Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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Fade-in and fade-out
A fade-in is a gradual increase in level and a fade-out is of course the op-
posite. There are two ways of applying fades in WaveLab: by using the 
Easy Fade function or by using the Fade dialog.
Easy Fades
The Easy Fade function allows you to very quickly apply a fade-in or fade-
out to an audio file, without having to make any settings:
1.To create a fade-in, make a selection from the start of the audio file to 
where you want the fade-in to...

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Crossfade
A crossfade is a gradual fade between two sounds, where one is faded in 
and the other faded out. This function allows you to do just that. It also lets 
you create plain mixes of two sounds.
Performing a regular crossfade
The material you want to crossfade can either be in two different sections 
of the same file, or it can be in two different files.
Since the crossfade is a type of paste operation, you must start by getting 
the section into which you want...

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6.Adjust the Offset and Damping parameters as desired.
The shape of the two curves is indicated in the selection. See below for details.
7.Click the Paste button.
Please note that if both waves already have full level sections in the cross-
fade area (for example if you have normalized both waves), clipping (and 
hence distortion) might occur! If this happens, reduce the amplitude of both 
waves by 3 to 6 dB and try again.
Also note however, that if one of the “Inverse...

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The Damping parameters adjust the “steepness” of the fade. For example, 
a -6dB setting for the fade-in will result in a normal fade, where the level is 
half the original when it reaches the Offset point. Values closer to 0dB will 
emphasize the beginning of the fade-in wave. Values closer to -18dB will 
make the fade-in sound drop drastically at the beginning of the fade.
Here, the default -6dB Damping curves with 50% Offsets are selected. This gives you a 
normal...

WAVELAB
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Invert Phase
This turns the signal “upside down”, which is the same as inverting the 
phase by 180°. No settings are needed for the operation.
There is no audible change when you invert the phase of a mono signal. 
However, if one channel in a stereo pair is out of phase with the other, this 
will lead to artifacts such as a drop in the bass register and a “blurred” 
stereo image.
The most common use for this function is therefore to fix a stereo record-
ing where one...

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• It affects where the zero crossings appear, which in turn affects the smoothness 
of splices between audio files.
• Certain processing options do not give optimal results when performed on files 
with a DC offset.
Checking for and eliminating DC Offset
1.Select the wave you want to check and fix.
2.Select “Eliminate DC Offset” from the Process menu.
A dialog appears stating the amount of DC offset.
3.Click OK or Cancel.
Waveform Restorer
This lets you remove...

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Opening the dialog
When you open the dialog, the following information about the selection 
is displayed:
Specifying a percentage directly 
If you know by how many percent you want to change the length, you can 
enter this value in the “Percentage” field.
Calculating the percentage by specifying a new length
•If you know the desired length in samples, adjust the Samples value in the 
“Desired result” section.
•If you know the desired length in minutes, seconds and...

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Calculating the ratio by specifying a time code range
If you want to fit the selection to a certain range, for example in a video or 
film sequence, you can specify the start and end of this range as time 
code values:
The other values and the Percentage are updated accordingly.
Calculating the Percentage by specifying a new tempo
If you know you want the selection to play back in a certain tempo, after 
the stretch, proceed as follows:
1.If you know the current tempo...

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Additional settings
Limitations
Time stretch is a very complicated Digital Signal Processing (DSP) oper-
ation. It requires complicated mathematical operations and always affects 
the sound quality to some extent:
• For speech, stretch factors within a ±30% limit will normally provide very good re-
sults.
• For composite music, try to limit the range to ±10%.
• For sensitive material, like solo piano, try not to exceed ±3%.
• Note that if the DIRAC algorithm is used...

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About the DIRAC processor
The DIRAC (DIRAC Time Stretch/Pitch Shift technology, ©2005 
Stephan M. Bernsee) engine is a very high quality time stretcher, perhaps 
the best available on the market today. It will produce the best quality re-
sults possible, but the trade-off is longer processing times. In WaveLab, 
you can use the DIRAC algorithm to process mono or stereo files with up 
to 96 kHz sample rates.
• If you check the “Use DIRAC processor” box there will be an...