Instruction Manual

545
Advanced Audio Processing
Editing Audio
passage of absolute silence, SONAR sends no signal to the digital output
port; this results in cleaner audio playback. Remove Silence is great for
cleaning up your final audio mix, because it can mute all audio tracks in
which the live performers were “laying out.”
Using Remove Silence to split long audio clips into smaller ones opens a
variety of creative possibilities.
The parameters in the Remove Silence dialog box are used to specify
exactly what you mean by silence. More precisely, Remove Silence
employs what is called a digital noise gate. The gate is a type of filter, it
passes data through, or stops it from passing through, according to certain
criteria. Parameters in the dialog box specify the conditions under which the
gate is opened and under which it closes again.
The digital noise gate parameters are described in the following table.
Parameter... Meaning...
Open Level (dB) The loudness threshold for opening the noise
gate. The gate officially opens when loudness
rises above this level, although it can open
earlier because of the Attack Time.
Close Level (dB) The loudness threshold for closing the noise
gate. The gate officially closes when loudness
falls below this level, although it can stay open
later because of the Release Time.
Attack Time (ms) The value in this field is the interval of time after
the volume reaches the Open Level for the gate
to fully open. Opening the gate gradually
produces a fade-in effect instead of an instant
on-off sound.
Hold Time (ms) The minimum time for the gate to stay open.
Hold Time is useful when you’ve set high open
and close levels, for example, when your source
signal is very loud. Noise gates set this way
tend to react to repeated percussive passages
(such as drum rolls) by repeatedly opening and
closing; this can sound unpleasant. By setting a
hold time, you can ensure that the gate stays
open long enough during percussive passages.