Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual
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WAVELAB The Audio Montage 19 – 441 Managing clips and source files There are several functions to help you check and manage the relationship between the clips and their source audio files: The Files view The Files view has two “subviews”, Audio Montage and System (selectable by clicking the vertical tabs to the left of the view). The System subview shows the files and folders on your hard disk, and can be used for importing audio files or regions via drag and drop into the Audio Montage (see “By dragging from the Files view” on page 384 and “By dragging regions from the Files view” on page 384, respectively). The Montage subview resem- bles the Clips view, but lists all source audio files and their respective clips. This is useful for keeping track of which audio files are used. •To display the clips that reference to a certain audio file, select the audio file in the left list. Its clips are displayed in the right list, which has the same columns and functions as the list in the Clips view (see “Editing in the Clips view” on page 436). By default, not all columns are displayed in this list, but you can customize this as in the Clips view. •To navigate in the Files view, you can either use the scrollbar to manually scroll the list up or down, or type in the first letter of a file’s name – the se- lection will then immediately jump to the first file in the list starting with this letter.
WAVELAB 19 – 442 The Audio Montage Editing source files Editing the Montage may require that you process or edit the actual audio files referenced by the clips. This is done in the following way: 1.Right-click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu. 2.Select Edit from the Source submenu. A Wave window opens, showing the referenced source audio file with a selection corre- sponding to the clip. 3.Edit the file as desired, save it and return to the Audio Montage. You can also use the following methods to edit the source file: • Drag the clip onto the WaveLab desktop. • Double click in the mouse zone used for dragging/copying clips (by default the Top Clip area). • Drag a selection range onto the WaveLab desktop. In this case, the selection in the Wave window will correspond to the selection range, rather than the clip. Please note the following: • Any editing you perform this way will affect all clips that use the audio file (including clips in other Audio Montages). If this is not what you want, you should consider using the “Clone and Substitute” function before editing (see below). • You can undo/redo all changes in Wave windows, and these changes will be reflected immediately in all open Montages. • If you reduce the length of the source audio file, so that it ends before the clip end point, the end of the corresponding clip(s) will be displayed in an- other color (inverse video), to alert you. • If you use “Save as” to save the source audio file under another name, the Montage will now refer to that new file instead. This is true for all open Montages that refer to the file.
WAVELAB The Audio Montage 19 – 443 Cloning and substituting source files If you want to edit the source file of a clip, without the risk of affecting any other clips, you should use the function “Clone and substitute” on the Source submenu on the clip speed menu. This creates a copy of the audio source file, and makes the clip reference to this new file. As a result you can edit the source file without affecting other clips or the original audio file. •The cloned audio file will have the same name as the original, but with the suffix “_#X”, where X is a number. For example, if the original file is called “Piano.wav”, the first clone you make will be called “Piano_#1.wav”. If you repeat the procedure with another clip referencing to “Piano.wav”, that clone will be called “Piano_#2.wav”, and so on. •The cloned audio file will be stored in the folder specified in the “Implicit folder” dialog on the Edit view : Options menu. The “Implicit folder” is used when WaveLab needs to save files to disk. It is similar to the “Temporary folders” setting in the Edit folder dialog (see “Folder editing” on page 731), but with one important difference: Files stored in the “Implicit folder” are not “temporary”, that is, they are not de- leted when you close WaveLab. This is necessary since the Montage contains references to the files.
WAVELAB 19 – 444 The Audio Montage If the option “Use existing folders when possible” is activated, the cloned audio file will be stored in the same folder as the original file (provided that the original file has ever been saved). Note that this is not always desirable; if you are working with large audio files and have two or more hard disks, you should consider having the “im- plicit” folder on a different hard disk from that of your regular audio folder. This will make cloning files twice as fast. However, most often it is best to have all source files in the same folder, to make backups easier. Substituting the source audio file There are two ways to substitute the source audio file: Substitute for existing wave… If you select the function “Substitute for existing wave…” from the Source submenu on the clip speed menu, a file dialog appears, allowing you to make the clip reference to another audio file. This is a good method to use if you wish to compare different takes. •All clip settings will be retained. •The substituting audio file must be long enough for the clip to “fit”. This means that the audio file must at least cover the range between the clip’s start and end points. •You cannot substitute a stereo file with a mono file or vice versa. •You can also use “Substitute for existing wave…” for video and picture tracks. Change file… This is available from the File view : File menu. It opens a dialog which al- lows you to substitute an existing file with a new one. • Unlike “Substitute for existing wave” (which is applied to the current clip only), “Change file” will reference all clips referring to the original file to the new file. You can also double-click in the file list while pressing [Ctrl] to open this dialog.
WAVELAB The Audio Montage 19 – 445 Renaming files and clips You can rename source files and have all open Montages that reference the audio files automatically be updated. You can also freely rename clips from within a Montage and the current Montage will be updated accordingly. You can either use the Rename dialog (see “Renaming files and docu- ments (Rename)” on page 121) or the Batch Rename function (see “Batch renaming” on page 307). The volume envelope It is possible to create independent volume envelope curves for the clips in the Audio Montage. These envelope curves are used to automate vol- ume, to create fades and crossfades, and for muting sections of clips. How the envelope is displayed By default all clips display a volume envelope curve. Actually, you should view the volume envelope as three separate envelopes: the fade-in part, the “sustain part” and the fade-out part. The purple points to the left and right on the curve are the fade-in and fade-out junction points that sepa- rate the fade parts from the sustain part. The default volume envelope, with zero fade-in and fade-out times. The fade-in and fade-out parts of the envelope are described in the section “Using fades and crossfades in the Montage” on page 457. The following pages describe the “sustain part” of the envelope, that is, the section be- tween the two fade junction points.
WAVELAB 19 – 446 The Audio Montage Graphic display of envelope curves The envelope curve indicates at a glance if points, fade-ins or fade-outs have been defined. In addition to the curve, changes in the volume enve- lope are by default also reflected in the waveform itself. If you do not want this feature you can deselect the “Map waveforms to volume” item on the Edit view : Options menu. A defined volume envelope curve with “Map waveforms to volume” activated. The volume envelope mouse zone The default envelope curve contains no volume envelope points. In this condition you can still use the curve to change the overall volume for a clip. Proceed as follows: 1.Place the mouse pointer on the curve. The mouse pointer takes on the shape of a circle with two arrows pointing up and down, in- dicating the envelope mouse zone. A label also appears displaying the current clip volume in dB, and the info line indicates the possible courses of action. The volume envelope mouse zone The envelope mouse zone is always linked to an envelope curve, hence it is not user-definable like other mouse zones. 2.Click and drag the curve up or down to change the clip volume and release the mouse button. The new volume level for the clip is displayed in the info line.
WAVELAB The Audio Montage 19 – 447 Hiding/Showing volume envelope curves All clips display volume envelopes by default. There are two ways you can hide the envelope curve for a clip. Method 1: •Bring up the clip speed menu and deactivate the option “Fade/Level” on the “Show Envelope” submenu. The volume envelope is hidden, but still active. To show the volume envelope, activate the option again. Method 2: •Bring up the envelope speed menu and select “Hide”. The volume envelope is hidden, but still active. To show the envelope curve again, bring up the clip speed menu and activate “Fade/Level” on the “Show Envelope” submenu. Only show one envelope at a time As pan settings (see “The pan envelope” on page 469) and effect send levels (see “Using effect envelopes (clip effects only)” on page 481) also can be automated using envelope curves, it is possible to have quite a few different envelope curves in a clip. This might make it difficult to quickly find the curve you wish to view or edit. To remedy this, you can ac- tivate the option “Only show one envelope at a time” on the clip speed menu “Show envelope” submenu, and have only one selected envelope type shown: If “Only show one envelope at a time” is selected when several curves are currently shown in a clip, nothing will happen. This is logical, since WaveLab cannot “know” what curves you want to show or hide. 1.On the clip speed menu, open the “Show envelope” submenu and acti- vate the option “Only show one envelope at a time”. 2.To hide envelope curves, open the clip speed menu and deactivate the item(s) you wish to hide on the “Show envelope” submenu. 3.Repeat this procedure until only the relevant curve is shown. 4.If you now select another envelope type from the submenu, the new enve- lope will replace the previous, only allowing one envelope at a time to be shown.
WAVELAB 19 – 448 The Audio Montage Mono/stereo envelopes It is possible to display two volume envelope curves for stereo clips, allow- ing you to control the volume separately for the left and right channels. Proceed as follows: 1.Right-click on an envelope curve to open the envelope speed menu. 2.Select “Convert to stereo envelope” from the menu. The clip now displays two volume envelope curves. 3.To convert back to a mono envelope, repeat step 1 and select “Convert to mono envelope” from the menu. By definition, pan envelopes cannot be converted to stereo. Editing envelopes About using key commands On the envelope speed menu, you will find that most functions have key commands. These will affect the envelope curve with the focus. • The focused envelope curve is displayed with yellow handles for the enve- lope points. To set the focus to an envelope curve, click on it. Adding volume envelope points The volume envelope points allow you to “draw” volume curves in the clip. To add a point, double click on the envelope curve (or select “New point” from the envelope speed menu). You may add as many points as you like. The focused envelope curve.
WAVELAB The Audio Montage 19 – 449 Selecting envelope points The following sections apply to both volume and fade envelope points. In other words, you can select, deselect and move both sustain and fade enve- lope points. Clicking on an envelope point selects it (it becomes red). You can also select several envelope points. The following rules apply: • [Shift]-click (on a point) to select all points between a previously selected point and the current point. • [Ctrl]-click (on a point) to select non-contiguous points in the envelope curve. • [Alt]-click (anywhere in the clip) and draw a selection rectangle. All points inside the rectangle become selected. Deselecting points You can deselect all selected points by clicking on a selected point or by selecting “Deselect all points” from the envelope speed menu. To dese- lect a single point (amongst other selected points), [Ctrl]-click the point you want to deselect. Dragging volume envelope points • To move a point, click on it and drag it in any direction. The junction points (the points separating the Fade parts and the sustain part) will only move horizontally this way. To move a junction part vertically, press [Ctrl] and drag. • To move several selected points, click any selected point and drag in any direc- tion. All selected points will be moved. • Clicking on a curve segment (i.e. the part of an envelope curve between two se- lected points) allows all currently selected points to be moved vertically. You are constrained to vertical movement using this method. • Clicking on a curve segment (i.e. the part of an envelope curve between two se- lected points) and then pressing [Shift] allows all selected points to be moved horizontally. You are constrained to horizontal movement using this method. • [Ctrl]-clicking on the envelope curve and dragging it up or down will select (and move) the two nearest points to the right and left respectively. You are constrained to vertical movement using this method. This method is useful as a shortcut for quickly adjusting the level of a curve segment.
WAVELAB 19 – 450 The Audio Montage • [Shift]-clicking on the envelope curve and dragging it left or right will select (and move) the two nearest points to the right and left respectively. You are constrained to horizontal movement using this method. This method is useful when working with “Duck according to other track” (see “Duck according to other track” on page 453) since it allows you to quickly adjust the position of duck regions. • Clicking and dragging the envelope curve up or down selects (and moves) all points. You are constrained to vertical movement using this method. Note that points set to the minimum value are not affected (see “Muting a selected range of a clip” on page 451). • Holding down [Alt] and dragging the envelope curve up or down adjusts the cor- responding envelopes in all selected clips. This is a quick way to adjust the level or pan of several clips at the same time (and also to adjust both sides of a stereo envelope simultaneously). Deleting volume envelope points The junction points between the sustain and fade parts of the envelope cannot be deleted. There are three ways you can delete points: • By double-clicking on a point. • By right-clicking on the point and selecting “Delete point” from the envelope speed menu. • By selecting points and selecting “Delete selected point(s)” from the envelope speed menu. Resetting points and envelopes There are various ways to reset the envelope: • To reset a point to 0dB, right-click on the point and select “Reset point” from the envelope speed menu. • To reset the whole envelope curve to default, right-click the envelope curve and select “Reset all” from the speed menu. • To reset the sustain part of the volume envelope only, select “Reset sustain to 0dB” on the envelope speed menu. All volume envelope points will be removed, but any defined fades will be left untouched. This applies to volume envelopes only.