Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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Importing audio CD/DVD tracks 23 – 601
8.The next step is to decide which audio tracks you want to import.
This can be done in one of three ways:
• Select the option “Retrieve selected tracks” to the top right, and then select as 
many tracks as you wish from the visual menu.
You can use [Ctrl] or [Shift] to make multiple selections, or use the Select All button. It’s 
possible to select tracks from several groups this way, as long as you keep pressing [Ctrl] 
or [Shift] when selecting groups and tracks.
• Click on a group to select it and select the option “Retrieve whole group”.
This way, all the tracks the group contains will be imported.
• Select the option “Retrieve all groups”.
This way, all tracks in all groups will be imported. 
• Note that “Retrieve all groups” is the only option possible if the DVD-A from 
which you’re importing does not contain a visual menu!
9.Click the Save button.
At this point, the File list dialog opens.
The File list dialog lists all selected tracks, their channel configuration, 
sample rate and resolution.
10.If you wish, you can rename tracks in the File list dialog by double clicking 
on them and typing the desired names.
• You can decide the syntax for the track names with the option “Use group 
name as prefix for file names”.
If this is activated, the saved file(s) will contain both the track name and the corresponding 
group name, in the syntax “Group Name – Track Name”.
The tracks must have unique names if you want to import them all. If two or 
more files have the same name, an error message will appear when the 
second one is imported, and the retrieval will be aborted.  
						

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23 – 602 Importing audio CD/DVD tracks
11.Optionally, activate “Create peak file”.
When this is activated, a peak file is created for each track as they are saved to disk. A peak 
file is a small file with the extension “.gpk” automatically created by WaveLab each time a 
file is modified or opened in WaveLab (if it hasn’t been previously). The peak file contains 
information about the waveform, and determines how it is drawn in the wave window.
With this option activated, the importing of the tracks will take slightly longer. On the other 
hand, no peak files will need to be generated later when opening the files which may also 
take some time.
12.The track(s) are retrieved. Optionally, each is opened in its own window. 
This is specified in the progress indication menu that appears during im-
port.
File format – Converting DVD track(s) to other formats
The extracted audio files are saved in WAV (Wave) format by default. You 
can, however, directly save files in other audio formats by clicking the 
large button at the bottom left of the dialog to open the Audio File Format 
dialog, and select the desired file format from the Type menu.
Among the formats available are the following compressed audio formats: 
MP3, MP2, WMA and Ogg Vorbis.
When any of these formats is selected, you can click the Encoding field 
and select “Edit…” from the pop-up to open the corresponding Encoding 
dialog, where you can specify the bit rate and other attributes of the file to 
be created.
Convert to Audio Montage
The “Convert to Audio Montage” option can convert an entire DVD-A or 
single tracks to an Audio Montage.
All tracks, all index markers and pauses are retrieved (including audio-in-
pauses if the option “Get audio in pause” is activated), as well as DVD-
Text and ISRC codes. A single file is created.
If the DVD-A contains several groups, each group will be converted to a 
separate montage.
Once you have converted to a montage, you can reorder tracks, remove 
some tracks or add new tracks. You can use this function to create mixed 
compilations of DVD-Audio discs.
Show DVD Text
This lets you view – but not edit – any DVD Text accompanying the DVD-
A. See “DVD-Audio text” on page 566 for information about DVD Text. 
						

							24
Creating labels 
						

							WAVELAB
24 – 604 Creating labels
Introduction
The Label Editor allows you to design and print custom labels for your CD 
and DVD-Audio projects. You can design separate layouts for front, inside, 
back and disk labels. Both text information and a wide 
range of image file 
formats can be imported and edited in various ways.
For DVD-Audio projects, you can create labels from within the Audio Mon-
tage, or you need to start the Label Editor and create them from scratch.
About variables and templates
Every CD Project/Audio Montage/Backup Plan/Import Audio CD Tracks 
session has a default set of “variables”, text that consists of a short code 
string plus a value. Variables provide information about a project, such as 
track titles, personal data, etc. There are two types of variables: factory 
and user editable.
Factory variables automatically provide information based on the contents 
of a project, and user editable variables can be customized to 
suit the 
current project. Variables are also used for the Audio CD 
Report func-
tion (see “Creating an Audio CD report” on page 541).
Templates are ready-made layouts that will use the information provided 
by the variables.
You can freely customize the properties of a template layout by using the 
Label Editor. Add new images or other objects, delete or edit existing ob-
jects, etc.
Selecting a template
The first thing you do before the Label Editor is opened is to select a tem-
plate. As mentioned previously, templates provide some information based 
on the current project, and have ready-made layouts:
1.Open the project you wish to create labels for.
This can be a CD Project, an Audio Montage, an Import Audio CD Tracks session or a 
Backup Plan.
2.Select the “Create Label set…” menu item.
Where this menu item is located depends on the type of project; for Audio Montages and 
Backup Plans it is on the Functions menu, for Data CD/DVD it is on the CD menu, and for 
Import Audio CD Tracks it is on the Options menu. 
						

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Creating labels 24 – 605
3.A dialog appears, allowing you to select a template for your project.
To the right in the dialog there is a list of available templates, divided into three groups “Audio”, 
“Data” and “Audio + Data”. By clicking on the corresponding tab the available templates for 
the selected project type are shown in the list. To the left in the dialog, preview images of the 
front, back and the disk labels are shown.
4.Select a template, and click OK.
The Label Editor window opens, displaying the CD case front label.
•If you do not wish to use a template at all you can select “Void” in this 
dialog.
This will open the Label Editor with totally empty labels, allowing you to build your own 
labels from scratch by adding objects, specifying backgrounds, etc.
•You can also save user templates.
See “Saving a label set as a user template” on page 613.  
						

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24 – 606 Creating labels
Using the Label Editor
Overview
The Label Editor always displays one of the three available views or 
pages: the front, back or disk case label. You switch between these 
pages by selecting the corresponding tabs below the toolbar. The layout 
is completely independent for each page.
• Please note that the front label can be either single- or double-sided. 
This option is set in the Page Layout dialog on the Printing menu.
The Label Editor window displays a frame with the currently selected label 
(front, back or disk) layout. Layouts are made up of editable objects – im-
ages, text boxes, lines or circles. You can also select either an image or 
color as background for the layout as a whole.
Toolbar
Front/back/disk layout buttonsHorizontal and vertical rulers
Text box object
Circle object  
						

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Creating labels 24 – 607
Basic object handling in the Label Editor
The Label Editor tools
Tools can be selected in three ways:
• From the Tools menu
• By clicking the corresponding icon on the toolbar
• By right-clicking in the background area (not an object), and selecting from the 
speed menu that appears
The following tools are available:
Tool Description
Selection tool Used to select, resize or move objects.
Zoom Object & 
Zoom In/OutThis is used to zoom in on a selected object, keeping it in view. 
The Zoom In/Out zooms the layout as a whole in or out. You can 
go back to normal magnification (1:1) by selecting “Zoom 
100%” from the Options menu.
Insert track list This will produce an automatically generated track list, based on 
the tracks belonging to the current project.
Insert box with text Creates a text box object.
Insert Circle This will insert a circle or ellipse object.
Insert Line This will insert line objects.
Insert Image This will insert an image.
Set background color…
(menu only)Allows you to define a color for the background of the layout.
Set background image… 
(menu only)Allows you to define an image for the background of the layout.
Selection toolZoom objectInsert track list
Insert box with text
Insert circleInsert line
Insert image
Print label
Zoom in/out  
						

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24 – 608 Creating labels
Selecting objects
Click an object with the Selection tool to select it. 
• Selected objects are indicated by a dotted outline, and square “handles”, which 
can be used to scale the size of the object. 
• To select several objects, hold down [Shift] or [Ctrl] and click. Selected objects 
can be de-selected by [Shift]-clicking.
•
When several objects are selected, one of the objects will always have “focus”. The 
focus is indicated by red handles on this particular object. You can move the fo-
cus to any of the selected objects by [Ctrl]-clicking.
Two objects selected, with the upper having the focus.
Resizing objects
If you click on a handle of a selected object, the pointer changes to a dou-
ble arrow, indicating that you can resize the object by dragging. Images or 
circle objects will be scaled, whereas dragging the handles of text box 
objects will resize the size of the box, not the text itself.
• You can also right-click an object and select “Edit Position and Size…” from 
the speed menu.
A dialog appears, allowing you to edit size (width and height) numerically, in cm/mm.  
						

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Creating labels 24 – 609
Inserting new objects
Inserting new objects is done by selecting the corresponding tool, and 
clicking and dragging in the layout. When you release the mouse button, 
a dialog appears, allowing you to define basic properties for the inserted 
object. Note that this does not apply to image objects, where instead a 
standard file dialog appears.
• The Edit Properties dialog is also selectable from the Objects menu and by 
right-clicking objects and selecting from the speed menu.
See “About the Edit Properties dialog” on page 610 for a description of the items available 
in the Edit Properties dialogs.
Inserting a text box object
Deleting objects
To delete objects, select them and use the [Delete] key.
Copy/move object
If you manually move an object with the right mouse button pressed, a 
small pop-up menu appears when you release the button allowing you to 
either select to copy the object to the new position or to move it there.
Positioning objects
There are several methods you can use to position objects:
• Manually – by dragging objects using the Selection tool. 
• Automatically in relation to the layout frame. You can have an object centered 
(horizontally or vertically) by right-clicking it and selecting the corresponding item 
from the speed menu.
• Automatically in relation to other selected objects (see “The Objects menu” on 
page 611).  
						

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24 – 610 Creating labels
• By selecting “Edit Position and Size…” from the Objects (or context) menu and 
adjusting the position numerically in the dialog that appears. Note that this adjusts 
the position of the object with focus.
You specify the position from the left side and the top of the layout frame, in cm/mm. 
Click “Apply” to apply the position change without closing the dialog.
About the grid, rulers and magnetize options
On the Options menu, you will find two items, “Show Grid” and “Show 
Rulers”. If these are ticked, the background of the layout will show a dot-
ted grid, and also vertical and horizontal rulers that show the current posi-
tion of the mouse pointer. Both these items help you to position objects 
with fine precision in the layout. The grid spacing can be specified in the 
Preferences dialog on the Options menu.
You can also use magnetize so that objects will snap either to grid posi-
tions, to other objects or to the frames limits (or all three), by selecting the 
corresponding Options menu item.
About the Edit Properties dialog
The Edit Properties dialog can be opened in three ways:
• By selecting an object and selecting “Edit Properties” from the Objects menu
• By right-clicking an object and selecting the same item from the speed menu 
• By double-clicking an object 
The contents of the dialog varies depending on the object type. Click the 
question mark icon in the respective dialog for details.