User Manual

SEQUENCE EDITOR
371
AUDIO EDITING BASICS
This section explains several important concepts to
keep in mind when you work with audio tracks in
the Sequence Editor.
Working with waveforms
The Sequence Editor displays soundbites — and
the audio data within them — as a waveform in a
standard time-versus-amplitude display as shown
in Figure 38-22. The waveform shown inside
soundbites is a representation of the sound in
graphical form. Time is expressed on the
horizontal axis. Amplitude (loudness) is expressed
on the vertical axis, and the waveform oscillates up
and down over a center axis which represents zero,
or no sound at all. The louder the sound is at a
certain point, the greater the deviation is from zero.
Silence is represented by a straight line. the point at
which the waveform crosses zero is called a zero-
crossing.
A soundbite is represented as a “block” of
waveform data with adjustable boundaries. The
waveform inside it represents the actual audio data
in the audio file on disk. This graphic display allows
you to make edit decisions based on what you see,
as well as what you hear.
Figure 38-23: A soundbite is represented as a block of audio with a
waveform inside.
Stereo versus mono waveforms
In stereo tracks, paired left/right soundbites appear
in the Sequence Editor as two smaller waveforms
joined together as shown in Figure 38-24. A stereo
soundbite shows both channels connected together
as one unit, so that they can always be edited simul-
taneously, with sample-accurate phase lock
between the channels.
Figure 38-24: A stereo soundbite is represented as two audio
channels joined together, which always remain phase-locked.
Time
Amplitude
0
+100%
-100%
Figure 38-22: A simple audio waveform displayed on a time versus amplitude scale.
zero crossing