How To Use Cakewalk by Bandlab - Tutorial For Beginners (FREE DAW)

Learn how to use Cakewalk by Bandlab, a free DAW. This Cakewalk by Bandlab tutorial for beginners will teach you the basics of the digital audio workstation. I go over the layout including the playlist, piano roll, and mixer, as well as what most things do. I also talk about setting the DAW up so you can record at the right bit depth and sample rate, import your VST plugins, and get your samples and loops in the software too.

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To open something in the multi-dock, select a track and then go to "Views" on the top menu of the DAW. From there you can open the piano roll, console, step-sequencer, etc. You'll have to repeat this process for each track.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Quick Overview & Important Information
0:43 - Setup Instructions & Preferences Menu
1:58 - Control Bar
2:52 - The Layout
4:45 - Song Arrangement Window & Creating Tracks
5:14 - Track Settings / Options
5:24 - Automation Clips
5:47 - Track Settings Continued
7:14 - Control Bar Playlist Options (Transport Module)
7:58 - Piano Roll
9:06 - Mixer Rack / Mixing Console

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Interested in more about the Audio Production? These are the topics we cover!

Composition, Arrangement, & Sound Design
Tips, Tricks, & Advice
DAWs & Studio
FREE Software

+ Blog Posts (That aren't videos) directly in the community tab on the channel!

#freeDAW #musicProduction #cakewalk

God is great! It may be hard to believe when you don't, I came from the same place. It took me a while to understand and accept God. But when I did, it changed my life more than I could have imagined and I hope yours will be changed too.

Thanks for watching, I appreciate your comments and support!

[TransverseAudio]

Hey everyone, I thought I'd try talking a bit slower for this one as many people say I go to fast in my videos. 😅 Let me know what you think. Thanks for watching!

Sorry for not including this but here is how you open tabs on the multidock: Go to the View menu at the top of the DAW and select the tabs you want open there. You will need an instrument track for the MIDI ones.
P.S. If you want to use your *computer keyboard as a MIDI controller, * you can bring it up by going to Views > Virtual Keyboard > Computer Keyboard. Thanks to @Choco milk
for pointing this out!

[KevyK]

thanks. now i’m one step closer to world domination

[specialrat]

im so confused but i was more confused before i watched this so i guess thats a good thing

[malsi]

I've never in 10 years witnessed such a smooth flowing, quick and concise, informative tutorial for ANYTHING ever. I wish you did guides for everything.

[theamazingworldoutthere]

THIS IS THE BEST INTRO VIDEO FOR THIS PROGRAM. FAST AND TO THE POINT.

[dag]

This is the standard for all software introduction videos. I've watched so many tutorials on how to edit videos and audio and they always seem to ignore the most basic thing which is how to navigate the interface and the basic settings to start with. Excellent concept and execution. Thank you for this and I will be checking out more of your videos soon.

[Serge_]

This was the first DAW I used for about a year and a half. Then I switched to Reaper, now Ableton. Watching this video made me realize how much I missed out on Cakewalk since I never looked up tutorials and was pretty much self taught.

[soulsteela]

Even though it's a lot information at once, nobody has ever explained so perfectly. I mean this must be the tutorial video for DAWs I've ever seen. Thanks a lot!

[eraldolima]

Hey, guys... this video is not for beginners in music production, but beginners in Cakewalk! But it is a complete view in a few minutes. The best to do is to put the hands to work! Practice makes perfection!!

[tehfn]

When I saw you could write sheet music, I was sold on giving it a shot.

[bitrobot]

I may still have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but thanks to this video I was able to scrape together enough understanding to keep going.

[relaxationmusicsanctuary]

This was my first sequencer back in mid ‘90s.
Old good daw from old good times.
I’m glad to see it’s here around this times, modernized but faithful to itself.

[grahamross]

Hi, I'm guessing that this is a brilliant introduction to Cakewalk, but I completely disagree that it is for beginners. To me, a beginner is someone who is completely unfamiliar with basic techniques, terminology and actions. I've only just now worked out what a 'DAW' is, for example. I'm afraid my eyes glazed over after a minute or two, haven't got a clue what's really going on, so if this is an entry-level tutorial then I now realise that this is not for me and that I'd better look for a dedicated multi-track recording console. I think if you're going to post a video tutorial for 'beginners' then you should assume that a viewer may not understand little, if anything, of the terminology and data-manipulation that is shown, and may not even have the technical knowledge beyond being able to turn a PC on and load up Youtube. As I said, I'm sure that for those with the basic tech knowledge on the subject already that this is an excellent intro to Cakewalk and it's features.

[janukachandrasena]

This is the first video I ever watched after switching from audacity to LMMS and finally to cakewalk. And this video was so straightforward. I loved it! And now cakewalk is my main DAW
Thanks, Jake!

[connorbrown]

Great tutorial! For me, this was a good overview of the DAW and its features. Being familiar with other DAWs did help me to follow what was explained. If I were a newbie, I think the speed of the tutorial might have been a bit intimidating, but from the perspective of an intermediate user I think that this was a very intuitive look at the DAW. The layout was explained in about the same order in which I would have asked questions. This quickly helped me to grasp where the various "things" were, such as the mixer rack, track list, and list of plugins. Overall I would give this a 5-star review if that was a thing on YouTube.

I haven't looked through any of the other videos in the channel yet, but I will definitely be poking through some more! If there isn't one already, I would love a video that focuses specifically on workflow tips, perhaps also broken down by area in the DAW. There were already a few tips in this video which I really liked, and I think an entire video just focusing on various tips and mouse/keyboard shortcuts would be really valuable for more experienced users that really want to establish a more efficient workflow.

[neiladaniel]

This is great, clear and concise. It's true that you go quickly, but there's a lot of material to cover so I'm happy with the pacing. Naturally, I'm going to be watching it a few times and taking written notes. Thanks for doing this.

[GManWrites]

I actually purchased Sonar back in the day and I found it so difficult to use that I eventually ditched it and moved to FL Studio. If this video had been available back then it would have been so much easier.

[lilyhollows]

I want to CRY!! This is the best tutorial I have come across (and I've been struggling for a year now 😅) I thank you much! 🥰🥰🥰

[christophercollier]

I got to the part where you talked about suspending playback outside of the DAW and knew this was going to be an awesome tutorial. You immediately solved my FIRST problem.

[ZXAMVs]

I just started learning about music composing for game dev and your channel have helped a lot already.
Thank you for such great tutorials and videos.