion?

[@anthonyh1298]

You can't insert effects on the Cubase VCA either. It's explained in the video. The insertion of effects on both channels simultaneously is via the Link functionality, not the VCA itself.