Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual
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271 Audio processing and functions Pitch Shift Mode These are the same parameters as on the Transpose tab, see “Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269. Example Let’s say that you wish to create a pitchbend effect, so that the pitch is raised linearly by exactly 2 semitones in a specific part of the selected audio. 1.Remove all curve points by clicking the Reset button. 2.Select a linear curve by clicking the Curve Kind button to the right. 3.Make sure that the Range parameter is set to 2 semi- tones or higher. 4.Create a point where you want the pitchbend to start by clicking on the envelope line. Since this is the starting point for the pitchbend, you want its pitch to be zero (the envelope line should still be straight). If necessary, use the Fine Tune parameter to set the curve point to 0 cents, because this point gov - erns the start point, where you want the pitch transition to begin. 5.Create a new curve point at the horizontal position where you want the pitchbend to reach the full value. This curve point determines the rise time of the pitchbend effect, i. e. the further away from the starting point the new point is positioned, the longer it will take for the pitchbend to reach the full value, and vice versa. 6.With the second point still selected, use the Trans- pose and Fine Tune parameters to set the pitch to exactly 2 semitones. 7.Create a new curve point to set the duration of the pitchbend, i. e. the time the pitch will remain transposed by 2 semitones. 8.Finally, create a point where you want the pitchbend to end. You do not have to create a new point if you are at the end of the audio file, since there is always an end point at the right side of the waveform display. 9.If necessary, make additional settings in the Pitch Shift Mode section, see “Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269. 10.Click Process. The pitchbend is applied according to the specified settings. Remove DC Offset This function will remove any DC offset in the audio selec- tion. A DC offset is when there is too large a DC (direct current) component in the signal, sometimes visible as the signal not being visually centered around the “zero level axis”. DC offsets do not affect what you actually hear, but they affect zero crossing detection and certain process - ing, and it is recommended that you remove them. There are no parameters for this function. Note that you can check for DC Offset in an audio clip using the Statis - tics function (see “Statistics” on page 281). Resample The Resample function can be used for changing the length, tempo and pitch of an event. The original sample rate of the event is listed in the dialog. Resample the event to a higher or lower sample rate by ei - ther specifying a sample rate or by specifying the differ- ence (as a percentage value) between the original sample rate and the desired new one. •Resampling to a higher sample rate will make the event longer and cause the audio to play back at a slower speed with a lower pitch. •Resampling to a lower sample rate will make the event shorter and cause the audio to play back at a faster speed with a higher pitch. •You can audition the result of the resampling by enter- ing the desired value and clicking “Preview”. The event will then be played back as it will sound after the resampling. •When you are satisfied with the preview result, click “Process” to close the dialog and apply the processing. !It is recommended that this function is applied to complete audio clips, since the DC offset (if any) is normally present throughout the entire recording.
272 Audio processing and functions Reverse Reverses the audio selection, as when playing a tape backwards. There are no parameters for this function. Silence Replaces the selection with silence. There are no parame- ters for this function. Stereo Flip This function works with stereo audio selections only. It al- lows you to manipulate the left and right channel in various ways. The dialog contains the following parameters: Mode This pop-up menu determines what the function does: Time Stretch This function allows you to change the length and “tempo” of the selected audio without affecting the pitch. The dia - log contains the following parameters: Define Bars section In this section, you set the length of the selected audio and the time signature: Original Length section This section contains information and settings regarding the audio selected for processing: OptionDescription Flip Left-RightSwaps the left and right channel. Left to StereoCopies the left channel sound to the right channel. Right to StereoCopies the right channel sound to the left channel. MergeMerges both channels on each side for mono sound. SubtractSubtracts the left channel information from the right. This is typically used as a “Karaoke effect”, for removing cen-tered mono material from a stereo signal. OptionDescription BarsIf you use the tempo setting (see below), specify the length of the selected audio here, in bars. BeatsIf you use the tempo setting, specify the length of the se-lected audio here, in beats. Sign.If you use the tempo setting, specify the time signature here. OptionDescription Length in SamplesThe length of the selected audio, in samples. Length in SecondsThe length of the selected audio, in seconds. Tempo in BPMIf you are processing music, and know the actual tempo of the audio, you can enter it here as beats per minute. This makes it possible to time-stretch the audio to an -other tempo, without having to compute the actual time stretch amount.
273 Audio processing and functions Resulting Length section These settings are used if you want to stretch the audio to fit within a specific time span or tempo. The values will change automatically if you adjust the Time Stretch Ratio (see below). Seconds Range section These settings allow you to set the desired range for the time stretch. Time Stretch Ratio section The Time Stretch Ratio determines the amount of time stretch as a percentage of the original length. If you use the settings in the Resulting Length section to specify the amount of time stretch, this value will change automati - cally. The possible range depends on the “Effect” option: •If the “Effect” checkbox is deactivated, the range is 75–125 %. This is the preferred mode if you want to preserve the character of the sound. •If the “Effect” checkbox is activated, you can specify val- ues between 10 and 1000 % (Realtime), or 50 and 200 % (MPEX 4). This mode is mainly useful for special effects, etc. Algorithm section In this section you can select a time stretch algorithm. The pop-up menu contains various presets based on the MPEX 4 and Realtime algorithms. •MPEX 4 mode This mode is based on Prosoniq’s proprietary MPEX (Minimum Per- ceived Loss Time Compression/Expansion) algorithm. This algorithm (which is also used in Prosoniq’s TimeFactory™ application) uses an arti- ficial neural network for time series prediction in the scale space domain to achieve high end time and pitch scaling. This gives the best possible audio quality result. You can choose between 7 quality settings, see “Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269. •Realtime mode This is the algorithm used for the realtime time stretching features in Nu-endo. Although this algorithm is optimized for time stretching in realtime, you can use it for offline processing as well. The Presets pop-up con - tains the same presets as found in the Algorithm pop-up menu in the Sample Editor, see “Selecting an algorithm for realtime playback” on page 296. Applying plug-ins You can add plug-in effects in realtime during playback (see the chapter “Audio effects” on page 195). However, sometimes it is useful to “permanently” apply effects to one or several selected events. This is done in the follow - ing way: 1.Make a selection in the Project window, the Pool or an editor. Effects are applied according to the same rules as Processing (see “Common settings and features” on page 264). 2.Select “Plug-ins” from the Audio menu. 3.Select the desired effect from the submenu. The Process Plug-in dialog opens. About stereo and mono If you are applying an effect to mono audio material, only the left side of the effect’s stereo output will be applied. OptionDescription SamplesThe desired length in samples. SecondsThe desired length in seconds. BPMThe desired tempo (beats per minute). For this to work, you have to know the actual tempo of the audio, and specify this (along with time signature and length in bars) in the Original Length section to the left. OptionDescription RangeAllows you to specify the desired length as a range be-tween two time positions. Use LocatorsClicking the diamond-shaped button below the Range fields sets the Range values to the left and right Locator positions, respectively.
274 Audio processing and functions The process plug-in dialog The process plug-in dialog for the StudioChorus effect The upper section of the process plug-in dialog contains the effect parameters of the selected plug-in. For details on the parameters of the included plug-ins, see the sepa - rate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”. The lower section of the dialog contains settings for the actual processing. These are common to all plug-ins. •If the lower section is hidden, click the “More…” button to display it. Clicking the button again (now labeled “Less…”) will hide the lower section. The following settings and functions are available in the common, lower section of the dialog: Wet mix/Dry mix These two sliders allow you to specify the balance be- tween wet (processed) and dry (original) signal in the re- sulting clip. Normally the two sliders are “reverse-ganged”, so that raising the Wet mix slider lowers the Dry mix slider by the same amount. However, if you press [Alt]/[Option] and drag a slider, you can move it independently. This allows you to set 80 % dry and 80 % wet signal, for example. Be careful to avoid distortion. Tail This parameter is useful if you are applying an effect that adds material after the end of original audio (such as re - verb and delay effects). When the checkbox is activated, you can specify a tail length using the slider. The tail time is included when playing back with the Preview function, allowing you to find the appropriate tail length. Pre/Post-Crossfade These settings allow you to gradually mix the effect in or out. For example, if you activate Pre-Crossfade and spec - ify a value of 1000 ms, the effect is applied gradually from the start of selection, reaching full effect 1000 ms after the start. Similarly, if you activate Post-Crossfade, the pro - cessing is gradually removed, starting at the specified in- terval before the end of the selection. Preview button Allows you to listen to the result of the processing with the current settings. Playback will continue repeatedly until you click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” during Preview playback). You can change the effect set - tings during Preview playback if needed. Process button Applies the effect and closes the dialog. Cancel button Closes the dialog without applying the effect. !The sum of the Pre-Crossfade and Post-Crossfade times cannot be larger than the length of the selection.
275 Audio processing and functions The Offline Process History dialog If you want to remove or modify some or all processing from a clip, this can be done in the Offline Process History dialog. Processing that can be modified in the Offline Pro - cess History dialog includes the functions on the Process menu, any applied plug-in effects, and Sample Editor op - erations such as Cut, Paste, Delete and drawing with the Pencil tool. ÖDue to the clip-file relationship (see “Background” on page 264), it is even possible to modify or remove some processing “in the middle” of the Process History, while keeping later processing! This feature depends on the type of processing performed (see “Restrictions” on page 275). Proceed as follows: 1.Select the clip in the Pool or one of its events in the Project window. You can see which clips have been processed by checking the Status column in the Pool – the waveform symbol indicates that processing or effects have been applied to the clip (see “About the Status column sym- bols” on page 322). 2.Select “Offline Process History…” from the Audio menu. The Offline Process History dialog opens. The left part of the dialog contains a list of all processing you have added to the clip, with the most recent opera - tions at the bottom of the list. The “Start” and “Length” columns indicate which section of the clip was affected by each operation. The “Status” column indicates if the oper - ation can be modified or undone. 3.Locate the operation you want to edit and select it by clicking on it in the list. •To modify the settings of the selected processing, click the “Modify” button. This opens the dialog for the processing function or applied effect, allow- ing you to change the settings. This works just as when you applied the processing or effect the first time. •To replace the selected operation with another pro- cessing function or effect, select the desired function from the pop-up menu and click the “Replace By” button. If the selected function has settings, a dialog will appear as usual. The original operation will then be removed and the new processing will be inserted in the Offline Process History. •To remove the selected operation, click the “Remove” button. The processing is removed from the clip. •To undo the selected operation and remove the pro- cessing from the clip click the “Deactivate” button. The processing is removed from the clip, but the operation remains in the list. To redo the operation and apply the processing again, click the but- ton, now renamed to “Activate”, again. •To save the list of processing operations as a Batch Process, click the “Save As Batch” button. See “Batch Processing” on page 276. 4.Click “Close” to close the dialog. Restrictions •If there are no settings for the processing function, you cannot modify it. •If you have applied processing that changes the length of the clip (such as Cut, Insert or Time Stretch), you can only remove this if it is the most recent processing in the Offline Process History (at the bottom of the list in the di - alog). If an operation cannot be removed or modified, this is indicated by an icon in the “Status” column. Also, the corresponding buttons will be grayed out. •The list must contain at least two processing operations in order to be saved as a Batch Process (see “Batch Pro- cessing” on page 276.
276 Audio processing and functions Batch Processing Nuendo features a Batch Processing function that lets you apply a chain of audio processing to one or several events in one go – in either the Project window or the Pool. Batch Processing is based on operations in the Offline Process History dialog, described above. That is, the list of applied processes in this dialog is what can be made to constitute a batch process. Batch Processing is therefore a convenient way to apply the same effects with the same settings to several audio events in a project. It can also be used to “store” effect settings for future use. You may for example have performed a series of elaborate audio processing with a good result, and want to retain the particular combination and settings of effects you ap - plied, so that you may quickly and easily apply them again to other events in the future. To set up a batch process, proceed as follows: 1.Apply the desired processing to an audio event or se- lection range in the project. Note that you must apply at least two audio processes to be able to set up a batch process. From here, there are two ways to go: •Pull down the Audio menu, and from the Batch Pro- cesses submenu, select “Create from Process History…”, type in a name for the batch process in the dialog that opens, and click OK. or… •Pull down the Audio menu and select “Offline Process History”. The Offline Process History dialog opens. In this dialog you can modify settings or remove operations as desired (see “The Offline Process His- tory dialog” on page 275). 2.In the Process History Dialog, click “Save As Batch”, and then type in a name for the batch process in the dia - log that opens and click OK. Regardless of which of the above two methods you use, the batch process is now saved and available for use: 3.In the Project window, select all the audio events you want to process. You can also make a selection range that spans multiple tracks and batch process the selection for all the audio events. 4.Pull down the Audio menu and open the Batch Pro- cesses submenu. At the top of the menu you can now find the name of the batch process you created. The menu will list the names of any batch processes you create, until you delete them (see below). 5.Select the batch process you want to apply from the menu. All the selected events will now be processed accordingly. ÖNote that even if you clear the Offline Process History dialog of all the operations that make up a batch process, this will not affect the saved batch process. It will still con - tain and perform the operations on which it was based when created.
277 Audio processing and functions Managing Batch Processes You can delete and rename created batch processes in the Manage Batch Processes dialog. •Open the Audio menu and select “Manage…” from the Batch Processes submenu to open the Manage Batch Processes dialog. The created batch processes are listed in the left column, and the oper-ations each batch process contains are listed in the right column. •To remove a batch process, just select it in the list and click “Delete”. •To change the name of a batch process, select it in the list and click “Rename” and enter the new name. Freeze Edits The Freeze Edits function on the Audio menu allows you to make all processing and applied effects permanent for a clip: 1.Select the clip in the Pool or one of its events in the Project window. 2.Select “Freeze Edits…” from the Audio menu. •If there is only one edit version of the clip (no other clips refer to the same audio file), the following dialog will appear: If you select “Replace”, all edits will be applied to the orig- inal audio file (the one listed in the clip’s Path column in the Pool). If you select “New File”, the Freeze Edits opera - tion will create a new file in the Audio folder within the project folder (leaving the original audio file unaffected). •If the selected clip (or the clip played by the selected event) has several edit versions (i. e. there are other clips referring to the same audio file), the following alert will appear: As you can see, you do not have the option to Replace the original audio file in this case. This is because that audio file is used by other clips. Select “New File” to have a new file created in the Audio folder within the project folder. !After a Freeze Edits, the clip refers to a new, single audio file. If you open the Offline Process History dialog for the clip, the list will be empty.
278 Audio processing and functions Detect Silence The Detect Silence function searches for silent sections in an event and either splits the event, removing the silent parts from the project, or creates regions corresponding to the non-silent sections. •To open the Detect Silence dialog, select one or several audio events in the Project window or the Audio Part Edi - tor. On the Audio menu, open the Advanced submenu and select “Detect Silence”. If you select more than one event, the Detect Silence dialog allows you to process the selected events successively with individual settings or to apply the same settings to all selected events at once. Adjustments in the waveform display The upper part of the dialog displays a waveform image of the selected audio event. In case you have selected sev - eral audio events, the waveform of the event that you have selected first is shown. You can make the following ad - justments: •With the zoom slider below the waveform to the right, zoom in and out on the waveform. You can also click in the waveform, keep the mouse button pressed, and move the mouse for zooming. Move the mouse down to zoom in and move it up to zoom out. •If you have zoomed in on the waveform, it may not be completely visible anymore. In this case, the scroll bar to the left of the zoom slider allows you to scroll through the waveform. You can also use the mouse wheel for scrolling through the waveform. •If the Linked option in the Detection section is deacti- vated, you can use the green square at the beginning and the red square at the end of the audio file to graphically ad - just the Open and Close Threshold values (respectively). When “Linked” is activated, you can use either square to adjust both values. The Open and Close Threshold values in the Detection section reflect these changes. Making settings and processing The lower part of the Detect Silence dialog provides set- tings for the detection and processing of “silent” sections. Proceed as follows: 1.Adjust the settings in the Detection section to the left. The settings have the following functionality: SettingDescription Open ThresholdWhen the audio level exceeds this value, the function “opens”, i. e. lets the sound pass. Audio material below the set level is detected as “silence”. Set this value low enough to open when a sound starts, but high enough to remove unwanted noise during “silent” sections. Close ThresholdWhen the audio level drops below this value, the function “closes”, i. e. sounds below this level are detected as “si-lence”. This value cannot be higher than the Open Threshold value. Set this value high enough to remove unwanted noise during “silent” sections. LinkedIf this checkbox is activated, the Open and Close Thresh-old values are always set to the same value.
279 Audio processing and functions 2.Click the Compute button. The audio event is analyzed, and the waveform display is redrawn to indi-cate which sections are considered “silent” according to your settings. Above the Compute button, the number of detected regions is displayed. ÖIf you activate the Auto checkbox next to the Compute button, the audio event is analyzed (and the display is up - dated) automatically every time you change the settings in the Detection section of the dialog. Deactivate this option when you are working with very long files, as this process might take some time. 3.Click “Preview” to listen to the result. The event is played back repeatedly in its entire length, but with the “closed” sections silenced. 4.Adjust the settings in the Detection section until you are satisfied with the result. 5.In the Output section, activate the “Add as Regions” or the “Strip Silence” option, or both. “Add as Regions” will create regions according to the non-silent sec- tions. “Strip Silence” will split the event at the beginning and end of each non-silent section, and remove the silent sections in between. ÖIf you activate the “Add as Regions” option, you can specify a name for the regions in the Region Name field. In addition to the name, the regions will be numbered, start - ing with the number specified in the “Auto Number Start” field. ÖIf you have selected more than one event, you can ac- tivate the “Process all selected Events” checkbox to apply the same settings to all selected events. 6.Click the Process button. The event is split and/or regions are added. ÖIf you have selected more than one event and did not activate the “Process all selected Events” option in the Output section, the dialog opens again after processing, allowing you to make separate settings for the next event. The Spectrum Analyzer This function analyzes the selected audio, computes the average “spectrum” (level distribution over the frequency range) and displays this as a two-dimensional graph, with frequency on the x-axis and level on the y-axis. 1.Make an audio selection (a clip, an event or a range selection). 2.Select “Spectrum Analyzer” from the Audio menu. A dialog with settings for the analysis appears. Min. time openDetermines the minimum time that the function will remain “open” after the audio level has exceeded the Open Threshold value. If the audio contains repeated short sounds, and you find that this results in too many short “open” sections, try raising this value. Min. time closedDetermines the minimum time that the function will remain “closed” after the audio level has dropped below the Close Threshold value. Set this to a low value to avoid removing sounds. Pre-rollAllows you to cause the function to “open” slightly before the audio level exceeds the Open Threshold value. In other words, the start of each “open” section is moved to the left according to the time you set here. This is useful to avoid removing the attack of sounds. Post-rollAllows you to cause the function to “close” slightly after the audio level drops below the Close Threshold value. This is useful to avoid removing the natural decay of sounds. Setting Description
280 Audio processing and functions The default values give good results in most situations, but you can adjust the settings if you like: 3.Click the Process button. The spectrum is computed and displayed as a graph. 4.You can adjust the display with the settings in the dis- play window: 5.If you move the mouse pointer over the graph, a cross- hair cursor follows the graph curve and the display in the upper right corner shows the frequency/note and level at the current position. To compare the level between two frequencies, move the pointer to one of the frequencies, right-click once and move the pointer to the second frequency. The delta value (the difference in level between the current position and the right-click position) is displayed in the upper right corner (labeled “D”). •If you analyze stereo audio and selected the “Stereo” op- tion in the first dialog, the graphs for the left and right chan- nel are superimposed in the display, with the left channel graph in white and the right channel graph in yellow. The display in the upper right corner shows the values for the left channel – to see the right channel values, hold down [Shift]. An “L” or “R” is dis - played to indicate which channel values are shown. 6.You can leave the window open or close it by clicking the “Close” button. If you leave it open and the “Active” checkbox is ticked, the result of the next Spectrum Analysis will be displayed in the same window. OptionDescription Size in SamplesThe function divides the audio into “analysis blocks”, the size of which is set here. The larger this value, the higher the frequency resolution of the resulting spectrum. Size of OverlapThe overlap between each analysis block. Window usedAllows you to select which window type is used for the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform, the mathematical method used for computing the spectrum). Normalized ValuesWhen this is activated, the resulting level values are scaled, so that the highest level is displayed as “1” (0 dB). From StereoWhen analyzing stereo material, there is a pop-up menu with the following options: Mono mix – the stereo signal is mixed to mono before analyzing. Mono left/right – the left or right channel signal is used for analysis. Stereo – both channels are analyzed (two separate spectrums will be displayed). SettingDescription dBWhen this is activated, the vertical axis shows dB values. When it is deactivated, values between 0 and 1 are shown. Freq. logWhen this is activated, frequencies (on the horizontal axis) are displayed on a logarithmic scale. When it is deactivated, the frequency axis is linear. PrecisionIndicates the frequency resolution of the graph. This value cannot be changed here, but is governed by the Size in Samples setting in the previous dialog. Frequency/ NoteAllows you to select whether you want the frequencies to be displayed in Hertz or with note names. Min.Sets the lowest frequency shown in the graph. Max.Sets the highest frequency shown in the graph. By adjusting the Min and Max values, you can take a closer look at a smaller frequency range. ActiveWhen this is activated, the next Spectrum Analysis will appear in the same window. When deactivated, new Spectrum Anal-ysis results will appear in separate windows. Setting Description