Steinberg WaveLab Elements 7 Operation Manual

							6.1 Metering 83
(0dB signal peaks). Recording levels should be set so that they only rarely clip. If the
master level is set too high, the sound quality and frequency response will be compro-
mised at high recording levels, with unwanted clipping effects. If the level is set too
low, noise levels may be high relative to the main sound being recorded.
The VU meter can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces.
Related topics
Metering
6.1.2 Spectroscope
The Spectroscope shows a continuous graphical representation of the frequency spectrum,
analyzed into 60 separate frequency bands, represented as vertical bars. Peak levels are
shown as a short horizontal lines above the corresponding band, indicating recent peak/-
maximum values.
The Spectroscope can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces. It can be used either as a floating window, or docked in the Workspace.
Related topics
Metering
6.1.3 Oscilloscope
The Oscilloscope offers a highly magnified view of the waveform around the playback cursor
position.
If you are analyzing a stereo file, the Oscilloscope normally shows the separate levels of
the two channels. However, if you activate the option "Show Sum and Subtraction" on the
Functions menu (or click the +/- icon), the upper half of the Oscilloscope shows the sum of
the two channels and the lower half shows the subtraction.
Making settings
By opening the Settings dialog you can adjust the display colors, and choose to activate
Auto-zoom or not. With Auto-zoom activated, the display is optimized so that the highest
level reaches the top of the display at all times. The Settings dialog can be accessed through
the Functions >Settings... menu, or by using the
icon.
The Oscilloscope can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces. It can be used either as a floating window, or docked in the Workspace.
Related topics
Metering
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6.2 Transport controls
The transport controls allow you to control playback within an Audio File or montage, and to
open the record window. It can be accessed via the Transport menu or the Transport toolbar.
See
Command bars for more information.
The Transport menu gives access to (and shows keyboard shortcuts to) the same functions
that are available in the transport toolbar.
The Transport toolbar gives quick access to most of these functions. If the toolbar is hid-
den, select Workspace >Command bars >Transport commands . Transport functions
operate on the current Audio File.
The basic transport functions are:
ˆ Loop On/Off
- Toggles looping on/off for the currently selected Audio File or montage.
ˆ Start of file / End of File
- Move the cursor to the beginning or end of the currently selected Audio File.
ˆ Skip forward / Skip backward
- Skip the cursor forwards or backwards within the currently selected Audio File.
ˆ Play
- Begin playback of the current Audio File.
ˆ Stop
- Stop playback of the current Audio File. A second click moves the cursor to the
beginning of the last start position. A further click returns the cursor to the start of the
file.
ˆ Record
- Opens the recording window from which you can start recording.
Additional transport functions such as start, skip and stopping playback options are also
available from the transport command bar. In WaveLab Elements additional playback speed
and jog/shuttle shortcuts are also provided.
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Recording Dialog
Command bars
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							6.3 Specific tool windows 85
6.3 Specific tool windows
Specific tool windows are windows that are specific to the current Workspace. They perform
useful tasks in the active Workspace.
They can be docked and un-docked.
Audio Montage Workspace specific tool windows
The following specific tool windows are available within the Audio Montage Workspace:
File
Browser
Focused Clip window
Marker Window
CD
Notes
6.3.1 File Browser
This dialog allows you to browse files directly from within WaveLab Elements rather than
using your operating system's file browser.
It provides you with all the standard browsing functions (such as List and Icon views)You can
use it to open or insert an entire file or a specific region of a file by dragging and releasing
the file in the location you wish to insert the file. In the Audio Montage Workspace you can
also choose to only view certain types of WaveLab Elements specific files. The File Browser
can be very useful in speeding up the process of auditioning a long list of sound files. It can
also be used to drag to windows such as Data CD/DVD, including dragging folders.
The playback functions
Play file
Once you have selected a file in the File Browser list, you can audition it by
clicking Play in the File Browser's toolbar. Click again to stop.
Auto-play
You can also have files play back automatically as soon as they are selected.
To do this, activate Auto-Play mode.
Tip: To audition a long list of Audio Files, enable Auto-play and use the UP and DOWN
cursor keys to step through each Audio File in quick succession.
Opening and inserting a file or region
Once you have chosen a file you wish to open, double-click it to open the file in the current
Workspace. You can also open it by dragging it onto an empty tabbed group, or onto the
tab bar of a tabbed group.
You can also drag the file over a wave view to insertit at a given point. When you drag a file
over a wave view, a beam is displayed so as to clearly display the insertion point.
You can access this dialog via Workspace>Specific tool windows >File Browser .
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For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Specific tool windows
6.3.2 Focused Clip window
The Focused Clip window is an accordion control that contains some sophisticated editing
commands. Each collapsible panel can be expanded by clicking on its title and allows you
to access a range of tools for working with the selected or "focused" Clip.
Using the Focused Clip window
To use the Focused Clip window you first need to select a Clip. Once you have selected a
Clip with your cursor its name will highlight in red. You can now choose one of the Focused
Clip accordion's tabs. The accordion will open to reveal options for that particular pane's
selection of editing shortcuts and tools. There are a number of panes including:
ˆ Edit- provides you with a range of common playback shortcuts and editing tools for
working with Clips.
ˆ Cue Point - a cue point is a defined position marker that belongs to a Clip. It helps to
align Clips together by making Clips snap to other Clips at the cue point position. Cue
points are displayed as dotted vertical lines. This pane provides you with a number of
shortcuts for creating and working with Cue Points.
ˆ Envelope - allows you to access a number of controls for editing and working with a
Clip's different envelopes.
ˆ Fade-in - provides you with a range of tools for adjusting a Clip's Fade-in curve.
ˆ Fade-out - provides you with a range of tools for adjusting a Clip's Fade-out curve.
ˆ Colors- up to 20 colors may be assigned to help distinguish particular Clips visually.
Select a Clip then click on a color. Custom colors can be defined with great subtlety
from Options >Colors... Select the Custom color to be defined, then the parts to which
it is applied, then define the color value using the color wheel (or type a set of RGB -
Red, Green, Blue values). See
Audio Montage Colors for more information.
When you choose a different Clip the properties in the Focused Clip window will update.
So for example, if you select "Envelope" the corresponding controls will update to reflect the
selected Clip's envelope information.
The Focused Clip window can be docked or floated. You can reveal or hide the focused Clip
window in the Audio Montage Workspace via Workspace>Specific tool windows >
Focused clip .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
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							6.3 Specific tool windows 87
Related topics
Clip
Audio Streaming Settings
Customize Commands
Audio Montage Colors
6.3.3 Marker Window
The marker window is a specific tool window that allows you to create, edit and use markers
while working on an audio waveform.
The Marker list
The marker window contains a list of any markers placed in the currently active file along
with their corresponding details. Click on a column header to sort the list in ascending or
descending order based on the values in that column. You can also use the Filter menu to
toggle which types of markers are displayed in the list.
From this list of markers you can use the fields, controls and menus to:
ˆ Create a new marker at the playback head position - click on a marker icon (at
the top of the window) or choose a marker type from the Insert menu to drop a marker
at the current playhead location.
ˆ Create a pair of markers from a selection - make a selection in the waveform and
then click on a pair of marker icons (at the top of the window) or choose a "Create
region" command from the Insert menu to drop a pair of markers at either side of the
current selection.
ˆ Start playback - It is possible to start playback at the selected marker position, with
or without pre-roll, by clicking on the leftmost icons. Click on
in the "audition"
column to play the wave from that marker position with a pre-roll. Click on the right
hand button to play the wave exactly from the marker position.
ˆ Change marker types - You can change a marker type by (left) clicking on its icon
and choosing another marker type from the pop-up list that appears.
ˆ Edit a marker's name/time/comments - double click in a cell to edit a value (to
align the marker to an exact time, for instance). You can edit the name of the marker,
its time position and any comments.
ˆ Lock a marker's position - select the checkbox to lock the marker. This prevents it
from being accidentally dragged to a new position in the Waveform window.
For more information on using markers see
Markers . For details on the different marker
types and their uses see
Marker types . Note that there are more marker features available in
the Montage version compared to the Audio File version. See "Using markers in the Audio
Montage Workspace" in
Markers for more details.
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You can access this specific tool window within the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces via Workspace>Specific tool windows >Markers .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Specific tool windows
Markers
Marker types
6.3.4 CD
This specific tool window brings together all the functions for creating an audio CD or DVD-A
within WaveLab Elements.
It displays a list of CD tracks along with information about each track. You can edit each track
and the CD's playback properties as well as access functions to check its conformity to
Red
Book standards
, add and edit CD-text, add UPC/EAN codes, generate a CD report and
burn the CD. There are also controls to preview skipping between each track and a number
of other options including the ability to choose the "Audio in Pause" mode to determine
whether gaps between track markers are replaced with silence (the normal default) or if they
contain sound.
Adding tracks
To add a track import an Audio File and a track is automatically generated for each audio
Clip in the montageFor more information on creating a CD or DVD-A see
Authoring CDs
and DVDs
.
The Track list
Once you have created one or more tracks, the CD window displays a list of all tracks in
the currently active montage along with their corresponding properties. From this list of CD
tracks you can use the fields, controls and menus to:
ˆ Audition playback - It is possible to audition playback at the selected track's start
time, with or without pre-roll, by clicking on the leftmost icons. Click on the left hand
button
in the "audition" column to play the track from its start time with a pre-roll.
Click on the right hand button to play the track exactly from its start time.
ˆ Edit a tracks's name - You can add/edit a name for each track. Double click in a cell
to edit. Note that to change the track name is to indirectly edit the marker name.
ˆ Edit a track's start/end time - You can edit the start and end time for each track.
This is the same as moving the track markers physically but can be done with more
precision. Double-click in a cell to edit.
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ˆ Pre-gap time - This displays the gap between the CD track start marker and where
the first track's audio actually begins. It can only be edited by physically moving the CD
track start marker.
ˆ Post-gap time - This displays the gap between the end of the audio of the CD's last
track and the CD track end marker. It can only be edited by physically moving the CD
track end marker.
ˆ Copy protection - Select the checkbox to include a copy protection flag with the
track. This may prevent it from later being imported by software that recognises this
flag.
ˆ Emphasis - This setting is used to indicate if the track was recorded with emphasis
or not. Please note that this does not apply/remove emphasis from the audio, it is just
an indicator as to how the file was created. Normally it is left off.
ˆ ISRC Code - This allows you to enter an optional
International Standard Recording
Code
. Double-click in a cell to add/edit a code.
ˆ CD-Text - You can optionally enter CD-Text information for each track and the entire
CD/DVD-A. Double clicking a cell will open the
CD Text Editor .
ˆ Add/Edit a tracks's comments - You can add/edit text comments for a track. Double
click in a cell to edit. Note that this text comment is for reference only: nothing is burnt
on CD.
Note that CD tracks can be reorderd by dragging them into new positons: this means Clips
and markers are moved accordingly.
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Specific tool windows
Authoring CDs and DVDs
Write Audio CD
CD Pre-emphasis
Red Book CD-DA
CD Text
ISRC
UPC/EAN
6.3.5 Notes
This specific tool window allows you to keep notes about the current Audio Montage session.
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You can type into the window and use the standard HTML text editor controls to format your
text, add images, hyperlinks and lists. These notes are saved along with the Audio Montage
file.
You can access this dialog in the Audio Montage Workspace via Workspace>Specific
tool windows >Notes .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Specific tool windows
6.4 Shared tool windows
Shared tool windows are windows that can only exist in one place at a time and are shared
between Workspaces. They perform useful tasks in the active Workspace.
They can be docked and un-docked.
VU Meter
Oscilloscope
Spectroscope
Master Section
Related topics
About Tool Windows
Metering
Docking windows
6.4.1 VU Meter
The vu-meter is used to display the peak and average loudness/decibel level of your Audio
File. It also displays the pan, or the balance between the left and right channels in a stereo
file.
The upper part of the level/pan meter window shows the peak level and average loudness,
in the following way:
ˆ The Peak Level meters display the peak levels of each channel, graphically and numeri-
cally. By default, the meter segments and numerical peak values are displayed in green
for low levels, yellow for levels between -6dB and -2dB, and red for levels above -2dB.
You can change both the colors and the range boundaries if you wish via the Level/Pan
Meter Settings dialog. This can be accessed through the Functions>Settings...
menu, or by using the
icon.
ˆ The VU (Volume Unit) meters measure the average loudness (RMS) of each channel.
These meters have a built-in inertia, evening out loudness variations over a user-defined
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time span. If you are monitoring playback or audio input, you will also note two vertical
lines following each VU meter bar, seemingly "trying to reach" the current RMS value.
These lines indicate the average of the most recent minimum RMS values (left line)
and the average of the most recent maximum RMS values (right line). To the left, the
difference between the minimum and maximum average values is displayed (the level
value in brackets) - this gives you an overview of the dynamic range of the audio material.
ˆ If you are monitoring real-time audio (playback or input), the maximum peak and loud-
ness values are displayed numerically to the right of the meter bars. Numbers in brack-
ets to the right of the Maximum Peak values indicate the number of successive clips
(0dB signal peaks). Recording levels should be set so that they only rarely clip. If the
master level is set too high, the sound quality and frequency response will be compro-
mised at high recording levels, with unwanted clipping effects. If the level is set too
low, noise levels may be high relative to the main sound being recorded.
The VU meter can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces.
Related topics
Metering
6.4.2 Oscilloscope
The Oscilloscope offers a highly magnified view of the waveform around the playback cursor
position.
If you are analyzing a stereo file, the Oscilloscope normally shows the separate levels of
the two channels. However, if you activate the option "Show Sum and Subtraction" on the
Functions menu (or click the +/- icon), the upper half of the Oscilloscope shows the sum of
the two channels and the lower half shows the subtraction.
Making settings
By opening the Settings dialog you can adjust the display colors, and choose to activate
Auto-zoom or not. With Auto-zoom activated, the display is optimized so that the highest
level reaches the top of the display at all times. The Settings dialog can be accessed through
the Functions >Settings... menu, or by using the
icon.
The Oscilloscope can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces. It can be used either as a floating window, or docked in the Workspace.
Related topics
Metering
6.4.3 Spectroscope
The Spectroscope shows a continuous graphical representation of the frequency spectrum,
analyzed into 60 separate frequency bands, represented as vertical bars. Peak levels are
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shown as a short horizontal lines above the corresponding band, indicating recent peak/-
maximum values.
The Spectroscope can be found in the Metersmenu of the Audio Files and Audio Montage
Workspaces. It can be used either as a floating window, or docked in the Workspace.
Related topics
Metering
6.5 Audio Montage Colors
You can create and assign different color schemes to different Clips and parts of a Clip, to
help you find your way through the Montage.
Default colors are provided, but you can also define custom colors. To define a new color
scheme, select the color name to be defined (click once and overtype to rename), select the
parts to which it is applied, then define the color value using the color wheel (or type a set
of RGB - Red, Green, Blue values).
You can use the Copy color and Paste buttons to transfer colors between various parts of
the montage. In addition, you can drag groups of color settings onto another location in the
list - you are asked to confirm. You could, for example, copy "Custom 1" to "Custom 3" as a
time saver, before customizing details of "Custom 3".
Color settings made in this dialog apply to all montages.
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Audio Montages
WaveLab Elements 7