Steinberg Wavelab Elements 8 Manual

							Offline Processing
Time Stretching
151
Time Stretching
Time stretching is an operation that allows you to change the length of 
a recording without affecting its pitch.
With time stretching you can make audio material longer or shorter. This 
function is most often used to make a section of audio fit in with some 
other material. You select the material to be stretched and use the 
options in the Time stretching dialog to find a stretch factor. This is 
done by specifying a length or a tempo, according to what the situation 
requires.
Time Stretching Dialog
In this dialog, you can change the duration of an audio selection, usually 
without changing its pitch. You can stretch a selection to a specified 
duration (in minutes, seconds, and milliseconds), tempo (in bpm), or 
stretch factor (as percentage).
In the Audio Files workspace, select Process > Time stretching.
Source (Audio Selection)
Duration - Edit tempo
If this option is activated, you can change the tempo of the audio 
source. The number of bars and beats and the stretch factor is 
updated automatically.
Duration - Edit bars
If this option is activated, you can set the number of bars and beats 
and the signature for the audio source. The source tempo and 
according the stretch factor is automatically updated. 
						

							Offline Processing
Time Stretching
152
Result
Target duration
If this option is activated, the audio source changes its duration.
Target tempo
If this option is activated, the audio changes its tempo. For this to 
work, you must specify the original tempo or the number of bars 
and beats.
Target stretch factor
Lets you see how much the audio duration changes. This 
parameter is automatically updated when you edit the other 
parameters, but you can also activate this option to edit it manually.
Reset
Resets the stretch factor to 100 % (no stretch).
Method
Preserve pitch
If this option is activated, the pitch of the audio material is not 
affected when you apply time stretch. If this option is deactivated, 
the pitch changes proportionally with the time stretch ratio.
Quality pop-up menu
Select whether you want to use the Standard quality or the Quick 
process.
Time Stretching Limitations
Time stretch is a complicated Digital Signal Processing (DSP) 
operation, that always affects the sound quality to some extent.
•For speech, stretch factors within a ±30 % limit provide good 
results.
• For composite music, try to limit the range to ±10 %.
• For sensitive material, like solo piano, try to limit the range to ±3 %. 
						

							Offline Processing
Pitch Shift
153
About the DIRAC Time Stretching Processor
The DIRAC engine is a high quality time stretcher. It produces the best 
quality results possible, but takes longer to process.
Pitch Shift
Pitch shift allows you to detect and to change the pitch of a sound, with 
or without affecting its length. This is useful for fixing an off-key vocal 
note in a live recording, or tuning the pitch of a kick drum sample to fit a 
particular song, for example.
Pitch Shift Dialog
In this dialog, you can change the pitch of a sound.
In the Audio Files workspace, select Process > Pitch shifting.
Amount of Shift - Semitones
Specifies the amount of pitch change in semitones.
Amount of Shift - Cents
Specifies the amount of pitch change in cents.
Find current pitch of audio selection
Analyzes the pitch of the selected audio and displays it below.
According to the current pitch, compute the required shift to match 
the key hereafter
Click to adjust Amount of Pitch parameters automatically, based 
on the currently detected pitch and the pitch specified in the value 
field below this button. 
						

							Offline Processing
Resample
154
Pitch field
Specifies the resulting pitch.
Length preservation
Specifies how the length of the selection is affected by the 
operation:
• A setting of 100 means that the length of the audio remains 
unchanged.
• A setting of 0 means that the program behaves like a tape 
recorder, when the speed of its tape is changed. For example, if 
you raise the pitch by one octave, the audio is half as long.
• Intermediate values give results in between these two extremes.
For large transposition values, the lower this setting, the better the 
quality of the effect.
Quality pop-up menu
Select whether you want to use the Standard quality or the Quick 
process.
Correct formants
If this option is activated, changing the pitch of vocal material gives 
a more realistic result. When processing non-vocal material you 
should leave this option deactivated, since it uses a slightly slower 
processing algorithm.
NOTE
This Algorithm might cause a noticeable increase in signal level.
Resample
You can change the sample rate of a recording. This is useful if the file 
that you want to use in a certain audio system was recorded at a sample 
rate that this system does not support.
Note the following:
• Sample rate conversion from a low frequency upwards does not 
improve the sound quality. The high frequencies that were lost 
cannot be restored by a conversion. 
						

							Offline Processing
Resample
155
• When you resample to a lower frequency, high frequency material 
is lost. Therefore, converting down and then up again leads to a 
degradation in sound quality.
NOTE
Using the Crystal Resampler in the quality mode High to change the 
sample rate results in the same quality as when using Process > 
Resample in the Audio Files workspace. However, that is only the case 
if the sample rate in the Sample rate dialog exists in the values of the 
Crystal Resampler Sample rate menu. If you choose a custom sample 
rate, another algorithm is used, which results in a lower quality of what 
the Crystal Sampler can achieve.
Converting a Sample Rate
NOTE
Sample rate conversion is always applied to the entire file.
PROCEDURE
1. In the Audio Files workspace, select Process > Resample.
2. In the Sample Rate dialog, select a sample rate from the pop-up 
menu.
3. Click OK. 
						

							 156
Audio Montage
The audio montage is a multitrack non-destructive editing environment, 
which allows you to arrange, edit, play back, and record audio clips on 
multiple tracks.
Non-destructive means that when you delete or change a part of an 
audio file, the audio is not deleted or permanently changed. Instead, a 
set of pointers keeps track of all the edits, so these can be readily 
reversed. WaveLab Elements provides comprehensive facilities for 
non-destructive editing.
Features include both track- and clip-based effects, volume and pan 
automation, and wide-ranging fade and crossfade functions.
The audio montage is a great tool for Audio CD creation, mastering, 
multimedia work, radio spot production, etc.
Basic Terminology
Audio montages can contain up to 3 stereo or mono audio tracks. You 
can use them to structure the work graphically, but do not see them as 
virtual tape tracks.
On an audio track, you can place any number of clips. These are 
containers for the audio, and include a number of settings and functions 
such as volume and pan curves, fades, etc.
A clip contains a reference to a source audio file on your hard disk, as 
well as start and end positions in the file (allowing clips to play back 
smaller sections of their source audio files). Any number of clips can 
reference the same source file. 
						

							Audio Montage
Montage Window
157
Montage Window
The montage window in the Audio Montage workspace is where you 
assemble your audio montage. This is where you view, play back, and 
edit audio montages.
The montage window gives you a graphical representation of the tracks 
and clips.
Track Control Area
The track control area offers several options regarding the track.
Fold/Unfold
Folds/unfolds the track.
Mute
Mutes the track.
Solo
Solos the track.
FX
Opens the Effects menu in which you can select effects for the 
track. A blue icon indicates that a track has track effects.
Track menu
Opens the track menu that contains track-related options. 
						

							Audio Montage
Montage Window
158
Track name
Opens the Track name dialog where you can enter a name for the 
track.
Track Menu
This menu contains all track-related options. In the Audio Montage 
workspace, open the Track menu, or click the number button of a track.
Add stereo track
Adds a stereo track below the active track.
Add mono track
Adds a mono track below the active track.
Move track up
Moves the track one position up in the track list.
Move track down
Moves the track one position down in the track list.
Remove track
Deletes the active track.
Mute
Mutes the active track.
Solo
Solos the active track.
Route to Master Section
Routes the audio signal of the active track to the Master Section 
input. 
						

							Audio Montage
Signal Flow in the Audio Montage
159
Route to Master Section and upper track
Routes the audio signal of the active track to the Master Section 
input and to the modulation input of the Ducker plug-in.
Route to upper track only
Routes the audio signal of the active track to the modulation input 
of the Ducker plug-in.
Lock
If this option is activated, you cannot edit the track.
Zoom
Shows the active track in the full available height.
Color
Opens a submenu where you can select a color for the active 
track.
Signal Flow in the Audio Montage
The audio signal flow goes through the various sections of WaveLab 
Elements in a certain way.
•Read audio clip samples
• Clip envelope
• Clip effects
• Clip pan
• Clip individual gain (CD window)
• Clips are mixed into the track slot (for example, overlapping clips)
• Track effects
• Track leveling
• Each track is mixed into a stereo bus
• This stereo channel is processed through the plug-ins of the 
master output
• This stereo bus is then sent to the Master Section input
Master Section:
• Channels/sample rate might change at each plug-in slot
• Master Section meters 
						

							Audio Montage
Creating a New Audio Montage
160
• Master Section Dithering slot
• Independent meters
• Playback or file format rendering
Creating a New Audio Montage
You can add tracks and clips to your new audio montage.
PROCEDURE
1.In the Audio Montage workspace, select File > New.
2. In the Audio montage properties dialog, select a Sample rate.
3. Click OK.
Audio Montage Properties Dialog
In this dialog, you can set the sample rate of the audio montage.
This dialog open when you create a new audio montage.
To change the settings for the currently opened audio montage, select 
Edit > Audio montage properties.
Alternative Ways of Creating a New Audio Montage
There are several ways to create a new audio montage.
•Import audio CD tracks to an audio montage
• Convert wave files to an audio montage
• File > Clone
• Press [Ctrl]/[Option], and drag a montage tab on the tab bar
• Double-click an empty section of the tab bar