Steinberg WaveLab Essential 6 Operation Manual

61
Playback and recording
 CD (input-fader plus on/off check box)
 Line (input-fader plus on/off check box)
 Mic (input-fader plus on/off check box)
In addition to the above, the card might have custom con-
trols for monitoring, etc., which cannot be accessed from 
the WaveLab Essential mixer. Again, please use the appli-
cation(s) included with the card.
Using the meters
In the lower part of the Record dialog, you will find a meter 
display. This is useful for checking the input level, as well 
as the...

62
Playback and recording
You can drop markers in the file during recording by 
clicking the Drop Marker buttons.
See below.
If you want to abort the recording, click the Discard but-
ton.
This terminates recording and discards the recorded file. 
When you have finished, click Stop. You can also have 
recording stop automatically by using one of the Auto-
stop options. Either way, the recording by default appears 
in a new window behind the dialog.
If you want to perform more recordings after the first,...

8
Metering 

64
Metering
Introduction
WaveLab Essential offers very detailed and versatile me-
tering, allowing you to monitor level and spectrum during 
playback, and also featuring an oscilloscope display. This 
chapter describes how to display, set up and use the var-
ious meters.
Monitor playback
The meters reflect the audio being played back. Note that 
metering occurs after the Master Section, which means 
the results of effects, dithering and Master faders are 
taken into account.
The meters can be used for...

65
Metering
Making settings for the level meter
You can adjust the behavior, scale and color of the meters 
as desired. It is also possible to save five sets of meter 
settings as presets, for instant access. Proceed as fol-
lows:
1.Pull down the Options pop-up menu and select “Set-
tings” (or click the “tool” icon).
The Level Meter Settings dialog appears.
2.Adjust the settings as desired.
By using the Apply button, you can check the results of your changes 
without closing the dialog. The following...

66
Metering
Oscilloscope
The Oscilloscope is a “microscope” version of the level 
meter, showing the area around the cursor position at 
large magnification.
If you are analysing stereo audio, the Oscilloscope will 
normally show the separate levels of the two channels. 
However, if you activate the option “Show Mix and Sub-
traction” on the Options pop-up menu (or click the +/– 
icon) the upper half of the Oscilloscope will show the mix 
of the two channels and the lower half will show the sub-...

9
Off-line processing 

68
Off-line processing
Introduction
When we refer to off-line processing, we mean functions 
that “permanently” alter the file, to make it sound more or 
less different. This is in opposition to “real-time process-
ing”, which makes the file play back differently, without 
making any permanent changes to it. Real-time process-
ing is described in the next chapter.
Applying processing
Processing can be applied to a selection or to a whole file. 
For certain processing operations processing the entire...

69
Off-line processing
Gain Change
This also allows you to change the amplitude (volume) of 
the selection, just like the Level Normalizer. The difference 
here is that the gain change is set in absolute numbers, 
plus/minus the current level (which is indicated as 0dB).
Clipping
This processor lets you do something that most other 
functions in WaveLab Essential never do: introduce clip-
ping.
Clipping is when the gain is raised to a point where distor-
tion is added. While this is normally not wanted,...

70
Off-line processing
The Normalize controls
These are used to normalize the sound before and/or after 
processing. Please note the following:
 The effect of all dynamic processing depends on the ampli-
tude (level) of the material to be processed. Therefore, if you 
process a number of files with slightly different levels (for ex-
ample using presets or batch processing) the effect of the 
processing will be different from file to file. To avoid this, acti-
vate “Normalize before”.
 On the other hand...