Steinberg WaveLab Essential 6 Operation Manual

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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 smaller number of “bits” is 
used to represent the data.
You can add a new breakpoint by clicking anywhere on 
the curve with the left mouse button.
You can delete a breakpoint by clicking on it with the 
right mouse button.
The Reset button restores the curve to a straight line 
with only one breakpoint.
The “Add point at level selection” button adds a break-
point at the level indicated by the current level selection 
(see “Level selections” on page 43 and the example be-
low).
An example of using “Add point at level selection”
The “Add point at level selection” function can be used to 
create a noise gate with a threshold at a certain level. Let’s 
say you have a recording of narration, with noise between 
the phrases that you’d like to remove:
1.Make a regular selection in a section that only contains 
background noise.
The longer this selection, the more accurate the result will be.
2.Select “Extend to peaks” from the Select submenu on 
the Edit menu.
The selection height now represents the level of the background noise.
3.Open the Dynamics dialog and set it up for graphic 
editing.
4.Remove all breakpoints from the graph.
5.Click on the “Add point at level selection” button.
6.Add a second breakpoint, “manually”, to the left of the 
one that just appeared.
7.Drag this second breakpoint so that it appears directly 
below the other one, at the bottom of the graph.
See the noise gate example above.
8.Adjust the Attack, Hold and Release settings as de-
sired.
9.Go back to the Wave window and select the section 
to be gated.
10.Open the Dynamics window and click the Process 
button.
11.Listen to the result, and if necessary, Undo, adjust the 
settings and Process again.
Expert settings
The Dynamics dialog also has a special tab devoted to 
“expert” settings.
Level envelope
This dialog allows you to create a volume envelope which 
can be applied to a selected range or a whole file. 
						

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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 curve to add a point.
A point will be added where you click. 
2.If you click on the point it will be selected (red color) 
and by click-dragging you can move it in any direction.
The curve changes accordingly in the waveform display.
When you point the mouse in the display (or move a 
point), the current position and level change is shown 
continuously in the field above the display.
3.You can keep adding as many points as you like to the 
curve.
You cannot move a point past a another point in the horizontal direction.
4.You can select several points using [Shift] and move 
them together.
By clicking on the envelope curve itself (not on a point) you can move the 
whole curve up or down.
Envelope functions in the dialog
The functions are selectable in three ways (the same op-
tions in all cases): 
 From the Functions menu. 
 By clicking the icons above the display.
 By right-clicking in the display.
The following options are available in the dialog:
Fade-in and fade-out
A fade-in is a gradual increase in level and a fade-out is of 
course the opposite. There are two ways of applying fades 
in WaveLab Essential: by using the Easy Fade function or 
by using the Fade dialog.
Easy Fades
The Easy Fade function allows you to very quickly apply a 
fade-in or fade-out to an audio file, without having to make 
any settings:
1.To create a fade-in, make a selection from the start of 
the audio file to where you want the fade-in to end.
Similarly, to create a fade-out, you should make a selection from the po-
sition where you want the fade to start, to the end of the audio file.
2.Select “Easy Fade” from the Process menu, or press 
[Ctrl]-[D].
A fade is applied to the selection. The shape of the fade is governed by 
the Default fade/crossfade setting in the Preferences–Wave edit tab.
Using the Fade dialog
The Fade dialog allows you to specify the desired shape 
of the fade, and to create fade-ins or fade-outs anywhere 
in a file:
1.Make a selection that spans from where you want the 
fade to start to where you want it to end.
2.Select fade-in/out from the Process menu to open the 
Fade dialog.
Option Description
Deselect all points This will deselect all selected points.
Delete selected points Deletes all selected points.
Reset selected points Resets all selected points to 0dB.
Reset whole envelope This removes all added points.
Flip  Vertical This will flip the current envelope vertically (in the 
level axis).
Flip Horizontal This will flip the current envelope horizontally (in 
the time axis).
Smooth envelope This allows you to create spline curves, for 
smoother level changes. Option Description 
						

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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-
lows you to do just that. It also lets you create plain mixes 
of two sounds.
Performing a regular crossfade
The material you want to crossfade can either be in two 
different sections of the same file, or it can be in two dif-
ferent files.
Since the crossfade is a type of paste operation, you must 
start by getting the section into which you want to fade 
(the later part of the fade) onto the clipboard.
1.Select the section into which you want to fade.
2.Select Copy, from the Edit menu.
Now it’s time to move over to the section from which you 
want to fade, which might very well be in another Wave 
window:
3.Select the section from which you want to fade-out.
The length of this selection will determine the length of the 
actual crossfade (check the length on the status bar). In a 
typical case, this selection will be at the end of the wave. 
See below for details.4.Select Crossfade from the Process menu.
The dialog appears and crossfade slope indicators are shown in the cur-
rent selection.
5.Make sure that “Mix without fading” is not activated in 
either section.
6.Adjust the Offset and Damping parameters as desired.
The shape of the two curves is indicated in the selection. See below for 
details.
7.Click the Paste button.
How the fade is done
 As described above, the length of the fade is determined by 
the size of the selection in the file into which you paste.
 The pasted material has to be longer than the selection you 
paste “into” (or there won’t be enough material to finish the 
fade).
 Any “excess” material in the copied selection will appear after 
the fade (at “full level”). The wave is lengthened as needed.
 Any material that originally appeared after the selection in the 
file into which you paste, will be moved so that it now appears 
after the newly pasted material.
About the curves
The design of the fade and crossfade curves is based on 
psycho-acoustic research material, in order to give as 
pleasant and harmonic a result as possible.
!This selection cannot be longer than the selection 
you just copied, or the program will not be able to 
perform the crossfade!
!Please note that if both waves already have full level 
sections in the crossfade area (for example if you 
have normalized both waves), clipping (and hence 
distortion) might occur! If this happens, reduce the 
amplitude of both waves by 3 to 6 dB and try again.
Also note however, that if one of the “Inverse of Fade 
In/Out” boxes is checked, clipping can never occur. 
						

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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 will result 
in a normal fade, where the level is half the original when it 
reaches the Offset point. Values closer to 0dB will em-
phasize the beginning of the fade-in wave. Values closer 
to -18dB will make the fade-in sound drop drastically at 
the beginning of the fade.
Here, the default -6dB Damping curves with 50% Offsets are selected. 
This gives you a normal crossfade with the focus on the middle of the 
fade.
In this example, the Offsets have been moved so that the focus of the 
fade is more to the left. This means the fade-out is faster than the fade-
in. However, both Damping factors are still set to the standard -6dB.
Mix without fading
If you activate “Mix without fading” for either section, it will 
play at full level throughout the entire fade.
An example
Let’s say you have two environmental sound effects you 
want to fade between, “city” and “restaurant”. You want to 
fade from “city” to “restaurant”. The two sounds are in dif-
ferent windows.1.Select the entire “restaurant” wave and copy it.
2.Make a selection in the “city” wave, from a point close 
to the end.
The length of this selection is equal to the length of the fade.
3.Open the crossfade dialog, set both Offsets to 50%, 
both Damping settings to -6dB, deactivate both “Mix with-
out fading” options and click the Paste button.
The “city” wave is now lengthened, so that it starts as it originally did, 
then fades over to the beginning of the “restaurant” wave and ends like 
the “restaurant” wave.
Invert Phase
This turns the signal “upside down”, which is the same as 
inverting the phase by 180°. No settings are needed for 
the operation.
There is no audible change when you invert the phase of a 
mono signal. However, if one channel in a stereo pair is 
out of phase with the other, this will lead to artifacts such 
as a drop in the bass register and a “blurred” stereo im-
age.
The most common use for this function is therefore to fix a 
stereo recording where one of the channels has acciden-
tally been recorded out of phase with the other.
Reverse
This function reverses the selection, as if playing a tape 
backwards. No settings are needed.
Eliminate DC Offset
This function removes a problem that most often appears 
due to mismatches between various types of recording 
equipment.
!This function should be applied to whole files, since 
the problem is normally present throughout the entire 
recording. 
						

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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 processing options do not give optimal results when 
performed on files with a DC offset.
Checking for and eliminating DC Offset
1.Select the wave you want to check and fix.
2.Select “Eliminate DC Offset” from the Process menu.
A dialog appears stating the amount of DC offset.
3.Click OK or Cancel.
Waveform Restorer
This lets you remove intermittent clicks and pops in an au-
dio file. First make a selection encompassing the artefact 
you want to remove, then apply one of the available meth-
ods. Usually, you will have to use a high zoom factor to be 
able to locate and select the undesired element.
The Waveform Restorer lets you select one of several 
available restoration methods. The selected method is de-
scribed in the dialog.
Time Stretch
Time stretch is an operation that allows you to change the 
length of a recording without affecting its pitch. Actually 
the standard term “time stretch” is a bit misleading since 
you can of course also make the material shorter.
This function is most often used to make a section of au-
dio fit in with some other material. Therefore this dialog is 
set up exactly for that. You select the material to be 
stretched and use the options in the dialog to find a 
stretch factor (the “Percentage”). This is done by specify-
ing the desired length, or the desired tempo, all according 
to what the situation requires.
Opening the dialog
When you open the dialog, the following information 
about the selection is displayed:
Specifying a percentage directly 
If you know by how many percent you want to change the 
length, you can enter this value in the “Percentage” field.
Calculating the percentage by specifying a new length
If you know the desired length in samples, adjust the 
Samples value in the “Desired result” section.
If you know the desired length in minutes, seconds and 
milliseconds, adjust the corresponding value in the “De-
sired result” section.
Regardless of which you choose, the other values and the Ratio are up-
dated accordingly.
The original length 
in seconds.
The original length 
in samples.
The calculated orig-
inal tempo accord-
ing to the set length 
and time signature. 
						

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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 selection, type it 
in the Tempo field in the Source part of the dialog.
2.If you don’t know the exact current tempo, but the 
length of the selection and the time signature, you can 
specify these instead, in the Bars and signature fields, and 
the Source tempo will be calculated for you.
3.Type in the desired tempo in the Tempo field in the 
“Desired result” section.
Reset
The Reset button resets the Percentage to “100%”.
Additional settings
Limitations
Time stretch is a very complicated Digital Signal Process-
ing (DSP) operation. It requires complicated mathematical 
operations and always affects the sound quality to some 
extent:
 For speech, stretch factors within a ±30% limit will normally 
provide very good results.
 For composite music, try to limit the range to ±10%.
 For sensitive material, like solo piano, try not to exceed ±3%.
!Please note for these operations to work properly, 
the exact specified source tempo or length must be 
selected. Any deviation from the real values will be 
transferred to the stretched audio.
Enter the desired 
end position here.
Enter the start 
position here.
Setting Description
Quality There are three Quality settings, “Quick Process”, 
“Standard” and “High Quality”. The High Quality 
mode provides very high quality pitch correction, 
but the process will take longer. For most uses, the 
Standard mode is probably sufficient.
Preserve pitch When this option is activated, the pitch of the audio 
material will not be affected when you apply Time 
stretch. This is the normal mode of operation. If you 
turn this off, the pitch will change proportionally 
with the Time stretch ratio, much like when speed-
ing up or slowing down a tape recorder.
Audio quantize When this option is activated, the length of the re-
sulting file will be exactly the one displayed in the 
“Desired result” section of the dialog. When it is 
deactivated, the actual file length may differ by a 
few milliseconds.
If you don’t need this accuracy, you should leave 
the option deactivated, for a slightly better audio 
quality.
Rhythm accuracy This is only available if “Standard” or “High Quality” 
mode is selected. Set this parameter according to 
whether the rhythmic feel of the audio material has 
a high priority or not. If you set this to a high value, 
the timing and rhythmic feel will be preserved as far 
as possible, which is important for drum tracks, etc. 
If you set it to a low value, the audio quality can be 
slightly better, but sections of audio might be 
moved slightly (in the milliseconds region) in the 
process.  
						

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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.
You also have the option to automatically compute the re-
quired pitch shift, based on the currently detected pitch 
and the pitch specified in the value field below the “Ac-
cording to the current pitch, etc.” button. When the button 
is clicked the “Amount of Shift” parameters are automati-
cally adjusted to the computed pitch shift.
Length compensation
This allows you to set how the length of the selection 
should be affected by the operation.
 A setting of 100 means that the length will be the same after 
the operation.
 A setting of 0 means that the program will behave like a tape 
recorder does when the speed of its tape is varied. For exam-
ple, if you raise the pitch by one octave, the sound will become 
half as long.
 Intermediate values will give results in between these two ex-
tremes. 
 For large transposition values, the lower this setting is, the 
better the quality of the effect will be.
Additional settings
Setting Description
Quality There are three Quality settings, “Quick Pro-
cess”, “Standard” and “High Quality”. The High 
Quality mode provides very high quality pitch 
correction, but the process will take longer. For 
most uses, the Standard mode is probably suffi-
cient.
Audio Quantize When this option is activated, the processed file 
will have the exact same sample length as the 
original. When it is deactivated, the resulting file 
length may differ by a few milliseconds.
If you don’t need this length accuracy, you 
should leave the option deactivated, for a slightly 
better audio quality.
Preserve Formants When this option is activated, changing the 
pitch of vocal material will give a more realistic 
result. When you are processing non-vocal ma-
terial, you should leave this option deactivated, 
since it uses a slightly slower processing algo-
rithm.
Warning: this algorithm might increase the sig-
nal level. If your audio material has a high level, 
you may need to lower its level before pitch 
shifting.
Rhythm Accuracy This is only available if “Standard” or “High 
Quality” mode is selected. Set this parameter 
according to whether the rhythmic feel of the au-
dio material has a high priority or not. If you set 
this to a high value, the timing and rhythmic feel 
will be preserved as far as possible, which is im-
portant for drum tracks, etc. If you set it to a low 
value, the audio quality can be slightly better, but 
sections of audio might be moved slightly (in the 
milliseconds region) in the process. 
						

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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 octaves). The cents value ad-
justs the pitch within one semitone, that is, 50 means a quarter tone.
4.If you want one of the voices to play back the original 
wave (at the recorded pitch), activate one voice for this 
and set both its Semitones and Cents settings to 0.
5.If you are processing a stereo selection or if you have 
activated “Create stereo wave” (see below), you can ad-
just the stereo position of the voice by using the Pan con-
trol.
If you pull the slider all the way left or right, this voice will be played in that 
channel only.
6.Use the scroll bar to select the next voice and set this 
up like the first.
The text to the right of the Pan control tells you how many voices are ac-
tivated.
Additional controls
Please note that by specifying very small pitch shift 
amounts (a few cents only) and panning the detuned 
voices hard left and right, you can create stereo material 
out of mono recordings without a noticeable change in 
pitch. Please try to keep a balance in the detuning. If for 
example you set one voice to +5 cents, set another to -5 
cents.
Hi-fi Chorus
This chorus works slightly differently from many others. 
Often chorusing is achieved by delaying a copy of the sig-
nal, continuously varying the amount of delay and mixing 
the delayed signal back in with the original.
While this is adequate for many purposes, WaveLab Es-
sential takes a more natural approach to creating chorus. 
Since a chorus effect is about making a recording sound 
as if it was performed by many “identical musicians”, 
WaveLab Essential takes just that approach. It multiplies 
the recording up to 100 times and detunes and delays 
each “voice” slightly and – if so desired – pans the voices 
across the stereo image.
Control Description
Preserve level When this is activated, the resulting audio will have the 
same level as the original, even though a number of 
voices have been added.
Create stereo 
waveIf you are operating from a mono selection you can still 
create a stereo wave by activating this option. The pro-
cessed wave will then open in a new window.  
						

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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 “Add” button.
Convert sample rate
This function allows you to change the sample rate of a re-
cording. This is very convenient if you have a file that you 
wish to use in a certain audio system and find that the file 
was recorded at a sample rate this system doesn’t sup-
port. Please note that Sample rate conversion can also be 
done as part of the Saving process (see “Saving in an-
other format (Save as…)” on page 51).
Please note the following:
 Sample rate conversion from a low frequency upwards does 
not improve sound quality. The high frequencies that were lost 
due to a low recording frequency cannot be restored by a 
conversion.
 When you sample rate convert down to a lower frequency, 
high frequency material will be lost (this is part of the mathe-
matics behind digital audio). Therefore, do not convert down 
and then up again, since this will lead to a degradation in 
sound quality (unless that’s exactly what you’re after). Instead, 
use the Undo and Redo functions.
Performing the sample rate conversion
1.Select Convert sample rate from the Process menu.
This opens the Sample Rate dialog.
Parameter Description
High Shelf Gain Determines the boost or cut (in dB) of the high 
shelving filter.
High Shelf
FrequencySets the frequency of the high shelving filter. Fre-
quencies above this value will gradually be in-
creased or reduced in level, according to the High 
Gain setting.
Mid Shelf Gain Determines the boost or cut (in dB) of the Mid 
range EQ.
Mid Shelf 
FrequencySets the center frequency of the Mid range EQ. 
Frequencies around this value will be affected by 
the Mid Gain.
Mid Q Use this parameter to set the width of the Mid 
range, i.e. how wide a frequency range around the 
Mid Frequency should be affected by the Mid range 
EQ. The higher this value, the “narrower” the Mid 
range.
Low Shelf Gain Determines the boost or cut (in dB) of the low 
shelving filter.
Low Shelf 
FrequencySets the frequency of the low shelving filter. Fre-
quencies below this value will gradually be in-
creased or reduced in level, according to the Low 
Gain setting. 
						

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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 “Saving in another format (Save 
as…)” on page 51).
Support for reNOVAtor™
If this audio restoration plugin is installed on your system, 
you can select it from the Tools menu.
This menu option is enabled if a wave window is open and 
an audio selection is active (it can be both channels or a 
single channel). 
Selecting “reNOVAtor…” from the menu opens this plug-
in and the active audio range is edited. The plug-in win-
dow is non-modal, hence you can work in WaveLab Es-
sential without closing the plug-in.
Go to http://www.algorithmix.com/en/renovator.htm for 
more info.
!Sample rate conversion is always applied to the en-
tire file. Any selection you have made is not used in 
any way for this operation.