Adobe Audition ® ™ User Guide
Legal Notices Copyright © 2003 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe® Audition™ User Guide for Windows®. If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end-user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license.
iii Contents Legal Notices Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Introduction Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Registration ...................................................1 Customer support .............................................1 Adobe Audition at a Glance Sound Your Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iv CONTENTS Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Graph Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Transport Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Level Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Show Valleys . . . . . . . . . . .
v Vertical Ruler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Recording in Edit View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Wave Display Right-Click Menu Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 File Menu – Edit View New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
vi CONTENTS Insert Play List in Multitrack Select Entire Wave Delete Selection Delete Silence Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Zero Crossings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
vii Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Amplitude Amplify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Binaural Auto-Panner Channel Mixer Dynamics Processing Envelope Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
viii CONTENTS Noise Reduction Special Convolution Distortion Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ix Synchronize Cursor Across Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208 Windows Recording Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 Scripts & Batch Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 Batch Process Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
x CONTENTS Chapter 14 File Menu – Multitrack View About Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273 New Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273 Open Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274 Append to Session Close Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274 . .
xi Show Zoom Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Show Time Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Show Sel/View Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Show Level Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Show Load Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
xii CONTENTS Lock for Play Only Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310 Merge/Rejoin Split Align Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311 Align Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
xiii MIDI Trigger Enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325 MIDI Panic Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325 Synchronize Blocks with Edit View SMPTE Slave Enable SMPTE Master Enable SMPTE Start Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .326 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .326 Sample Accurate Sync . . . .
xiv CONTENTS
1 Introduction elcome to Adobe Audition, the complete multitrack digital audio recorder, editor, and mixer for Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. The combination of Adobe Audition and any Windows sound card puts the power of an entire digital recording studio at your fingertips. So start making some great sounds, and thanks for using Adobe Audition. W Getting Help Adobe provides a variety of options you can use to learn Adobe Audition, including printed guides, online Help, and tool tips.
Adobe also provides several forms of automated technical support: • See the ReadMe file installed with the program for information that became available after this guide went to press. • See the Adobe Audition support page for information on top support issues and trouble- shooting information for common problems.
3 Adobe Audition at a Glance dobe Audition software is a professional audio editing and mixing environment. Designed for audio and video professionals in studios, broadcast facilities, and post-production facilities, Adobe Audition delivers advanced audio mixing, editing, mastering, and effects-processing capabilities. Mix up to 128 tracks, edit individual audio files, create loops, and use more than 45 DSP (digital signal processing) effects.
4 Adobe Audition at a Glance Precise sample rate conversion Convert audio sample rates with confidence: transparent sample-rate conversion guarantees that if you need to change the sample rate of audio, it will sound its best. Ideal for taking CD material at 44.1kHz and upsampling it to 48kHz for video or 96kHz for DVD. Automation envelopes Create smooth volume, pan, effects parameter, and wet/dry transitions for clips in a multitrack mix using sample-accurate automation envelopes or “rubber bands.
ADOBE AUDITION 5 User Guide Use Integrated Tools Adobe Audition integrates many powerful digital audio tools: Complete toolkit for digital audio Handle all of your digital audio editing tasks within a single application: Audition includes an integrated multitrack mixing view, a mono and stereo waveform editing view, effects support, and looping capabilities. Powerful multitrack editing Use the multitrack view for recording, mixing, and editing sessions with up to 128 stereo tracks.
6 Adobe Audition at a Glance
7 Chapter 1: Key Concepts of Adobe Audition T o get the most out of Adobe Audition, you should be familiar with some of its general operating concepts. The following information should help you to understand Adobe Audition’s working model in a few key areas.
8 CHAPTER 1 Key Concepts of Adobe Audition This same model of delayed destructive editing also enables Adobe Audition to offer multiple levels of Undo. When you apply destructive edits to a waveform, Adobe Audition retains a copy of the file as it exists before the edit. It does this for each edit you perform, enabling you to travel back through your edits to previous states of the waveform.
ADOBE AUDITION 9 User Guide In general, if the background mix is not sufficiently complete, you’ll hear a break-up or skipping when playing back the mix. If that happens, just wait a few seconds – Adobe Audition will usually catch up very quickly, and you can begin playing again. Your audio might also start to break up if you are using real-time effects in multitrack view and your system cannot keep up with the processing.
10 CHAPTER 1 Key Concepts of Adobe Audition
11 Chapter 2: Looking at the Work Area ou might think of Adobe Audition as two major audio programs in one. It’s a powerful single-waveform editor that can be used to play, record, modify, and process mono and stereo waveforms. And Adobe Audition can also digitally record and mix numerous audio files (using up to 128 tracks) to either a single sound card or multiple sound cards, while providing for real-time effects and level/pan mix adjustments in a non-destructive editing environment.
12 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Edit View with Organizer Window Active On the other hand, Multitrack View is where Adobe Audition allows you to record, play, and mix multiple tracks of audio in a virtual 128-track recording studio. Real-time effects can be applied, relative track volume and stereo placement may be adjusted, and audio can be played back through single or multiple sound cards.
ADOBE AUDITION 13 User Guide Multitrack View with Organizer Window Active Switching from Edit View to Multitrack View There are several ways to switch from Edit View to Multitrack View. Here are the most popular: • Select Multitrack View from Adobe Audition’s View menu. • Click on the left-most icon on the Adobe Audition File toolbar. • Press F12. Switching from Multitrack View to Edit View Several methods are provided to switch from Multitrack View to Edit View.
14 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Dockable Windows If Adobe Audition’s default interface layout doesn’t quite meet the current needs of your project or screen resolution, you’ll be happy to know that many individual parts of the interface are dockable.
ADOBE AUDITION 15 User Guide To select a docked window, left-click when you’re over a handle. (Notice how the window becomes outlined when selected.) To move a docked window, select it and drag its hollow shape while holding down the left mouse button. As you move it around the Adobe Audition interface, two things will happen. If the outline of a dockable window retains its original dimension, releasing the left-mouse button will cause the window to “materialize” as its own standard floating window.
16 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area You can have up to four placekeeper windows, each created with a click of the Show a Placekeeper command. To delete a docked placekeeper, right-click on its grab bar and select Close from the pop-up menu. Drop-down Menus The Multitrack View’s Options drop-down Menu Adobe Audition’s drop-down menus offer quick and easy access to all session and audio file handling, editing, and signal processing functions, as well as options, viewing properties, and help.
ADOBE AUDITION 17 User Guide Organizer Window Adobe Audition’s Organizer Window is a handy, tabbed window that allows you to easily open and close files, see a list of all open waveforms and MIDI files, choose effects with ease, and more. The Organizer Window is hidden by default. To display it, check Show Organizer Window from Adobe Audition’s View menu, or press the Alt+9 keyboard shortcut.
18 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Note: If you highlight a file and press the Insert Into Multitrack button multiple times, that file is inserted the same number of times, each time into a separate track. For instance, if no other waveforms are in the Multitrack View, highlighting a file and pressing the Insert Into Multitrack button five times places the same file into tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Display In Edit View Push this button to show a highlighted file in Adobe Audition’s Edit View.
ADOBE AUDITION 19 User Guide Group By Category With this control pushed down, the list is shown as an Explorer-like hierarchical tree-type display. Categories and their entries are shown in the same order as they appear on Adobe Audition’s Effects menu. With the Group By Category button in the up position, all effects are displayed in roughly the same order they appear on the Effects and Generate menus.
20 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area The Edit View’s Wave Display The Multitrack View’s Session Display Presets Many of Adobe Audition’s effects and other functions have presets that are available for easily storing and recalling your favorite settings. New presets can be added at any time.
ADOBE AUDITION 21 User Guide The Presets portion of the Amplify Effect’s Dialog Double-clicking on any preset will instantly set all controls in the dialog box to that preset. Whenever you have settings you would like to keep, you may enter a name for your settings, and press the Add button. A dialog pops up, prompting you to name your new preset. Your new preset is added to the list of other presets, which is automatically sorted alphabetically.
22 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area • To move a point on the graph, click and hold on the point and drag to a new location. • To remove a point from the graph, click and hold on the point and drag it off the graph. Note: When the mouse cursor is located over a control point, you’ll see it change from an arrow to a hand.
ADOBE AUDITION 23 User Guide • Play from Cursor to End of View: Adobe Audition plays from the current cursor position to the end of the view. • Play from Cursor to End of File: Audio is played from the current cursor position until the end point of the file or session. (This is the default behavior for this button.) • Play Entire File: When this option is checkmarked, Adobe Audition will play the entire file or session from beginning to end, regardless of the cursor position or view.
24 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Level Meters The incoming signal from your selected sound card(s) is represented as the peak amplitude in decibels, where a level of 0dB is the absolute maximum before clipping occurs. If clipping does occur, the clip indicator to the right of the meter will light up, and remain lit. Clicking on the clipping indicator at any time resets it. Yellow peak indicators will “stick” for 1.5 seconds before resetting to allow for reading of the peak amplitude.
ADOBE AUDITION 25 User Guide 90dB Range Select this option to have the Level Meters display a range of 90 decibels. 75dB Range Click on this entry to display a range of 75 decibels in the Level Meters. 60dB Range This option causes the Level Meters to have a range of 60 decibels. 45dB Range When you choose this option, the Level Meters have a range of 45 decibels. 30dB Range Checking this item gives the Level Meters a range of 30 decibels.
26 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Zoom to Left Selection Click this button to zoom in on the left-hand boundary of the actively selected waveform range or session. Zoom to Right Selection Click this button to zoom in on the right-hand boundary of the actively selected waveform range or session. Vertical Zoom Out In Edit View, clicking this button decreases the vertical scale resolution of a waveform’s amplitude display; in Multitrack View, clicking this button shows more tracks.
ADOBE AUDITION 27 User Guide Since Sel/View Controls is a dockable window, you can reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface. You may also detach the Show Sel/View Controls window and have it float above Adobe Audition’s main window. To close the Sel/View Controls window when it’s floating, click on the “X” control in its title bar. To get rid of the Sel/View Controls window when it’s docked, right-click on its grab bar and select Close from the pop-up menu.
28 CHAPTER 2 Looking at the Work Area Free Space (time) Check this item to have Adobe Audition display the amount of available time left for recording, based upon the currently selected sample rate. This value is shown as minutes, seconds, and thousandths of seconds. For instance, if Adobe Audition is set to record an 8-bit mono waveform at 11,025 kHz, the time left might read something like “4399:15.527 free”.
29 Chapter 3: Wave File Formats Supported by Adobe Audition T he following is a list of the various wave file formats that Adobe Audition currently supports, arranged in the order they appear in Adobe Audition’s Save Waveform As dialog. Some of these formats will have options, so look for the Options… button to be enabled in Adobe Audition’s Save Waveform As dialog. Note: If you want to load from or save to a format that’s not listed here, you may be able to use an ACM Waveform codec to do so.
30 CHAPTER 3 Wave File Formats Supported by Adobe Audition ACM Waveform (.wav): Nearly any file format supported by the Microsoft Audio Compression Manager (ACM) can be loaded or saved in Adobe Audition. The available ACM formats are displayed in the Choose ACM Format dialog that appears when you press the Options… button on the Save Waveform As dialog. Note: The ACM driver you want to use may require that the file be in a specific format before saving.
ADOBE AUDITION 31 User Guide The AIFF format is a good choice for PC/Macintosh cross-platform compatibility. Before you open AIFF files in Adobe Audition, add the .aif or .snd extension to the file and load it using the Apple AIFF file filter. When transferred to a Mac, you can add the four character code “AIFF” in the file’s resource fork to have it recognized (The Macintosh identifies a file through its “resource”, which is stripped away when a file is opened on a PC.
32 CHAPTER 3 Wave File Formats Supported by Adobe Audition As it saves a .cel file, Adobe Audition calculates how much silence is going to be added to the MP3 file and writes this information into the .cel header. Then, when Adobe Audition loads a .cel file, it reads this silence information and automatically removes the silence from the file so that it’ll loop smoothly. Options The file saving options are identical to the ones for mp3PRO® (.mp3) files, which are documented later in this chapter.
ADOBE AUDITION 33 User Guide DVI/IMA ADPCM (.wav) The International Multimedia Association (IMA) flavor of ADPCM compresses 16-bit data to 4 bits/sample (4:1) using a different (faster) method than Microsoft ADPCM, and has different distortion characteristics, which can produce either better or worse results depending on the sample being compressed. As with Microsoft ADPCM, it’s best to save to this format from 16-bit rather than from 8-bit.
34 CHAPTER 3 Wave File Formats Supported by Adobe Audition mp3Pro® (.mp3) The mp3Pro filter enables Adobe Audition to directly encode (save) and decode (open) .mp3 files. When a file is saved as MP3, it’s encoded and compressed as specified by the MP3 settings. As an .mp3 file is opened, it’s decompressed into Adobe Audition’s uncompressed internal format. This allows you to save the .mp3 file back to disk as any file format (including as a standard .wav file).
ADOBE AUDITION 35 User Guide Windows PCM (.wav) The Microsoft Windows WAV format supports both mono and stereo files at a variety of resolutions and sample rates. It follows the RIFF (Resource Information File Format) specification, and allows for extra user information to be embedded and saved with the wave file. WAV files contain PCM coded audio – which is pure, uncompressed Pulse Code Modulation formatted data.
36 CHAPTER 3 Wave File Formats Supported by Adobe Audition PCM Raw Data (.pcm) (.raw) This format is simply the PCM dump of all data for the wave. No header information is contained in the file. For this reason, you’re asked to select the sample rate, resolution, and number of channels upon opening. By opening audio data as PCM, you can interpret almost any audio file format – but make sure you have some idea about the sample rate, number of channels, etc.
37 Chapter 4: Navigating the Edit View dit View is one of Adobe Audition’s two major workspaces (Multitrack View is the other). Use Edit View to record, play, convert, and edit single waveforms…and lots more. A wealth of effects are at your disposal, from delay effects like echoes and reverbs, to advanced functions such as noise reduction and dynamics processing. Most of this chapter will concentrate on the largest portion of the Edit View: the Wave Display.
38 CHAPTER 4 Navigating the Edit View Stereo vs. Mono If a stereo waveform is loaded, the Wave Display is split horizontally. The waveform’s left channel appears at the top of the window while the right channel is at the bottom. A stereo waveform The total height of the Wave Display window is utilized for mono waveforms.
ADOBE AUDITION 39 User Guide • Waveform View – which is Adobe Audition’s default – displays audio data drawn as a series of positive and negative peaks. Spikes in the x-axis (vertical) indicate increased amplitude, and the y-axis (horizontal) represents time. A 15-second stereo .wav file displayed using Waveform View • Spectral View displays a waveform by its frequency components, where the x-axis is frequency, and the y-axis is time.
40 CHAPTER 4 Navigating the Edit View • Left-click and drag the magnifying glass (which appears when your mouse passes over the edge of the Horizontal Portion Bar’s “handle”) to change the viewable range of the Wave Display. Moving the magnifying glass to the left zooms in, while moving it to the right zooms out. • Right-click anywhere on the Horizontal Portion Bar to call up a menu with three zooming options: Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Zoom Full.
ADOBE AUDITION 41 User Guide By default its display format is set to Sample Values (the exact sample value of the audio data), but it can easily be switched to three other types – Normalized Values, Percentage, and Decibels – by doing one of the following: • Right-click on the Vertical Ruler to switch display formats from a pop-up menu. • Go to Adobe Audition’s View > Vertical Scale Format menu and make a selection. • Double-click on the Vertical Ruler to cycle through all of the display formats.
42 CHAPTER 4 Navigating the Edit View Wave Display Right-Click Menu Right-click in the Wave Display window to bring up a menu with several useful commands. Notice that most have keyboard shortcuts listed next to their name. You’ll find that using these shortcuts for frequently used commands will speed up the editing process considerably. Wave Display Right-Click Menu Note: By going to Options > Settings, you can change the behavior of your mouse’s right-click button in the Wave Display.
ADOBE AUDITION 43 User Guide Mix Paste Use Mix Paste to mix any audio data from the active clipboard with the currently shown waveform. (You might think of it as a “quick and dirty” alternative to Adobe Audition’s more powerful and flexible multitrack functions.) Clipboard data is inserted or overlapped beginning at the current insertion point or selection.
44 CHAPTER 4 Navigating the Edit View The Edit Sample Directly dialog. Here are the major components of the Edit Sample Directly dialog: • Sample is the number of the sample as measured from the beginning of the waveform. • Sample Value is the value of the sample as measured using one of the four Interpret As options below. Negative numbers mean that the sample is below the horizontal center of the waveform, while positive numbers mean that the sample is above the waveform’s center.
45 Chapter 5: File Menu – Edit View U se the commands on the File Menu to open, save, and close wave files; import audio from video files; perform batch conversions; access recently used waveforms; and more. New Select File > New to create a new, empty waveform. The New Waveform window appears so that you can choose the new file’s properties. Options are provided for Sample Rate, Channels, and Resolution.
46 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View • 16-bit produces CD-quality waveforms. This setting is suitable for most broadcast and music recording. • 32-bit creates a waveform that lets you work at the 32-bit level. One benefit of 32-bit audio is more precise audio processing, plus the ability to take advantage of the power in sound cards that go beyond the 16-bit standard (such as a 24-bit card). Press the Options button in the Edit View’s File > Save As dialog to access 32-bit options.
ADOBE AUDITION 47 User Guide Look in Use this control to navigate through all available drives and folders. File Name Here’s where you may specify the name of the file you desire to open, if it resides in the current folder. Entering *.extension (such as *.wav or *.mp3) displays all files with that extension in the open folder. Files of type Use this control to filter the display of files in the current folder to a specific type of supported waveform, such as Windows PCM (*.wav) or Next/Sun (*.au;*.snd).
48 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View Note: Appended cue points are automatically placed within Adobe Audition’s Cue List, making it simple to locate the edit boundaries later. Extract Audio from Video The command lets you extract the soundtrack from any type of video file that Adobe Audition supports. The Choose a Video File window (similar to a standard Windows File > Open window) appears, allowing you to select one or more video files.
ADOBE AUDITION 49 User Guide The Extract Audio From CD dialog Here are the major components of the Extract Audio From CD dialog: Device If your system has more than one CD-ROM drive, use this drop-down list to select the drive you want to use for extraction. Source Selection Two methods of choosing the exact audio you wish to extract are provided: Track and Time. • Track: If you want to extract one or more complete CD tracks, push the Track button.
50 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View Interface Options Two main options are provided: Generic Win32 and ASPI/SPTI. Under normal circumstances, ASPI/SPTI should be selected. (ASPI, developed by Adaptec, stands for Advance SCSI Programming Interface. SPTI is an acronym for SCSI Pass Through Interface, and was implemented by Microsoft as an Operating System-supported way of sending SCSI commands; at this writing it’s only available on Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
ADOBE AUDITION 51 User Guide • Spin Up Before Extraction: Some CD-ROM drives have better accuracy when they first read the CD if the drive is already spinning. If your drive is like this, check the Spin Up Before Extraction box. Otherwise, having this box checked doesn’t really provide any advantages. Error Correction If a CD-ROM drive supports SCSI3 and ReadCD, it’s automatically “CDDA Accurate”. This means that the drive has ripping error correction built in.
52 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View Save This saves a modified waveform to disk using the waveform’s existing name and format. No options are provided. Note: To save newly recorded waveforms, use the File > Save As command. Save As This command brings up the Save Waveform As window, which allows you to save the current waveform to a new name, location, or format. The File > Save As function is also used to save newly recorded waveforms to disk.
ADOBE AUDITION 53 User Guide Note: Some formats can’t be written to using waveforms of certain sample types. In this case, Adobe Audition asks you if you want to convert before saving. Adobe Audition also warns you if you’re trying to save a waveform to a compressed (lossy) format, and suggests that you keep a backup of your original file if you wish to preserve full audio fidelity. If you don’t want to see this dialog box again, check the Don’t display this message in the future box.
54 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View The Files Screen of the Batch File Convert Dialog Press the Remove button to delete highlighted files from the list, or click on the Remove All button to delete all files from the list. Check the Hide Path box if you don’t want to see the full path of each file. If you’re converting Raw PCM files, press the Open Raw PCM As button to pick the desired Sample Rate, Channels, Resolution, and other properties.
ADOBE AUDITION 55 User Guide The Resample Screen of the Batch File Convert Dialog Pressing the Change Destination Format button brings up Adobe Audition’s Convert Sample Type window, where you can select the destination files’ sample properties. 3 New Format Here’s where you choose the format of the destination files. Use the Output Format drop-down control to pick the desired format from all of Adobe Audition’s supported file types.
56 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View The New Format Screen of the Batch File Convert Dialog Click on the Format Properties button to bring up the Options screen for the destination format. For example, if you’re converting waveforms to .mp3 format, you’ll see the MPEG-1 Layer 3 Encoder Options screen, where you can adjust the properties for the .mp3 files you’re creating. The Sample Format Types box lists the sample properties of the waveforms that are to be converted.
ADOBE AUDITION 57 User Guide The Destination Screen of the Batch File Convert Dialog Decide how you want the files renamed by modifying the text in the Output Filename Template field. In most cases, the default renaming method is fine (the first part of the filename remains the same but the extension is changed). However, several example templates are shown as guides in case you wish to be more creative in your renaming.
58 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View The Free Up Space In Temp Files Dialog Waveform The Waveform list displays the names of the currently open waveforms. Select the name of the file for which you’d like to remove Undo instances. Press the Close File button to close the highlighted file if you no longer need it opened in Adobe Audition. This frees up hard drive space as well. (The waveform in the currently active editing window can’t be closed this way, however.
ADOBE AUDITION 59 User Guide MRU List The Most Recently Used list displays the last nine audio files opened in Adobe Audition. You can quickly open any of these files (providing they haven’t been deleted or moved) by selecting it from the list with your mouse. Or, type the number that’s associated with the desired file. Exit As you’d expect, this command closes Adobe Audition. If there are any modified waveforms that are open that haven’t been saved to disk, you’ll be asked if you want to save them.
60 CHAPTER 5 File Menu – Edit View
61 Chapter 6: Edit Menu – Edit View T he Edit Menu displays all of the options that have to do with basic waveform editing in the Edit View mode. Undo This command reverses the last action, as long as the Undo function is turned on (see Enable Undo/Redo below). Adobe Audition conveniently tells you which action you’re undoing. For instance, this menu item might say, Undo Delete or Undo Normalize.
62 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Repeat Last Command Just as you’d expect, this item repeats the last command. Most editing functions in Adobe Audition can be repeated using this command, but there are a few exceptions (such as Delete). Set Current Clipboard Adobe Audition gives you access to five internal clipboards for temporary data storage. Each works similarly to the Windows clipboard, except without the memory limitations.
ADOBE AUDITION 63 User Guide Mix Paste Use Mix Paste to mix any audio data from the active clipboard with the currently shown waveform. (You might think of it as a “quick and dirty” alternative to Adobe Audition’s more powerful and flexible multitrack functions.) Mix Paste Dialog Clipboard data is inserted or overlapped beginning at the current insertion point or selection.
64 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Replace This option pastes the contents of the active clipboard beginning at the cursor location, and replaces the existing material thereafter for the duration of clipboard data. For instance, pasting 5 seconds of material replaces the first 5 seconds after the cursor with the clipboard’s contents. Modulate Select this option to modulate the clipboard audio with the current waveform for an interesting effect.
ADOBE AUDITION 65 User Guide Select Entire Wave Choose this command to select the current waveform. It doesn’t make any difference if you can’t see the entire waveform on screen – the whole thing is highlighted. You may also select the entire wave by double left-clicking within the Wave Display window. Delete Selection This command removes the highlighted portion of the waveform.
66 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Find Levels Press this button to scan the waveform (or a highlighted section) to have Adobe Audition automatically determine a good starting point for signal levels. After completing the scan, suggested values are automatically placed in the appropriate boxes. If these values aren’t doing the job – say, words or phrases are being chopped off – try lowering the signal level values. Increase the signal level values if not enough silence is being removed.
ADOBE AUDITION 67 User Guide Having a selection start and end on a Zero Crossing is useful in deleting or inserting a selection in the middle of a waveform. If you don’t line up the amplitudes (at zero, in this case) on both sides of the selection, the end points drawn together when the highlighted selection is removed are at different amplitudes, which often results in an audible pop or click.
68 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Auto-Cue The Auto-Cue feature is used to define spoken/music phrases or beats, and automatically add them to the Cue List. To use Auto-Cue, first highlight the general region in which you wish to find phrases or beats. Then, select Edit > AutoCue and the appropriate submenu choice from the following options: • Adjust Selection to Phrase: Selects a phrase within the highlighted region by adjusting the highlight inward, ignoring any silence before and after the audio.
ADOBE AUDITION 69 User Guide • Trim Digital Silence: This command removes pure digital silence from the beginning and ending of a file. However, if you highlight the middle of a waveform, Trim Digital Silence will act as a normal Trim command, trimming out everything else, in addition to any digital silence in the highlighted region at the endpoints.
70 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View 1 Choose Files Tab A list of all the currently open waveforms is shown. Choose the ones you wish to normalize by using the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple non-contiguous and contiguous files respectively. (This is similar to the way you pick multiple files in Windows Explorer.) You can also just click and drag to highlight a group of waves.
ADOBE AUDITION 71 User Guide The Analyze Loudness Tab of the Group Waveform Normalization Dialog These statistics are shown: EQ-Loud This is the final loudness value with an equal-loudness equalization curve that takes into account frequencies the human ear is more or less sensitive to. If Use Equal Loudness Curve is chosen in the final Normalize step, then this is the value that will be used to determine how much to amplify the audio to normalize it.
72 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Double-click on any of the files in this list to see a more detailed account of statistics including: a complete RMS Histogram, which shows the relative amounts of audio at each loudness level, and a Clipping Profile, which shows how much clipping will occur for each decibel of amplification. 3 Normalize Tab This is the area where you specify how you’d like to have Adobe Audition normalize the listed waveforms.
ADOBE AUDITION 73 User Guide Out of Band Peaks These settings determine how Adobe Audition handles out of band peaks. When amplifying audio, the audio samples may go beyond clipping. If this happens, you can choose to just let it clip (and cause distortion) – or you can apply limiting to those areas so the audio doesn't actually clip (which is what’s commonly done for the audio of TV commercials so they sound louder).
74 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Adjust Sample Rate Dialog Choosing a higher sample rate results in Adobe Audition playing back the file at higher pitch (think “chipmunks”), while selecting a lower sample rate results in a lower-pitched sound (think “drunk Darth Vader”). Sample Rate The sampling rate you choose determines the overall bandwidth (how many frequencies can be encoded within the audio signal). Higher sampling rates yield a wider bandwidth.
ADOBE AUDITION 75 User Guide • 44,100 Hz CD Quality • 48,000 Hz DAT Quality • 96,000 Hz DVD Quality Non-standard sample rates can be entered directly into the numeric sample rate window. Channels This setting is disabled in Adjust Sample Rate.
76 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Sample Rate The sampling rate you choose determines the overall bandwidth (how many frequencies can be encoded within the audio signal). Higher sampling rates generally yield better-quality waveforms. Enter any sample rate directly, or choose a common sample rate from the list. Keep in mind that most sound cards support only certain sample rates. Low/High Quality Use this slider to adjust the quality of the sampling conversion.
ADOBE AUDITION 77 User Guide If Dither isn’t checked, quiet audio passages will just fade in and out of a disruptive, “choppy” sound that resembles falling rain or static. Whether or not dithering is used depends on the audio that’s being converted and, of course, your preferences. Enable Dithering Check this box to activate Dithering; uncheck the box to turn Dithering off. Note: If Dithering isn’t enabled, Adobe Audition truncates instead.
78 CHAPTER 6 Edit Menu – Edit View Note: Different curves result in different types of background noise. The type of curve to use depends on the source audio, final sample rate, and bit resolution. By introducing noise shaping, you may be able to get away with lower Dither depths to reduce the overall background noise level, without introducing a lot of unwanted harmonic noise. Curve Sample Rate Noise Shaping A 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz Noise Shaping B 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz Noise Shaping C1 44.
79 Chapter 7: View Menu – Edit View T he View Menu displays options that relate to changing the display or viewable area when you’re in the Edit View Mode. For many of the items, a checkmark is shown next to their menu entries to designate that they’re active. Multitrack View Access this command to go to Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View, where you can digitally mix up to 128 tracks to one or more sound cards. Pressing the leftmost button in the Edit View’s File toolbar takes you to Multitrack View mode.
80 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Show Cue List The command opens the Cue List window, which is a dockable window. This means you can reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface. Or, you can even detach the Play List window and have it float above Adobe Audition’s main window. Cue List Dialog with Edit Cue Info Mode Active An unlimited number of cues may be defined and saved in the Cue List for later recall, or for assembling in Adobe Audition’s Play List.
ADOBE AUDITION 81 User Guide Here are the four cue types: • Basic: Basic Cues are used to mark important sections of the waveform for later reference (for example, to remind yourself of an editing point). They’re also used to specify stop and start positions for the Adobe Audition’s Play List. • Beat: Beat Cues are just like Basic Cues, but they’re specifically for marking musical beats.
82 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View The Cue Handle context menu The Cue Handle context menu has these commands: • Go To Cue List: Accessing this command displays the Cue List, or if the Cue List is already displayed, makes it the active window. • Change Cue Type: Use this entry and its submenu to change a Cue from one type to another. A checkmark designates the current Cue type. • Make Range: If the Cue is already a point cue, this command turns it into a range cue.
ADOBE AUDITION 83 User Guide Del This button deletes all of the highlighted items in the Cue List. Just as in a Windows Explorer window, you can depress your Shift key as you click to select and highlight multiple contiguous files, or hold down the Ctrl key as you click to select and highlight multiple non-contiguous files. Merge Click on the Merge button to combine highlighted entries in the Cue List into a single, combined cue that spans the earliest and latest locations in the two cues.
84 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Destination Folder This is the folder where Adobe Audition will place your new “split” files. Press the Browse… button to open the Choose Destination Folder window. Output Format Use this drop-down control to select the desired output format. If the selected format has options, the Options… button will be enabled, allowing you to select them. Show Play List Select this item to display Adobe Audition’s Play List window.
ADOBE AUDITION 85 User Guide Autocue This control plays the currently highlighted item in the Play List (or the first item if nothing is highlighted), and stops on the next item in the Play List. Thus, the next item in the Play List will be played every time Autocue is pressed. Move Up Push this button to move the highlighted item in the Play List up one position. Move Down Click on this button to move the highlighted item in the Play List down one position.
86 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Note: More information on the Level Meters can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Show a Placekeeper Select Show a Placekeeper to create a blank, dockable window called a “placekeeper”. Use it to more accurately define where you want a dockable window to be, especially for windows that are only useful when viewed in a certain aspect ratio. Note: More information on Placekeepers can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter.
ADOBE AUDITION 87 User Guide Edit Tempo This command brings up the Edit Tempo window. Use this function to calculate the tempo or BPM (Beats Per Minute) value based on the currently highlighted selection. Adobe Audition uses the BPM value in displaying ruler information for the Bars and Beats time format. Also, any settings that follow the base time format will work in Bars and Beats mode as well (like Viewing Range).
88 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View • Define Custom Frames: Clicking on this option brings up the Adobe Audition Settings screen open to the General tab, where you may enter a new value (measured in frames/second) in the Custom Time Code Display field. Vertical Scale Format This menu lets you choose between several vertical scale formats for use in the y-axis vertical) ruler, including Sample Values, Normalized Values, Percentage, and Decibels.
ADOBE AUDITION 89 User Guide Options are also provided to limit how many rows of toolbar icons Adobe Audition displays at any one time: one row, two rows, or three rows. Status Bar Access the items on the Status Bar submenu to turn on Adobe Audition’s status bar – which runs along the bottom of the Adobe Audition window – as well as decide which information fields you wish displayed there. You can also find this menu by right-clicking on the status bar.
90 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Use the Text Field Names drop-down list to choose which field format you’d like Adobe Audition to display in the Text Field window: Standard RIFF, Radio Industry, or MP3 (ID3 Tag). If you select Standard RIFF, these fields are available: • Display Title: This should describe the sound, or if there are words in the waveform, the text. This field should be as short as possible, since it will be displayed in OLE objects and the like.
ADOBE AUDITION 91 User Guide • Subject: Use this field to describe the contents of the file. Feel free to include a description of the instruments used, where someone can find the song recorded, etc. Line returns are OK, and are created by pressing Ctrl+J. Sometimes copyright information is placed here as well. For instance: “The shakuhachi of Japan.The shakuhachi was developed in the 15th century from a Chinese end-blown flute, called the chiba.
92 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View • Comments: This area is for making any comments you wish. Feel free to include the name of any music, sound effects, or enhancements you made to any preexisting waves, so that the editing history can be tracked. Don’t use line returns (i.e., don’t hit the Enter key after completing a line), but end each sentence with a period. Sample entry: “Music came from Music Library Disc 17, cut 3, while the doorbell SFX came from Sound Effects Library Disc 3, cut 57.
ADOBE AUDITION 93 User Guide One Shot Choose this option if the file isn’t a loop. Number of Beats Enter the waveform’s number of beats in this field. When you do so, the BPM (Beats Per Minute) is automatically calculated and entered into the Tempo box below. Tempo This is the number of beats per minute in the waveform. Enter this figure directly, or when you fill in the Number of Beats field above, the Tempo value is automatically calculated. Key Use this drop-down menu to enter the waveform’s key.
94 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Originator Reference You can enter up to 32 characters of reference information here about the producer. Origination Date (yyyy-mm-dd) This field should contain the date that the subject matter was created. The date should be in the year-month-day format, using “0” as a place holder in single-digit values. For example, if the date the original recording was made was June 8, 2001, then it needs to be written as: 2001-06-08.
ADOBE AUDITION 95 User Guide Target Product Code You can’t edit this information, but this field will show a proper value if a sampler has written a .wav file with this sampler information chunk present. Sample Period The sample rate (or within 1Hz of it) is automatically placed into this box. You can change the text in this field if you wish the sampler to think the data is at a different rate than it actually is.
96 CHAPTER 7 View Menu – Edit View Misc Tab Wave Properties Dialog – Misc tab Press the Bitmap button in this window to browse your system for a .bmp or .dib file that can be used to represent the audio file when it’s displayed in OLE-compatible applications and in Explorer. For best results, choose a 32x32 pixel image. If the Use default wave color box is checked, then the same wave color used for your current color scheme (the color of an unselected waveform in the Edit View wave display) is used.
97 Chapter 8: Effects Menu – Edit View T he Effects menu displays all the options that relate to waveform transformation (signal processing) functions when you’re in Adobe Audition’s Edit View mode. In other words, if you want to apply a “cool” effect to your audio, you’ll be able to do it – and lots more – here. Invert This function simply inverts the waveform’s samples, so that all positive offsets are negative and all negative offsets are positive.
98 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Amplify dialog – Constant Amplification tab Amplification (Constant Amplification Tab) Move the slider(s) for the amount of volume change you wish to apply to the selection. Any figure over an amplification value of 100% or 0dB makes the selection louder; a figure below 100% or 0dB reduces the volume.
ADOBE AUDITION 99 User Guide Initial Amplification (Fade Tab) Move the slider(s) for the amount of volume change you wish to apply to the beginning of the selection. Any figure over an amplification value of 100% or 0dB makes the selection louder; a figure below 100% or 0dB reduces the volume. To achieve a fading in effect, choose an Initial Amplification value that’s lower than that of the Final Amplification value.
100 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View View all Settings in dB When checked, amplification values are entered and shown in decibels; otherwise they’re entered as a percentage of the original waveform. Presets Adobe Audition comes with a nice selection of amplification presets including several fades and pans. More information on presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter.
ADOBE AUDITION 101 User Guide Binaural Auto-Panner dialog Frequency Graph Time is represented along the x-axis (horizontal edge), and frequency along the y-axis (vertical edge). As you go to the right of the graph, you are setting the frequency characteristics of the highlighted sample later and later in time. The settings chosen will vary between the low and high settings depending on where the graph dictates the signals should be.
102 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Flat Pressing the Flat button will reset the graph to its default state, removing all control points. Low/High Settings There are two sets of settings for control of binaural frequencies. Low Settings all correspond to the lower part of the graph (points dragged near the bottom), and High Settings affect the top. • Frequency: This is the binaural frequency that will be encoded into the final process.
ADOBE AUDITION 103 User Guide Preview Press the Preview button to audition the selected Channel Mixer setting before you apply it to the waveform. The selection is looped until you press the Stop button. Since Adobe Audition’s Previews are dynamic, this gives you the opportunity to make and hear Channel Mixer adjustments as the selection is continuously played. Check the Bypass box to hear the waveform without any changes in channel mixing for a quick “before and after” comparison.
104 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Graph The graph depicts input level along the x-axis (left and right) and the new output level along the y-axis (up and down). A line that flows directly from the lower-left to the upper-right (default) depicts a signal that has been left untouched, since every input value goes to the exact matching output value. Adjusting the shape of this line will adjust the input or output assignments, thereby altering the dynamic range.
ADOBE AUDITION 105 User Guide Traditional Tab Dynamics Processing dialog – Traditional tab The Traditional tab lets you enter ratios and thresholds numerically. You can input Compress, Flat, or Expand settings for up to six sections or stages, each with its own ratio and threshold setting. Simply enter the data to match the compressor you want. For example, to create a 3:1 compressor above -20dB, choose Compress from the drop-down list, enter 3 (for 3:1) in the Above line, and -20dB for the threshold.
106 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Dynamics Processing dialog – Attack/Release tab Gain Processor The Gain Processor amplifies or attenuates the signal depending on the amplitude detected. Here are its components: • Output Gain is a gain applied to the output signal. It’s the last step performed on the audio. • Attack Time is applied just before output. Attack time determines the time in milliseconds that it takes for the processed output signal to reach its specified output volume.
ADOBE AUDITION 107 User Guide Level Detector The Level Detector determines the current waveform input amplitude, which is used as the input side of the dynamics processor. Here are its components: • Input Gain is added to the signal before it goes into the Level Detector (the section that detects the current level). This essentially “pushes” the graph up or down by the gain given. • Attack Time is applied when retrieving the current amplitude information.
108 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Dynamics Processing dialog – Band Limiting tab Low Cutoff This is the lowest frequency that dynamics processing will affect. You can define a band, or range, to which compression or expansion is applied, within the current frequency range. The Low Cutoff point is the bottom boundary in defining this band. For example, with values of 1000 for Low Cutoff and 5000 for High Cutoff, dynamics processing only affects audio in the frequency range of 1kHz to 5kHz.
ADOBE AUDITION 109 User Guide You might want to use this feature on a copy of your waveform instead of the original file. Presets Adobe Audition comes with several Dynamic Range presets, including some great-sounding compression and limiting settings. More information on presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Preview Press the Preview button to audition the selected dynamic range processing setting before you apply it to the waveform.
110 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Note: For more information about Adobe Audition’s graph controls (such as how to add and remove control points), see the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Spline Curves Check this option to generate a smoother, best fit curve instead of a straight line between control points on the graph. When you use Spline Curves, the line will not ordinarily travel directly through the control points; rather, the points control the shape of this curve.
ADOBE AUDITION 111 User Guide Hard Limiter dialog Here are the major components of the Hard Limiter window: Limit Max Amplitude to This is the maximum sample amplitude that will be allowed. To avoid clipping when working with 16-bit audio, set this value to no more than -0.1dB; if you set it to -0.5dB, you’ll have a little more headroom for any future edits. Boost Input by Before performing the limiting, the audio may be pre-amplified first.
112 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Preview Press the Preview button to audition the selected hard limiting adjustment before you apply it to the waveform. The selection is played over and over (“looped”) until you press the Stop button. Since Adobe Audition’s Previews are dynamic, this gives you the opportunity to make and hear changes as the selection is looped. Check the Bypass box to hear the waveform without any changes in hard limiting for a quick “before and after” comparison.
ADOBE AUDITION 113 User Guide Pan/Expand The Pan/Expand effect is used to pan, or shift, the center channel of a stereo waveform. It also lets you expand or narrow the stereo separation of the left and right channels. Pan/Expand dialog Center Channel Panning makes use of the “surround” and “center” channels of a stereo recording, where the “surround” channel is the difference (L-R) of the two original channels, and “center” is the sum (L+R) of them.
114 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Stereo Expand This graph shows the expand level over time. This either amplifies (>100%) or removes (<100%) the differences between channels. The graph’s x-axis (horizontal) represents the length of the waveform or selection, while the y-axis (vertical) represents the percentage of stereo expansion. With some material, a stereo expanding effect may be achieved by increasing the differences between the left and right channels.
ADOBE AUDITION 115 User Guide Stereo Field Rotate dialog Note: If you specify a stereo field rotation of 180 degrees, both the left and right channels are 180 degrees out of phase. This means that the waveform is inverted. (This is the same as choosing the Invert effect from the Effects menu). At 90 degrees right, only the right channel is inverted. At 90 degrees left, just the left channel is inverted.
116 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View If you have Adobe Audition’s Phase Analysis window (Analyze > Phase Analysis) open, you can actually watch the stereo field rotate. So, if your graph is drawn to rotate more and more to the right, you’ll see the phase rotating clockwise (to the left). But, if you have Invert checked, that same graph will now rotate the phase image to the right. However, you’ll actually hear the audio start panning to the right if your graph started at 0.
ADOBE AUDITION 117 User Guide Chorus dialog Adobe Audition uses a direct-simulation method of achieving the chorus effect, which means that each voice (or layer) is made to sound distinct from the original by slightly varying the timing, intonation, and vibrato. You can use the Feedback setting to add extra detail to the result. You’ll get better results if you convert mono files to stereo before applying a Chorus effect.
118 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Delay Rate This parameter determines the time taken for the delay to cycle from its zero-to-maximum delay setting. Because the actual delay used varies over time, the pitch of the sample will increase or decrease over time, placing each voice slightly out of tune with the others (which is what gives the effect of a separate voice).
ADOBE AUDITION 119 User Guide With very high settings, you can achieve interesting special effects (as in the preset Another Dimension). Stereo Chorus Mode The Stereo Chorus Mode settings are only active when working with stereo files. They determine where the individual voices will be placed in the stereo field, as well as how the original stereo signal will be interpreted.
120 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Keep the original signal near 100% and reduce the Wet Out to give the singer or instrument a “backup chorus”. Reduce the blend to 30% or so to blend the original signal with the processed chorus. Use Adobe Audition’s multitrack mixing capabilities to dynamically bring in and fade out the chorus. Add the chorus effect to a copy of the original audio and set this value to zero to create a chorus-only version of the original.
ADOBE AUDITION 121 User Guide By reducing the delay times further down into the 1-14 millisecond range, you can spatially locate a mono sound (a sound with the same information for both the left and right channels) so that it appears as though the sound is coming from the left or the right side, even though the actual volume levels for left and right of the wave are identical.
122 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Dynamic Delay dialog Dynamic Delay is especially cool when used as a real-time effect in the Multitrack View. If you add the dynamic delay (or Dynamic EQ, which has a similar principle) to the Multitrack View, you get a new envelope that determines the delay. Original - Delayed Slider Use this control to mix in the desired amounts of original and delayed audio. The more of the original signal you have in the mix, the less delay you’d have – and vice-versa.
ADOBE AUDITION 123 User Guide Feedback Graph Use the Feedback Graph to specify the amount of feedback in the Dynamic Delay effect. The x-axis (horizontal edge) represents the timeline of the selection, while the y-axis (vertical edge) represents the percentage of feedback. Functionally, the Feedback Graph works just like any other Adobe Audition graph control.
124 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Echo dialog Achieve effects ranging from a Grand Canyon-type “Hello-ello-llo-lo-o” to “boingy” drain pipe sounds by varying the delay amount. Change a room’s characteristic sound from one with reflective surfaces (yielding echoes that have a bright, shiny high-end) to one that is almost totally absorptive (very little reflected high-end sounds) by equalizing the delays.
ADOBE AUDITION 125 User Guide • Echo Bounce: Select this option to make the echoes bounce back and forth between the left and right channels. If you want to create one echo that bounces back and forth, select an initial echo volume of 100% for the one side (left or right), and 0% for the other. Otherwise, the settings for each channel will bounce to the other, creating two sets of echoes on each channel.
126 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Echo Chamber dialog One cool use for this function is to give a stereo effect to monaural audio by adding ambiance. Choosing a “left” microphone placement that is one or two feet away from the “right” microphone will simulate a listener’s ears and will give the effect of “being there”. (Try monitoring the result with headphones to experience the best effect.
ADOBE AUDITION 127 User Guide Damping Factors Use damping factors to describe the type of virtual room in which the audio is being played. These factors can simulate wall coverings, floor coverings, and other objects in the room that absorb sound. Granted, in real life, various objects absorb different frequencies, but in this simulation all frequencies are reflected equally.
128 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Damping Frequency The Damping Frequency value lets you specify an upper frequency limit of sound that will be reflected. For instance, if you set a damping frequency of 7000Hz, then frequencies above 7000Hz will be cut for each unit of time. Use lower values to get a “warmer” feel. Presets Several Echo Chamber presets come with Adobe Audition. More information on presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter.
ADOBE AUDITION 129 User Guide Initial Mix Delay This slider sets the point in milliseconds at which flanging will start behind the original. The flanging effect occurs by cycling over time from an initial delay setting to a second (or final) delay setting. Final Mix Delay This control sets the point in milliseconds at which flanging will end behind the original.
130 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Full Reverb Full Reverb, like Adobe Audition’s standard Reverb effect, is used to simulate acoustic space. It’s also convolutionimpulse-based (like the standard Reverb), which means there are no ringing, metallic, or other artificial sounding artifacts. However, specific resonating can be achieved if desired (see Coloration).
ADOBE AUDITION 131 User Guide Total Length This is essentially the time, measured in milliseconds, that it takes for the reverb to decay 60dB. However, depending on the Coloration parameters, certain frequencies may take longer to decay to 60dB, while other frequencies may decay much faster. Longer values give longer reverb tails, but also take longer to compute. The effective limit is about 6000 milliseconds (a 6-second tail).
132 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Early Reflections Tab Full Reverb dialog – Early Reflections tab Room Size This is the actual volume of the virtual room, as measured in cubic meters. The larger a room is, the longer the reverbs are for that room. Use this control to create virtual rooms from only a few meters to giant coliseums. Dimension The ratio between the room’s width (left to right) and depth (front to back) can be chosen with this slider.
ADOBE AUDITION 133 User Guide Good settings are generally between 80Hz and 150Hz. Set Reverb Based on Early Reflection Room Size Once a room size and dimension are chosen, it is advisable to click this button to set the reverb length and attack time to match the current room size. This will make for a more convincing listening experience. While the reverb length and attack can be adjusted later, this provides a starting point for experimentation.
134 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View ms Box This is the time, specified in milliseconds, that it will take for the reverb to decay at each frequency following the coloration curve. For more colored reverbs, use lower settings (like 100 to 250). Values up to 700 work fine. Basically, the lower the value, the more the graph affects the resultant reverberation.
ADOBE AUDITION 135 User Guide Preview Press the Preview button to audition the current Full Reverb setting before you apply it to the waveform. The selection is looped until you press the Stop button. Since Adobe Audition’s Previews are dynamic, this gives you the opportunity to make and hear processing adjustments as the selection is continuously played. Make sure that there is enough silence at the end of the waveform for the reverb trails to complete.
136 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Delay Units This is a numbered list that displays the different Delay Units and their settings in the format: Delay [delay time] at [Offset] ([Feedback percentage]). Click on a delay unit in the list to adjust the Delay Settings sliders for that particular Delay Unit. The Add button creates a new Delay Unit with the current Delay Settings, and the Remove button deletes the currently highlighted Delay Unit. You can create a maximum of 10 Delay Units.
ADOBE AUDITION 137 User Guide When designing a reverb, it helps to cut some of the high frequencies to simulate absorption of the high frequencies by the surrounding walls. • Cutoff: Frequencies below this setting are affected by the Low-Cut filter. Frequencies above this setting are affected by the High-Cut filter. Changes in the cutoff value affect the tone of the echoes, as more or less of the frequencies are affected by the filter. • Boost is the amount of filtering to perform.
138 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View QuickVerb Like Adobe Audition’s two other reverb effects (Full Reverb and Reverb), QuickVerb allows you to add reverberation to your audio in order to simulate a different acoustic space. However, since it isn’t convolution-based like Full Reverb and Reverb (which require more power to run, thus increasing the processing load on your system) QuickVerb is faster to use.
ADOBE AUDITION 139 User Guide • Set the percentage of source audio to leave in the effect using the Original Signal (dry) slider, or type in the percentage directly in the text box to the right. • Set the percentage of reverb to place in the effect using the Reverb (wet) slider, or type in the percentage directly in the text box to the right. Presets Adobe Audition comes with several QuickVerb presets. More information on presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter.
140 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View To simulate specific rooms that have both echoes and reverb, use Adobe Audition’s Echo effect first to get the “size” of the room sound, and then use Reverb to make it sound more natural. This function can create a sense of spaciousness in a monophonic signal (one that has been recorded as or converted into a stereo audio file).
ADOBE AUDITION 141 User Guide A setting of 100 and a reverb length of 2000 milliseconds or more creates interesting canyon effects. Mixing The Mixing section provides the following options: Original Signal (dry) This setting determines how much of the unprocessed (dry) signal is mixed into the final output. In general, the more reverb you add, the lower the original signal volume should be. In most cases, a value of 90% or so should work well.
142 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Sweeping Phaser dialog A phase is similar to a flange, except that instead of using a simple delay, frequencies are phase-shifted over time. When used on stereo files, the stereo image can be dramatically altered to create some truly interesting sounds. Filter Characteristics Sweep Gain This slider lets your apply variable amounts of Sweep Gain, which is the gain applied to the phased signal.
ADOBE AUDITION 143 User Guide Stereo Phase Difference This is the degree which the sweep interval is shifted between the channels of a stereo waveform. Values farther away from 0 or 360 cause the sweep to occur at increasingly distant intervals between the left and right channels. A value of 180 yields a complete difference. Both positive numbers (from 1 through 359) and negative numbers (from -1 through -359) may be entered in this field.
144 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Filters Use filters to modify a signal’s frequency content. The effects in this menu can be used to alter an audio file or selected range’s frequency content in many different ways. Dynamic EQ Dynamic EQ allows you to change the amount of equalization over the length of the waveform.
ADOBE AUDITION 145 User Guide Q (Bandwidth) Tab The Q (bandwidth) window’s graph is used to adjust the amount of Q used by the Dynamic EQ effect. The x-axis (horizontal) ruler represents the length of the selection, while the y-axis (vertical) ruler represents the frequency that’s boosted or cut.
146 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View FFT Filter The graphic nature of the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) Filter makes it easy to draw curves or notches for rejecting or boosting specific frequencies. Use it to create band-pass filters (which keeps only a certain band of frequencies), high/low-pass filters (for reducing or eliminating the low or high-end frequencies), narrow-band pass filters (to simulate the sound of a telephone call), or notch filters (which eliminate very narrow frequency bands).
ADOBE AUDITION 147 User Guide View Initial Filter Graph/View Final When the Lock to Constant Filter box isn’t checked, you can choose both an Initial and a Final filter setting. Filtering will gradually go from the initial state to the final state. The rate at which the filter migrates from the initial to final settings depends on the Transition Curve settings.
148 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Morph If Morph is checked, the transition from the initial filter settings to the final filter settings will actually “morph”” from one to the other. If this is not checked, the settings simply change in linear fashion over time. For example, if you leave Morph unchecked and have a spike at 10kHz for the initial filter and a spike at 1kHz for the final filter, the spike at 10kHz will gradually decrease, and the spike at 1K will gradually increase over time.
ADOBE AUDITION 149 User Guide FFT Filter Transition Curve dialog Transition Curve Select this button to open the Transition Curve window. It displays a graphical representation of the transition from initial to final filter settings. The top graph shows time along the x axis (with the left representing the start of your sample, and the right side representing the end), and where in the transition you are allowed the y axis (with 0% representing your initial filter, and 100% representing your final filter).
150 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Graphic Equalizer With the Graphic Equalizer, you can boost or cut the signal at particular frequency bands, and have a visual representation of the overall EQ curve. Unlike the Parametric Equalizer, the Graphic Equalizer uses preset frequency band controls for quick and easy frequency equalization.
ADOBE AUDITION 151 User Guide Gain This is where you enter the exact value for the gain (measured in dB) being used in the chosen band. Graph Actual Response Because this is an FIR filter, the response may not actually match the desired equalization curve at lower accuracy levels. Press this button to see the actual response of the equalizer rendered in the window above the band sliders.
152 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Graphic Phase Shifter dialog Note: For more information about Adobe Audition’s graph controls (such as how to add and remove control points), see the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Most surround sound stereo decoders do different things with audio depending on the phase relationship. If you’re trying to take advantage of surround sound, try making just one channel 90 degrees out of phase. This would play the audio on all channels when surround-sound decoded.
ADOBE AUDITION 153 User Guide Uncheck the box the have the y-axis ruler display values from +180 degrees (top) to -180 degrees (bottom). Log Frequency Scale Check this option to represent the values of the graph’s x-axis (horizontal) ruler logarithmically. You would use this mode to work at finer detail in the lower frequencies. Log scale is how the ear hears, so evenly spaced locations on the log scale represent what we hear as evenly spaced frequencies. Each octave occupies a fixed width on the display.
154 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Notch Filter dialog Tones to Notch Here you may select and enter up to six frequencies to notch. Click in the checkbox to activate the box for entering a particular frequency (measured in Hz). You can apply different amounts of attenuation for each frequency by unchecking Fix Attenuations to at the bottom of the Notch Filter dialog. Then, enter the attenuation level (measured in dB) desired.
ADOBE AUDITION 155 User Guide Parametric Equalizer Parametric equalizers are used for fine editing of frequencies within a sound. They differ from equalizers that offer a specific number of frequencies and Q bandwidths (which determines how many overall frequencies will be affected by a single, selected frequency control) in that they give you continuous control over the frequency, Q, and gain settings.
156 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Low Shelf Cutoff High and low pass filters cut the extreme high- or low-end of the audio spectrum. The low pass (so named because it allows the low frequencies to pass, while reducing the highs) is often used to reduce hiss, amplifier noise, and the like. To fine-tune the range of frequencies being boosted or cut, adjust the Low Shelf Cutoff slider located directly below the graph, or enter a specific frequency in the box to the right of the slider.
ADOBE AUDITION 157 User Guide Quick Filter Quick Filter is an 8-band equalizer can be easily customized to suit many filtering needs. It works much the same as a standard audio equalizer does, except that the bands act a bit differently. The highest frequency band will increase or decrease the high end, but it will also increase or decrease frequencies all the way down to the lowest band. It will, however, increase or decrease the high frequencies more than the low ones, of course.
158 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View • With Lock L/R checked, the scroll bars for the left and right channels will move together, maintaining the same settings for each channel. • Uncheck Lock to adjust the channels separately. Presets Adobe Audition comes with several Quick Filter presets. More information on presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Preview Press the Preview button to audition the current Quick Filter setting before you apply it to the waveform.
ADOBE AUDITION 159 User Guide Scientific Filter dialog The four most common types of higher order filters are available: Bessel, Butterworth, Chebychev 1, and Chebychev 2. Each one has different characteristics for how steep the transition bands are (at the cutoff points), and how much the filter attenuates. Butterworth is generally the best compromise between quality and desired precision.
160 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Cutoff This parameter defines the frequency serving as a border between passed and rejected frequencies. It is at this point that the filter will switch from passing to attenuating or vice versa. In filters requiring a range (Band Pass and Band Stop), this serves as the lower frequency, while High Cutoff defines the high frequency border.
ADOBE AUDITION 161 User Guide Click/Pop Eliminator The Click/Pop Eliminator works by searching for anomalies in the audio data that could be construed as clicks or pops (Detection), and then replacing or repairing the damaged location (Correction). If you want to clean up vinyl recordings before transferring them to CDs or another digital medium, Click/Pop Eliminator is the effect to use. It’s more accurate than just cutting out the click, or replacing the data with a straight line.
162 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View To hear all the clicks that were removed, save a copy of the original file somewhere, then Mix Paste it (overlap it) over the corrected audio with a setting of 100% and Invert enabled. It may take a little trial and error to find the right settings, but the results are well worth it – much better than searching for and replacing each click individually.
ADOBE AUDITION 163 User Guide Max, Avg, and Min Threshold There are three definable levels (Max, Avg, Min; given in dB) for which you can specify unique detection and rejection threshold settings. These levels are ordinarily set to the maximum amplitude, average amplitude, and minimum amplitude of the audio. For example, if your audio has a maximum RMS amplitude of -10dB, then you’d normally set the Max Threshold to -10dB. If the minimum RMS amplitude was -55dB then Min Threshold would be set to -55.
164 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Second Level Verification Check the Second Level Verification box to start rejecting some of the potential clicks that were found by Adobe Audition’s click detection algorithm. In some types of audio, such as trumpets, saxophones, female vocals, and snare drum hits, some of the peaks in the natural waveform may be detected as clicks. If these peaks are corrected as clicks, the resulting audio may sound muffled.
ADOBE AUDITION 165 User Guide FFT Size Is the size of the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) that will be used to repair the clicks, pops, and crackle. In general, it’s a good idea to just let the program itself decide on good FFT size choices by checking the Auto box. However, you may wish to override the automatic setting and give a specific FFT size (from 8 to 512) to use for click repair when processing some types of audio. A good starting point is an FFT Size of 32.
166 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Clip Restoration Adobe Audition’s Clip Restoration filter can remove the evil occurrences of clipping from your waveform. It does this by actually “filling in” the clipped segments of the waveform. Clip Restoration dialog Clipping is a phenomenon that occurs in digital audio when the amplitude value of a signal exceeds the maximum level that can be represented by the current bit resolution (i.e., 256 steps in 8-bit audio).
ADOBE AUDITION 167 User Guide FFT Size Set an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) Size, measured in samples, if your audio is severely clipped due to, for example, too much bass. In this case, you want to try and estimate the higher frequency signals in the clipped areas. Using the FFT Size option in other situations may help with some types of clipping. (Try a setting of 40 for normal clipped audio.) However, in general you can leave the FFT Size box unchecked.
168 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Hiss Reduction dialog To get rid of other types of noise, try Adobe Audition’s Noise Reduction effect. To use Adobe Audition’s Hiss Reduction: 1 To use, choose an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) Size first. 2 Then either reset the noise floor graph to Hi (High), Med (Medium), or Low, depending on the estimated noise level of the recording. Or, find a section relatively free of audio that contains mostly hiss and click Get Noise Floor.
ADOBE AUDITION 169 User Guide Get Noise Floor This is the most powerful feature of Hiss Reduction. If a good estimate of what the noise floor looks like (i.e., how it’s shaped) is graphed, Adobe Audition’s Hiss Reduction algorithm can more effectively remove just hiss while leaving regular audio untouched. Optimally, you should click on Get Noise Floor with a section of just hiss highlighted in your waveform. This will design a graph that most accurately reflects the noise floor.
170 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View • If the Transition Width value is too small, other background artifacts may be heard, such as little “tinkles” in the background. • If the Transition Width value is set too high, some hiss may remain after processing. Spectral Decay Rate When audio above the noise floor is encountered, more audio in the same frequency band is assumed to follow.
ADOBE AUDITION 171 User Guide Noise Reduction dialog The amount of reduction required depends upon the type of background noise, and the allowable loss in the quality of the signal that is to be kept. In general, you should be able to attain increases in Signal to Noise ratios of 5dB to 20dB. (Noise is reduced 21dB and signal 1dB for example). Before you can perform noise reduction, you must load or get a noise profile first. This is done by pressing the Load Profile or Get Profile from Selection buttons.
172 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Note: A noise profile can only be used on a sample of the same type as when saved. In other words, a 44K stereo 8-bit sample is not compatible with a 22 kHz mono 16-bit profile. Bear in mind, however, that because noise profiles are so specific to the recording environment of the waveform in question, even if the sample types are compatible, a profile for one type of noise is likely to not produce good results when used for another type of noise.
ADOBE AUDITION 173 User Guide • Uncheck Log Scale to divide the graph linearly, with each 1000kHz (for example) taking up the same amount of horizontal width. Live Update Select or deselect this option: • When you check this option, the noise profile plot updates as control points are moved around on the graph. • With Live Update unchecked, the profile plot is only updated when a control point is placed in its new location.
174 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View • Transition Width: This setting determines how sharp the division is between what is considered noise and what should be kept. For instance, with a Transition Width of zero, a sharp, noise gate-type curve is applied to each frequency band. If the audio in the band is just above the threshold, it stays; if it’s just below, it’s truncated to silence. Conversely, you can specify a range over which the audio will fade to silence based upon the input level.
ADOBE AUDITION 175 User Guide 5 Select the entire file (or the portion you want to noise-reduce). 6 Go to Effects > Noise Reduction >Noise Reduction again. 7 Click on OK to perform the noise reduction. Special The options in this menu can be used to introduce some processing effects that are both innovative and wild-n-wacky. Have fun and experiment. Convolution Convolution is the effect of multiplying every sample in one wave or impulse by the samples that are contained within another waveform.
176 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View With the proper impulses, any reverberant space can be simulated. For example, if you have an impulse of your favorite cathedral, and convolute it with any mono audio (left and right channels the same) then the result would sound as if that audio were played in that cathedral.
ADOBE AUDITION 177 User Guide • Minimum: When adding bandpassed echoes, this is the lower cutoff frequency of the echo. For example, to echo just the range from 500Hz to 1000Hz, enter 500Hz for the minimum value. • Maximum: When adding bandpassed echoes, this is the upper cutoff frequency of the echo. For example, to echo just the range from 500Hz to 1000Hz, enter 1000Hz for the maximum value. • FIR Size: This parameter sets the size of the FIR filter to use to generate the filtered echo.
178 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View View Settings These settings affect the impulse display. • Left: Select this button to enable display of the impulse for the left channel only. • Right: Click this button to enable display of the impulse for the right channel only. • View: Both Selecting this button enables display of the impulse for both the right and left channels. • Normalized View: If this option is checked, the impulse’s amplitude is displayed so that it exactly fits in the display vertically.
ADOBE AUDITION 179 User Guide Copy from Positive Press the Copy from Positive button (available in the Negative tab) to copy the positive curve to the Negative window. Symmetric If Symmetric is checked, the positive and negative curves are identical. To specify separate Positive and Negative curves, uncheck Symmetric and choose the appropriate tab.
180 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Music dialog Before you bring up the Music dialog, you must first highlight the range of the current waveform you wish to use as a quarter note. If no range is selected, Adobe Audition will use the data on the clipboard. Keep in mind that the clipboard data will be filled with your sample automatically once music is generated. Thus, selecting music a second time will automatically use your last sample.
ADOBE AUDITION 181 User Guide Listen If you have MIDI playback capabilities, you can listen to a preview of your sequence before actually applying it. Play begins at the leftmost note visible on the staff (which means play begins at the position you are scrolled to), and continues on to the end of the song. The music is played through channels 1 and 13 for Extended and Base level compatibility. Choose the desired instrument by typing its MIDI instrument number in the box to the right.
182 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Doppler Shifter dialog The frequency of the noise from the car starts out at a high pitch and tempo, and lowers as it races past you. When the car is coming towards you, the noise it’s making sounds like it’s a higher frequency because each wave crest as it comes towards you is actually compressed by the car itself moving forward.
ADOBE AUDITION 183 User Guide • Velocity: The value entered here is the virtual speed at which the effect moves, measured in meters per second. • Coming From: Enter the virtual direction (measured in degrees) that the effect is coming from. • Passes in front by: Specify the number of meters you want to the effect to “pass in front” of the listener by. • Passes on right by: Specify the number of meters you want to the effect to pass by the right of the listener’s perspective by.
184 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Pitch Bender dialog Pitch Graph Use the graph to draw your tempo change over time. The x-axis (lower horizontal border) of the graph represents the sound file or highlighted section’s time duration, while the y-axis (right vertical border) represents pitch, measured in semitones or beats-per-minute, depending on the Range button pushed. Higher points on the curve speed up the sound, while lower points slow it down.
ADOBE AUDITION 185 User Guide Quality Level Use this drop-down list to select the desired quality level. The higher quality levels will sound best, but will take longer to process. The lower quality levels have more unwanted harmonic distortion, but will process more quickly. Usually you won’t notice any ill effects from harmonic distortion of the signal when using levels from Very Good on up.
186 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View Ratio/Length Boxes You can enter a desired Ratio (in percentage) or final Length (in time) for the stretch. Entering one automatically changes the other. If the initial and final lengths are different, then the actual final length will be exactly (initial+final)/ 2 when in Preserve Pitch mode. Transpose Use this drop-down list to select musical transposition amounts. The corresponding numerical values are entered into the stretch sliders automatically.
ADOBE AUDITION 187 User Guide If the low precision mode is used, you can improve the quality of stretched mono-tonal (pure tone) samples by choosing a Splicing Frequency that’s evenly divisible into the frequency of the sample. Use the Frequency Analysis window to find the sample’s base frequency, then divide by an integer to get the Splicing Frequency. For example, if the tone was reported to be 438Hz, dividing by 20 gives 21.9Hz. Thus, using 21.
188 CHAPTER 8 Effects Menu – Edit View
189 Chapter 9: Generate Menu – Edit View T he Generate menu displays all the options that relate to waveform generation when you’re in the Edit View mode. Silence This function generates a specified amount of silence (entered in seconds) from the current playbar cursor position. Any following audio is pushed back in time, thereby lengthening the waveform’s duration. Silence will replace any selected area.
190 CHAPTER 9 Generate Menu – Edit View Dial String This is where you enter the phone number for which you want to generate tones. You may enter other characters such as the “*” and “#” symbols, as well as extra digits “a”, “b”, “c”, and “d”. Entering the pause character (defined in Pause Character below) inserts a pause of a defined length. Tone Time Enter the milliseconds for which the tones will last. The standard time for DTMF tones is 100ms.
ADOBE AUDITION 191 User Guide Generate Noise dialog Adobe Audition inserts noise from the current playbar cursor position, pushing any following audio back in time, and thereby lengthening the duration of the waveform. Selecting an area and generating noise replaces the selection, deleting existing audio.
192 CHAPTER 9 Generate Menu – Edit View • Mono: If this option is chosen, Adobe Audition generates Mono noise by using a single noise source, with the left and right channels set equally to the same noise source. • Inverse: With this option selected, Adobe Audition generates Inverse noise by using a single noise source (similar to the Mono option). However, this time the left channel’s noise is exactly inverse of the right channel’s noise.
ADOBE AUDITION 193 User Guide Lock to these settings only Check or uncheck this box as desired: • If checked, the overtones, base frequency, modulation, modulation frequency, frequency multipliers, and overtone intensities are constant; they do not vary over time. • Uncheck this box to dynamically change the proportion of any overtone over time by choosing the initial and final proportions.
194 CHAPTER 9 Generate Menu – Edit View DC Offset The DC Offset value entered here adds a constant DC (“Direct Current”) amplitude to the tone, which shifts the entire waveform up or down by the specified percentage. Flavor Use this drop-down list to choose the type of waveform to use. Each flavor has a particular sound unique unto itself.
195 Chapter 10: Analyze Menu – Edit View T he Analyze menu contains functions that give you information about the file or selection being displayed when in the Edit View mode. Show Frequency Analysis This command displays Adobe Audition’s Frequency Analysis window. It contains a graph of the frequencies at the cursor position or at the center of a selection.
196 CHAPTER 10 Analyze Menu – Edit View • Lines: The waveform’s left and right channels appear as simple lines, with each channel displayed in a different color. • Area (Left on top): The Area modes are similar to the Lines option, but the area beneath the lines is rendered as a solid color. The lines that represent the frequencies are smoothed out, and the left channel appears in front of the right channel.
ADOBE AUDITION 197 User Guide To navigate a zoomed-in frequency display, put your mouse pointer over the horizontal ruler – the pointer then changes into a hand. Left-click and drag the hand horizontally to scroll the current zoom range forward and backwards. To zoom out, place your mouse cursor over the horizontal ruler and right-click. A menu pops up with two options. • Select Zoom Out to get back to the previous view displayed before performing the last zoom-in.
198 CHAPTER 10 Analyze Menu – Edit View Phase Analysis Window The Phase Analysis window can float above Adobe Audition’s main interface, or dock at any one of several places within it. Note: The Phase Analysis window is designed to be used with stereo waveforms only. If used with a mono audio file, all you’ll see on the graph is a single line.
ADOBE AUDITION 199 User Guide Statistics The Waveform Statistics dialog displays a wealth of information about the active waveform. It consists of two tabbed areas (General and Histogram) plus a section for RMS settings. Details about each channel of a stereo waveform are clearly shown.
200 CHAPTER 10 Analyze Menu – Edit View Waveform Statistics dialog – Histogram tab You can jump to the exact location in the waveform for certain values by clicking on the appropriate arrow button to the right of that value. General Tab Minimum Sample Value This field shows the minimum sample values in the waveform or highlighted range. Press the [->] button to place the playbar cursor at that location. The Waveform Statistics dialog is automatically closed.
ADOBE AUDITION 201 User Guide Minimum RMS Power This value is the minimum Root Mean Squared amplitude (closer to what the ear hears) of the waveform that is scanned using a window of the size given below as the RMS Window Width. Press the [->] button to have the playback cursor jump to the average quietest section of the waveform. The Waveform Statistics dialog is automatically closed.
202 CHAPTER 10 Analyze Menu – Edit View • 0dB = FS Square Wave: If this option is selected, then a full scale square wave will read out as 0dB for the RMS. Some users expect a full scale square wave to be 0dB, while others expect a full scale sine wave to be 0dB. Since a full scale square wave is about 3.02dB louder than a full scale sine wave, these RMS boxes will adjust by about 3dB when you toggle between them.
203 Chapter 11: Favorites Menu – Edit View T he Favorites menu allows you to create, customize, and save your favorite Adobe Audition effects, scripts, and even third-party tools (the latter using command line executables). All of the favorites you create appear on this menu. You can also categorize the menu items into hierarchical submenus for easy organization.
204 CHAPTER 11 Favorites Menu – Edit View To place a separator bar into the Favorites list to separate one function type from the others, enter a series of dashes (e.g., “------”) into the Name box. If you want more than one separator, enter a different number of dashes, or change the text so that it doesn't match something already in the list. For instance, “------2” is considered a valid separator; the 2 after the dashes will be ignored.
ADOBE AUDITION 205 User Guide Script Tab Script Collection File This displays the current script collection in use. The small button to the left of the field brings up a browse dialog that allows you to choose an Adobe Audition script collection (*.scp) file. Script This drop-down list contains all scripts available in the selected collection. Choose the particular script you want to run. Pause at Dialogs If checked, the script stops at each settings dialog to allow you to modify the values.
206 CHAPTER 11 Favorites Menu – Edit View
207 Chapter 12: Options Menu – Edit View T he Options menu gives you access to Adobe Audition’s configuration options, system settings, batch-processing functions, and more. Loop Mode The Loop Mode option toggles Adobe Audition’s Play control between Loop and Play states. • When Loop Mode is checked, pressing the Play control will continuously loop the current selection (or the entire file, if nothing is selected).
208 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Time/Date: If you want the recording to begin at a future time (for instance, to have Adobe Audition capture a radio broadcast at a certain time), select the time/date option. Fill in the starting time and date in the appropriate fields, and choose the desired time and date options. Upon pressing OK, the record button will blink, and recording will start when your computer’s time reaches the time specified.
ADOBE AUDITION 209 User Guide When unchecked, the positions of each of the waveform’s previous cursor or range areas will be retained and redisplayed. If the waveform that you’re switching to doesn’t contain the currently selected time location (as in a .5 sec waveform, in our example), then switching acts this way as well. Windows Recording Mixer Select this command to display the Record Control part of the Windows Mixer (a.k.a. Volume Control) so that you adjust sound card recording levels.
210 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Scripts that work on a highlighted selection. This type requires a highlighted selection to be made. All actions in the script pertain only to the portion that is highlighted, leaving the rest of the waveform untouched. Script Collections This text area displays the title of the currently opened script collection. If the collection in use hasn’t been named, New Collection will be displayed. To name a script collection, press the Edit Script File button.
ADOBE AUDITION 211 User Guide For example, suppose you have a script which was originally recorded with a cursor position at 0:10:00. Check this box to apply the script at the current cursor location, plus 10 seconds. (If your cursor is at 0:05:00, the results would be at 0:15:00.) With this option unchecked, the script will be performed at the original location (0:10:00 in our example).
212 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View Batch Process Use this part of Adobe Audition to run a single script repeatedly over a group (batch) of source files. To open the Batch Process dialog, press the Batch Run button on the Scripts and Batch Processing window. Batch Process Dialog Note: In order for a single script to be run on a batch of files, the script must have been recorded in the Script Works on Current Wave mode.
ADOBE AUDITION 213 User Guide Output Filename Template The names of files in your batch can be modified before being saved to the Destination folder. When running a batch, the processed file’s extension will automatically change to that of the format chosen using the Output Format control (for instance, *.aif for Apple AIFF). You can, however, force another extension or alter the first part of the filename by using the Output Filename Template.
214 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View Open Raw PCM As If a source file is unreadable, or in a raw format without any header information, then Adobe Audition’s Batch Processor needs to know what file type to assume for the data. Pressing the Open Raw PCM As… button allows you to define a global file type for interpretation in such cases; you will need to set the sample rate, channels, resolution, and formatting.
ADOBE AUDITION 215 User Guide Use shiny look If you’d prefer that certain elements of Adobe Audition’s interface (toolbar buttons mostly) take on a flatter look, uncheck this box. The flat look will take effect the next time you start Adobe Audition. While there aren’t any performance benefits to not using the default shiny look, Adobe Audition might look better if your video display is set to 256 colors.
216 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Popup Menu: When right-clicking in the Wave Display, a menu will pop up if this option is selected. You can then use Shift+Left-Click to extend a selection. • Extend Selection: If you check this option, right-clicking in the Edit View’s Wave Display will let you extend the edge of a waveform selection instead of displaying the pop-up menu. To see the pop-up menu, hold down the Ctrl key as you right-click.
ADOBE AUDITION 217 User Guide Play/Record Buffer Different sound card drives can require different memory buffer settings. Adobe Audition’s default settings should work find for most sound cards, but if you hear “choppiness” (skips or dropouts) in recording or playback, you may need to adjust the buffer size or number of buffers used.
218 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Enable Undo: If this box is checked, the Undo function is active. Because Undo requires extra desk space for its temporary files, and time to save them before processing, sometimes you may want to turn this feature off by unchecking this box. • Levels (minimum): Specify the least amount of Undo levels in this field. • Purge Undo: Push this button to delete all of Adobe Audition’s Undo files.
ADOBE AUDITION 219 User Guide Color Scheme Presets Most color assignments in Adobe Audition can be adjusted to your liking and saved as a preset for later recall. This drop-down menu contains all of the presets that come with the program as well as the ones you’ve created yourself. To choose one, simply select it from the list. The currently selected color scheme will be displayed in the Example window. Save As Press this button to save the currently selected color scheme as a preset.
220 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View Controls Tab This window lists the Adobe Audition control elements which can have their colors changed. Select an item from the list and press the Change Color… button to bring up a dialog for adjusting the element’s color. After the new choice has been made, the example to the right will change to reflect the newly chosen color.
ADOBE AUDITION 221 User Guide Spectral Display Choose an option: • Windowing Function: This drop-down list lets you choose the method Adobe Audition uses to window the spectral data before it displays it. The windows are listed in order from the narrowest frequency band/most noise to the widest frequency band/least noise. Blackmann or Blackmann-Harris are good choices. • Resolution: This setting specifies the number of vertical bands to be used in drawing frequencies.
222 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Peaks Cache: This value determines the number of samples per block to be used when storing peak files. Larger values will reduce the RAM requirement for large files at the expense of slightly slower drawing at some zoom levels. If RAM is an issue on your system, and you’re working with very large files (several hundred megabytes or more in size), you should consider increasing the Peaks Cache to 1024 or even 1536 or 2048.
ADOBE AUDITION 223 User Guide Dither Transform Results (increases dynamic range) Check this option to enable dithering when processing effects such as FFT Filter or Amplify. Most processing done by Adobe Audition uses arithmetic greater than 16-bit, with the results converted back to 16-bit when complete. During this conversion, dithering provides a higher dynamic range and cleaner results, with less distortions and negative artifacts.
224 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • A lower quality setting requires less processing time, but will result in certain high frequencies being “rolled-off ”, leading to muffled-sounding audio. Because the filter’s cutoff slope is much steeper at higher quality settings, the chance of ringing at high frequencies is greater. Usually values between 100 and 400 do a great job for most conversion needs. The default value is 120.
ADOBE AUDITION 225 User Guide The Multitrack Tab of the Settings Dialog Play/Record Set the following: • Playback Buffer Size: This is the buffer size (measured in seconds) to be used when sending data to your sound card when playing back a multitrack session. Different sound card drivers can require different memory buffer size settings. Adobe Audition’s default settings should work fine for most sound cards.
226 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View • Open Order: This setting determines the order that the sound card device drive will be opened for use in the multi- track environment. Because the multitrack environment requires full-duplex capability, it will “open”, or ready, both playback (out) and record (in) on the card. Some cards require this order to specific, but most don’t. Note: Owners of the Digital Audio Labs CardD should set this option to Rec, Play.
ADOBE AUDITION 227 User Guide Note: Because panning can actually make one channel louder than the original waveform, audible clipping can occur in 16bit sessions. To avoid this, work in the 32-bit realm if you’re using the Equal-power Sine panning method.
228 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View SMPTE Tab This is where you adjust Adobe Audition’s settings for working with time code. The SMPTE tab of the Settings dialog Lead Time This sets is the amount of time (measured in milliseconds) that Adobe Audition has to establish sync with the incoming time code. Lower settings (200ms) will result in faster response (when pressing Play), but at the risk of true sync not being established. 500ms to 1000ms should provide plenty of Lead Time to establish lock-up.
ADOBE AUDITION 229 User Guide Device Properties The Device Properties dialog is where you tell Adobe Audition which devices to use for playback and recording of waveforms, as well as input and output of MIDI signals. Wave Out Tab This area is where you specify Adobe Audition’s parameters for playback of waveforms. If you have multiple sound cards, or a single card that has multiple outputs, they’ll show up as choices in the drop-down list at the top left corner of this window.
230 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View Enable Dithering: Check this box to activate dithering during waveform playback. If dithering isn’t enabled, Adobe Audition truncates instead. This means that bits that aren’t used are simply chopped off and discarded. This gives a “crackly” effect that fades in and out on very quiet audio passages. Note: Dithering only kicks in if you’re limiting high bit depth audio to a lower bit depth playback.
ADOBE AUDITION 231 User Guide Order The Order field displays the device preference order for the highlighted recording device. To change this order, press the Change button to bring up Adobe Audition’s Device Ordering Preference dialog. Use this device in Edit View Check this box to have Adobe Audition use the highlighted output device for recording waveforms in Edit View.
232 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View MIDI In Tab If your system is equipped with one or more MIDI devices, this area is where you specify Adobe Audition’s parameters for MIDI input. If you have multiple MIDI devices, or a single device that has multiple inputs, they’ll show up as choices in the drop-down list at the top left corner of this window. The Wave In Tab of the Device Properties Dialog Order The Order field displays the device preference order for the highlighted MIDI Input device.
ADOBE AUDITION 233 User Guide Playback Devices Tab The Playback Devices tab of the Device Ordering Preference Dialog Unused Playback Devices The items in this list are the playback devices on your system not currently utilized by Adobe Audition. Use>> Press this button to move a selected item from the Unused Playback Devices list to the Device Preference Order list. <
234 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View Recording Devices Tab The Recording Devices tab of the Device Ordering Preference Dialog Unused Record Devices The items in this list are the record devices on your system not currently utilized by Adobe Audition. Use>> Press this button to move a selected item from the Unused Record Devices list to the Device Preference Order list. <
ADOBE AUDITION 235 User Guide MIDI Output Devices Tab The MIDI Output Devices tab of the Device Ordering Preference Dialog Unused MIDI Out Devices The items in this list are the MIDI Out devices on your system not currently utilized by Adobe Audition. Use>> Press this button to move a selected item from the Unused MIDI Out Devices list to the Device Preference Order list. <
236 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View MIDI Input Devices Tab The MIDI Input Devices tab of the Device Ordering Preference Dialog Unused Playback Devices The items in this list are the MIDI In devices on your system not currently utilized by Adobe Audition. Use>> Press this button to move a selected item from the Unused MIDI In Devices list to the Device Preference Order list. <
ADOBE AUDITION 237 User Guide Likewise, you can execute commands from a MIDI keyboard, a sequencer, or any other device capable of issuing a MIDI command. This type of shortcut is referred to as a MIDI Trigger. An example of this would be assigning the Play command in Adobe Audition to the C4 note on your MIDI keyboard. Note: The Shortcuts (Keyboard & MIDI Triggers)… dialog is fully documented in the “Keyboard Shortcuts” chapter.
238 CHAPTER 12 Options Menu – Edit View
239 Chapter 13: Navigating the Multitrack View M ultitrack View is one of Adobe Audition’s two major workspaces. (Edit View is the other.) Use Multitrack View to record, assemble, mix, and play your audio creations using up to 128 tracks. Add real-time effects such as equalization, reverb, and dynamics processing. Precisely adjust the desired volume, pan, and effects levels for each track. In this chapter we’ll introduce you to Adobe Audition’s concepts of images, blocks, and sessions.
240 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Multitrack View About Images When you’re working in Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View and you move a waveform, MIDI file, or video soundtrack from one track and place to another, or create a series of duplicates for looping, you aren’t actually moving the original audio file data in any way. In fact, you’re manipulating a virtual “image” of that waveform or waveform range in a nondestructive fashion that doesn’t affect the original audio file in any way.
ADOBE AUDITION 241 User Guide About Blocks Blocks are actually images of waveforms, MIDI files, or video soundtracks that are graphically displayed within the Multitrack View that allow you to mix, move, copy, loop, alter volume and pan levels, and add effects in a non-destructive fashion. (Non-destructive in this case means that you can alter image parameters without affecting the original audio data in any way.
242 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Inserting Existing Audio Into Your Session Unless you’re recording a multitrack session from scratch, the first thing that you’ll probably want to do when starting a session is to begin loading existing audio files into the Multitrack View’s session window. Adobe Audition provides several ways to do this (including dragging files from the Organizer window), but for many people, the most straightahead method is through the Insert menu.
ADOBE AUDITION 243 User Guide After you’ve enabled the desired track(s) and optionally specified its/their recording properties, press the Record button in Adobe Audition’s Transport Controls or use the Ctrl+Spacebar keyboard shortcut to begin recording from the cursor. When recording is complete, press the Stop button in Adobe Audition’s Transport Controls or hit the Spacebar to terminate the recording process.
244 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View • Left-click and drag the magnifying glass (which appears when your mouse passes over either edge of the Vertical Portion Bar’s handle) to adjust the number of viewable on-screen tracks. Either edge of the handle can be stretched, so the longer the handle is, the more tracks are on screen at once. If you make the handle smaller overall, you’re zooming in, and if you make the handle larger, you’re zooming out. The colored portion of the bar (i.e.
ADOBE AUDITION 245 User Guide Input Button Pressing the Input Button (which is labeled “Rec 1” by default) brings up Adobe Audition’s Record Devices dialog, which allows you to specify the device from which you are recording. The text on the button changes to reflect the input device chosen. Note: The Input Button is found in both the Vol and Bus areas. Lock Button When real-time effects are applied to the track using the FX button, the Lock button is enabled.
246 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Track Controls set to the EQ Tab Note: The Track Equalization Fields normally show up only in the EQ area, but will appear under the Vol tab if your Track Controls area is sized large enough. EQ / A and EQ / B Buttons These buttons allow you to quickly switch between two different banks of equalization param- eters.
ADOBE AUDITION 247 User Guide Track Controls set to the Bus Tab Note: The Wet/Dry Fields only appear in the Bus area. Mix Gauge The Mix Gauge (which is located underneath the Track Controls of the bottommost viewable track) indicates how much background processing Adobe Audition has completed. It can be thought of as a fuel tank gauge, except that instead of fuel, it measures how much processing needs to be carried out by Adobe Audition “behind the scenes”.
248 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View However, you need not wait for the meter to reach completion entirely before beginning playback. As stated above, Adobe Audition continuously mixes, and will continue to do so while playing, so you can safely begin playback when the mix progress meter is about halfway full. In general, if the background mix isn’t sufficiently completed, you’ll hear a break-up or skipping when playing back the mix.
ADOBE AUDITION 249 User Guide • Right-click anywhere on the Horizontal Portion Bar to call up a menu with three zooming options: Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Zoom Full. The menu also has options for moving the Horizontal Portion Bar to the bottom of the Session Display, as well as returning it to its default position at the top of the Session Display. Horizontal Ruler The Horizontal Ruler runs along the bottom of the Session Display and acts as a timeline.
250 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Track Context Menu Insert Use the Insert Menu to import waveforms, MIDI files, video files, and audio from video files into Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View. Both active files (those already in Edit View) and inactive files (not already opened) may be easily inserted. • Wave from File: This command activates Adobe Audition’s “Open a Waveform” dialog.
ADOBE AUDITION 251 User Guide Mix Down to Track (Bounce) This functions performs a mixdown as the Edit > Mix Down command does, and places the result – a mono or stereo file that exactly replicates the sound of your complete session – in the selected track. (This process is commonly known as “bouncing”.) Session elements such as looping, images, effects and envelopes are all reflected in the mixed waveform.
252 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Track Volume Window Dragging the slider’s scroll control upward raises the track’s volume, while moving the scroll control downward reduces the volume. You may also adjust the track’s volume by entering a decibel value in the box above the slider. Note: Each track has a global volume setting, while each block within the track has an individual volume setting.
ADOBE AUDITION 253 User Guide Playback Device This command brings up Adobe Audition’s Playback Devices window, which lets you assign the output properties for the selected track. • Wave Tab: The Wave Tab of the Playback Devices Dialog • Devices: All of your system’s devices that are capable of playing waveforms are listed here. • Busses: A list of all Adobe Audition busses you’ve created is shown here. • New Bus: Click on this button to add a new bus to the Busses list.
254 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Record Devices Dialog • Channel Selection: You can specify if the track will record the left channel, the right channel, or in stereo from the recording device. • Bit-depth Selection: Decide here if you want to record the track in the 16-bit or 32-bit realm. • Same for All Tracks: Check this box if you wish these settings to be the default for all 128 of Adobe Audition’s tracks.
ADOBE AUDITION 255 User Guide • EQ Presets: Press the “P” in the upper right-hand row of icons to access the EQ Presets dialog, which allows you to save favorite equalization settings, as well as delete EQ presets you no longer want. To add the current EQ settings as a preset, click on the “P”, and then click Add New to display the New Preset Name dialog. Enter the name for the new preset, and press OK. Choose an EQ preset by clicking the “P” and clicking on the preset’s name.
256 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Track Properties Checkmarking this item displays Adobe Audition’s Track Properties dialog, where you can adjust parameters for a selected track’s volume and panning, output and record devices, and more. The Track Properties window is dockable, which means you can reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface. Or, you may detach it and have it float above Adobe Audition’s main window.
ADOBE AUDITION 257 User Guide • Output: The item shows where the track will be output to, such as a sound card or bus. If you have more than one output device in your system, you can select it from the dropdown list. • Record: The device (such as a sound card) that this track will record through to is shown here. If your system has more than one recording device, you can select it from the dropdown list.
258 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Block Context Menu Right-clicking on a block in the Multitrack View session window will invoke the Block Context menu. The items that appear on the Block Context menu will vary depending upon the type of block (waveform, video, or MIDI) selected. The Block Context Menu for a Wave Block Edit Waveform This command immediately displays the selected wave block in Adobe Audition’s Edit View so that you can edit it.
ADOBE AUDITION 259 User Guide • Enable Looping: When this box is checked, the wave block can be looped by dragging the right edge of the wave block. • Looping: Use these options to determine the looping method. • Simple Looping (no gaps): With this option chosen, the wave block will loop continuously, with no spaces between looping instances.
260 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View • The Beat Splice option actually tries to cut up the file at the beats to loop the file that way. This only works on loops that have very sharp (short duration) sounds, like drums. If the waveform already has beat markers, you may elect to use them. Otherwise, the Auto-Find beats option will be selected. If the default values of 10dB and 9 milliseconds aren’t satisfactory, you can change them in the fields provided.
ADOBE AUDITION 261 User Guide Volume Control Note: Each track has a global volume setting, while each block within the track has an individual volume setting. Adjust Wave Pan Use this command to display a small floating window which includes a slider for adjusting the block’s overall pan. Dragging the slider’s scroll control to the right pans the block to the right, while moving the scroll control to the left pans the block to left.
262 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View • Volume: Use this vertical slider to adjust the wave block’s amplitude. You can also directly specify a dB value in the text box above the slider. • Pan: This horizontal slider is used to pan the wave block to the left or right channels of your stereo mix. You may also directly designate the block’s pan value by entering it into the box to the right of the slider.
ADOBE AUDITION 263 User Guide Set Controller 7 (MIDI Block Only) The Controller 7 value for a MIDI file is the master volume setting. This value gets sent out each time a MIDI file is played and tells the MIDI playback device what volume to play this file at. This option just lets you change the controller value directly in case you have a MIDI file whose Controller 7 value is too low or high.
264 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Block Color This command invokes Adobe Audition’s Block Color dialog, which allows you to change the color of the current block. Select from one of 32 preset hues by clicking on it. You may also use the slider to find a color, or you can directly enter a hue value from 0 to 255 in the field provided. Block Color Dialog Punch In When a particularly difficult passage is being recorded, it’s not uncommon for a note or words to be missed or totally screwed up.
ADOBE AUDITION 265 User Guide Note: You can’t use Punch In on video or MIDI blocks. If possible, choose sections of the waveform where there are gaps in the audio for your Punch points. This will make it easier to achieve a natural sound, as if it were all one take. Crossfade Crossfades are used to create smooth transitions from the end of one audio segment to the beginning of another. They do so by creating a fade out and a fade in over the transition region.
266 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View To use the Loop Duplicate function to create interesting time delay effects: 1 Start by placing the source waveform into the Multitrack View. 2 Once entered, hold down the Shift key and right-click on the waveform and drag it to make an Image. The Image should be placed onto a new track (such as below the existing track).
ADOBE AUDITION 267 User Guide Mute Block This command mutes or unmutes the selected blocks. This command is different than Track Muting (which occurs when you press the Mute button in the Track Console area), which disables all waveforms within a track. Muted blocks are ignored during playback and mixdowns, and are displayed as “grayed-out”. Lock in Time Lock In Time “locks” selected waveforms to their current time location in the multitrack session.
268 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Note: To fine tune your adjustments in the preceding example, you could also have double-clicked on the trimmed block to bring up the Edit View, double-clicked to highlight the displayed area, then zoomed out to adjust the highlight boundaries to your satisfaction. When finished, switch back to Multitrack View (the highlight will be retained) and choose Adjust Boundaries to have the waveform block readjust to match your highlight.
ADOBE AUDITION 269 User Guide Envelopes Use this command’s submenu options to clear the Volume, Pan, or FX Mix envelopes from the highlighted portion of a selected block, as well as uses spline (curved) envelopes instead of Adobe Audition’s default envelope style (which has straight lines between the envelope’s control points).
270 CHAPTER 13 Navigating the Multitrack View Off-Line Effects can be used on waveforms that are part of a Multitrack Session, but not in real-time. You’ll need to switch to Edit View before you can apply them. Off-Line Effects are destructive, which means they always physically change the waveform they’re applied to. (Don't worry – if Undo is active, you can easily reverse the “destruction”.) Multitrack Effects may only be used in the Multitrack View.
ADOBE AUDITION 271 User Guide 4 Hold down your left-mouse button and drag the effect over to the track. 5 When you release your mouse button, the Track Effects dialog will appear, allowing you to adjust the properties for the effect you’ve just added, as well as the amount of Wet/Dry mixing of the track’s effect. The Track Controls Way: 1 Press the FX button for the track you wish to apply a Real-Time Effect. This will cause the Effects Rack dialog to appear.
273 Chapter 14: File Menu – Multitrack View T he File menu in the Multitrack View offers functions relating to opening, saving, and otherwise manipulating session files. About Sessions An Adobe Audition “session” uses session (*.ses) files and their specific structure to save all of the information that relates to a current multitrack project. This information includes audio file placement, mix/pan parameters, mute/solo settings, and more.
274 CHAPTER 14 File Menu – Multitrack View Open Session This function launches the Open a Multitrack Session dialog, allowing you to load an existing session (.ses) file, along with all audio files used in the session. Open Session dialog Here are the components of the Open a Multitrack Session dialog: Recent Folders The most recently used folders are displayed here in a drop-down menu. This allows quick access to frequently used folders.
ADOBE AUDITION 275 User Guide Note: You should note that the appended tracks are loaded into the session at the beginning of the project’s timeline (i.e., all of the tracks will load in at the project from its beginning point.) Once loaded, the appended waveforms can easily be moved into place by actively selecting the desired waveforms and by right-clicking on any one of them and then dragging them into position.
276 CHAPTER 14 File Menu – Multitrack View Save Session As The command brings up the Save Multitrack Session As dialog, allowing you to save the current session to a new name or location, along with all waveforms used in the session. Free space on all available drives is displayed in the right section of the window. You’ll be prompted to save any modified (but unsaved) waveforms.
ADOBE AUDITION 277 User Guide Session “Save Copies of all files” Options Session Save Options dialog Save all copies in this format Check this box to activate the drop-down menu below, which lets you choose the format to save the files to. If the chosen format has options, the Format Properties… button will be enabled, allowing you to adjust format parameters. Convert Sample Rate Checking this box enables the drop-down menu to the right, which lists many commonly-used sample rates.
278 CHAPTER 14 File Menu – Multitrack View Save Mixdown As dialog Here are the major components of the Save Mixdown As dialog. Recent Folders This shows the most recently used folders. Select from the drop-down box to quickly navigate to a listing. Save in Use this control to navigate through all available drives and folders. File name Here’s where you specify the name of the file.
ADOBE AUDITION 279 User Guide Save Mixdown To Video As If you have an .avi video file inserted into the session, you can mix down the session and make that your audio track for the video. This command brings up the Save 16-bit Mixdown To Video or Save 32-bit Mixdown To Video window (depending on if you’re working in the 16-bit or 32-bit realm), which allows you to save the current mixdown and video to a new name, location, or format.
280 CHAPTER 14 File Menu – Multitrack View MRU List The Most Recently Used list displays the last nine session files opened in Adobe Audition. You can quickly open any of these files (providing they haven’t been deleted or moved) by selecting it from the list with your mouse. Or, type the number that’s associated with the desired Session. Exit As you’d expect, this command closes Adobe Audition.
ADOBE AUDITION 281 User Guide Chapter 15: View Menu – Multitrack View T he View Menu displays options that relate to change the display or viewable area when in the Multitrack View mode. Edit Waveform View This command switches to Adobe Audition’s Edit View mode, where individual waveforms may be modified. Pressing the leftmost button in the Multitrack View File toolbar takes you to Edit View mode. The face of the View button represents the target View that the system will “jump to” when pressed.
282 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Note: To change a volume envelope, there must be a checkmark next to Enable Envelope Editing (further down the View menu). Note: Volume Envelopes are nondestructive, meaning they don’t affect the original audio file in any way. Therefore, if you return to the Edit View or go to another application and play a sound file that you’ve applied an envelope to, you won’t hear the envelope volume changes.
ADOBE AUDITION 283 User Guide A wave block with FX Parameter Envelopes (in this case, Dynamic Delay) displayed Note: To change FX Parameter envelopes, there must be a checkmark next to Enable Envelope Editing (further down the View menu). If View > Status Bar > Data Under Cursor is checkmarked, you’ll be able to get visual feedback as you manipulate an envelope’s control point. Show Tempo Envelopes Checkmark this command to enable the display of Tempo Envelopes on MIDI files.
284 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Session Properties Click on this command to show Adobe Audition’s Session Properties window, a dockable window which displays useful information about your multitrack session. This window is especially handy to have visible and docked when you’re working on loop-based sessions, because loops with defined tempos will match the specified parameters (which is most useful with matching tempo).
ADOBE AUDITION 285 User Guide Tracks Mixer window The Bus Mixer pane provides the controls for adjusting the output of up to 26 of the available buses you can have in Adobe Audition, as well as many other bus parameters. Bus Mixer window Even if you don’t use the Mixers window, you might want to dock it and resize it so that only the master volume slider is visible. You’ll be surprised how often this slider will come in handy.
286 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Tracks Mixer Tab Here are the major components of the Tracks Mixer: View Display Buttons These six buttons – Out, Bus, FX, EQ, Pan, and M/S – allow you to customize the appearance of the Tracks Mixer. Each button corresponds to a different element of the Tracks Mixer interface.
ADOBE AUDITION 287 User Guide MIDI Tab Playback Devices windows – MIDI tab A list of all your system’s MIDI output devices is shown here. • Same for All Tracks: Check this box to use the selected Wave device, bus, or MIDI device as the default for tracks in your session. • Properties: The button brings up the property dialog for the selected Wave device, bus, or MIDI device.
288 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View • Output Device: This drop-down list is used to select the desired output device for the bus. • Installed Real-Time Effects: All installed Adobe Audition and DirectX effects are listed in hierarchical format. To add an effect to a bus, select it and press the Add -> button. The effect will then appear in the Current Effects List pane. • Current Effects Rack: All effects assigned to the bus are listed here.
ADOBE AUDITION 289 User Guide Equalization Fields The H, M, and L fields show the amount (amplitude) of high, mid, and low equalization frequencies applied to the track. To change the H, M, and L values, select the desired field, hold down your left-mouse button, and drag. Dragging to the right increases the value, while dragging to the left reduces it. Pan Controls Two types of pan controls for adjusting the balance of each track are included.
290 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Mute/Solo Buttons The M (Mute) button turns off the output of the bus. You can mute as many busses as you want by clicking on their M buttons. Press the S (Solo) button to solo the bus. To solo multiple buses, hold down the Ctrl key as you click on their S buttons. Bus Faders The fader is used to adjust the adjust the bus’ relative volume in the mix.
ADOBE AUDITION 291 User Guide Graph The graph shows the track’s current equalization curve. The graph’s x-axis (horizontal) ruler measures frequency, while the y-axis (vertical) ruler represents amplitude. You can drag the three control points (which look like balls) around the graph to adjust the EQ curve. If the Track EQ window is in expanded view, you’ll notice that the two sets of sliders move accordingly when the graph’s control points are manipulated.
292 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Track Properties window The Track Properties window is dockable, which means you can reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface. Or, you may detach it and have it float above Adobe Audition’s main window. Here are the major components of the Track Properties window: Track Tabs The first time you click on any track in Adobe Audition’s session window, a tab is added for that track to the Track Properties window.
ADOBE AUDITION 293 User Guide Output The item shows where the track will be output to, such as a sound card or bus. If you have more than one output device in your system, you can select it from the drop-down list. Record The device (such as a sound card) that this track will record through to is shown here. If your system has more than one recording device, you can select it from the drop-down list. Channel Use this drop-down list to decide if you want this track to be Left Only, Right Only, or Stereo.
294 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Show Transport Buttons Check this item to display Adobe Audition’s Transport Buttons, which are used to shuttle the active waveform or session. Note: More information on the Transport Buttons can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Show Zoom Buttons Select this item to display Adobe Audition’s Zoom Buttons. The Zoom Buttons window is a dockable window, allowing you to reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface.
ADOBE AUDITION 295 User Guide Show Video Window If this option is checked, a window used to view video data that’s inserted in Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View is displayed. It initially appears in the upper left-hand corner of your desktop, and can be resized to fit your frame size. Plus, since the Video window is dockable, you can reposition it at one of several places in the Adobe Audition interface. Show a Placekeeper Select Show a Placekeeper to create a blank, dockable window called a “placekeeper”.
296 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View Advanced Session Properties This command brings up the Advanced Session Properties window, a tabbed dialog that lets you adjust several parameters of your multitrack session, as well as store additional session-based information within your session file. General Tab The General tab of the Advanced Session Properties window Session Start Time Offset Here you can enter a time offset, which is the time location that Adobe Audition will wait for to begin playback.
ADOBE AUDITION 297 User Guide Note: Even if you do 16-bit pre-mixing, no data is lost, and a final mixdown can still be 32-bit. Panning This section sets the method used for panning waveforms in a multitrack session. • L/R Cut Logarithmic: If this option is chosen, left-panning is achieved by reducing the volume of the right channel, and right-panning is performed by reducing the left channel volume. The channel being panned to doesn’t increase in volume as panning gets closer to 100%.
298 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View • Cursor At: This shows the current position of the cursor in bars-and-beats format. You can also enter a new cursor position here and Adobe Audition will recalibrate the session, including negative time. This is so you can line up your metronome with a song that’s already been created and you're adding more to. Any point can be at any time, so that you know the metronome beat will be in the right place.
ADOBE AUDITION 299 User Guide The Custom Metronome Time Signature dialog • Name: Enter the name of the new time signature in this field. • Pattern: Here’s where you specify the pattern of the time signature. Use a 0 for no beat, a 1 for a down beat, a 2 for a secondary beat, and 3 for a regular beat. Spaces between the numbers are optional. • Beats/Bar: The number of beats per bar goes in this text box. Press the Add button to place your new custom time signature to the Metronome’s Signature list.
300 CHAPTER 15 View Menu – Multitrack View
301 Chapter 16: Edit Menu – Multitrack View T he Edit Menu contains the options for editing waveform blocks in Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View. Undo As in Adobe Audition’s Edit View, Undo allows you to back up through previous edits. In the multitrack environment, this includes anything you might do in the way of editing or arranging waveform blocks, such as moving, splicing, and copying.
302 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Take History (Wave Block Only) If a single wave block is highlighted, this command will appear on the Multitrack View’s Edit menu. The Take History function is available for any track that has the Allow Multiple Takes command enabled. With multiple takes, material is not overwritten when recording into an existing waveform block, instead a new instance, or “take”, of the block is created and recorded into, preserving the previous waveform.
ADOBE AUDITION 303 User Guide Wave Block Properties (Wave Block Only) If a single wave block is highlighted, this command will appear on the Multitrack View’s Edit menu. It brings up the Wave Block Properties dialog, which displays information on the selected waveform block. You can use this dialog to change waveform block properties, such as position, panning, volume, and more.
304 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Mute Check this box to mute, or disable, the selected waveform block. The wave block will become gray in color, indicating that it won’t play until unmuted. Remove this check to unmute. Note: This Mute setting is independent of the track’s overall mute state. Track Mute is sent in the Track Info dialog, or by pressing the green “M” button in the track’s console area.
ADOBE AUDITION 305 User Guide Set Controller 7 (MIDI Block Only) If a single MIDI block is highlighted, this command appears on the Edit menu. The controller 7 value for a MIDI file is the master volume setting. This value gets sent out each time a MIDI file is played and tells the MIDI playback device what volume to play this file at. This option just lets you change the controller 7 value directly in case you have a MIDI file whose controller 7 value is too low or high.
306 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View All Waves (Mono) Selecting this option will mix all unmuted waveforms in the session to a mono waveform, which will be placed into the selected track. Selected Waves (Mono) Choose this option to mix all highlighted waveforms in the session to a mono waveform, which will be opened into the selected track. Group Blocks This option will group any selected blocks together. Grouping can help with organizing the many blocks in your session.
ADOBE AUDITION 307 User Guide To use Punch In: • Highlight the area of the waveform block (or blocks) you would like to Punch into. For an exact selection, you can switch back to Adobe Audition’s Edit View and use the Find Beats, Zero Crossings, and Snapping functions to make your selection, and then switch back to Multitrack View. • Choose Punch In from the Edit menu, or from the menu that appears when you right-click on the waveform block.
308 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Loop Duplicate Loop Duplicate will create a specified number of consecutive Images of the selected waveform block creating, in effect, a loop of the waveform. Decide if you want no gaps between each duplicated wave form block, or if you wish them to be even spaced by a certain amount. Loop Duplicate dialog Note: For waveform blocks, a more efficient and flexible method of looping is to adjust the block’s Loop Properties.
ADOBE AUDITION 309 User Guide 2 Once entered, hold down the Shift key and right-click on the waveform and drag it to make an Image. The Image should be placed onto a new track (such as below the existing track) 3 Next, shift the Image in time, to the right of the original; small amounts to create phase shifts (small time offset), larger amounts to create delays (15-50 ms offsets) or echoes (50 ms or greater offsets). 4 Repeat this any number of times, shifting each Image slightly more to the right.
310 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Mute Blocks This command mutes or unmutes the selected block(s). This command is separate from Track Muting (pressing the Mute button in the Track Console area) which disables all blocks within a track. Muted blocks are ignored during playback and mixdowns, and are displayed as “grayed-out”. Lock in Time Lock In Time “locks” selected blocks to their current time location in the multitrack session.
ADOBE AUDITION 311 User Guide Align Left The Align Left command (which is only accessible if two or more blocks are highlighted) to make the left-hand edges of all highlighted blocks the same as the left-hand edge of the last highlighted block. Align Right Click the Align Right command (which is only visible when two or more blocks are highlighted) to make the right-hand edges of all highlighted blocks the same as the right-hand edge of the last block you highlighted.
312 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Cut Cut will remove the highlighted portion of a selected block. For example, if track 3 contains a wave block that is five seconds in length, selecting it, highlighting the third second, and choosing Cut will remove the third second, leaving the two-second portions on either side. If you want to remove unwanted material around a highlighted region, use Edit > Trim instead.
ADOBE AUDITION 313 User Guide Insert/Delete Time Use Insert/Delete Time to introduce an amount of silence into the session at the cursor location, or to cut the selected area out of the session. Insert/Delete Time dialog Insert This option will shift all material (blocks or parts of blocks) to the right of the cursor position to a location after the time amount specified in the editable text field. Blocks will be split if necessary, and the specified amount of silence inserted.
314 CHAPTER 16 Edit Menu – Multitrack View Snap to Cues With this option checked, the selection will snap to any time locations currently listed in the Cue List. Adobe Audition displays Cue markers in the Multitrack View as red and blue dotted lines. Snap to Ruler (Fine) Check this option to have the selection or block snap to each subdivision in the current time display format (SMPTE, Bars and Beats, etc.) along the horizontal time ruler. Use this option for more sensitivity in Snapping.
315 Chapter 17: Insert Menu – Multitrack View U se the Insert Menu to import wave files, MIDI files, video files, and audio from video files into Adobe Audition’s Multitrack View. Both active files (those already opened in Edit View) and inactive (not already opened) files may be easily inserted. Wave from File This command activates Adobe Audition’s Open a Waveform dialog. It allows you to choose one or more supported wave files to be placed at the insertion point in the Session Display.
316 CHAPTER 17 Insert Menu – Multitrack View Audio from Video File Insert the soundtrack from one or more supported video files to the session window using this command, which displays Adobe Audition’s Choose a video file dialog. (This dialog is virtually identical to a normal Windows Open dialog.) Note: You’re limited to inserting audio from just one video file at a time, but feel free to re-run this command as often as need to insert addition video soundtracks into your session.
317 Chapter 18: Effects Menu – Multitrack View T his menu contains all of Adobe Audition’s “exclusively multitrack” effects. Envelope Follower The Envelope Follower varies the output level of one waveform, based on the input level of another. The amplitude map, or envelope of one waveform (the Analysis wave) is applied to the material of a second waveform (the Process wave), which results in the second waveform taking on the amplitude characteristics of the first waveform.
318 CHAPTER 18 Effects Menu – Multitrack View • Ctrl+Left-click each wave block you wish to process to give them focus. • Access the Envelope Follower from the Effects pull-down menu, the Effects toolbar, or the Effects section of the Organizer window. The following are the major components of the Enveloper Follower dialog: Analysis Wave Choose the waveform from which to “read” the amplitude envelope. Any waveform in the session window may be selected from this drop-down list.
ADOBE AUDITION 319 User Guide • Attack Time: the attack time (measured in milliseconds) applied when retrieving the current amplitude information. Attack Time determines the time in milliseconds that it takes for the processed output signal to reach its specified output volume. If there’s suddenly a quiet portion that drops 30dB, it will take the amount of time specified in this field before the output actually drops to its corresponding volume level.
320 CHAPTER 18 Effects Menu – Multitrack View Note: The spikes occur because it takes a little time to determine (the Level Detector’s attack value) and react (the Gain Processor’s attack value) to the current signal level, so Lookahead Time will actually cause the attacks to start before the audio gets loud, instead of right on top of the transient. Otherwise, with a Lookahead Time of 0, a spike will stay loud until all of the attack times have elapsed.
ADOBE AUDITION 321 User Guide Frequency Band Splitter Dialog For instance, using the default setting of 3 bands with crossover values of 800 and 3200, three copies of the selected waveform are made: one that has the frequencies of the selected wave from 0 to 800Hz, one from 800 to 3200Hz, and one from 3200 to 22050Hz (or whatever the maximum frequency present is, based on the sample rate).
322 CHAPTER 18 Effects Menu – Multitrack View Presets The Frequency Splitter effect supports Presets for storing and recalling your favorite settings. More information about Presets can be found in the “Looking at the Work Area” chapter. Vocoder A vocoder is a special effect which takes two inputs, usually an instrument of some kind and a voice, and modulates one signal (the process signal, usually the instrument) with the input of the other (the control signal, usually the voice).
ADOBE AUDITION 323 User Guide • Higher values (like the default value of 4096) mean cleaner-sounding filters. Even larger FFT sizes should produce extra smooth results, but will take a bit longer to process. • Smaller numbers make for a faster processing time, but the results may sound choppier. Overlays This is the number of FFTs that are overlapped in processing the vocoder. More overlays can produce smoother results, but will take longer to process. Values of 3 to 12 work well.
324 CHAPTER 18 Effects Menu – Multitrack View
325 Chapter 19: Options Menu – Multitrack View T he Options menu contains commands for customizing Adobe Audition’s settings for the Multitrack View. Loop Mode The Loop Mode option toggles Adobe Audition’s Play control between Loop and Play states. • When Loop Mode is checked, pressing the Play control will continuously loop the current selection (or the entire session, if nothing is selected).
326 CHAPTER 19 Options Menu – Multitrack View Synchronize Blocks with Edit View When Synchronize Blocks with Edit View is checked and you switch to Adobe Audition’s Edit View from Multitrack View, the current selection and view information will be transferred to the Edit View. For example, if you’re only looking at seconds 4 through 27 on a wave block when you double-click on it in Multitrack View, you'll be looking at seconds 4 through 27 of that wave in the Edit View.
ADOBE AUDITION 327 User Guide Note: Before attempting to enable SMPTE sync, you’ll need to choose a device for MIDI In that is recognized by Windows (such as a soundcard’s built-in MIDI interface, a MIDI interface card, or other hardware device options.) To do this, go to Options > Device Properties to bring up the devices window. Set MIDI In (Sync/Trigger) to the input to be used for SMPTE sync (commonly YourDevice: Sync).
328 CHAPTER 19 Options Menu – Multitrack View Device Properties The Device Properties dialog is where you tell Adobe Audition which devices to use for playback and recording of waveforms, as well as input and output of MIDI signals. Note: Complete documentation on the Device Properties dialog can be found in the “Options Menu – Edit View” chapter.
329 Chapter 20: Multichannel Encoder dobe Audition includes the Multichannel Encoder, a self-contained dialog where you can access the tracks of any existing Multitrack session. In the Multichannel Encoder dialog, you can individually pan each track to your multichannel setup, preview the current mix and then Export the session as an encoded WMA Pro version 9 Multichannel file.
330 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder Multichannel Encoder dialog box. Track List At the top left of the dialog is the track list. This list will show all the tracks and buses in use in the current Adobe Audition multitrack session. You select which tracks and/or bus outputs you want to be included in the multichannel mix by checking the box at the left of each track.
ADOBE AUDITION 331 User Guide For an example, consider that track 1 of a session consists of a vocal wav file. You might have several other vocal tracks in this session as well and therefore you might add one Reverb effect on Bus A and set each vocal track’s output to Bus A to have all be effected by this Reverb.
332 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder The Surround Panner allows you to position the selected track anywhere in the main speaker sound field by left clicking and dragging the white Panner Point. Note that as you position the Panner Point within the circular sound field the light blue Power Indicator lines coming from the speakers will change in length. This indicates the power balance of your sound source coming from each of the five main channels.
ADOBE AUDITION 333 User Guide Center + LFE, stereo Note that this option is most useful with a stereo source file – when this option is selected for a stereo track, it will route the track’s left channel signal to the Center channel and the track’s right channel signal to the LFE channel discretely. If this option is selected for a track containing Mono source file, then the same signal will be sent equally to both the Center and LFE channels.
334 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder When in the Surround Panner modes, the Center slider determines the balance of the FL, Center and FR channels. With this slider at 0, no signal is sent to the Center channel. With this slider at 100, the Center channel receives an equal % of signal as the FL and FR. The position of the Panner Point then determines the positional panning according to this FL, Center, FR balance ratio.
ADOBE AUDITION 335 User Guide 5 Now move the Panner Point to the desired position in the five channel sound field. Note that as soon as you move the Panner Point that two “handle” points are created on the Envelope lines within the Waveform display. These handles now move with your positioning of the Panner Point. 6 You can also left click directly on either of the envelope lines to create additional adjustable “handles” for shaping the envelope lines.
336 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder Transport Controls Transport Controls Rewind to Start This left arrow button will place the cursor back at the start of the track. Play Track This starts preview playback from the cursor location and only plays the currently selected track. Playback will always play to the end of the track, regardless of the current zoom level.
ADOBE AUDITION 337 User Guide Master Level Slider Master Level Slider The Master Level slider will affect the audible level of your preview playback; however, this slider is primarily offered to adjust the amplitude of the exported or encoded files. Use this slider and reference the meters to optimize the overall peak amplitude of the 5.1 channel mix so that none of the channels are clipping.
338 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder Some professional sound cards such as the M-Audio Delta 1010/1010LT or 410, Echo Layla24, Frontier Design Dakota and EgoSys WaMi units offer a single Multichannel Device driver, in addition to several individual stereo drivers. For these cards that offer this special “interleaved” multichannel driver, you should select this from the list.
ADOBE AUDITION 339 User Guide Speaker Placement The recommended physical speaker placement is also important for accurate monitoring. Ideally, the five main speakers should be placed at ear level and each at an equal distance from your listening position. The LFE/Sub Woofer is a nondirectional speaker, therefore, it can be placed anywhere in the room on the floor, but it would be practical to try moving it to slightly different floor positions to find the most accurate response within your environment.
340 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder Multichannel Export Options dialog box Multichannel Session Name field The Multichannel Session Name field will automatically be completed with the name of your Adobe Audition Multitrack session if you had already saved the session and named it. You can type a new name in this field if you like.
ADOBE AUDITION 341 User Guide • 5 – “BossaNovaBed _Ls.wav” (Left surround channel file) • 6 – “BossaNovaBed _Rs.wav” (Right surround channel file) • For the Interleaved 6-channel Wave Export format, one file will be rendered and saved as “BossaNovaBed.wav”. • For the WMA 6-channel Export format, the file will be encoded in the WMA format and saved as “BossaNovaBed.wma”. Save In This field lists the currently designated directory where the Export files are to be saved.
342 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder Export options The WMA format utilizes a perceptual compression scheme and allows you to select from several different quality settings, including Constant Bit Rate (CBR), Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and Lossless. Just as with stereo WMA files, the higher quality setting you select, the larger the file size, and vice-versa. The Lossless option will compress to a smaller file size than wav, but will result in no fidelity loss whatsoever.
ADOBE AUDITION 343 User Guide Fold down to stereo dialog box To access the Fold down to stereo dialog, click on the Fold down to stereo settings button within the Multichannel Export Options dialog. The three numerical fields will default to –3, -3 and –12 dB as shown above. The defaults are usually good settings for most files, but you can enter any value in any of these 3 fields between 0 and –144 dB as desired.
344 CHAPTER 20 Multichannel Encoder
345 Appendix A: Keyboard Shortcuts A dobe Audition offers a wide variety of built-in keyboard shortcuts that can be used to speed up the editing process. Many users find these shortcuts help them to work a lot faster than using the corresponding menu commands, toolbar icons, or controls. The Shortcuts (Keyboard & MIDI Triggers) dialog The following list details the default shortcut commands that can be executed from your computer’s keyboard.
346 Keyboard Shortcuts File Menu Shortcuts Ctrl+N Create a new waveform or session Ctrl+O Open a new waveform or session Ctrl+W Close a waveform or session Ctrl+F4 Close a waveform or session Ctrl+S Save a waveform or session Ctrl+Q Exit Adobe Audition Edit Menu Shortcuts Ctrl+C Copy the waveform or selection to the clipboard Ctrl+Insert Copy the waveform or selection to the clipboard Ctrl+X Cut the waveform or selection to the clipboard Shift+Delete Cut the waveform or selection to the
ADOBE AUDITION 347 User Guide Ctrl+2 Set the active clipboard to internal clipboard 2 Ctrl+3 Set the active clipboard to internal clipboard 3 Ctrl+4 Set the active clipboard to internal clipboard 4 Ctrl+5 Set the active clipboard to internal clipboard 5 Ctrl+6 Set the active clipboard to the Windows clipboard F8 Add the cursor position to the Cue List Shift+F8 Add a track marker Ctrl+F8 Add an index marker F2 Repeat the last command (its dialog is shown) F3 Repeat the last command (no di
348 Keyboard Shortcuts Scroll/Select Shortcuts H Adjust selection left side to the left J Adjust selection left side to the right K Adjust selection right side to the left L Adjust selection right side to the right Ctrl+Home Scroll to the beginning of the waveform or session when the view is zoomed in Ctrl+End Scroll to the ending of the waveform or session when the view is zoomed in Ctrl+Page Up Scroll the view one “page” to the left Ctrl+Page Down Scroll the view one “page” to the right C
ADOBE AUDITION 349 User Guide Ctrl+Down Arrow Select the next block in the currently selected track Shift+I Adjust Zero Cross in Shift+O Adjust Zero Cross out Shift+H Adjust Zero Cross left side to the left Shift+J Adjust Zero Cross left side to the right Shift+K Adjust Zero Cross right side to the left Shift+L Adjust Zero Cross right side to the right Shift+[ Find the next beat to the left Shift+] Find the next beat to the right [ Anchor the selection to the left when playing ] Anchor
350 Keyboard Shortcuts Alt+Left Arrow Zoom out horizontally Alt+Home Zoom in to the left edge of the selection Alt+End Zoom in to the right edge of the selection Alt+Up Arrow Zoom in vertically Alt+Down Arrow Zoom out vertically Ctrl+P Display Wave Properties in Edit View only; display Advanced Session Properties in Multitrack View Analyze Menu Shortcuts Alt+Z Toggle the display of the Frequency Analysis window Options Menu Shortcuts F10 Toggle the monitoring of the input signal in the Level
ADOBE AUDITION 351 User Guide Help Menu Shortcuts F1 Display the Help file’s Quick Reference section Keyboard Shortcuts Dialog The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (Options > Keyboard Shortcuts) is where you can customize Adobe Audition’s existing keyboard shortcuts, as well as create new ones. One of Adobe Audition’s best features is that most functions can have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them, which can make editing much faster.
352 Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts List All of Adobe Audition’s commands and functions that can be assigned a keyboard shortcut are displayed in this list, along with any currently assigned shortcuts and MIDI triggers. Click on a command to highlight it, and then give it a shortcut (or edit its existing one) using the Shortcut Key and/or MIDI Trigger area of the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.
353 Appendix B: Glossary 64-bit Doubles See DBL. 8-bit Signed See SAM. ACM The Microsoft ACM (Audio Compression Manager) is part of all 32-bit versions of Windows. The ACM enables many Windows audio programs to compress and decompress files in a variety of formats, such as DSP Group TrueSpeech and GSM 6.10. Some of these formats come as a standard part of Windows, while others are provided by third parties. ACM formats are sometimes acquired when you install other software.
354 ASCII Text Data Audio data can be read to or written from files in a standard text format, with each sample separated by a carriage return, and channels separated by a tab character. The file extension is .txt. An optional header can be placed before the data. If there is no header text, then the data is assumed to be 16-bit signed decimal integers. The header is formatted as KEYWORD: value with the keywords being: SAMPLES, BITSPERSAMPLE, CHANNELS, SAMPLERATE, and NORMALIZED.
ADOBE AUDITION 355 User Guide BIOS Basic Input Output System. It’s the most basic system for controlling a PC. BIOS routines are usually stored on hardware on the motherboard of a computer system (i.e., stored in a ROM chip). It’s the BIOS that handles the instructions for starting a computer, initializing the hardware, and launching the operating system. Bit Bits are part of the numbering system used in digital equipment, such as computers.
356 CEL Audition Loop files are essentially MP3 files with a .cel extension, but with a header that contains two important items. The first is the loop info, just as it’s saved with a .wav file and is set under View > Wave Properties > Loop Info. The .cel file also works to avoid a problem with MP3 files. It’s in the nature of MP3 files that a very small amount of silence is added to the beginning and/or end of an MP3 file when it’s encoded.
ADOBE AUDITION 357 User Guide DC Offset Many sound cards record with a slight DC offset, which means that direct current is introduced into the signal by the card, causing the center of the waveform to be off from the zero point in the waveform display. This is seen as the waveform being “shifted” above or below the center line in the Wave Display, and can cause a click or pop to be played at the beginning and the end of the file.
358 Dry Used to describe an audio signal without any signal processing (such as reverb); the opposite of Wet. DSP See Digital Signal Processing. DVD Digital Video (or Versatile) Disc. A storage medium similar to Compact Disc (CD), but with much higher bandwidth and storage capabilities. Audio stored on DVD movies is generally 96 kHz/24-bit. DVI See IMA ADPCM.
ADOBE AUDITION 359 User Guide IDE Integrated Drive Electronics. A type of hard drive and CD-ROM interface that’s the most common interface (as opposed to SCSI) in PCs. IMA ADCPM The International Multimedia Association (IMA) flavor of ADPCM compresses 16-bit data to 4 bits/sample (4:1) using a different (faster) method than Microsoft ADPCM, and has different distortion characteristics, which can give better or worse results depending on the sample being compressed.
360 Limiter Limiters reduce or “limit” input signals that exceed a specified threshold level so that the output does not increase in gain beyond that point. In other words, a limiter only allows the dynamic range at its input to increase up to a certain point, which is determined by the threshold setting. Beyond this level, as the input continues to increase in gain, the output level remains relatively constant and does not increase in volume.
ADOBE AUDITION 361 User Guide Mix Gauge The Mix Gauge is found beneath the Track Console in the Multitrack View. It’s an indicator of the amount of background mixing that Adobe Audition has completed. Each time something changes in a session that alters the way it will play back, this bar will “empty” and fill back up as the mix is re-processed. The further this bar progresses to the right, the more complete the mix of your session. The bar becomes a bright color when fully mixed.
362 Organizer Window The part of the Adobe Audition interface that lets you see a tabbed list of open files, effects, and favorites. The Organizer Window isn’t shown by default. Activate it by pressing the F9 key or by selecting View > Show Organizer Window. PCM Pulse Code Modulation. PCM is the standard method of digitally encoding audio. It’s the basic uncompressed data format used in file types such as Windows .wav and Apple AIFF. Peak Files Peak Files are files with the extension .
ADOBE AUDITION 363 User Guide Quantization Quantization takes place as a part of the analog to digital conversion process as the values of an analog wave are turned into steps. Quantization Noise naturally occurs during this time, caused by sample levels being changed to conform to standard Quantization levels. This noise is heard more often in sounds recorded at low bit resolutions, especially at lower amplitude. RAM Random Access Memory. The memory required to load and run programs.
364 Sample In digital audio, a signal isn’t captured in a complete continuous fashion, as in traditional recording. To digitize a sound, a number of snapshots, or samples, are taken every second (this number is a product of the sampling rate used) and are changed into numeric representations. A sample is a single snapshot of the sound, if you will.
ADOBE AUDITION 365 User Guide Sound Card A device in your PC that allows your computer to play and record audio. Stereo The reproduction or recording of two of more channels, where the position of discrete left and right sounds can be determined. Stripe To copy SMPTE time code to a single track of a multitrack tape. The SMPTE is then used to reference time on the other tracks for purposes of syncing those tracks to other devices. SVX The Amiga 8SVX format (which can have an extension of .iff or .
366 VOX The Dialogic ADPCM format is commonly found in telephony applications, and has been optimized for low sample rate voice. It will only save mono 16-bit audio, and like other ADPCM formats, it compresses to 4 bits/sample (for a 4:1 ratio). This format has no header, so any file format with the extension .vox will be assumed to be in this format. WAV Files with the .wav extension typically are Microsoft Windows uncompressed PCM audio files.
367 Index Numerics 64-bit doubles (RAW) 29 Allow for partially processed data 224 Auto-scroll during playback and recording 215 8-bit signed 29 Allow Multiple Takes 301 Average Left & Right 119 Allpass Feedback 136 Average RMS Power 201 A A/mu-Law Wave 29 Amiga IFF-8SVX 30 Account Executive field 91 Amplify 97 B Background mixing 8 Account for DC 202 Amplitude 97, 190 Background Mixing Priority 225 Accuracy 151 Amplitude sliders 133, 291 Band Limiting tab 107 ACM Waveform 30 Analysis Wa
368 INDEX adjusting hue 262 Channel Mixer 102 Creation Date field 90, 91 adjusting panning of 261 Channel order 338 Creative Sound Blaster 32 adjusting volume of 260 Channels 45, 75, 76 Crossfade 64, 265, 307 destroy 268, 312 Check For Hidden Blocks 314 Crossfade Time 226 editing 241 Choose Files tab 70 Cue Handle context menu 81 moving 241 Chorus characteristics 117 Cue Info, edit 82 remove 312 Chorus effect 116 Cue List, show 80, 84, 293 removing 268 Clear Clip Indicators 24 Cues a
ADOBE AUDITION 369 User Guide Delay, Multitap 135 Dockable Windows 14, 220 Envelope Editing, enable 283 Delete 82 Don’t ask for further details 47 Envelope Follower 317 Delete Clipboard files on exit 218 Doppler Shifter 181 Envelopes 109, 269 Delete old takes after merging 226 Downsampling quality level 223 EQ 293 Delete Selection 65 Drop-down Menus 16 EQ A and B buttons 246 Delete Silence 65 Dry Out 119 EQ button 286 Delete This Take 302 DTMF Signals 189, 190 EQ-Loud 71 Demodulate 194
370 INDEX Files 53 Go to Beginning button 23 Insert menu 250 Files Pane 17 Go To Cue List 82 Insert Play List in Multitrack 64 Fill * Fields Automatically 90, 91, 92 Go to End button 23 Insert/Delete Time 257, 313 Graph Controls 21 Inserting audio files 242 Filters 144 Graphic Equalizer 150 Interface Options 50 Final Amplification 99 Graphic Phase Shifter 151 Final Mix Delay 129 Group Blocks 263, 306 Interpret 32-bit PCM .wav files as 16.
ADOBE AUDITION 371 User Guide Logarithmic Energy Plot 221 MIDI Output Devices tab 235 Session, open 274 Logarithmic Fades 99 MIDI Panic Button 325 Session, save as 276 Look in 47, 274, 276 MIDI tab 253, 287 Loop 92 MIDI Trigger 352 Multitrack View 11, 79 Loop Duplicate 265, 308 MIDI Trigger Enable 208, 325 Music 179 Loop Info tab 92 Minimum RMS Power 201 Mute 304 Loop Mode 207, 325 Misc tab 96 Mute Block command 267 Loop Paste 64 Mix Down to Empty Track N 305 Mute blocks 310 Loop Pro
372 INDEX Open File button 17 Pause button 22 Pre-Filter 223 Open Order 226 PCM 36 Open Session 274 PCM Raw Data 36 Premiere Pro, moving files to and from 9 Open Waveform 275 Peak Amplitude 200 Pre-Mixing 226, 296 Open/New Collection 210 Peak Cache Files, save 222 Presets 20, 51 Order 229, 231, 232 Peak Files 221 Preview Buffer 217 Organizer Window 17 Peak mode 107 Preview Buffer Size slider 338 Organizer Window, show 79, 293 Peaks Cache 222 Preview Device selection 337 Original Arti
ADOBE AUDITION 373 User Guide Record Enable Button 244 SampleVision 34 new 273 Recording Save 52 open 274 in Edit View 41 Save All 53, 279 save 275 in Multitrack View 242 Save As 52 save as 276 Recording Buffers 225 Save as type 52 Session Display 19, 241 Recording Devices command 253 Save copies of all associated files 276 Session Display, about 248 Recording Devices tab 234 Recording Length 207 Refresh Effects List 187 Refresh Now 314 Remove Blocks 312 Repeat Last Command 62 Resample 54
374 INDEX Snap to Zero Crossings 69 Sweeping Phaser 141 Track cue 81 Snapping 69, 313 Synchronize Blocks with Edit View 326 Track Display Ruler 249 Synchronize Cursor Across Windows 208 Track Equalization Fields 245 SND 30, 34 Solo button 244, 289, 290, 293 Solo Current Track option 251 Solo Track option 251 Soundtracks, replacing 263 Source Selection 49 Source Supplier field 90 Speaker placement 339 Special effects 175 Spectral Display 221 Spectral tab 219 Spectral View 38, 79 Spectrum 219 Spin Up
ADOBE AUDITION 375 User Guide Vertical Portion Bar 243 Wet/Dry Fields 246, 288 Vertical Ruler 40 Wet/Dry Mix Envelopes, show 282 Vertical Scale Format 88 White noise 191 Video from File 250, 315 White Progress Background 220 Video Window, show 295 Window Menu - Edit View 28 VOC 32 Windows Media Audio 35 Vocoder 322 Windows PCM 35 Volume 298 Volume Envelopes, show 281 Windows Recording Mixer 209, 327 Volume slider 292, 303 WMA 35 VOX 32 W WAV 29, 30, 33, 35 Wave Block Properties 303 dialog
376 INDEX
