Using JUDE

Talking to Jude

There are no commands to memorize. Talk the way you'd talk to a human engineer on the other side of the glass, and Jude keeps up — this page is just a feel for the vocabulary, plus the few things that stay in the DAW's hands.

Sessions

Press Start Session and your engineer says hello — by name, once — and asks what you're working on. Tell them the name of the song, if it has one, and which instruments you'll be recording — that goes into the session notes and helps the engineer make the right calls, like arming the right tracks. When you're done, say "that's a wrap" or "we're done" and the engineer signs off and closes the session; the End Session button does the same silently.

When you know you're done, end the session properly — the engineer signs off and wraps up your session notes. If something pulls you away mid-session, you're still protected: after a few quiet minutes the engineer pauses and the meter stops (idle time is free), and speaking or pressing Space brings you back in about a second. After half an hour of quiet the session ends on its own.

Three ways to talk

Pick a talk mode in Settings → Audio:

  • Always listening — the talkback mic is open and the engineer hears you whenever you speak. Best for recording instruments while you're on headphones. It's the wrong mode for vocal takes: it hears your singing as speech.
  • Push to talk — hold Space while you speak. A dependable choice when you're not wearing headphones, and the most efficient mode for recording vocals — it just needs the keyboard within reach, or a wireless keyboard or controller.
  • "Hey Jude" wake word — designed for recording vocals. While the DAW is recording, the mic closes so your takes stay clean; say "Hey Jude" to open the talkback, and it stays open until the next take rolls. While not recording, it behaves like always listening. If it ever mistakes your vocal for the wake word, switch to push to talk.

Speakers or headphones

Right below the talk mode, Settings → Audio asks what you're listening on. Headphones are the recommended setup: the engineer's voice stays out of the talkback mic, so the mic can stay open while they speak and you can interrupt them mid-sentence, like real talkback.

If you'd rather work on open speakers, set Listening on: Speakers. The talkback mic then mutes itself the whole time the engineer is talking — so the mic never hears their voice — and reopens a moment after they finish. The header shows "mic muted — the engineer is talking" while it's closed. The trade: you can't interrupt the engineer mid-reply, and if you both start talking at once, the engineer wins — just say it again once they finish. In push-to-talk mode this setting changes nothing: holding Space always opens the mic, and pressing it while the engineer talks still cuts them off on purpose.

Your engineer

Seventeen engineers are on the roster — pick yours in Settings → Voice. Every one of them speaks English, and the international engineers are native speakers of French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, or Hindi who follow whatever language you use: talk to Anika in German and the session simply happens in German. If the engineer begins speaking in a language you do not understand, simply ask them to speak your preferred language for this session.

What to say

Takes and transport

  • let's do one
  • roll it
  • take two
  • stop
  • play it back
  • from the top
  • trash that
  • that's the one — keep it

The engineer confirms out loud, takes a breath, and then rolls — so the count never lands on top of you. If nothing is armed, she says so instead of recording thirty seconds of nothing.

Tracks

  • arm the drums
  • solo just the vocal
  • mute everything except kick, snare and hats
  • add the room mics
  • take out the guitar
  • clear the solos

Name tracks the way they're written in your project — and abbreviations are fine. The engineer reads studio shorthand: BD and Kck are the kick, SnTop is the snare's top mic, OH-L is an overhead, Vox and LV are vocals. "The drums" covers the whole kit.

Levels

  • bring the kick up a bit
  • vocal to minus six
  • pan the overheads hard left
  • playback's a little loud

Click and cycle

  • gimme the click
  • turn the click off
  • loop it
  • cycle off

Questions

  • can you hear me?
  • what takes do we have?
  • how much studio time do I have left?

The engineer answers from what the DAW actually reports — armed tracks, mutes and solos, the take history, your studio-time balance. Ask anything you'd glance at a screen for; the answer comes back complete, which also makes Jude fully workable without looking at the screen at all.

What stays in the DAW's hands

  • The engineer can't hear your music. Jude drives the DAW; it never listens to your tracks or your playback. Judging the take is your job — the engineer will play it back for you, not review it.
  • Cycle range and markers are set in the DAW. The engineer can turn cycling on and off, but where the loop sits is yours to drag.
  • Tempo and count-in follow your project settings.
  • In Cubase and Nuendo, the click is toggled in the DAW — it isn't exposed to control surfaces there.
  • A rolling take is sacred. Nothing Jude does — including running out of studio time — will ever stop a take that's recording.

Next: Studio time & plans — how the meter works and what happens when time runs out.