Steinberg WaveLab Essential 6 Operation Manual

71
Off-line processing
 If the curve starts out horizontally flat and then rises upwards, 
signals in the flat area will be eliminated completely. This is 
called (noise) gating.
Gating
Setting up the curve
You can drag any breakpoint in the curve to any posi-
tion, using the left mouse button.
When you move breakpoints closer to the left side or 
the bottom of the graph, you will note that the number of 
positions is more limited. This is due to the nature of digital 
audio, where, for lower levels, a...

72
Off-line processing
The dialog consists of a waveform view in the middle, with 
an envelope curve (initially a straight line) running through 
it. A vertical ruler displays the level change in dB, and the 
horizontal ruler displays the time line. You can boost the 
level up to 6 dB and decrease it down to silence.
Basic operation procedure
By adding points to the envelope curve you can create an 
envelope curve that will change the volume of the material 
over time.
1.Double click on the envelope...

73
Off-line processing
3.Use the Type options to select a fade-in or a fade-out.
4.Set the Offset and Damping parameters.
A graph in the waveform indicates the resulting shape. The Damping 
value indicates how much the wave will be attenuated at the Offset point. 
A 6dB Damping with a 50% Offset normally gives the most natural re-
sults. See “Crossfade” below for more details.
Crossfade
A crossfade is a gradual fade between two sounds, where 
one is faded in and the other faded out. This function al-...

74
Off-line processing
For each of the two sections – the fade-out and the fade-
in – you can select an Offset and a Damping value. When 
you adjust these values, the curves in the wave are ad-
justed accordingly so that you can see what kind of cross-
fade you will get.
The Offset factor determines where in the fade section the 
file will play at its “mid level” (normally half the level, see 
below).
The Damping parameters adjust the “steepness” of the 
fade. For example, a -6dB setting for the fade-in...

75
Off-line processing
A DC offset is when there is too large a DC (direct cur-
rent) component in the signal. If the DC offset is really 
bad, it can be visible as the signal not being visually cen-
tered around the “zero level axis”. However, the DC offset 
can be significant without actually being seen.
A wave with a serious DC offset
A DC offset is problematic for two reasons:
 It affects where the zero crossings appear, which in turn af-
fects the smoothness of splices between audio files.
 Certain...

76
Off-line processing
Calculating the ratio by specifying a time code range
If you want to fit the selection to a certain range, for exam-
ple in a video or film sequence, you can specify the start 
and end of this range as time code values:
The other values and the Percentage are updated accord-
ingly.
Calculating the Percentage by specifying a new tempo
If you know you want the selection to play back in a certain 
tempo, after the stretch, proceed as follows:
1.If you know the current tempo of the...

77
Off-line processing
Pitch Correction
Pitch Correction is a function which allows you to detect, 
and to change, the pitch of a sound, with or without affect-
ing its length.
Amount of shift
This allows you to specify the amount of pitch change in 
semitones and/or cents.
Pitch detection
WaveLab Essential can analyze an audio selection and 
detect the pitch of the audio. Click the “Find current pitch 
of audio selection” button to perform the detection. The 
found pitch is displayed below the button....

78
Off-line processing
Harmonization
This is a variation of the Pitch Correction, which allows 
you to create not only one shifted voice, but up to sixteen! 
Setting up the voices
1.Set the scroll bar to the voice for which you want to 
make settings.
Which voice is currently shown is indicated just above the scroll bar.
2.Activate the voice by clicking the check box.
3.Set up the amount of pitch shift for this voice, by ad-
justing the Semitones and Cents values.
The maximum range is ±36 semitones (±3...

79
Off-line processing
EQ
This is a three-band equalizer with high and low shelving 
filters and a full parametric mid-frequency band. The fol-
lowing parameters are available on the Settings tab:
Presets tab
The Presets tab features a list of EQ presets, with self-ex-
planatory names.
To load a preset, select it in the list and click the “Load” 
button.
If you have modified a preset which you wish to save, 
use the “Update” button.
You can also save your own presets by typing in a name 
and clicking the...

80
Off-line processing
2.Select the desired sample rate from the pop-up menu 
and click OK.
If you want to change any other audio properties (e.g. the bit resolution or 
stereo/mono status), you can do this in one of two ways:
 Open the Audio Properties dialog from the Edit menu and 
make the desired settings (see “Editing audio properties” on 
page 55).
 Open the Audio File Format dialog by selecting “Save as” on 
the File menu and clicking the Properties button in the lower 
section of the dialog (see...