Operation manual The Standard in Digital Audio Editing Operation Manual by Ludvig Carlson, Anders Nordmark, Roger Wiklander Quality Control: K. Albrecht, C.Bachmann, H. Bischoff, S. Pfeifer, C. Schomburg The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies AG. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the Li- cense Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written per- mission by Steinberg Media Technologies AG. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective own- ers. Windows 98 , Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. © Steinberg Media Technologies AG, 2002. All rights reserved. Table of contents 9 Introduction 43 Basic methods 10 Welcome! 44 Why you should read this 11 What’s so special about chapter WaveLab? 44 Getting help 12 How you can reach us 45 About the “unlimited” Undo 47 Working with windows 13 Requirements 52 Dockable control bars 14 This is what you need... 55 The status bar 14 Computer requirements 56 Speed menus 16 CD-R requirements 57 Units of time and level 16 Sampler requirements 58 Setting values 17 About audio cards 61 Presets 17 About the System Informa- 63 About non-modal dialogs tion feature 64 Using the computer keyboard 19 Installing and setting up 65 Editing in the Wave window 20 Setting up the computer 21 Installing the software 66 About this chapter 21 Register your software! 66 Creating new empty 22 Launching WaveLab and documents authorizing the hard disk 67 Opening Waves 22 Program settings 70 Window overview and 28 Installing a CD recorder adjustments 29 Installing samplers 71 Setting the zoom factor 31 Installation done! Where do 78 Navigating through the file I go next? 79 Snapshots 32 About the Tracer application 80 Copying layouts between 32 About the copy protection windows 81 Setting the ruler start 33 Overview position 34 Get to know WaveLab 82 Working with a meter based 34 The windows and what you display can do with them 83 Setting the wave cursor 41 Find your way around in position WaveLab 85 Selecting 94 Basic editing commands 106 File handling WAVELAB 4 Table of contents 116 Importing audio CD tracks 193 Master Section and into WaveLab Live Input 120 Editing attributes and get- ting info 194 Introduction 195 The Master Section window 123 Playback and 197 About the signal path recording 198 The Master level pane 201 The Effects pane 124 Playing back 208 The Dithering pane 134 Recording 213 Master Section presets 145 Metering 216 Rendering 221 The Monitor window 146 Introduction 225 Live Input 146 Selecting what to monitor 148 The meters 227 Batch processing 163 Off-line processing 228 Introduction 231 Opening the Batch 164 Introduction Processor 164 Applying processing 232 Overview of the Window 166 Normalize 233 The Input tab – Assembling 167 Gain Change a list of files 168 Dynamics 241 Setting up the processing 174 Fade-in and fade-out tasks to be performed 175 Crossfade 249 The Output tab – Settings 178 Invert Phase for created files 178 Reverse 255 Scheduling 179 Eliminate DC Offset 257 Running and stopping the 180 Waveform Restorer batch(es) 180 Time Stretch 258 Using presets for batch 184 Pitch Correction processing 186 Pitch Bend 188 Harmonization 259 Batch file encoding 190 Hi-fi Chorus 260 Basic procedure 191 Convert sample rate WAVELAB Table of contents 5 263 Markers 295 Creating a disc image 296 Exporting audio files from a 264 Introduction track list 267 Creating markers 297 Preparations done! 269 About the marker list 270 Marker appearance and 299 The Audio Montage visibility 271 Editing, converting and 300 Introduction naming markers 301 The Audio Montage window 272 Moving and duplicating 306 Assembling the Montage markers 316 Zooming and navigating 273 Deleting markers 324 Playing back 274 Operations involving markers 330 Recording 332 Rearranging clips 279 Preparing a Basic 358 The Zoom view Audio CD 361 Editing in the Clips view 366 Managing clips and source 280 Creating, opening and files saving Basic Audio CDs 370 The volume envelope 281 About the Basic Audio CD 382 Using fades and crossfades window in the Montage 282 Adding files to a Basic 396 The pan envelope Audio CD 398 Transforming clips 285 Setting the order of the 402 Adding effects to clips tracks on the CD 410 The Meta Normalizer 285 Deleting files from Basic 413 Groups Audio CDs 416 Using markers in the 286 Managing list columns Montage 287 “Unfolding” a track 420 Mixing down – The Render 288 Opening CD tracks for function wave editing 422 Undo/Redo and History 289 About the relation between 424 File handling in the Audio the track list and CD markers Montage 290 Working with CD markers 432 Preparing the Audio Mon- 292 Adjusting pauses tage for CD Burning 292 Naming tracks 439 Creating an Audio CD 293 Other settings report 293 Checking the total length of the CD 294 Playing files in the track list WAVELAB 6 Table of contents 445 Burning an audio CD 517 Synchronizing to MIDI 446 Introduction Time Code 446 Selecting a CD-R unit 518 Introduction 447 Testing a basic audio CD 519 Setting up before burning 521 Activating sync 448 Writing a CD 524 Checking incoming time 450 The audio CD format – code Background information 525 Using samplers and 455 The CD Project creating loops 456 Introduction 526 Introduction 457 Creating a new CD Project 526 Background information 458 Source window settings 529 Setting up your sampler(s) 459 Destination window settings 531 Transmitting samples 461 The Write dialog for the CD 532 Receiving samples Project 533 Deleting and getting info 463 Copying CDs about samples 533 The Transmit Back feature 464 Copying the contents of a 533 In case of problems CD 534 Using WaveLab with Steinberg HALion 467 Creating CD labels 535 Editing sample attributes 468 Introduction 536 Basic looping 470 Using the Label Editor 538 Using the Crossfade Looper 480 Defining user variables 550 Using the Loop Tone 482 Printing CD labels Equalizer 489 Analysis 553 Audio Databases 490 Global analysis 554 What is an Audio Database 502 Audio file comparer and why do I need it? 503 3D Frequency Analysis 555 Creating and opening Audio 506 Auto Split Databases 555 How Audio Databases are 511 Generating signals saved 512 Audio Signal Generator 556 Window overview and 514 DTMF Generator adjustments WAVELAB Table of contents 7 557 Adding files to the Audio 607 Customizing Database 608 What is customizing? 563 Customizing the File List 608 Preferences 563 Selecting in the File List 609 Saving the window layout 564 Finding out where files are 610 Styling WaveLab – Wave located windows 564 Opening a file for editing 615 Styling WaveLab – Audio 564 Playing a file Montage windows 565 Other file operations 620 Working with window 568 Working with categories layouts 572 Location operations 621 Setting default size and 574 Filtering the list position for windows 575 Finding files 622 Creating a Favorites menu 576 Changing the default cate- 622 Customizable key gories and keywords commands 577 Workspaces 627 Organizing plug-in processors 578 What are Workspaces? 579 Creating and opening 631 Index Workspaces 579 How Workspaces are saved 580 Creating, renaming and deleting groups 581 File operations 583 Using WaveLab for backup 584 Background 585 Creating a Backup Plan 599 Performing the backup 602 Opening an archive 605 Other functions WAVELAB 8 Table of contents 1 Introduction Welcome! Congratulations on your choice of WaveLab! Digital audio editing – an area previously reserved for professionals – has now been opened up to anyone involved in music or multimedia! We’d like to think that WaveLab sets new standards in user friendliness, while at the same time providing features expected by seasoned professionals. This is version 4.0 of WaveLab. Those of you who have been with us from the onset, already know what dramatic changes this program has undergone during its first few years. But we have no intention of stop- ping here! Any suggestions or comments you might have about the pro- gram and the direction it should take in the future are most welcome! Your Steinberg Team. WAVELAB 1 – 10 Introduction What’s so special about WaveLab? We realize WaveLab is not the only audio editor in the world. But there are a few points that give this program some unique advantages: • WaveLab puts no limitation on the length of the files you work on. Basic edit- ing operations are equally fast, whether a file is five seconds or one hour long! • WaveLab uses true multitasking which among other things allows you to edit and apply processing while the program is playing. • WaveLab’s Audio Montage offers non-destructive editing of multiple tracks. allowing you to assemble and mix multi-track productions. • WaveLab has unlimited Undo and Redo! • All internal audio processing is carried out with 32/64-bit resolution which en- sures pristine audio quality. Professional dithering algorithms (including the UV22HR from Apogee) ensure that superb audio quality is maintained when creating CDs or rendering files to disk. • WaveLab has a host of real-time and off-line processing, metering and analy- sis tools, many geared directly towards professional mastering. It accepts plug-ins from a number of manufacturers and lets you process files in batches. • WaveLab creates real Disc-at-once red book audio CDs, as well as CD in data or Mixed Mode format.