sb_se+hd

soundBlade SE & HD Combo Manual Table of Contents

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Sonic Studio, LLC. Sonic Studio, LLC assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document.

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Sonic Studio, soundBlade LE, soundBlade SE, soundBlade HD, Sonic Studio Engine (SSE), NoNOISE II, Manual DeClick II, DeClick, DeCrackle, A Type, B Type, C Type, D Type, E Type Broadband DeNoise II and the Sonic Studio logo are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC. All other company or product names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

All features and specifications described within chapter 11 of this manual are subject to change. Wholegrain Digital Systems LLC makes no warranty of any kind regarding the accuracy, correctness, or sufficiency of the information in this document. However, we will make every reasonable effort to keep the document accurate, correct, and sufficient in response to your feedback.

DynPEQ, Quartet DynPEQ, Trio DynPEQ and the binary spike device are trademarks of Wholegrain Digital Systems LLC. soundBlade is a trademark of Sonic Studio, LLC.

Chapter 1 Introduction

This soundBlade User Manual is targeted at both Sonic Studio’s soundBlade SE and soundBlade HD software. Unless specified, the term ‘soundBlade’ is used for both ‘soundBlade SE’ and ‘soundBlade HD’. Features that are specific only to soundBlade HD will be noted.

soundBlade is an easy to operate yet surprisingly feature–rich general purpose application tool for audio production on your Mac. soundBlade is ideal for:

Editing, sequencing and delivering your material for a variety of distribution formats
Composing and manipulating your material while adding AU and many VST based plug–ins to perform EQ, dynamic processing and other effects.
Restoring compromised audio to a marketable state with our NoNOISE options.
Premastering, CDTEXT, ISRC and creating a reliable replication master for a CD title
Preparing Gold Master files for Electronic Music Delivery (EMD)

soundBlade runs on any Intel Apple Macintosh with 10.6.8 or newer, including laptops, making it highly portable. The optional Series 300 DSP I/O Processors are high fidelity, FireWire–attached audio interfaces and signal processors and are an excellent fit for soundBlade. So, you can take your studio with you, whenever and wherever needed.

This manual is designed to give detailed descriptions of the features in both soundBlade SE and soundBlade HD.

Notes Overview

These notes add more information or reinforce concepts about a particular topic or subject.

Learn Overview

The learn notes are meant to provide ‘how to’ or specifics about a topic or subject.

Learn soundBlade 2.3 adds these features:

- Add ISRC to Broadcast Wave (BWF) files on Export

- New Project Manager.app

Chapter 2 Quick Start

2.1 Before You Begin

2.1.1 Requirements

At a minimum, soundBlade requires the following:

Apple Macintosh Intel 2.6 GHz minimum or faster preferred
1024 x 768 pixel or larger display
4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB or more preferred
Mac OS 10.6.8 or newer
spare USB port for iLok Smart Key
Optional Series 300 DSP I/O Processor or other FireWire, USB or Thunderbolt Core Audio interface

For delivery of the final DPP files for replication, a data storage device, such as a CD-R, DVD-R or data tape drive, is required as well. Since soundBlade uses OS X’s Core Audio for device management, the quality of audio playback will be entirely dependent on the hardware and driver(s) used.

Note About Using USB Devices: Direct connection of a USB audio converter should be usable with soundBlade. Unlike FireWire however, USB does not provide an isochronous or time–critical data delivery mode. So, USB–attached products for external audio I/O are not recommended for either hard drives or audio interfaces when used in any pro audio production environment. USB peripherals, other than Human User Interface products such as mice and keyboards, may interfere with the operation of our products.

Current USB Apple Super Drives (USB2 or USB3) should perform as expected.

Note, since Sonic is unable to test every USB converter, we cannot guarantee that all USB audio converters will function at all sample rates and configurations.

Connection of audio converters via USB hubs, use of USB hard disc drives and USB v1 optical disc peripherals is not recommended or supported.

Additional Notes soundBlade 2.0.2 and later is not supported on PPC (Mac G4 or G5) hardware.

soundBlade is a 32-bit application with all internal processing done at double precision.

Thunderbolt Notes Apple’s new Thunderbolt input/output technology lets you connect high-performance peripherals and displays to a single port with fast data transfer rates.

Sonic Studio expects no issues to arise with the connection of existing FireWire devices or drives using a Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adaptor or hub, nor with the use of future generation direct-attached drives, I/O devices and optical drives.

2.1.2 Installation And Licensing

To install soundBlade, please click on the soundBlade_xx_22_Installer.pkg. You can download the Installer from:

http://www.sonicstudio.com/sonic/support/support.php#downloads

Follow the on-screen instructions to install your software.

Please note that soundBlade is protected with PACE Anti-Piracy’s InterLok copy protection. Your soundBlade license is authorized with an iLok1 or iLok2 USB Smart Key.

Learn: Please review the soundBlade Activation Guide, located in the Documents folder inside your soundBlade Application folder, for step-by-step instructions for activating your soundBlade application and optional Sonic Studio software.

2.1.2.1 Installation of soundBlade Options

soundBlade 2.0 and later requires an iLok to enable any purchased options such as NoNOISE 3 or Manual DeClick.

Learn: Please review the soundBlade Activation Guide, located in the Documents folder inside your soundBlade Application folder, for step-by-step instructions for activating your optional Sonic Studio software.

2.2 General Workflow

For general mastering workflow, you should use soundBlade in Multiple EDL mode. This is soundBlade’s default setting. It can be reset by selecting ‘Multiple EDLs’ check box in soundBlade Preferences’ EDL tab.

Launch New Project Manager.app and set up your new Project folder. The New Project Manager.app is located inside your soundBlade Application folder

Import your sound files

Process your files: gain, fade in/fade out, plug-ins and Export them at 24 bits

Sequence the exported files

Mark them with Track Start and, if necessary Track End Marks

Deliver to CD at 16 bits.

When using Plug Ins

Use the bottom Source EDL for processing: Import your files to the Source EDL, add processing, then export as 24-bit Gold Master files for sequencing, marking and delivery in the Destination EDL for DDP/CD creation.

Import your audio. If you are using Plug-ins, import your sound files into the bottom Source EDL for processing, then export them for sequencing and delivery in the top Delivery EDL. If not using plug-ins, import to the Destination EDL.

Sequence your tracks in the Destination EDL: Set timing between songs, adjust fade in and fade out (top/tail)

Mark: Add Track Start, Index and Track End marks. Set metadata for CDTEXT and electronic music delivery.

Deliver: Write DDP using 16-bit dither. Export tracks using 24-bit dither for electronic music delivery.

NOTE: As a general practice, before importing then into soundBlade, make sure your soundfile names are less than 27 spaces long before file type suffix. You may need to rename them, removing extra characters, in the Finder prior to importing them into the soundBlade environment.

For example:

01 Copland_Fanfare_For_The_Common_Man.aiff

should be renamed to

01 Copland_Fanfare.aiff or similar

You can always rename files to their proper titles in the Finder, prior to final delivery, after exporting or in the Mark Info window for CDTEXT. This character limitation does not apply to CDTEXT.

Learn: It’s a good idea to add the track number as a prefix to your sound files names prior to importing into soundBlade. Since you probably know the sequence of your tracks, this is pretty easy to change in the Mac Finder.

For example

01 Baby Maybe.wav

02 Brother.wav

03 Bring You Home.wav

04 Enumerate.wav

2.2.1 Creating CDs With soundBlade

soundBlade makes it easy to quickly create professional quality, Red Book–formatted CD-Rs. In four steps, you can make an audio CD. Here is an overview:

First: Assemble your audio

Start by creating a new Project (see Appendix for more on Project management) and adding audio files to the Project. When you command–drag an audio file(s) into the Project, it is imported as a segment. auto spaced based Preferences selection, and added as a CD track.

You can arrange and edit your audio in the Waveform View. A track is created for each new segment, and you can edit the track order with the Track Bar or the Mark Info list.

HINT: As a general practice, if you need to perform advanced editing such as topping/tailing or Fade In/Fade Out modification to any tracks, DON’T USE the drag +cmd to place Track ID marks. Instead, place Start and End Marks as the last step before making a CD or exporting tracks.

NOTE: As a general practice, create a new folder in each project folder called Audio. Drag all of the sound files for each project into the Audio folder.

(see Appendix for more on Project management)

Second: Edit and process segments and tracks

You can edit segments and tracks in a variety of ways, working either graphically in the Waveform View, or numerically in the Text View and Mark Info window. You can copy, reorder, trim, split, adjust gain, invert polarity and normalize segments. It’s also possible to combine several segments into one track, or create several tracks with only one segment. As you work, you can play all, or any part of, the Project to immediately hear the result of your work.

With the help of AU and VST plug–ins, the sound of tracks, segments or even your entire mix can be altered according to your taste or requirements. Processing can be applied per time selection, segment(s) or during the entire mix on the output signal. Also, per channel or stereo processing is supported.

Third: Adjust Crossfades

When you add a segment, soundBlade creates a CD track and adds track marks to define the pause between tracks. You can create crossfades between overlapping segments, and adjust the crossfades in the Waveform View. You can also insert Index Marks to create subdivisions within a track.

Fourth: Burn the Project to a CD

When you burn your Project, soundBlade uses supported CD burning hardware that is connected to, or installed in, your Macintosh.

soundBlade TV: View the ‘soundBlade Quick CD’ tutorial by clicking HERE.

This workflow is useful for creating a quick reference CD for the client to take with them, but the drag+drop+cmd method described above is not recommended for day-to-day mastering.

2.3 Step By Step — Exporting Files For EMD

This section covers the workflow for exporting the audio files you’ve marked with Tracks Marks as files for Electronic Music Distribution (EMD) using the Export Tracks feature in soundBlade. This workflow is convenient for creating individual tracks for use as Gold Master files that can be then be delivered as full-resolution files or converted to MP3, AAC/m4a, FLAC or other compressed audio file format for delivery over the Internet. A third-party conversion application or plug-in is required for the file conversion. Sample rate can be converted at the time of Export.

Step 1. Open

Open an existing Project that contains Track Marks, or add Track Marks to a new Project.

Figure 2.1: A Project showing the Track Bar, Track Marks and top Panel

Step 2. Export

Select File > Export Tracks. The Export Track dialog box appears (see figure 2.3 below). Select the file type you want to export. BWF [Broadcast Wave Format] is generally best, but it’s up to you to decide. Export speed should be at either 8x or Max and dither should be set to 24 bits.

Export Soundfile dialog box showing sample rate conversion options.

Learn: WAV vs. BWF vs. AIFF vs. CAF file formats - Which one to use?

WAV files can be played on most computers using iTunes or Windows Media Player apps. WAV files can not contain metadata like artist name, album or ISRC, but you can tag these files with a graphic using the Get Info function in the Mac OS. WAV files are required by many iTunes aggregation facilities like CD Baby.

BWF files can be played on most computers using iTunes or Windows Media Player apps. BWF files can contain a significant amount of metadata, but this metadata is for production use and there is very little support to display this info in apps like iTunes. BWF files contain the time stamp of their position in the soundBlade EDL, which is useful for null testing or placing the file in its exported time in soundBlade or other apps that support reading of the BWF timestamp, You can tag these files with a graphic using the Get Info function in the Mac OS.

AIFF files are useful for distributing fully metadata-tagged files. They can be played in most media players, but are better integrated in the Mac OS. Apps like KID3 or ID3 Editor can be used to add artwork and album-related metadata to AIFF files.

Apple’s Core Audio Format (CAF) is a flexible, state-of-the-art file format for storing and manipulating digital audio data. It is fully supported by Core Audio APIs. CAF provides high performance and flexibility and is scalable to future ultra-high resolution audio recording, editing, and playback.

CAF files have several advantages over other standard audio file formats:

Unrestricted file size

Whereas AIFF, AIFF-C, and WAV files are limited in size to 4 gigabytes, which might represent as little as 15 minutes of audio, CAF files use 64-bit file offsets, eliminating practical limits. A standard CAF file can hold audio data with a playback duration of hundreds of years.=

Safe and efficient recording

Applications writing AIFF and WAV files must either update the data header’s size field at the end of recording—which can result in an unusable file if recording is interrupted before the header is finalized—or they must update the size field after recording each packet of data, which is inefficient. With CAF files, in contrast, an application can append new audio data to the end of the file in a manner that allows it to determine the amount of data even if the size field in the header has not been finalized.

CAF files serve as wrappers for a wide variety of audio data formats. The flexibility of the CAF file structure and the many types of metadata that can be recorded enable CAF files to be used with practically any type of audio data. Furthermore, CAF files can store any number of audio channels.

Support for many types of auxiliary data

In addition to audio data, CAF files can store text annotations, markers, channel layouts, and many other types of information that can help in the interpretation, analysis, or editing of the audio.

Support for many data formats

CAF files serve as wrappers for a wide variety of audio data formats. The flexibility of the CAF file structure and the many types of metadata that can be recorded enable CAF files to be used with practically any type of audio data. Furthermore, CAF files can store any number of audio channels.

Support for many types of auxiliary data

In addition to audio data, CAF files can store text annotations, markers, channel layouts, and many other types of information that can help in the interpretation, analysis, or editing of the audio.

Learn soundBlade 2.2 now supports sample-rate conversion and CAF file support when exporting Tracks or Exporting Soundfiles. This means you can work at higher sample rates and export files for use in electronic delivery or sequencing for CD.

Add support for 32 bit CAF Audio Format (recording also)

Add support for Multiple Exports at same time

Add support for Sample Rate Conversion on Export

Creates multiple export files at same time

Supports 44/24 and 44/16 and 48-24 export

A new folder call 44-24, 44-16 and 48-24 is created

NOTE: Shortcut ctrl-cmd-E for Export Tracks

Step 3. Check Your Work!

It’s a good idea to perform a null test on your exported files before sending to your customer.

Chapter 3 Basic Operation

3.1 General Workflow & Explanation of Terms Used

In order to prepare your finished master, soundBlade offers fast, simple audio editing along with creation and modification of metadata (CDTEXT, ISRC, UPC/EAN, UBC). Though soundBlade is designed to primarily create finished stereo and multichannel programs, it also includes CD-R and DDP file creation and includes our securePlayer delivery tool as well. DDP or, Disc Description Protocol, is the professional’s preferred method of delivery of production masters for optical disc replication.

When opening a sound file into soundBlade, you are creating a copy of the file in memory that you can manipulate. This copy is placed into a ‘Project,’ the workspace created by soundBlade. Within the Project, you can add sound, create and edit Marks that will generate PQ codes, and place SRPs, persistent editing–related placeholders inside the Project. All this information can be saved and later recalled.

Raw sound files can be imported from various file formats, including AIFF, WAV, BWF, AIFC 32 bit floating point files, CAF, MP3, AAC, FLAC and SD2 or Sound Designer II with regions. These files are edited, allowing you to compile a new program from various file types and sources.

When you are satisfied that your Project is acceptable, you can create a Compact Disc that allows you to check the completed program. These “check discs” or “refs” are perfect for approvals but not for replication. The audio data on these CD-Rs, technically CD-DA–formatted Orange Book discs, contain error–protected metadata but not error–protected audio data. So, errors can propagate through premaster to replication, resulting in costly rework. For disc replication, you should save your changes to the Project and “deliver” a DDP file set, a reliable, error–protected file format specifically designed for interchange between facilities and optical disc replication.

Learn: DDP stands for Disc Description Protocol. DDP identifies and describes collections of data that will be recorded onto CD. DDP was invented by Doug Carson and Doug Carson and Associates to help manufacturers have a consistent and complete description of the input media for use in glass mastering of CD. DDP images can be reliably transferred to replication facilities via Internet protocols such as FTP.

3.2 Project Layout

Figure 3.1: Main components of a Project window. Project shown is in 4 channel mode with ‘Multiple EDLS’ and Multi-Channel EDLs DESELECTED in Preferences. This configuration is useful for a “Sonic Loop”, where audio is played from Tracks 3 and 4, through external processing, and recorded back into Tracks 1 and 2.

Figure 3.1 a: Multiple EDL mode showing files and Desk Events in the Source EDL and the post-processed Exports assembled for CD Delivery in the Destination EDL. This is the best mode to work in for mastering.

In soundBlade, all tasks are performed in or via a Project. and a Project can contain one or more Edit Decision Lists (EDL). The bottom half of a new Project shows four empty Panels, two stereo containers for sound. The top two Panels are yellow “Destination” containers, where finished material is assembled, while the bottom two Panels are blue “Source” containers that supply raw segments of audio to the Destination Panels. The first and third Panel shows the left channel while the second and fourth Panel represents the right channel.

A slider appears at the bottom of the Project, directly beneath the lower Panel, allowing you to scroll across the time line. To the left of this slider, a drop down menu is available, where the time standard can be selected. The function of this time standard control is discussed further in section 3.7.1.

To the left of each Panel are solo and mute buttons, labeled with an S and M respectively. To the right of the mute button is a gain overlay button, labeled G. When activated, the buttons will light up “in color,” otherwise they are grey. The function of this button and the application feature it brings up will be discussed later in section 4.5. To the right of these three buttons are the ready record or record arm button and the Desk Events “P” or plug–in enable button, which will be discussed in sections 5.2 and 4.6 respectively.

Figure 3.2: Area to the left of the Panels with function buttons

Immediately above the waveforms, is a black banner with time code values in yellow. At the top of the black area is the time line for the waveforms. The bottom of the black area is reserved for “PQ Marks” and the Track Bar, discussed in section 3.9. The data underlying the whole of the two Panels, with Marks and all data describing the audio program, is also referred to as the ‘EDL,’ and is saved as a separate file within each Project’s folder.

Figure 3.3: Waveform display with Marks above the Panels

To the left of the time line, a drop down menu is located for selection of the Project default sample rate. It will be discussed in section 4.9 below.

Above the time line and Marks are the transport controls. They offer dedicated buttons for play, stop, fast forward, rewind and record. Also along this bar are the SRP, Deliver or “Burn” and Marks buttons. The function of these are explained in sections 4.7, 4.9.4.7 and 4.5 respectively.

Figure 3.4: A Project’s Transport Controls

Finally, at the top of the main window are time displays on the left, for the Playhead, and, on the right, for edit locations. In the middle is a display showing the current location of the Playhead and other time information related to that Project.

3.3 Starting a Project: Opening Files

3.3.1 Opening Projects

To create a new Project, select File > New Project... from the menu bar. A blank, default Project opens.

Alternatively, you can open an existing Sonic Studio Project by selecting File > Open Project... from the menu bar. This brings up a standard Mac OS browser dialog for finding and selecting the desired Project file.

Figure 3.5: Mac OS browser dialog for opening a Project

After highlighting your selection and clicking Choose, the Project will be opened, together with any available metadata already saved in the Project folder.

A third way to open an existing Project is by simply drag the file from any folder onto the application icon or the application’s Dock icon.

3.3.2 Opening Sound Files

Once your Project is open, you need to open your sound files into the Project. As with Projects, using either the File menu or dragging and dropping will work. By holding down the command key when dragging in sound files, soundBlade will autospace the new segment, as well as auto–generate PQ metadata. Section 3.9.5 discusses the auto–generated PQ metadata while sections 3.9.6 and 4.2 below will discuss autospacing functions in more detail.

By selecting File > Open Sound File... from the menu bar, you will bring up a standard Mac OS browser dialog for finding and selecting the desired audio file. soundBlade will open AIFF, WAV, BWF, AIFC 32 bit floating point files, CAF and SD2 files with regions. Confirm your selection with Choose and the sound file opens into your Project.

Broadcast WAV or BWF files can contain metadata to document production processes and control how the file is handled during editorial. soundBlade will honor BWF time stamps on open. To force soundBlade to honor an existing time stamp, hold down the shift key when dragging. The sound file will open on the time line at its time stamp. See section 8.1.5.1 for more information.

3.3.3 Adding Your First Sound File

In addition to the Open Sound File… command, you may also drag and drop sound files into a Project. soundBlade makes the job of CD assembly easy by providing a special behavior for adding your sound files to a Project. Drag your first sound file into the top Panel of an empty Project and, before you let go, move your cursor to 00:00:02:00 or 2 seconds on the time line. soundBlade will display a vertical “snap” indicator when you cursor is near 2 seconds. Drop the sound file and soundBlade will snap its head to 2 seconds. See section 4.3.1.3 for more information on snap zones.

By holding down the command key before dropping all files, soundBlade will also automatically create PQ metadata for all the files. We recommend you get in the habit of holding down the command key when dropping sound files as it make performing basic pre–mastering chores and resequencing much easier.

Note that command–dropping only applies to drag and drop, not to the Open Sound File… command. Later in this chapter, section 3.8 discusses these topics in more detail.

3.4 Waveforms

A waveform display provides visual reinforcement of audible cues when editing. Normally, the audio file types that soundBlade opens contain metadata such as sample rate and related information, but no information on visualization. Waveform shape information therefore has to be generated by soundBlade itself. The application generates individual “waveform files,” one for each channel, in order to display high resolution waveforms in the Panels at any zoom level.

Figure 3.6: Display of a sound file without waveform metadata

Waveform files, identified by their “.r” extension, are placed in the same folder as the audio files and can be read by any other Sonic Studio product. If waveform files are absent from one or more audio files included in the Project, soundBlade can automatically start generating those files in the background. The generation of waveform files can be performed in the background so normal operation is not interrupted. See section 8.9.10.1 for information on the Background Waveforms preference.

Figure 3.7: The building of waveform metadata in progress

Once the waveforms are visible, the arrow keys control the viewing window and a quick tap of the E key always zooms out to view the entire Project. In section 3.6 below, navigating your Project is discussed in more detail.

3.5 Auditioning Sound

3.5.1 Playback

When you press the keyboard’s Space Bar, the cursor changes to a “speaker & note” and playback begins. A thin vertical red line, the Playhead, spans the Panels and time line and moves horizontally to indicate the location of playback.

Figure 3.8: The cursor changes into a speaker & note shape during playback

When you first open a sound file and begin listening, playback, once started, will begin at the left edge of the audio. The Playhead will move to the right, across the file. When you hit the Space Bar again, playback ends and the Playhead halts its motion. When you hit the space bar a third time, the Playhead will jump back to the left side of the waveform display, the beginning of the sound file, and playback will begin again.

Note the Edit Point to Playhead command, located in the Selection menu, toggles a mode on or off whereby, when playback is stopped, the Edit Point jumps to the location of the Playhead. This is emulates the functionality of an analog tape machine.

By default, one stereo pair in two Panels will play back simultaneously based on their Edit Group setting. The Edit Group setting in each Panel defines which of the Panels will be played back. For example, in a Default Project, the top Panel pair are defined as Edit Group A (Figure 9a) and the bottom panel pair is set to B (Figure 9b).

Figure 3.9a: The A Edit Group Setting on the top two Panels will play back those tracks simultaneously

Figure 3.9b: With all four Panels selected to A, all four panels play simultaneously.

You can also force soundBlade to repeatedly play the same material over and over via the Play > Repeat Play command. By holding down the command and option keys before tapping the space bar, soundBlade will “repeat play” a time region selection until you press the space bar again.

3.5.2 Playback from the Edit Point

When you click anywhere inside the waveform display, the entire Panel, or rectangle containing the waveform display, is selected. The selected Panel has a medium blue background. Once selected, a click anywhere in that Panel produces a thin vertical red line, with an inverted yellow triangle on top. This is the “Edit Point.”

Figure 3.10: Panels with Edit Point at left and Playhead at right

When the Edit Point is present, playback will always start from the Edit Point. When you stop playback and start again, the Playhead will jump to the Edit Point and start playback from there.

You can move the Edit Point by clicking on a new location in the waveform display. The Edit Point will jump to the click location. Alternatively, you can click and drag the Edit Point’s yellow triangle to move it to a new location.

3.5.3 Playback from Playhead

The Playhead itself can also be manipulated directly. By double clicking in the lower half of the black time line banner, the Playhead is moved to the click location. Once the Playhead is moved, you can use the Play button in the Transport Controls to begin playing from that location. The Transport Controls above the top Panel provide tape transport emulation, so you can play, stop and continue playing from the current location. You can also select the Play > From Playhead command.

By holding down the option key before tapping the space bar, soundBlade will play from the current Playhead location rather that from the Edit Point, which is the default behavior. This is equivalent to clicking on the Play button in the Transport Controls.

By double clicking in the upper half of the time line, on the numbers, the Playhead is moved to the click location and playback begins. You can also hold down the option key while moving your cursor to any location in the waveform and, while holding down the mouse button, click and hold. The Playhead will move to the click location, playback begins and continues as long as the mouse button is held down.

3.5.4 Time Display

The large, central time code display in the center top of the Project window is live and editable, as are the LEFT, RIGHT, IN, OUT and DUR fields where applicable. Click on any subdivision or click–drag on the entire central time code display to select and modify the current address of the Playhead.

For all editable time code addresses, a single click in any HH:MM:SS:FF subdivision will highlight that subdivision, allowing you to type in a value. By click–holding and dragging up or down, the cursor will change to an arrow and the numeric value displayed will increase or decrease respectively. Click–hold for more than two seconds, and the rate of change increases. The arrow keys also let you move to a particular subdivision and increment or decrement the current value. Option–dragging a time code address allows you to quickly “clone” that value into another editable field.

Figure 3.11: Click–dragging down to edit a time code address

All modifiable time code fields in soundBlade support cut, copy and paste. Double clicking on any time field will select the entire field, allowing you to enter a complete time code address.

3.5.4.1 Capturing Playhead Time

soundBlade allows you to capture the current Playhead time, either during playback or, when stopped, and “push” its location into a selected time display field. To capture the Playhead location, make a selection in the particular time display field you want to update. Then press the space bar while holding down the shift key. The current play time will be dropped into the selected time display field.

3.6 Navigating the Waveform Display

There are many tools for quickly moving around inside of the waveform display. This section covers scrolling and zooming, in general and on selections.

soundBlade TV: View the ‘Navigating The Project Window’ tutorial by clicking HERE.

3.6.1 Scrolling

If you are zoomed all the way out, the entire waveform will be displayed. If you are not zoomed out entirely, some of the waveform will be off the edges of the Panel. You can move the window view left or right by moving the slider control at the bottom of the waveform display. You can also move the window view left and right by using the Left and Right Arrow key respectively.

Finally, you can drag the view left or right by simultaneously holding the control, option and command keys. When you click–hold, the cursor changes to a hand to indicate you are in Move View mode.

3.6.2 Zooming

You can zoom in using the Down Arrow key, and zoom out using the Up Arrow key. To zoom all the way out, hit the E, for “entire,” key.

3.6.2.1 Zoom around Edit Point

As you zoom in and out, it is likely that you will want to keep the Edit Point in view. To do this, hold down the Apple or command key as you use the Up Arrow or Down arrow keys. This will keep the Edit Point centered in the middle of the display.

3.6.2.2 Zoom to Selection

Clicking and dragging on the waveform itself selects a region, highlighted in yellow–orange. Typing command-G or selecting View > Zoom to Selection... will zoom around that selected region. See section 3.7 for more information on region selection.

You can also zoom to a selection while making the selection. By holding down the command and option keys while click–dragging on the waveform will define a selection and zoom to that selection as well.

3.6.2.3 Zoom Around Time Selection

If you click and drag in the black time line banner above the top Panel while holding down the Apple or command key, the Panel will zoom to display the region of the time line that your click–drag defined.

3.7 Selections

Selections let you highlight a portion of the audio where you want to perform a desired operation.

3.7.1 Selecting a Region

To select a region, click–drag on the waveform display. At the point that you want the selection to start, click and hold down the mouse button, then drag to complete your selection. An area will be highlighted in yellow–orange, indicating the selected region.

Figure 3.12: A region selected, indicated by the yellow highlight

You can click–drag either left or right to define a selection. In addition, you can fine tune the boundaries of a selected region. Hold down the shift key and click on either side of the selected region then, while continuing to hold the shift key, drag left or right to expand or contract the selection.

While selecting regions, the LEFT, RIGHT and DUR fields at the top of the Project are active and editable. See section 3.5.5 above for more information on manipulating time code addresses.

Note that the format in which all time fields are represented in soundBlade is user selectable. By clicking in the time standard display to the left of the time line slider, a drop down menu offering four choices becomes available.

Figure 3.12: The time standard menu

Figure 3.12 above shows the time standard choices. 30 fps NDF is the default setting and signifies non–drop frame time code, the default time code format typically used by DAWs to prepare material for CD release when compact disc preparation was video tape–based. 29.97 drop and non–drop are “pull down” rates for NTSC video while 25 fps is for PAL video. The 24 fps setting is for general motion picture work while 75 fps CD Frames is the internal time code format for CD-DA discs (audio CDs). When mastering for CD release, 75 fps is the best choice.

The 35 and 16 mm setting provide minutes and seconds at non-pull down and pull down (59.9 Hz) rates referenced to 60 Hz for North America and Japan. Also included are versions with a 50 Hz reference for Europe.

The Seconds setting shows all times in multiples and fractions of seconds. Finally, Samples displays all times in absolute samples based on the selected sample rate . These same selections appear in the Windows > Preference > Time Display tab, where the Project default is set. See section 4.9 for more information on time standard settings.

Note that, because soundBlade is designed, among other functions, to create the metadata necessary for Compact Disc replication, all of your PQ marking decisions are directly tied to the 75 frame standard. If you are using soundBlade for CD preparation, you should always use the 75 fps CD Frames standard.

Note also that, when a region is selected and playback is invoked, the Playhead relocates and playback starts at the beginning of the selection.

Note soundBlade does not support 23.976 frame rate at this time.

3.7.2 Selecting Segments

An entire sound file “segment,” the representation of contiguous samples from a single sound file, can be chosen as a selection. Click on the white Title Bar at the top of any segment, which displays the source sound file name.

Figure 3.13: The Title Bar

The waveform highlights yellow-orange and a bright yellow bar appears below it, running the entire length of the segment, to indicate that the segment has been selected.

Figure 3.14: A selected segment, indicated by the yellow highlight

By holding down the shift key and simultaneously clicking in other segment’s Title Bars, a selection of contiguous segments can be made. Also, while holding down the Apple or command key and clicking any Title Bars, a group of non–contiguous or random segments can be selected simultaneously.

Figure 3.15: Multiple selected segments

If you have an existing selected segment, several additional segment selection choices are available. By tapping the left or right arrow key, you can select prior or latter segments, respectively. By holding down the shift key, you can tap the left or right arrow key to contiguous select prior or latter segments, respectively.

Note that, when one or more segments are selected and playback is started, the Playhead moves to the head of the first selected segment and playback commences from there.

3.8 Recording Audio

In addition to assembling audio from existing sound files, soundBlade offers the possibility of recording audio from external audio sources. Supported file formats for recording are AIFF, WAV, BWF and CAF. Sample rate and resolution are limited by the capabilities of the available hardware.

Audio can be recorded directly into any Panel, and will be stored in mono AIFF, WAV, BWF and CAF files. To indicate the Panel in which a sound file was initially recorded, it is assigned extensions .1 to .x respectively.

First, you must specify where the recorded file will be stored and in what format and resolution the recording will be made. To do this, select Windows > New Soundfile Settings. The New Soundfile Settings window appears.

Figure 3.16: The New Soundfile Settings window –– AIFF file type

LEARN: More on recording in soundBlade can be found in Chaper 5 ‘Recording Audio’.

Figure 3.17: The New Soundfile Settings window –– BWF file meta data

To select the destination folder for the recorded sound file and subsequent recordings, click on Set Folder to open a standard Mac OS browser and select the target destination folder. Then click OK to confirm your choices and return to the New Soundfile Settings window.

Next, the default sound file prefix can be set in the “Soundfile” field. Additionally, in the “Take #” field, a starting take number suffix can be entered that will be incremented for each new recording, creating unique file names for subsequent recordings. Finally, the word length and file type for the recording can be set via the appropriate corresponding drop down menu. You do not have to close the New Soundfile Parameters window to save your settings.

When recording in the BWF file format, the New Soundfile Parameters window will show additional metadata fields. This metadata information will be stored in the recorded BWF file(s) and subsequently carried to other applications that can read-out this kind of information, thus providing additional information and identification possibilities.

3.8.1 Edit Recording

This option, located in the New Soundfile Settings window, allows opening, viewing and editing of the file being recorded during the recording.

To use the Edit Recording option, choose Windows > New Soundfile Settings. Select the Edit Recording option and initiate a recording. Open the sound file in a Project. You can now drag the Out fade as the audio is recorded and use the EDL > Refresh command to update the waveform display. This feature provides an auto–save function, as the file is updated continuously during recording. If anything happens to interrupt the record, the file will be intact up to that point.

Note that, when the Edit Recording option is selected, it uses about 15% more disk bandwidth for a stereo recording, so hard drive performance may be affected.

3.8.2 Initiating a Recording

To initiate a recording, “arm” the desired Panel(s) by clicking on the Record Ready button, labeled “R,” on the left of the corresponding Panel. After arming, click the green Record button in the Transport Controls to start the recording. The Playhead starts at the beginning of the time line to record audio. To start recording at another place on the time line, simply place the Edit Point at the desired position and click the Record button. The Record buttons turns red, recording begins and the Panel backgrounds that are in record along with their corresponding record arm buttons turn red, while the cursor changes to a microphone symbol.

Figure 3.18: A Panel in Record Mode

Once recording is finished by either hitting the space bar or the Stop button in the Transport Controls, the newly recorded audio segments are shown in the Panel(s) while soundBlade generates the waveform files.

Note that, as recording is non-destructive, any existing audio segments in a Panel that seem to be “overwritten” during recording are not physically erased from your computer’s hard disk. They are merely replaced in the waveform display and can be reopened at any time. Alternatively, the original state of the Panels before the recording was started can easily be restored by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

3.8.3 AutoPunch

To set up an automatic punch–in and out of recording, first arm the desired tracks. Next, place SRPs with the Selection > Set SRP command at the punch in and out locations. Then, make a time region selection that includes the SRPs. To start the recording, hold the command key and tap the space bar. The Panel background turns red immediately, and the recording starts and stops as the Playhead crosses any pairs of SRPs.

3.9 Simple Editing

There will be occasions where raw sound files need modifications. soundBlade offers advanced editing features, as well as simple tools to change amplitude and transitions.

3.9.1 The Fade Tool

The head (start) or tail (end) of segments are represented in the display by a thin black vertical line. When zooming in, this line will reveal itself to be a curve representing a ‘fade’ or amplitude versus time “envelope.” Each segment starts with an Fade In and ends with an Fade Out. Fade Ins and Outs are both “Black Fades” where “black” refers to “Edited Black,” the absence of audio data in the Panel.

Figure 3.19 End of a segment with fade out glyph

Fades have a specific starting location and duration. Both parameters can be easily adjusted with the “Fade Tool.”

First, the duration or length of the fade can be changed. To do so, zoom in so you can see what you’re doing and have reasonable control of the fade. Then, click–hold and drag on the upper “inside” edge of the fade to the desired location.

Note that, with the cursor on the upper inside edge, the cursor changes into a cross with left, right and up arrows indicating you can change the duration.

Figure 3.20: Fade tool symbol while moving top inside edge of the Fade

Of course, the length of a fade can also be changed by moving the lower or “outside” edge of a fade, leaving the inside edge in place. To do so, move the cursor over the fade near the bottom of the display until the cursor changes into the Fade Tool again. This time, the cursor changes into a cross with left, right and down arrows.

Figure 3.21: Fade tool symbol indicating you are changing the outside edge of the fade

Click–hold and drag the bottom end of the fade to the desired position. Release the button to confirm the change. Remember that modifying the outside edge is only possible within the limits of the actual samples of audio data represented by the segment.

If the cursor is moved over the middle portion of a fade, the Fade Tool cursor also appears but this time as a horizontal arrow with a vertical center line. In this trim mode, you are able to move the entire fade left or right, changing its location without changing its duration. This allows you to “hide” or “reveal” portions of the underlying segment, by shortening or lengthening the segment duration, trimming the segment as you go. Click–hold on the fade and drag the fade left or right. Releasing the mouse button fixes the fade in that location. While you are moving or changing a fade with the Fade Tool, the waveform is “live,” continuously changing visually to reflect the modifications you are making.

Figure 3.22: Dragging the inside edge to lengthen a Fade

Note that the maximum duration of a fade is equal to the underlying sound file duration. As mentioned above, it is not possible to move a fade past the actual start or end of an underlying sound file.

Also, moving Black Fades so more than two overlap is not allowed as well. A modal “CheckForTripleOverlap” dialog will pop up, telling you that your command would result in three Black Fades lying on top of each other. To overcome this, click–drag to select a region that includes the area of interest, then select File > Export Sound File… and select the Edit after Export check box. This will consolidate the edits, allowing you to continue with your editorial.

3.9.2 Deleting Part of a Sound File

It may be necessary to edit out some part of a sound file. soundBlade allows you to do so quickly or with great precision. To easily cut out a portion of a sound file, simply select the region that you want to remove. Then, select Edit > Delete Selection or hit the delete key to remove the selected region and “slip” all downstream segments left to close the gap. More on this later...

More precise editing can be performed with In points and Out edit points, special marks you can place in the Panel. An In Point is shown as a vertical line with a triangle at the bottom, pointing right, while an Out Point has the triangle pointing left.

Figure 3.23: In Point and Out Point with highlighted area in between

There can be only one In Point and one Out Point in a Panel at any time. If both an In Point and Out Point are present, and if the In Point is to the left of the Out Point in the waveform display, then the area between the In and Out Point will be highlighted in yellow. The Selection > Set In Point command drops an In Point at the location of the Edit Point.

Note that the IN, OUT and DUR time fields at the top right of the main Project window are always active and fully editable. These fields allow you to precisely alter the location of, and duration between, the In and Out Points, a functionality which comes out handy when the exact points are well known by their time value.

Once the region is defined, it can be modified in two different ways. The region can be either deleted or cleared. To clear the defined region, leaving an empty area, select the Edit > Clear Selection command.

Figure 3.24: A cleared selection — the circled material has not moved

The selected region now is cleared of its contents, leaving the audio before and after the selected region in the same place. The In and Out Points also stay in place. Effectively, you have now created two new segments that can be further edited and/or moved independently.

Alternatively, the selection can be deleted. To do so, select Edit, Delete Selection from the main menu. Hitting the delete or backspace key on the keyboard will perform the same action.

Figure 3.25: A deleted selection — the circled area has moved

As a result, the selected region will be deleted and all audio to the right of the selected region will be moved left to the beginning of the now deleted section, closing the “hole.” Again, the In and Out Points stay in place.

Similar to clearing the selected region, you now have two new segments. When deleting the selection, however, the two new segments are joined together with a “Crossfade.” It is represented in the waveform display as an overlapping Fade In and Out.

The delete functions mentioned above also work with one or more selected regions. Simply click–drag to select a region, and hit delete or option–delete.

Note that, when you have both Edit Points and region selections, soundBlade always defers to Edit Points rather than selections. This can easily lead to erroneous edits when IN and OUT Points are beyond the displayed area and the selected segments or regions are visible, leading to the user’s perception of a non performing edit, meanwhile audio out of view has been modified. Because of that, it is always a good idea to either choose Selection > Clear In & Out Points or check for the presence of Edit Points by glancing at the IN and OUT fields at the top right of the Project. Non–zero positive values indicate the location of an Edit Point.

3.9.3 Splitting a segment into new segments

Occasionally, existing segments need to be split in separate segments before further editing can be performed. This can be achieved by manually creating a new Crossfade within a segment.

To create a new Crossfade, simply place your cursor at the desired location, and double click. This moves the Edit Point to the click location. Then, select Edit > Create Crossfade from the main menu. A new Crossfade is created at the location of the Edit point. Also see section 3.8.2 above for information on deleting segments.

3.9.4 Manipulating Fades

With Crossfades, the Fade Tool can also be used to modify or move the fades, either as a complete Crossfade or as individual Black Fades. When the cursor is moved over a Crossfade, it changes into a pair of parallel horizontal arrows. The Fade Out changes to red while the Fade In changes to green.

To move the whole Crossfade either left or right, once again hiding and revealing audio on either side, simply click and drag the Crossfade to the desired location. Release the mouse button to drop the Crossfade at a specific spot.

To modify the fades individually, press the option key while modifying the Fade Out, and the Apple or command key while modifying the Fade In. With these modifier keys, the Fade Tool works as if the fades were isolated, as described in section 3.8.1 above. While operating on one fade of a Crossfade individually with modifier keys, the fade not being manipulated will deselect, indicated by its color changing to black.

If you decide that default duration of your crossfade is not right, simply hold down the shift key and place the cursor over the center of the crossfade until the cursor changes into the pair of parallel horizontal arrows. Click–drag up or down and the duration will increase or decrease, respectively.

Note that, to be able to do any of the above fade manipulations with accuracy, it may be necessary to zoom in until the Crossfade extends over a significant proportion of the waveform display. The View > Zoom To Previous command will zoom you out to your previous view quickly after such fine adjustments.

3.9.5 Changing the order of songs

It is not uncommon that the order in which tracks or songs appear on the final CD needs to be changed. There are two scenarios that are applicable to this need. The simple case is where PQ metadata is already present. This would apply if either the command key is held down when audio is dragged into the top Panel of a Project, which automatically creates CD Tracks or, PQ Marks are added manually. See section 3.10.1 for more information on manually adding PQ metadata in order to use the Track Bar. For more information on automatically creating CD Tracks, see section 3.10.4 below. For more information on CD Track re–ordering with the Track Bar, the quick and easy method, see section 3.10.5.

If PQ metadata is not present, the songs or group of songs you want to move need to be present as separate segments. This can be achieved by either manually creating a new Crossfade or by deleting the space between tracks in an existing sound file, meanwhile creating new segments that can be moved and edited independently.

To create a new Crossfade, simply move your cursor to the desired location, and double click. This will move the Edit Point to the click location. Then, select Edit > Create Crossfade. Also see section 3.8.2 above for information on deleting segments.

Once the material is divided in the required number of segments, the re–ordering can be done. There are several ways this can be achieved. First, segments can be selected, then dragged and dropped into place. This allows you to change the track order very quickly, but may be inaccurate when placing the files with precision on the time line. Section 4.3 below discusses an autospacing option that helps with precise track timings.

To drag a segment, first select the segment by clicking on the white Title Bar at the top of any segment. See figure 3.7.2 above. Notice the bright yellow Drag Bar that appears under the Title Bar in any selected segment.

Figure 3.26: The Drag Bar

Click–drag the Drag Bar to move the segment to the desired location. Remember that shift–clicking or command–clicking on multiple segments will select contiguous or segments respectively.

Secondly, segments can be moved by altering their respective time line positions directly via the Move Segments window. Select the desired segments, then select the Edit > Move Segments... command. The Move Segments modal dialog appears, showing the current position of the first, or only, selected segment.

The desired new segment start time can now be entered directly into the time code address shown. Once the ‘Move’ button is clicked, the segment moves to the new location.

The Move Segments dialog offers three extra options. By clicking on the ‘Where’ button, you can select via a drop down menu the new start time for the segment:

The current position of the Playhead
The location of the In Point, or
The location of the Out Point

There is also an SRP button that provides a list of any SRPs placed in the Project. By choosing one of these four options, the time display of the move segment window changes to the relevant time. SRPs, persistent markers you can place anywhere in time, are discussed later in section 4.7 below.

After choosing your option, clicking the ‘Move’ button will move the segment and close the dialog. Clicking ‘Cancel’ leaves the segment at its original position and closes the dialog.

3.9.6 Simple Track Spacing: AutoSpace

Once all your segments are placed in the right order, the AutoSpace function offers a simple but effective tool to change all pauses between songs to a pre-defined value. Simply select Edit > AutoSpace All Segments and all segments will be moved on the time line, with equal space between according to the Preference > Editing Tools > AutoSpacing Duration setting. In Preferences, the length of the AutoSpace can be set to 1, 2 or 3 seconds.

Note that, if a song is composed of more than one segment, then the AutoSpace command should be used with care as the command will “break apart” the song, autospacing its component segments. Also, the AutoSpace command should be used before you place PQ marks to prevent unwanted mark (re)location.

Also Note that, if segments have had their fade durations lengthened from the default setting, the AutoSpace command will not necessarily result in a desirable spacing. This is because the fade duration at the head and/or tail of one or more segments may be longer that the minimum 1 seconds spacing that is required between PQ Marks on a CD. If you use the fade tool to lengthen fades at the head or tail of a segment, you should manually space your segments by using the Selection > Select Edit Point to End command and the Drag Bar.

3.9.7 Exporting Selections & Segments

Selections, including both selected segments and selected regions, can be exported as AIFF, WAV, BWF or CAF files, with source resolution of up to 384 kHz sample rate and 16 or 24 bit word length for AIFF, WAV or BWF and 32 bits for CAF. To do this, use the File > Export Sound File… command. It exports the audio with amplitude changes from segment gain, plus any Gain Overlay and plug–in processing.

With soundBlade 2.2, you can also perform sample rate conversion on export.

Learn soundBlade 2.2 now supports sample-rate conversion and 32-bit CAF file support when using the ‘Export Tracks...’ or ‘Export Sound File...’ commands. This feature creates multiple files at the same time, based on the sample rate and bit depth you select. Supports 44/24 and 44/16 and 48/24. A new folder is created for each conversion, at the Path you define from ‘Set Folder’, and titled ‘44-24’, ‘44-16’ and ‘48-24’.

Since this action does multiple exports at the same time, processing can take a while.

NOTE: Uses Sonic HD Sample-rate Conversion algorithm with Noise-shaped diher.

NEW Shortcut ctrl-cmd-E for Export Tracks

Export Soundfile dialog box highlighting sample rate conversion options.

To use this function, first click–drag in the top Panel to create a selected region and make sure the top two Panels are assigned, via the first two Desk Strips, to M1-Out and M2-Out. Then choose the destination directory with the Set file button. Finally, set the file type, word length and speed, then click the Export button. soundBlade will “play” the selected region, exporting the audio as it plays and as you hear it. The Edit after Export check box causes soundBlade to replace–edit the exported segment back into the Project.

Another use for the export command is consolidation of a complex edit or processing. The export command will cleanly “freeze” or “print” to disk a collection of instantiated plug–ins that will not play in real time due to host saturation or overload. This is because export operates out of real time and so is not constrained by real time timing and buffering issues.

Note that playing the material at 1x speed during export will not improve the quality so, it is recommended that, unless real–time playback is needed, you use the highest speed setting as it has better temporal resolution. Also, during high speed exports, the time display and Playhead do not operate in real time.

Note About Exports: The Destination Track settings define the number of channels that will be exported.

For example, if you have a 4-track Project that you want to export to a stereo file:

1) Set outputs of Track 1 and 3 to M1. Set output of Tracks 2 and 4 to M2.

2) Assign Tracks 1 and 2 as Destination, tracks 3 and 4 set to Source or None.

-•If all 4 tracks were set as Destination, a 4 channel export would occur.

For a 5.1 export of 6 channels:

1) Set outputs of channels to M1-M6.

2) Assign Tracks 1 through 6 as Destination,

See section 4.9.3.2 about Source, Destination and None Edit Targets

3.10 PQ Marks: Defining Metadata

Once all of your tracks for the CD are put in the right order and spaces between the tracks are adjusted to taste, the PQ Marks can be created. PQ Marks generate the TOC or Table of Contents for the final replication master. PQ Marks are shown in the black banner just below the time line.

Figure 3.27: The Track Bar and its PQ Marks

With the Track Bar visible, Start of Track marks are indicated by a arrow pointing to the right while End of Track marks are indicated by a arrow pointing left. Index marks are indicated by a yellow arrow pointing down.

3.10.1 Inserting PQ Marks Manually

To insert a new PQ Mark, place the Edit Point at the location where you want the new Mark to appear. Then select Mark > Track Start Mark, which adds the new Start of Track mark. You can also select the segment that is the track and use the Contextual Menu commands: Create Start Mark or Create End Mark

3.10.2 Moving PQ Marks

It’s easy to relocate PQ Marks. Simply click–drag on a Mark to move it to the desired location.

3.10.3 Removing PQ Marks

To remove one or more PQ Marks, click–drag in the waveform display to select a region that includes the Mark(s) you want to remove. Then, select Mark > Delete Mark and all Marks within the selected region will be deleted. If you are working in the Windows > Mark Info window and have a Mark selected, you can also use the Mark > Delete Mark command to remove the Mark. The Mark Info window is discussed in detail in section 3.11.1 below.

A third method is to use the contextual menu to delete or otherwise modify a Mark. Simply control–click on a Mark, and make your selection from the menu.

3.10.4 Inserting PQ Marks Automatically

3.10.4.1 Command–Dragging

The fastest and easiest way to generate PQ metadata is to simply drag and drop. By holding down the command key before dropping one or more sound files onto the top Panel of your Project, soundBlade automatically creates CD Track definitions by generating Start and End of Track Marks for each file. These Track definitions can later be rearranged or modified to taste. See section 3.10.5 below for more information of resequencing.

3.10.4.2 Edited Black To Marks

Apart from placing PQ Marks manually at the desired positions, soundBlade has the ability to generate PQ Marks automatically. If the entire Project was created by editing each song or segment, the most efficient way to generate PQ Marks automatically is to Edit > Select All, selecting all segments, then select the Mark > Edited Black To Marks command. You can also click–drag to select a region, then select the Mark > Edited Black To Marks command. soundBlade automatically places Start and End of Track marks at the outside edges of all segments, using the location of Black Fades. The final result is a collection of marks accurately placed at the begin or end of each Black Fade.

3.10.4.3 Analog Black To Marks

If you’ve done a fair amount of fancy editing and track timing, then Edited Black To Marks may not be the ideal choice. Also, if your material consists of one long, consolidated file with few or no edits, then you may want to automatically place PQ Marks with the Analog Black to Marks function instead. This function measures the amplitude of your audio and places PQ Marks at the edges of long duration quiet passages. Both amplitude and duration are user adjustable.

To use, first click–drag to select a region on which to work. Then, select the Mark > Analog Black To Marks... command. In the resulting modal dialog, specify the amplitude and duration of the selected region you want to mark.

The results of the Analog Black To Marks function are not as accurate as Digital Black to Marks, but will provide quite usable PQ Mark placement even with un–edited material. The placement accuracy is dependent on the settings used, as well as the assumption that tracks always start and end with an increase then decrease in amplitude and quiet in between. However, it is very likely that those same criteria also apply to other moments in the course of a musical piece so, the results of the Analog Black To Marks function should always be checked for acceptable accuracy. You may also try the command, check the result and adjust the parameters prior to undoing or deleting marks and using the function again. See section 3.10.6 below for useful information on checking mark accuracy.

3.10.5 Tracks

soundBlade allows you to display and manipulate (CD) Tracks. The Windows > Preferences > EDL > Show Track Bar preference enables or disables the Track Bar. Each CD Track that will result from your current PQ placement is shown in grey while the pause between tracks is shown in blue.

3.10.5.1 Moving Tracks & Resequencing

A Track, always with its associated pause from the previous End of Track mark, can be selected by clicking on its Track Bar, the top bar between the Track Marks. Selecting a Track also selects the underlying audio that is associated with that Track. When you move a Track, you move both its PQ infomation and you also move the associated audio. This means that you can quickly resequence your deliverable by dragging and dropping Tracks.

You can also hold down the command and option keys, before dropping sound files, and soundBlade will create both Start and End of Track marks, instead of the Start of Track mark–only version that occurs with only the command key. The presence of End of Track marks makes it a bit less predictable when using the Track Bar for resequencing but, the presence of End of Track marks means that there will be a countdown on the player’s display when the resulting CD is played back.

The Windows > Mark Info window is another way to move Tracks. As with the Track Bar, click–hold a Track entry and drag it up or down on a new position and drop it to resequence.

3.10.6 The Marks Button

In the Transport Controls, the Marks Button can be seen. Clicking on it reveals a list of all PQ Marks in the Project along with their timings. Selecting one of the entries in the drop down list moves the Edit Point to the selected PQ Marks, without changing the zoom level. This allows for a quick and accurate check of the position of all PQ Marks.

3.11 Delivery

After completing the necessary editing of sound and PQ Marks, the next and final step in your production workflow is to start a “Delivery.” This process creates a new DPP image file set first, incorporating all edits and changes, ready to be sent to a replication service for glass mastering. The DDP file set is then used by soundBlade to generate your CD in the background.

DDP or Disc Description Protocol is the industry standard method for delivering all the data and metadata needed for disc replication to a “pressing plant.” Unlike audio CDs, DDP file sets contain error–protected audio data plus all ancillary metadata or, “data about the data.” DDP file sets, when used for replication, avoid potential errors that can crop up between the time you create a replication master and the moment that a “glass master” is created during replication. CD-DA discs, or audio CDs, do not protect the audio data from errors since they assume that the CD player will hide or “conceal” any errors during playback. This situation leads to errors in replication when recordable CDs, formatted as Red Book (audio) discs, are used as replication masters.

Note that the DDP files created by soundBlade, always in their enclosing folder, can be copied to any writable medium you choose, DVD-R, data tape or hard disk, for transport to the replicator. Of course, the medium you choose must have enough space to hold the file set. Also, always check with your replicator to determine which physical medium and format they can handle and whether they are even capable of using DDP as an premastering format. Many bargain companies are not ready to handle DDP deliveries so, we at Sonic Studio suggest you find a reputable facility that does accept DDP file sets of your valuable masters.

3.11.1 A Check List for Delivery

First, when burning CD-R “check discs,” always put the unwritten, blank disc in the drive before starting the delivery process.

Second, when delivering a DDP file set, use DVD-R blanks rather than CD-R blanks to deliver your DDP file set. That way, the replicator cannot confuse a CD-R with DDP files as a CD-ROM job and replicate 1000 CD-ROMs of your DDP file set!

Third, when delivering a DDP file set, the entire DDP folder or directory must be sent to the replicator. We suggest you ZIP the whole thing and generate a check sum for the resulting ZIP file. For more information, see the Checksums for DDP section of our Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) page:

http://www.sonicstudio.com/sonic/support/support.php#faq

Fourth, check your Mark Info window for metacharacters, such as $, & and %, as well as extended ASCII characters, like å, é, ø, ö, ü, ñ, et cetera. Mac OS, which soundBlade uses to write CD-Rs, does not handle extended ASCII and metacharacters properly.

Finally, when delivering a DDP file set, we recommend that you always create a new, empty folder to contain each DDP file set. On the Desktop is a reasonable place for that. That makes it easier to archive and seems to prevent common problems.

3.11.2 The Mark Info Window

To begin the PQ Delivery process, select the Windows > Mark Info command. This opens the Mark Info window which displays all the P through W subcode metadata you have defined.

3.11.2.1 Global Metadata

At the top of the Mark Info dialog are three fields that define global information about the disc. The Album Title and Artist generate the disc’s global information that, when placed in a transport that reads CD Text data, will appear on the transport’s display.

CD Text, a subset of the CD+G specification, provides for the embedding of textual information about the overall disc and tracks in the R through W codes of the “PQ” subcode stream of a Compact Disc. Many portable and in–dash car players can read CD Text data off of a disc, but few home players can.

CD Text should not be confused with network services such as Gracenote’s CDDB or FreeDB that attempt to match CDs inserted into a computer drive with an on–line database of extant CD titles. Such network services are used by iTunes and other applications for user convenience but have no relationship to the possibly embedded CD Text information on individual CD’s.

LEARN soundBlade 2.0 will produce CD-Text metadata on both the DDP image and on CD-R media when the CD-Text (TS) is selected in the Mark Info window.

soundBlade’s DDP 2.0-compliant DDP image file sets contain properly formatted CD-Text information in the form of the CDTEXT.BIN file that is included in the DDP file set if the CD-Text (TS) checkbox is enabled in the Mark Info window.

Reference discs on CD-R media created with soundBlade do contain the CD-Text information. However, given the loose specification for CDTEXT support, these disks may not display the information on a CD-R properly on all players.

Note also that, due a current limitation of Mac OS, the current version of soundBlade does not support open session CDs with CD Text. CDTEXT should be added after any additional content is added in another app, before the session is closed.

LEARN CDTEXT metadata should not be confused with the song info displayed when a CD is inserted into a computer. CDTEXT is only displayed on certain CD players for home or in cars. It is not displayed when a CD is inserted into a computer! The metadata for computer reference, in iTunes for example, should be submitted by the mastering engineer.. This article from DYI Musician covers the basics.

3.11.2.2 Track Metadata

This section provides information about individual track attributes. The next two fields, Track Title and Track Artist, are also part of the CD Text specification, and data entered into these fields will also appear on CD players equipped to read this metadata. soundBlade auto–populates the Track Title based on the segment name and, if you have provided an Album Artist prior to PQ creation, soundBlade will also auto–populate the Track Artist metadata as well.

Track Start and Track End are generated by your Mark placement. Though editable, you should assume that they are correct. Likewise, the Copy and Emphasis buttons generate the SCMS (Serial Copy Management Scheme) Copy flag and AES/EBU Emphasis flag in the PQ stream and should, in general, be left turned off. Section 4.10 below discussing PQ parameters in more detail.

3.11.2.3 Track Listing

The next section in the Mark Info dialog provides a list of details about each defined track. Name, start and end times, as well as duration are shown.

Double clicking on an entry in the list will start playback at that location in the Project. This gives you a quick method for double checking Mark placement. See section 4.10.4 for details about the Track Listing, Total Tracks and extended listing.

HINT: if you have placed your (text) insertion point in the TRACK TITLE, ARTIST and ISRC fields, the up/down arrow keys on the keyboard will move you up and down through each entry in the list of PQ details.

3.11.2.4 PQ Status & Validation

Below the Track Details section is a single field with an indicator to its left. This is the PQ Validation field, a non–editable status field that indicates whether your metadata, as defined, is valid and meets the Red Book specification for Compact Discs.

A green indicator means everything is valid, while a red indicator mean you should inspect your PQ information for non–Red Book–compliant entries. The accompanying field calls out the problem entry, making it easy to rectify the problem.

Note that you may see a “Sound begins more than 2 frames before Start Mark” message. This a reminder to check that you are not unintentionally truncating any audio at the head of your Project. Remember that, according to the Red Book specification for CD-DA discs, the first 2 seconds or 150 CD frames are “pregap,” and the first track start is at 2 seconds. Any audio before the 2 second mark will be replaced by 150 CD frames of digital zeroes on any CDs delivered and in DDP file sets. Pregap is a logical region of the disc reserved for mode changes and other non–audio functions.

The “Sound begins more than 2 frames before Start Mark” message is normal when opening a DDP file set because DDP files contain 2 seconds of pregap in the IMAGE.DAT file.

3.11.2.5 PQ Delivery Tab

The second of the two tabs in the Mark Info window is the PQ Delivery tab. This pane controls the delivery speed and destination, as well as other options like CD Text.

Figure 4.17: The PQ Delivery tab of the Mark Info window

3.11.2.6 Destination Device Selection & Status

The Device field provides details about your CD-R mechanism. When multiple CD-R mechanisms are connected, there is a selector, represented as a white disclosure triangle, to the right of the Device label. This selector allows you to toggle between the available target mechanisms. soundBlade can only address one mechanism at a time. The Status field below the device field provides an indication of the status of your delivery media and progress of the delivery:

Note that soundBlade is designed to address Apple–supplied, built–in CD-R and DVD-R mechanisms as well as most third party, FireWire–attached drives supported by the operating system. Many USB–attached products as well as some third party drives do not function with Apple’s optical disc frameworks so, always test new mechanisms prior to use.

Apple SuperDrives that are USB 2 or USB 3 connected have been found to work well with soundBlade.

Thunderbolt-connected optical drives are also OK.

3.11.2.7 Delivery Options

In this section of the PQ Delivery tab, there are four buttons, a speed menu and check boxes that control various aspects of your delivery. Let’s go over what they do.

3.11.2.7.1 DDP Image Button

The first button, DDP Image: defines the parameters of DDP delivery. We suggest that you write DDP images at 8x or Max from the Speed pull down menu.

Make sure that the Write PQ and Write Audio checkboxes are selected.

If you want to include CDTEXT metadata in the DDP, select CD-Text (TS). Note that this must be selected if you want CDTEXT in your deliverables.

To deliver a DDP in soundBlade:

1 Select the EDL you want to deliver. All audio routed to Monitor Outputs 1–2 will be delivered to the DDP.

2 Select Windows > Show Mark Info or press COMMAND M.

3 soundBlade displays the Mark Info window. Click the PQ Info tab. soundBlade displays the Delivery panel.

4 Click the DDP button.

5 Select a write speed from the Speed pop-up. 8x or Max.

6 Click Execute. Define the location to save your DDP image to.

soundBlade plays your EDL out of real time and writes the DDP image.

Abort — Click to abort the session…

3.11.2.7.2 CD-R Button

The second button, CD-R, defines the parameters of CDR delivery. We suggest that you:

set the Speed menu to 4x.*
if you want to include CDTEXT metadata in your CDR, select CD-Text (TS).
select Close Session.**

*The Speed menu that lets you select the “burn” or writing speed. Though most commodity media is optimized for high speed writing, this is not optimal for audio disc creation. High write speeds usually produce lowers detectable error rates but jitter performance is degraded. Since, in a player, detectable errors are corrected, they are not an issue. However, jitter performance affect the subjective quality of disc playback. Lower write speeds produces less jitter so, always write at the lowest speed available for your mechanism and use blank media optimzed for low speed audio disc creation.

**The Close Session check box controls whether is the CD-R is a TAO (Track at Once) or a DAO (Disc at Once) disc. It is possible to create multi-session, Track At Once discs in soundBlade but, this is not recommended as TAO disc are not universally interoperable. That is, they will not play in all CD players. Again, unless you have a very good reason, you should leave Close Session check box selected.

With a Track At Once disc, the disc’s TOC or Table of Contents is left “open” and a temporary TOC stand-in, the Program Memory Area, is used until the TOC is “closed” and the disc is no longer writable.

3.11.2.7.3 securePlayer Button

The third button is securePlayer. soundBlade 2.0 and forward includes our securePlayer client approval software which allows you to create a DDP-type master file wrapped in an encrypted version of our Amarra music player. With securePlayer, you deliver a self-contained, password protected player application that includes their finished master. It even supports CDTEXT and allows you to burn a reference CD. And, because securePlayer uses the Sonic Studio Engine for playback, the client will hear their music exactly as you intended them to hear it!

To prepare a securePlayer

With secure player button selected in Mark Info PQ Delivery tab, click on the Execute button.
In the FInder window that appears, navigate to the DDP File set that you want to use. Click OK.
A CD Delivery Dialog box may appear that says ‘ Folder contains a DDP Image. Would you like to use this image or create a new image for delivery to CD?’ If this box appears, select Use.
Enter a password and select OK. The DDP file is encrypted (this will take a few minutes).NOTE: This is the password you will give out to authorize and decrypt the securePlayer. .
Specify a folder to save your securePlayer in. We recommend it be placed in your master project folder for the project you are working on. Select OK.

A ‘YourProject’.app is created. ZIP that app and send to your clients that have Mac computers. securePlayer will not open in Windows environment at this time.

Learn: soundBlade now allows you to create encrypted, password-protected securePlayers up to 384 kHz/24-bit that can be safely delivered electronically to clients for reference and approval.

These high resolution DDPs are for use in securePlayer only and should not be delivered for replication. Only 44.1 kHz 16-bit DDPs are acceptable for replication.

IMAGE88.DAT or IMAGE192.DAT are examples of files that indicate a high-resolution DDP image.

Note your customers may experience an issue when trying to unzip or open a securePlayer on their Mac for the first time. These Sonic Studio KnowledgeBase articles will assist:

Can’t Open .Zip Files

Mountain Lion OS 10.8/Mavericks 10.9 Technical Update

securePlayer User Interface

soundBlade TV: View the ‘How To Create a securePlayer’ tutorial by clicking HERE.

3.11.2.8 The Execute Button

Once the above options are set, this button starts the process of creating a new delivery, written to the location shown in the “Path/Device” field. When you click the Execute button, a standard Mac OS file browser opens where appropriate, allowing you to specify the location that will be used. A new or empty folder should be specified to contain the newly created or modified DDP file set. Once the destination is specified, soundBlade begins the delivery process, with progress shown in the validation field at the bottom of the PQ Delivery window. During delivery to a CD-R when no media is present in the selected drive, soundBlade will prompt you to insert media and wait for a blank disc to be inserted.

Note that, once a delivery has started, the Execute button changes to an Abort button, allowing you to halt the delivery process. If a delivery is aborted, the resulting CD-R or DDP image file set is not usable for either duplication or playback purposes. When a DDP image creation is aborted, the resulting folder/files should be moved to the Trash and a new folder created for additional DDP deliveries of the same Project.

3.11.2.9 The Eject Button

The Eject button will cause the host to eject an inserted disc from the selected CD writer.

3.11.2.10 The Track List Button

Clicking on the Track List button saves a text document with detailed information about the tracks in your project. This list should be included when sending your project to a replacator.

1 Click on the Track LIst button

2 soundBlade displays a Save File dialog.

3 Select a destination for the file and, if desired rename it, then click OK.

SonicStudio HD saves the Track List and opens it in SimpleText.

3.11.2.11 The Export List Button

Clicking on the Source Export List creates a tab-delimited text file suitable for importing into third-party applications such as spreadsheets.

3.11.2.12 The PQ List Button

This button generates a Sonic Studio–standard PQ List, the industry’s standard text representation of a compact disc’s table of content. This file is typically printed and a hard copy sent, along with the DDP data set, to your replicator.

Figure 3.28: A PQ List open in TextEdit app

Additional Graphics:

Project shown is in stereo ‘Multiple EDL’ mode with ‘Multiple EDLS’ SELECTED and
Multi-Channel EDLs DESELECTED in Preferences.

Multiple EDL mode showing files and Desk Events in the Source EDL and the post-processed Exports assembled for CD Delivery in the Destination EDL. This is the best mode to work in for mastering.

16 channel Project shown is in ‘Multi-Channel’ mode with ‘
Multiple EDLS’ SELECTED and Multi-Channel EDLs SELECTED in Preferences.

soundBlade HD required for 8 or 16 channels
Learn More About Upgrading to soundBlade HD

Chapter 4 Advanced Editing

4.1 Fade Tool Options

4.1.1 Changing Fade Parameters

soundBlade offers a simple and intuitive tool for changing a fade’s gain characteristics: the Fade Tool. In the previous chapter, we have seen how to use this to perform simple operations. The Fade Tool offers additional possibilities to alter fades according to your needs and preferences.

The Fade Tool is enabled by default. By holding the control key and typing A, you can quickly disable or enable the Fade Tool. Alternately, you can force the Fade Tool off by default. In the EDL tab of the Windows > Preferences window, the Fade Tool check box keeps the Fade Tool enabled until you choose to disable it manually.

When moving the cursor over a fade with the Fade Tool enabled, the default cursor changes into the Fade Tool and the selected fade turns either green for an Fade In, red for an Fade Out or both. Depending on cursor location relative to the fade, the Fade Tool modifies the start, end, length or position of the fade. See section 3.9.1 for basic information about the Fade Tool.

If you zoom in on a Fade so that more than about 10% of the waveform display is occupied by the fade, you will see the thin blue vertical line that represents the edit event and a diagonal line or “curve” that represents the gain law or change in amplitude dictated by the fade. Situated in the middle of the diagonal curve and attached to that line is a square “bead,” the Control Point for the fade curve.

Figure 4.1: Anatomy of a Fade

Figure 4.1 above shows the major parts of a Fade and the various contextual shapes that the cursor assumes based on location. Note the Control Point and edit event, discussed in upcoming sections.

On the left, the #1 cursor is set for an “inboard” duration change. Placing the cursor at that location and click–dragging will increase or decrease the duration of the fade without changing the edit event location or gain law. This is the preferred handle to use when changing duration.

Next is the #2 cursor shape, displayed when the cursor is set to change the overall location of the fade. Placing the cursor in that location and click–dragging will re–locate the fade, “sliding it” earlier or later on the time line without changing the duration, edit event or gain law. Remember that you cannot move a fade past the head or tail of the underlying audio.

In position #3, the cursor is set for a duration change “toward the outside” of the Fade. Placing the cursor in that location and click–dragging will increase or decrease the duration of the fade without changing the overall location or gain law. These “outboard” handles do effect the location of the edit event, so it’s recommended that you not use the outboard handle, employing the inboard handle instead as mentioned above. Section 4.1.4 below discusses edit events as they relate to controlling fade parameters.

4.1.2 Changing the shape of the Fade

By clicking the Control Point “bead,” shown in Figure 4.1, and dragging it up or down, you can adjust the rate of change setting for the fade. Specifically, for all fade types except exponential, moving the Control Point adjusts the “dB down” while, for an exponential fade, the Control Point adjusts the “Alpha” or shape. In either case, as you make this change, the fade curve will dynamically change in response and the underlying audio will also change since you are affecting the gain across the fade event.

When the Fade Tool is active, holding the control key brings up a contextual menu.

Figure 4.2: The Fade Tool contextual menu

The Fade Tool contextual menu offers the following choices for gain law or curve:

Linear — default 6 dB down in the center
Root Linear — 3 dB down in the center
Cosine — default 3 dB down in the center
Root Cosine — default 6 dB down in the center
Exponential — provides very rapid reduction in gain across the Fade

soundBlade provides five fade shapes to allow you to produce a pleasing edit or transition, no matter what sort of material you have available. You can also use fades for less obvious purposes, such as applying a new Crossfade on an unwanted sound, changing the gain law to exponential, and adjusting the duration to “drop out” or suppress the unwanted sound. Though each gain law is useful in certain situations, the linear fade shape is the most widely applicable.

4.1.3 Changing the Fade Duration

In the Fade Tool contextual menu, the Set Fade to Selection forces the fade duration to match the duration of a selected region that encloses the fade. When a region is selected, this option stretches or shrinks the length of the Fade to match the position and length of the selected region. The contextual menu changes to reflect the currently selected Fade Type.

The Fade Tool functions also apply to a Crossfade. Figure 4.3 below shows the Fade Tool in Crossfade Mode. Notice that the cursor assumes a double horizontal arrow shape and both fades are highlighted, both green and red.

Figure 4.3 Movie: The Fade Tool in Crossfade Mode showing command key variables. Click to play.

By click–dragging left or right, the overall Crossfade location can be altered. By shift–click–dragging, notice the cursor shape changes to a vertical arrow, the Crossfade duration can be symmetrically altered. Holding the command key allows you to override symmetrical mode and alter duration with the left edge anchored while holding the option key provides the same override mode for the right edge.

4.1.4 Changing the Fade Type

The Fade Tool contextual menu also offers two choices for fade type. These choices, accessed by holding the control key while using the Fade Tool, allow you to change the context in which the fade will be used. For the purpose of CD preparation, Fade Ins and Fade Outs are fundamentally different from Crossfades. The difference is where the actual edit event occurs in the underlying audio and this subtly but profoundly effects the accuracy of your PQ Marks and resulting metadata, since the edit event is where soundBlade places the PQ marks in any of the automatic modes.

With a Crossfade, the edits occur at the very center of the two Black Fades (see section 3.9.1). Fade Ins and Fade Outs, on the other hand, are designed to be used as the transition to or from “Edited Black,” where no audio is present on the time line. Use the Set Fade to Crossfade option when you expect to connect its associated segment to another segment for a seamless edit between segments.

The ‘Set Fade to Default...” options force all fade parameters back to their appropriate defaults.

Set Fade to Fade In/Out: forces parameters to the appropriate default Black Fade
Set Fade to CrossFade: forces parameters to a default Crossfade
Set In/Out Fade(s) to Selection: forces either a Black Fade or Crossfade to the duration and overall location of a selected region.
Set Fade To Default...: changes the Fade(s) based on user defined pre–sets from the EDL > Edit Fade Mode.

When the Fade Tool is active, any change you make using the tool, to a Fade or to the underlying audio is real time. The default fade shape can be selected in the Editing Tools tab in Windows > Preferences.

soundBlade TV: View the soundBlade Advanced Editing tutorial by clicking HERE.

4.2 Edit Fade

While the Fade Tool provides quick but coarse fade controls, soundBlade also incorporates a full featured Edit Fade Mode or “EFM” window. The EFM window provides powerful and accurate facilities to control the duration, shape, and relationship of its start and end times relative to the edit event.

To enter Edit Fade Mode:

Click–drag across a fade to create a time selection or place the Edit Point within a fade or cross-fade.
Choose Edit > Enter Fade Mode. If multiple fades are within region selections, then soundBlade uses the top or uppermost selected Panel.

The Edit Fade Mode window displays the following Panels:

Result Panel — This Panel displays the resulting audio in real time, so you can see the results of your manipulations.
Out Fade Panel — This Panel displays the fade out or To Black Fade of a crossfade. Audio to the right of the Out Fade displays against a grayed background, indicating that it occurs after the fade ends and is not heard. If you are editing only an Out Fade, then only Out Fade Panel will display.

In Fade Panel — This Panel displays the fade in or From Black Fade of a crossfade. Audio to the left of the In Fade displays against a grayed background, indicating that it occurs before the fade and is not heard. If you are editing only a In Fade, then only the In Fade Panel will display.

Note that, in the In and Out Fade Panels, the edit events are distinctive, shown as orange vertical lines while, in the Result Panel at top, edit events are blue to match their appearance in non–EFM mode Panels elsewhere in the Project.

Figure 4.4: Edit Fade Mode

4.2.1 Selections in the Edit Fade Panels

soundBlade allows you to make selections in the Fade Panels for fade positioning, navigation and auditioning.

You can click anywhere in the In or Out Fade Panel to set/move an Edit Point. You can also drag the Edit Point to position it precisely. With In or Out Edit Points positioned in the Panels, you can use the right bracket key for the Out Fade Panel, and the left bracket key for the In Fade Panel, to move the Out or In Fade, respectively, to the Edit Point position.

You can also click–drag in the In or Out Fade Panel to make a time selection. Time selections are useful for auditioning the underlying audio of a Crossfade using the command in the Play menu. To audition either the In or Out Fade audio alone, clear the appropriate check box to the left of the Duration field. To audition both while working only one Black Fade, enable the Audition Both check box discussed below.

4.2.3 Global Modes

EFM provides five global Edit Modes that affect fade editing operations: Auto Zoom, Align Fade, Lock Sound, Power Lock, and Ripple Until Black . You can enable any of these options using the appropriate check boxes located at the bottom of the EFM window.

4.2.3.1 Lock Sound

Lock Sound mode affects the behavior of the underlying sound during fade adjustment. When Lock Sound is not enabled, moving the edit event, the orange vertical line, causes the audio “under” the In Fade to “slip” on the time line. This preserves the In or From Black Fade location relative to the audio. When Lock Sound is disabled, the In Fade audio is locked to the time line and cannot move during fade edits. This mode is of particular interest when editing sound against picture or conforming audio to pre–existing visual material.

4.2.3.2 Ripple Until Black

Ripple Until Black mode affects the behavior of sound that occurs later on the time line from the current fade in EFM. When Ripple Until Black is disabled, moving the edit event moves the In Fade sound and all sound occurring after it in the Panel. When Ripple Until Black is enabled, only the sound of the In Fade’s segment, and any subsequent segments that crossfade without silence between them, slips on the time line during fade edits. Segments that occur after a space of Edited Black, or edited silence, remain locked to the time line and do not move. This control is useful for conforming sound to picture “locally” on the time line, without affecting sync downstream.

4.2.3.3 Align Fades

Align Fade Mode affects the fade’s “% overlap” or position relative to its edit event. When Align Fade is selected, changes to the overlap value apply reciprocally to both the In and Out Fade, keeping them aligned relative to the edit event. When it is not selected, changes to the overlap value cause the fades to move in opposite directions, effectively changing the amount that the fades overlap one another. This control allows you to position the entire crossfade event relative to the underlying audio.

4.2.3.4 Power Lock

Power Lock affects only exponential fades. When Power Lock is enabled, crossfades are controlled such that each curve perfectly complements the other. The sum of the gains of the Black Fades equals unity.

4.2.3.5 AutoZoom

When Auto Zoom is selected, soundBlade automatically zooms to accommodate edits that you make to the fade so as to preserve a consistent display. For example, if you extend the fade’s duration beyond the currently displayed time range, soundBlade will auto–zoom out to show the entire fade.

4.2.4 Audition Controls

In addition to the global modes discussed above, EFM also provides settings for auditioning fades.

4.2.4.1 Audition Both

When only the In or Out fade is selected for editing, soundBlade normally auditions only that fade. If Audition Both is selected, soundBlade overrides the state of the In and Out check boxes and plays both fades. This enables you to hear how changes made to one fade affect the sound of the crossfade as a whole.

4.2.4.2 Nudge Auto Audition

When Nudge Auto Audition is selected, soundBlade plays the fade each time you nudge it using the A, B and C nudge controls at upper right of the EFM. This allows you to hear the effect of fade edits without having to manually play.

4.2.5 Additional Fade Parameters

soundBlade features a single slider for adjusting multiple fade parameters. The Fade Parameter slider allows you to effect fine adjustments of each parameter by clicking to select its field.

To adjust a fade parameter, click in the desired parameter field to select it or press the tab key to move between fields. Drag the Parameter slider to adjust the parameter’s value. You can also type a numeric value from the computer keyboard. To nudge a parameter value up or down by small increments, click + or - on the adjacent Parameter nudge button.

Duration — The Duration slider adjusts the duration of the selected fade. Fade Duration is expressed in seconds, and has a minimum value of 0.0021 seconds or 2.1 milliseconds.
Overlap — The Overlap slider affects the degree to which the In and Out fades overlap one another in normal mode or, the edit event in Align Fades mode.
dB Down — The dB Down slider adjusts the amplitude at the center of the fade. The dB Down parameter affects only the Linear and Cosine fade variations.
Alpha — The Alpha slider affects only Exponential fade types, and controls the placement, in time, of the gain change produced by the Exponential envelope. Alpha is a dimensionless variable with a range of -1.0 to +1.0 and can be thought of simply as a shape adjustment.

4.2.6 Fade Selectors

When editing crossfades, you can choose to work on either the In or the Out Fade individually using these check boxes to the left of the Duration field. When both are selected, parameter adjustments apply to both the In and the Out Fade. Drop down menus to the right allow you to choose In & Out Fade types.

Figure 4.5: The fade selector menus above the Fade Library menu

4.2.6.1 Selecting Fade Shape

You can select the shape of the fade gain law or shape in two ways, by choosing a curve while you are working with the EFM Parameters or, by choosing a curve while working directly on the fade.

To select a Fade Curve from the EFM Parameters, click on either of the Fade Selectors to the right of the EFM window, then select from the family of available curves. To select a Fade Curve directly, control-click on a fade, as discussed in section 4.1.4 above, and select a fade type.

4.2.7 Nudging Fades

soundBlade provides controls for “nudging” or incrementally changing the position of the edit event with respect to the time line. soundBlade provides three preset nudge values labeled A, B and C respectively.

Figure 4.6: The nudge controls

The Fade Nudge buttons for each of the nudge values “advance” or “retard” the selected fade, moving the fade earlier or later by their respective A, B or C values. You can edit these values directly in the EFM window or set the default values in the Time Display tab of the Preferences window. Nudge values in the EFM window are edited by clicking in the field and typing, or using the +/- keys on the keypad to increment or decrement the selected value. This does not change the default Nudge A, B and C values in the Time Display preferences.

4.2.8 Edit Point Offset

Where the In and Out edit events in a Crossfade are located at different locations on the time line, there is an offset between them. You can set the amount of offset precisely by double clicking in the Edit Point Offset box in the upper left corner and typing the desired value. soundBlade moves the In Fade by the specified amount. soundBlade displays the offset between the In Fade and Out edit events using the default time code units.

To eliminate an offset between fades, click the unmarked button immediately to the right of the Edit Point Offset field. You can also click to place an insertion point in any time field, then use the +/- keys of the keypad to increment/decrement the value.

4.2.9 Fade Library

soundBlade provides a library for saving and recalling fades, and includes the ability to save a Fade as the default. To save a fade as the default, In EFM, create a custom fade, then choose Fade Library > Save Custom Fade As…. soundBlade opens a Save Fade dialog. Type the Default name exactly as it appears in the Fade Library menu:

DefaultCrossFade — This defines the Default Crossfade
DefaultCrossFadeOut — This defines the Out Fade component of the Default Crossfade.

DefaultCrossFadeIn — This defines the In Fade component of the Default Crossfade.

Note that you can save a To or From Black Fade and call it DefaultOutFade or DefaultInFade, respectively, but neither Fade will be used as a default. In soundBlade, the only default fade is the DefaultCrossFade and its respective In and Out Fade components.

4.2.9.1 Applying Fade Parameters From the Library

To apply fade parameters from the Fade Library to the currently selected fade(s), hold down the option key and type a number. This recalls fades from the Fade Library. Zero recalls the default fades and numeric keys 1 through 9 corresponds to items 1–9 in the user defined area of the Fade Library. Note that this feature works only with the numeric keys along the top of the keyboard, not with the numeric keypad.

4.2.10 Exiting Edit Fade Mode

To exit Edit Fade Mode, click OK in the EFM window or select the Edit > Edit Fade command. soundBlade exits EFM and commits your fade modification to the Project. To exit EFM without saving your changes, click the Cancel button. soundBlade exits EFM without saving your changes made in the EFM.

4.3 Drag & Drop

4.3.1 Resequencing

For rapid assembly of program material, soundBlade provides three easy methods for automatically snapping to either 1, 2 or 3 seconds of Edited Black between segments.

4.3.1.1 AutoSpace All Segments

The first method is the Edit > AutoSpace All Segments command discussed in section 3.9.6 above.

4.3.1.2 Drag & Drop

The second method entails manually dragging CD Tracks. Dragging Tracks requires that the Show Track Bar preference in the EDL tab of Windows > Preferences be enabled. Once Track Bars are visible, click–hold on any song’s Track Bar to select it, and drag it to the desired location. Existing Tracks “shuffle” into place and the dragged Track takes its place, where dropped, in the CD track sequence. The audio associated or “attached” to the Marks shuffles along with the Marks. The pause between an End of Track Mark and a subsequent Start of Track Mark are always considered to be part of that Track.

Figure 4.7: The Track Bar

This same drag–to–resequence behavior is also available in the Windows > Mark Info dialog. Simply drag an entry in the track list to a new location to resequence Tracks.

4.3.1.3 Snap to Zone

The third method entails manually dragging and snapping segments to a pre–defined song timing. It is best to drag segments if you have not created PQ Marks to prevent unwanted Mark relocation.

This drag and snap segments method of resequencing requires that the Snap to Zone preference in the Editing Tools tab of Windows > Preferences be enabled. Once the Snap Zone preference is set, click on a segment’s Title Bar to select it. After it’s selected, all you have to do is click–drag on its Drag Bar as you move its head close to another segment’s tail. You will see either a vertical red or blue bar appear, visually indicating you are in the snap zone.

Figure 4.8: The Title Bar and Drag Bar

Figure 4.9: The red auto–spaced snap indicator

Figure 4.10: The blue flush snap indicator

The bold blue bar indicates a “flush” snap where, if you drop at that location, the two segments will be tightly butted with no space, no Edited Black in between. The bold red bar indicates an auto–spaced snap where, if you drop at that location, the two segments will have a precise, preset space between. The duration of the inter–segment spacing is determined by the AutoSpacing Duration selector in the Editing Tools tab of the Windows > Preferences window.

Drag and drop with autospacing is useful in conjunction with the Edit > Clear/Delete Selection commands to start with one long continuous segment, such as a consolidated complete mix, and quickly segment, space and resequence the individual songs.

Note that, when using this fully manual method, sequencing should be performed prior to Mark placement. This will prevent erroneous repositioning of Marks as your segments are shuffled.

4.3.2 Drag–Overlay

When you drag and drop one segment on top of another, with no modifier keys employed, one segment will overlay another when you drop it on top. The two segments coexist in the same location on the time line and sum together during playback. This feature is useful when used in conjunction with Text Mode, discussed in the next section, so you can individually control the overlapping segments. Also see section 4.4.2 below for creating a combination waveform plus text Project layout.

4.3.3 Drag–Insert & Ripple

Shift–dragging segments is another useful editing feature. With the shift key held down, the dragged segment is inserted when you drop it on top. In addition, “downstream” segments, those later on the time line, are pushed or “rippled” to the right, making room for the inserted segment. This is useful for quickly re-arranging tracks sequence.

LEARN Shift-dragging is useful for quickly re-arranging track sequence.

4.3.3 Drag–Replace

When you command-drag and drop one segment on top of another, the dragged segment replaces the existing audio where it’s dropped. As with all editing in Sonic Studio’s products, this move is non–destructive. This is useful for replacing or updating a track with a newer mix.

LEARN Drag-replacing is useful for replacing or updating a track with a newer mix or version.

4.4 Text Mode

Text Mode provides a playlist view of the Panel’s contents, with editable segment names along with editable start and end times. An editable Gain value, see section below, along with a non–editable Duration value are also shown. To view Text Mode, select the EDL > Show Text View command. To switch back to Waveform mode, select the EDL > Hide Text View command.

4.4.1 Gain Adjustment

Compiling audio from different sources usually makes it necessary to alter the amplitude of some of your source material. The last column in Text Mode displays the current gain of all segments. When Segments are opened or added to the EDL, the segment gain is nominally set to zero dB. By double-clicking on the Gain value of the selected segment, the Segment Gain modal dialog opens.

The Segment Gain dialog is also available via the Edit > Segment Gain… command for selected segments, and also via a segment’s Title Bar contextual menu. Control–click on any Title Bar to invoke the Segment Gain dialog. Other functions, like Reverse Polarity and Build Waveforms, are also available. As with other modal dialogs in soundBlade, gain changes will not be applied unless the OK button is clicked.

Figure 4.11: The Segment Gain dialog

The Segment Gain dialog offers several options for altering segment gain. It also provides polarity inversion.

The large central field lets you enter gain directly. Alternatively, course and fine adjustments are available via up/down arrows. Simply click the arrows to increment or decrement gain in 1.0 or 0.1 dB steps.

Segment Gain can be applied in two different ways. First, it can be applied as an ‘Absolute’ value, meaning that the entry in the gain field will be applied in place of any previous value. The value entered in the gain field will replace any previous state, ignoring the existing gain of that segment.

Alternatively, the gain can be applied as a ‘Relative’ value. In relative mode, the entry in the gain field will be added to or subtracted from the previous value. Positive values will be added to the previous state while negative values will be subtracted from the previous gain state.

A third ‘Normalize’ radio button is available. Choosing this option will cause the segment’s absolute sample amplitude to be evaluated, after which the amount of headroom or surplus level below 0 dBFS will be entered in the central gain field. In other words, this function shows how much gain can be added before digital clipping will occur. The value given is relative to the current gain state so, the normalize function is a subset of a relative gain adjustment.

Though not a gain function, a Reverse Polarity check box is available. This check box inverts the polarity of the selected segments.

Segment gain can be applied to multiple segments at once. Simply command–click on the desired segments in the Text View list, then open the Segment Gain window to make a change.

Changes in Segment Gain will be applied to all selected segments equally, as described above. This implies that, in relative mode, the gain changes will retain any relative loudness differences between selected segments. In normal use, Segment Gain is used on individual segments to make them play seamlessly or as desired. Once the entire show has been gain adjusted, then all segments can be selected and normalized, thus maximizing the amplitude for the whole program.

4.4.2 Combo Project Configuration

Note that, if you find that you use Text Mode a fair amount, you may want to create a special default Project that combines both Waveform and Text mode. To do this, open a new, empty Project. Now, click on the bottom Panel to select it and change it to Text Mode with the EDL > Show Text View command. Finally, save it as the default Project with the File > Save As Default Project command. Once this is set, all new Projects will have a left and right waveform with an additional right channel Text Mode.

4.5 Gain Overlay Mode

As described in section 4.4.1 above, the gain of individual segments can be easily changed with the Segment Gain dialog. soundBlade offers another, global, time line–oriented approach to changing amplitude. Gain Overlay Mode can be used to change level independent of segments and fades and works as a master automated fader.

Gain Overlay Mode is enabled by clicking on the G button to the left of a Panel, and is available only when in Waveform Display Mode. When enabled, a red line appears superimposed on the waveform display. The waveform display’s amplitude scale, along the left edge, switches to a different standard that ranges from -144 to +24 dB, the range of gain change available. Initially, the Gain Overlay is flat at the 0 dB setting.

Figure 4.12: Gain Overlay function activated, showing the red Overlay and Nodes

To change gain, simply point at the desired time location and click on the Overlay. The cursor changes to a round shape and a square Node will appear. Nodes can only be added, deleted or modified while playback is stopped.

You can also place gain nodes with region selections or the Edit Point. To use this function, first click–drag within the waveform display to select a region. Then, select EDL > Create Gain Nodes to add two nodes at the “edges” of the Gain Overlay and the selected region. Because the Edit Point is really a zero duration selection, it can also be used to create a single gain node with the Create Gain Nodes command.

When you add a node, a yellow highlighted Gain call–out appears in the Title Bar of the associated segment.

Figure 4.13: A newly created Gain Node with its Gain call–out

If you click–drag a Gain Node, it can be moved both horizontally and vertically. Dragging a Gain Node horizontally moves it to a different time location while dragging it vertically changes the gain. The current gain value of that node is continuously shown in the yellow Gain call–out.

When moving Gain Nodes vertically, the gain changes in steps of 1 dB. By holding the option key while dragging a Gain Node, the resolution of the gain change increases to 0.1 dB to provide fine control.

Note that gain changes between Gain Nodes follow a linear gain law. By adding multiple Nodes, other curves can be emulated. Unwanted Gain Nodes can be deleted by holding down the option key while clicking on the Node.

You can make changes to a group of Gain Nodes simultaneously. To do so, select a region that includes the Node on which you want to work. Then, select the EDL > Select Gain Nodes command. All selected Gain Nodes will fill with yellow to indicate their state. You can also shift–click to “gather” a collection of grouped Nodes.

When grouped, only the gain can be modified. When changing the gain of grouped Nodes, the Gain call–out shows both the current value and gain delta or difference from the original value. Also, when grouped, holding the option key for fine gain adjustment is disabled.

Figure 4.14: The Gain call–out for grouped Nodes

Once your Gain Overlay is configured according to taste, all or some Gain Nodes can be locked against unwanted changes. To do so, first click–drag to select a region containing the Gain Nodes you want to lock. Then, move the mouse over one of the selected Gain Nodes and control–click to invoke a contextual menu.

Figure 4.15: The Gain Node contextual menu

By default, the Unlock Gain Node option will be checked. To lock the selected Gain Nodes, click on the GainOverlayNode Locked option. The selected Gain Nodes will now turn red to indicate their locked status. Unlocking the Gain Nodes simply requires selecting the GainOverlayNode Unlocked option.

In the same contextual menu, Nodes can also be locked and unlocked for the whole Panel by selecting the Lock/Unlock All Nodes In Track options.

Delete Nodes from Selection deletes all Gain Nodes in the current selection. If no selection is made but one or more segments are selected, all nodes within the selected segment(s) will be deleted.

Once Gain Overlay is used, the gain changes stay active in the output of soundBlade, both during playback and Delivery. To temporarily bypass the Gain Overlay, select the EDL > Bypass Gain Overlay command. Also, the Gain Overlay can be put into bypass mode by option–clicking the “G” or Gain button on the left side of each Panel. In both cases, the Gain Overlay line will turn grey and the Gain button will turn yellow, both indicating the bypass state. Once in Bypass, Gain Overlay can only be activated again by selecting the same command, which changes to Activate Gain Overlay. When off or disabled, the Gain turns grey.

Note that, while in Gain Overlay Mode, all normal editing functions are disabled and only the gain nodes can be manipulated. Reverting to normal Editing can only be achieved by selecting the Hide Gain Overlay command.

4.6 Desk Events

Important: When using plug-ins, it’s best to work on your files in the Source EDL panel, adding Desk Events to each file there. You then Export those files as 24-bit Gold Masters (useful for electronic music delivery) and assemble them into the Destination EDL for final CD/DDP delivery.

For further convenience, we also suggest that you work in Multiple EDL mode.

4.6.1 Plug–In Overview

In addition to Gain Overlay, soundBlade offer the option to add “Desk Events” or plug–ins to a Project or bus. soundBlade hosts both VST and AU plug–ins.

When plug–ins are instantiated in a Project, they provide time–based, “snapshot automation.” Also in Projects, plug–ins are constant latency and are seamlessly cross-faded, even within an individual segment. This means settings change smoothly, free of audible discontinuities, even for plug–ins with high latency. All plug–in instantiations are fully latency compensated, unless the plug–in itself cannot or does not report latency.

Note that, if you use a plug–in with latency that changes based on the settings, AUPitch is one example, you need to instantiate the plug–in with particular care. In order for soundBlade to provide correct latency compensation, you must use an individual slot for any instance of that plug–in. This will allow each instance to have its own latency compensation that will not change during playback.

VST NOTE: To improve stability with VST plug-ins, soundBlade 2.0.2 and later makes use of a new folder to store VST plug-ins that are used within the application. This folder, called ‘VST-Sonic’, is created when installing Sonic EQ 2.6.1 or later and is located at MacIntosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/. Sonic Studio recommends that all soundBlade users installl Sonic EQ prior to use.

On Launch, soundBlade 2.0.2 will look for a VST-Sonic folder in your System Plugins folder. If this folder is found, then the “Standard” VST folder is not scanned during launch. Sonic Studio recommends that only VST plug-ins necessary for use in soundBlade be duplicated from the VST folder to the VST-Sonic folder in your Audio/Plug-ins folder.

4.6.1.1 Plug–In Maintenance

Due to the rather poorly defined nature of the VST plug–in architecture, we recommend that all soundBlade users review their complement of plug–ins prior to installation. User feedback suggests that many problems when launching soundBlade can be traced to incompatibility with a particular plug-in. usually an old, outdated or expired plug-in is to blame.

If you notice instability on start–up, a plug–in may be to blame. A quick way to test this is to hold down your option key on start up, which disables all plug–ins. If you find that a particular plug–in causes problems, please e–mail us on the Support Portal and let us know the specifics so we can work with the vendor to fully support your plug–in for future releases. Our Support FAQ provides details about disabling plug–ins.

To improve stability with VST plug-ins, soundBlade 2.1 and later makes use of a new folder to store VST plug-ins that are used within the application. This folder, called ‘VST-Sonic’, is created when installing soundBlade and is located at MacIntosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/.

On Launch, soundBlade will look for a VST-Sonic folder in your System Plugins folder. If this folder is found, then the “Standard” VST folder is not scanned during launch. Sonic Studio recommends that you rely on Audio Units plug-ins and ONLY any VST plug-ins necessary for use in soundBlade be duplicated from the VST folder to the VST-Sonic folder in your Audio/Plug-ins folder.

When first started, soundBlade validates all plug–ins. Any plug–in that does not validate correctly is disabled to prevent instability or future problems. The Console Log, available by selecting File > System Information > Console Log, provides a log of plug–in status when soundBlade starts up.

soundBlade also “caches” or stores information about all your plug–ins to speed subsequent startups. The cache is stored in the “com.sonicstudio.plugincache.plist” file in the ~/Library/Preferences folder, a human readable file with either the Plist Editor or TextEdit. If you change your plug–in complement or a particular plug–in is inactive, simply run the ‘Delete soundBlade Preferences’ located in the Extras folder of your soundBlade app folder. The absence of the cache will force soundBlade to re–scan and re–cache your plug–in collection.

4.6.1.2 Plug–In Automation

While soundBlade does not support dynamic automation of parameters of plug–ins, it does support snapshot automation of plug–ins inserted into a Project, each plug–in is a snapshot, and parameters are updated as you move from event to event. You can “interleave” or place VST and AU plug–ins in any order on the time line. The minimum plug–in duration is 0.02 seconds or 20 milliseconds.

In addition, plug–ins are constant latency, with latency compensation, and regions cross-faded, allowing settings changes to happen smoothly without audible discontinuities, even for plug–ins with high latencies.

4.6.2 Displaying Plug–ins in Panels

As with Gain Overlay, plug–ins can be visible or hidden and the two can be used simultaneously. By default, plug–ins are hidden and can only be made visible in the Waveform display. To show plug–ins in a Panel, select the EDL > Show Desk Events command. Alternatively, the “P” or Plug–in (Desk Events) Overlay button at the left of each Panel shows or hides the plug–ins Overlay as well.

Added as an extra layer, in standard Panel size, several horizontal rows appear delineated as dotted lines. These are plug–in “slots” or placeholders for plug–ins to be inserted. Audio passing through plug–in slots is applied first to the top slot, then to each slot below, in vertical order. So, the top slot is pre–slot two while slot three is post slot two, etcetera.

[soundBlade HD Feature] When the Windows > Preferences > EDL > View > Multi-Channel EDLs preference is enabled, the Plug–in Overlay mode is not available. The EDL > Show Desk Events command instead creates a sub–Panel that displays the plug–in slots.

To insert a plug–in into a Panel, click–drag to define a selected region for plug–in insertion. Alternatively, select one or more segments with which to associate the plug–in. Move the cursor over the region or selected segments, then over to one of the event plug–in slots into which plug–ins can be inserted. Once a plug–in is assigned to any slot, that slot is reserved for that plug–in type. Other plug–in types cannot be added to that slot until all instances of the original plug–in are removed.

Note that, when plug–ins are shown, a selected region will show as a green area instead of yellow. Also, over the time period of the selection or selected segment(s), the event plug–in slot becomes highlighted with a blue frame to indicate the selected Region and plug–in row.

Also Note that, if you edit a plug–in while in mono edit mode, you will “break” or disconnect the parameter control between stereo plug–ins. To “reconnect” the plug–ins, hold the option key down while moving a plug–in control.

Figure 4.16: Control + Click on a selection to reveal the Contextual Menu that contains your audio plug-ins.

Control–clicking on a slot produces a contextual menu similar to the normal menu that appears when control–clicking on a segment or region but, in this mode, available plug–ins are listed as well. Select the desired plug–in from the contextual menu. The selected plug–in “drops in” as an event, into the selected region or segments and shows in the events overlay as a green bar. soundBlade supports both VST and AU plug–ins and, either type can be freely intermixed in the event plug–in slots.

Figure 4.17: Plug–in inserted in the Desk Event window

Once a plug–in is in place, its settings and location can be modified. To modify the plug–ins settings, double click on the plug–in name and the plug–in will open. Close the opened plug–in window to save its settings. Another feature available once a plug–in is placed is, its name appears at the bottom of the contextual menu when control–clicking on an empty slot.

To change the location and duration of an event, first select the event by clicking on it. The selected plug–in is marked by two red squares at its lower left and upper right edges. By click-holding either of the two red boxes, the plug–in location can be moved earlier or later, thus changing the location and duration of the event. To move the entire event without changing its length, click-hold on the middle of the event and drag it to the desired new location. To move an event from one row to another, click-hold it and move it up or down to the desired event plug–in slot. Multiple events can be selected by shift–click–holding them and dragging. All actions changing the length or place of an event can now be applied to all selected events simultaneously.

Note that, though it is possible to place plug–ins in the same slot and have them overlapping, this will effectively not work as overlapping Plug–ins are not supported in soundBlade. If more than one plug–in has to be applied to the same time region, simply place the necessary plug–ins in different horizontal slots.

When control–clicking on an event, whether selected or not, a contextual menu appears. The choices are:

Select All Plug ins in Row: Selects all the plug-ins on the selected row.
Select All Plug ins: Selects all plug-ins in the Desk Event window.
Delete Selected Plug–ins: deletes all selected plug–ins.
Zoom To Desk Event: Zooms in or out to the selected Desk Event.
Bypass All: Bypasses all plug-ins in the Desk Event window.
Bypass Event: Bypasses the selected Desk Event.
Add...: This adds another instance of the Desk Event at another selection in the same row.

Finally, as with Gain Overlay, active Desk events, events that are not bypassed, are always active regardless of whether the overlay is visible or not. To bypass all events, regardless of visibility, control–click the “P” button at left in a Panel. When events are active, the P button turns green whereas when all events are bypassed, it turns red. When yellow, some Events are bypassed and other are still active.

soundBlade TV: View the ‘Using Plug-ins As Desk Events’ tutorial by clicking HERE.

4.6.3 Saving plug–in settings to a separate file

It is possible to save all characteristics of a plug–in, including the type and parameters, into a separate file. To do so, option-click on a specific plug–in instantiation and drag the resulting settings file to the Desktop. A file will be created on the Desktop. The file name takes the form of “sB.plug–in_name.setting.nnn” and contains all relevant information for that plug–in instance.

Dropping a settings file onto a plug–in slot will create a plug–in from the pre–defined, saved state. Dropping a parameter file back onto a plug–in will force that plug–in to the type and parameters as saved in the settings file. If you need stereo instantiations of a monaural plug–in, set your plug–in to taste, then simply option–drag from that instantiation to the channel next to it.

4.7 SRPs

SRPs or Selection Reference Points are persistent placeholders that are saved in a Project. SRP commands are under the Selection menu, and are placed either with the Edit Point, the Playhead or, at the leading edge of a selected region. They can be locked to the time line, unlocked and deleted. Option–clicking allows you to drag them to a new location on the time line. They also carry an optional comment label that’s useful to jog your or someone else’s memory at a later date.

As with many objects in soundBlade, SRPs have their own contextual menu. Control–clicking on an SRP brings up the following menu;

Figure 4.18: The SRP contextual menu

The menu offers the following options:

Lock SRP
Unlock SRP
Lock All SRPs in Track

Unlock All SRPs in Track

Note that the last two options are global in nature and will change the state of all SRPs present, regardless of region selection. Also note that, if an unlocked SRP is enclosed within or touches a segment, it will become associated with that segment and will move if the segment is moved.

4.8 Multiple EDL Mode

soundBlade creates new Projects with a “behind the scenes” construct call an EDL or Edit Decision List. soundBlade EDLs, as with those of its predecessors, are plain text documents that detail the way sound files should be assembled and handled when opened into a Project. EDLs are stored in an “EDL” folder at the same directory level as their parent Project.

With earlier versions of “Sonic” editors, Panels had their own time lines and zoom amounts. The Multiple EDL Preference in soundBlade provides that same functionality. When checked, the Multiple EDLs check box in the Preferences > EDL pane creates new Projects with separate, two Panel EDLs or Edit Decision Lists within one Project, rather than one, four Panel EDL that makes up a default Project. Two EDLs, with their own time line and zoom controls, facilitate Source to Destination editing.

Learn Multiple EDL mode is the preferred method for most mastering.

Figure 4.19: Multiple EDL mode showing files and Desk Events in the Source EDL and the post-processed Exports assembled for CD Delivery in the Destination EDL. This is the best mode to work in for mastering.

This dual EDL mode means that each EDL has its own time line and own independent zoom amount. One limitation of dual EDL mode is that, since the Desk’s state is linked to currently active Project, the Desk will switch configurations as either EDL is selected.

4.8.1 The Master/Slave Menu

When soundBlade is in dual EDL mode, an additional menu appears in the upper left corner of each EDL, the Master/Slave menu.

Figure 4.20: The Master/Slave menu

This pop–up defaults to None, with four additional choices:

Master: The Master setting will allow the designated EDL to “command” a Slave EDL to play in sync.
Slave: Conversely, the Slave setting will cause the designated EDL to follow a Master EDL when playing.
LTC Slave: The LTC Slave setting, in conjunction with appropriate Series 300 hardware and an enabled LTC reader, will cause the designated EDL to follow incoming longitudinal SMPTE/EBU time code when running. See section 8.9.12 for information on the LTC time code reader.
Movie (Quicktime Interlock): Slaves the EDL to the timecode stamp of an opened Quicktime movie.

4.8.2 Playing Both EDLs

When the Multiple EDLs preference is enabled, and the EDLs set to None, the two EDLs are completely independent, precluding their ability to play audio simultaneously. If you have Multiple EDLs on, setting the upper, destination EDL to Master using the Master/Slave menu, and the lower, source EDL to Slave will allow both EDLs to play in sync.

Figure 4.21: Dual EDL playback

4.9 Source to Destination Editing

soundBlade includes several ways to edit audio, including cut/copy/paste, drag and drop and, for really precise work, Edit Point Editing using Source to Destination. With this model, Panels are either Source, where material is copied from them, or Destination, where copied material is placed in them. You can specify the time line location of the Source and Destination material with In and Out Edit Points or with selected segments. In and Out Edit Points take precedence over the Edit Point or segment selections. If you have set In and Out Points, any other selections in the Panel will be ignored when executing the edit.

In and Out Points are ignored in drag-and-drop edits. When you have set In and Out Points in a Panel, soundBlade identifies the region between them by highlighting the background behind the waveform. The appearance of any other selections changes if In and Out Points are set: the highlight color is gray–blue, signifying that the selection is not active for key command edits. You may still drag and drop selections, however.

4.9.1 Manipulating In & Out Edit Points

4.9.1.1 Placing In & Out Edit Points

To set In and Out Points, place the Edit Point where you want to set an In or Out Point. Choose Selection > Set In Point or Selection > Set Out Point.

Point to place In or Out Edit Points respectively. soundBlade places an Out Point at the Edit Point location. You can also use the command key equivalents to set In and Out Edit Points “on the fly” during playback.

A time region selection can also be used to place In and Out Edit Points using the aforementioned commands or their keyboard equivalents.

4.9.1.2 Moving In or Out Edit Points

To adjust the position of an In or Out Edit Point, drag the yellow triangle at the bottom of the Edit Point. You can also choose Selection > Move In Point or Selection > Move Out Point. soundBlade will display a Move Point dialog. In that dialog, the following choices are available:

Where — Use this menu to select Playhead, In Point or Out Point. soundBlade loads the current location of the selected item into the time field.
SRP — This menu displays locations of SRPs in the current time base units.
When you choose from this menu, soundBlade loads the location of the selected SRP into the time field.
Move — Moves the In or Out Edit Point to the location specified in the time field. You can edit this field in the same manner as any other time display.
Cancel — Closes the dialog without changing the location of the In or Out Edit Point.

You can nudge or move In or Out Edit Points by some pre–defined amount using one of the Nudge command in the Selection menu. The Nudge value for moving In and Out Edit Points is the same as that for nudging segments.

You can also move the In Edit Point to the current location of the Out Edit Point. This is useful for precisely appending new material in the Destination. To do this, choose Selection > Move In Point to Out Point.

4.9.1.3 Clearing In & Out Edit Points

To clear In and Out Edit Points, choose Selection > Clear In and Out Points. To clear only the In or Out Edit Point, choose Selection > Clear In Point or Clear Out Point respectively.

4.9.1.4 Auditioning In & Out Edit Points

When setting In and Out Edit points, you can audition your edits to “fine tune” the placement. To audition the current In Edit Point location, choose Play > To In/Out Point. soundBlade pre-rolls before the In or Out Edit Point and plays, stopping at the In Edit Point. You can also choose Play > From In/Out Point, in which case soundBlade starts playing at the In or Out Edit Point and plays to the end of the post roll interval. In either case, the pre/post roll duration is set by the preference defined in the Preferences > Time Display Play around In/Out Point settings.

4.9.2 Edit Groups

Source to Destination edits follow Edit Groups. Edits applied to one Panel in a Group affect all Panels in the Group simultaneously. The Source and Destination Panels can be separate Edit Groups or separate EDLs. Edits within a single Edit Group are confined to individual Panels. By definition, material cannot be moved from one Panel to another within an Edit Group by a Source/Destination edit command.

4.9.2.1 Simple Edit Groups

For basic, four Panel Projects, Edit Groups are preset and pre–defined. No user intervention is needed. The top two Panels are always in the same Edit Group, the bottom two are in another, and no change is possible.

4.9.2.2 Edit Groups for Complex Editing

When more complex, multitrack editing is required, Edit Groups can become user defined, allowing for more free form editing. Section 4.10.2 below discusses the more generalized, user adjustable Edit Groups available with the Multi-Channel Feature.

4.9.3 Edit Targets

4.9.3.1 Simple Edit Targets

For the most basic, default four Panel Project, sometimes a monaural edit is needed on a stereo pair. soundBlade provides a simple “Edit Group” control to depart from the default behavior of performing edits on both channels of a stereo pair when you operate on only one. Edit Groups are a mechanism for organizing multiple Panels, and their tracks, into collections or members of a group. Edit Groups are assigned as letters in the Edit Group menu, at the far left side of a Panel. In addition, Edit Groups can be simplified to a check box in place of the more complex Edit Group letter designators. This simplified mode is more commonly used than the letter designations and can be toggled on and off in the Preferences->Editing Tools tab.

The default Edit Target mode is stereo, as indicated by the stereo panels being in their own Edit Group. In Figure 4.21 below, the Edit Group for both Panel 1 and Panel 2 are set to A on the left and as a check box on the right. See section

Figure 4.22: Stereo editing mode showing Explicit (A) and simplified Edit Group (√) selection modes

Mono Edit Group mode:

Figure 4.23: Mono editing mode showing Explicit (A) and simplified Edit Group (√) selection modes

4.9.3.2 Dual EDL Edit Targets

With the Preferences > EDL > Multiple EDL preference enabled, Edit Targets become more generalized. The bars of a single EDL Project become round Edit Target buttons.

Panels in an Edit Group can have one of three states for Edit Target:

Source — Designated audio is copied from these Source Panel(s) to the designated Destination location.
Destination — Source material is inserted, or replaces, or overlays in these Panel(s).
None — The Panel is not affected by Source/Destination editing command.

To change the Edit Target for a group of Panels, do one of the following...Click to select any Panel in an Edit Group, then press the S, D or N key to set one of the three Source/Destination/None states respectively. soundBlade sets the Panel to the appropriate Edit Target, and all other Panels in its Edit Group follow.

To change Panels from Destination to Source, hold down the option key, then click on the Edit State button of any Panel in the Group. To change Panels from Destination to None, hold down the command key, then click on the Edit State button of any Panel in the Group. To change Panels from either Source or None, simply click on the Edit State button of any Panel in the Group.

[soundBlade HD] — With the Multiple EDLs preference enabled, you can set a single Panel to a desired Edit Target, hold down the control key, then press the S, D or N key. Any other Panels in the same Edit Group will remain in their previous state.

Note that the Sync Group is forced to a new group when you use the control key so, unless you are in Multi–Channel mode, you may not be able to undo your forced Edit Target setting.

[Multi-Channel Feature] — Holding down the control key when pressing S, D or N causes the selected Panels to switch to the next available Edit Group and then sets the Edit Target.

4.9.4 Insert versus Replace

soundBlade supports two Source to Destination editing commands, Insert and Replace. These commands always copy the designated Source material and, you must explicitly designate Destination Panels so that soundBlade knows where you want to place the copy. This is done with the Edit Target for each Panel.

With an Insert edit, sound in the Destination is moved to the right, later on the time line, to “make room” for the inserted material. With a Replace edit, the designated Source material replaces the designated Destination material. As with all editing in soundBlade, editing is non–destructive. Only the EDL is updated during editing and no source sound files are changed during this process.

4.9.5 Types of Source/Destination Edits

There are four types of Source to Destination edits:

Two point edits
Three point edits
Four point edits
Constrained edits

When referring to Two, Three or Four Point editing, we simply mean how many explicit places on the Source or Destination time line are given so as to define the material being copied, in the case of Source or, the location of where the copy will go, in the case of Destination.

With two point edits, there are several variations. The Destination can be marked with an In or Out Edit Point or, in the absence of these, the edit Point will stand in their place. Either way, the Source material will have its head placed at the marked location. The Edit > Replace Left Command will place the tail, rather than the head, of the Source material at the marked location. Source material for two point edits can be, as mentioned above, either Edit Points or a selected segment.

With three point edits, either the Source or the Destination is a time region defined by Edit Points or, a selected segment. Since three places are defined, two of them can be in the Source to delineate both head and tail of the Source material or, they can be in the Destination to delineate the absolute location into which the copy will be placed.

Four-point edits, though possible to set up, are ambiguous unless both Source and Destination are exactly the same duration. In that case, then a three point edit will suffice.

Constrained edit will keep audio “in sync” on the time line, which is useful for editing sound against picture. With constrained edits using the Edit > Replace Constrained command, Source sound is copied to the Destination at its timestamped location.

4.10 Multi-Channel Mode - soundBlade HD

soundBlade defaults to 4 tracks in 4 Panels, with 4 mix buses. In soundBlade HD, if more tracks and more mix buses are needed, the Preferences>EDL Tab, Multi-channel EDLs mode increases the number of tracks and the number of buses to 8, making multichannel production possible. Selecting 16 Channel Desk in Preferences > Desk enables tracks 9-16.

Tip selecting ‘16-channel desk’ in Preferences > Desk enables tracks and busses 9-16.

soundBlade HD required for 8 or 16 channels
Learn More About Upgrading to soundBlade HD

Note that you must restart soundBlade HD after enabling this option. You should also resize both the Desk and the Master section after restart

16 channel Project shown is in ‘Multi-Channel’ mode with ‘
Multiple EDLS’ SELECTED and Multi-Channel EDLs SELECTED in Preferences.

4.10.1 Edit Targets for Multi Channel

With soundBlade HD’s Multi-Channel Feature, you are given a more generalized editorial environment in which to work. In a “standard” Project, as discussed in section 4.9.3.1 above, Edit Targets default to a vertical blue stereo Source bar for the bottom two Panels, and a vertical yellow stereo Destination bar for the top two Panels. Whereas, in multichannel mode, Edit Targets are assignable to any individual Panel and can be applied to up to 16 Panels simultaneously.

Edit Targets in multichannel mode are more generalized than with a standard Project. In multichannel mode, they visually transform into small round buttons, matching the other Panel controls and retaining their functional color coding.

They can be either a blue Source, a yellow Destination or a gray None, an inactive state. The None Edit Target simply indicates that the designated Panels are neither Source nor Destination, and are inactive for most editing commands.

Source and Destination Edit Targets control, in Edit Point editing, what Panels and associated tracks are used as source material for Insert or Replace commands, and which Panels and tracks will be Destinations, receiving a copy from the Source or some other modification.

In Edit Point editing, Sources Panels are never modified. An exception to this is Cut/Copy/Paste and drag & drop editing which, unlike Edit Point editing, do not honor Edit Targets.

4.10.2 Edit Groups for Multi Channel

4.10.2.1 Introduction

Another additional function provided by the Multi-Channel Feature is the addition of Edit Groups, a mechanism for organizing multiple Panels, and their tracks, into collections or members of a group. Edit Groups are assigned as letters in the Edit Group menu, at the far left side of a Panel. In addition, Edit Groups can be simplified to a check box in place of the more complex Edit Group letter designators. This simplified mode is more commonly used than the letter designations.

Figure 4.24: Explicit versus simplified Edit Group & Target

4.10.2.2 Specifics

Panels, and their accompanying tracks within an EDL, can be assigned arbitrary Edit Groups, linking all Panels together that share an Edit Group assignment. Edits applied to any Panel in the Edit Group are applied simultaneously to all Panels in that same group. For example, when you select a time region by dragging across a Panel, that region is selected in all Panels of that same Edit Group. Similarly, selecting a segment in one Panel selects corresponding Segments, those having the same start time, in any other Panels of that same Edit Group. As mentioned above, you can designate and display EDL edit group membership using either letters or check boxes.

To designate Panels as a letter Edit Group, choose Windows > Preferences. Click the Editing Tools tab and enable the Edit Group Selection Menu preference. If you started soundBlade HD in stereo mode, with Preferences > EDL > Multi-Channel EDLs disabled, then you will have to enable that preference and restart for the Edit Group Selection Menu preference to be visible.

Once the Edit Group Selection Menu preference is enabled, Edit Group membership is shown with letters, allowing you to assign up to 32 different Edit Groups within each EDL. Select one or more tracks and use the letter menu to set the Panels to a group.

To designate Panels to an Edit Group with check boxes, choose Windows > Preferences. Click the EDL tab and deselect the Edit Group Selection Menu option. Once that preference is deselected, Edit Groups are shown by check boxes in each Panel. When you click in a Panel to make it active, the check boxes update to show which Panels belong to the same Group.

In this mode, only one Edit Group can be displayed at a time. Click the Edit Group check box for each Panel you want to include in the simplified Group. To remove a Panel from the Group, simply click again on its Edit Group check box.

Figure 4.24 above shows the explicit Edit Group and Target mode, with an Edit Group menu and an Edit Target designator to its right. See section 8.3 for specifics about the additional menu commands and section 8.9 for the specifics about the additional preferences.

soundBlade HD has 16-track (32-voice) capability. To use soundBlade in it’s multi-channel mode, open Window>Preferences and select the Desk Tab. Check the box labeled ‘16-Channel Desk (restart required).

The next time soundBlade HD is launched, 16 channel Meters, EDL Desk and 16 Desk Strips appear.

At this time, soundBlade HD can only record 8 channels.

4.10.3 Other Controls

4.10.3.1 I/O & Desk

In Waveform mode, Panels always have the five S, M, G, R and D buttons at left, as described in section 3.2 above. In addition to the Edit Group menu already discussed in the preceding sections, multichannel EDL mode reveals three additional controls at the far left side of each Panel. Below the Edit Group menu is the Input Assign followed by the Output Assign, with the (Desk) Strip Assign immediately to the right of the Output Assign.

Figure 4.25: Multichannel Project’s controls

The Input and Output Assigns duplicate the controls found on the Desk Strips discussed in section 6.2.1 below, and are provided to speed the process of recording. These assigns allow you to select the input to and the output from each Desk Strip. In turn, the Desk Strip is assigned with the Strip Assign next to the Output Assign.

Note that only one or two Panels can typically be assigned to the same Strip. This assumes an edit occurs in both Panels at the same time, which implies four streams of data are being combined at the input node of the Strip. If you had four Panels containing audio with no edits whatsoever, you could assign these to the same Strip and they should play, since this situation would also result in four streams of data being combined at the input node of the Strip.

4.10.3.2 Time Display

In Multi Channel mode, the Project acquires two new controls, the Edit Point/Selection toggle and the Now/Local Time toggle. These controls help to manage the time displays for more complex editorial.

Figure 4.26: The Project’s time display in Multi Channel mode

The Edit Point/Selection toggle chooses between editing the Edit Point or selection boundaries with the LEFT or RIGHT time fields. When the toggle is in the default E or Edit Point setting, changes made to either the LEFT or RIGHT time fields will update the Edit Point’s location. When the toggle is set to S or Selection, changes made to the LEFT or RIGHT time fields will update or create a time region selection. If either an In or Out Edit Point is present, changes to the right DUR field will locate/relocate the Out Edit Point.

A non–zero number in the DUR or duration field indicates that there is a selection. When only a single Edit Point exists, the LEFT and RIGHT time field will display the same value and the duration fields will display as zero. In either mode, editing the DUR time field will create a selection based on the LEFT selection time value.

The other toggle controls Now/Local time. You can reset the entire Time Display to reference zero from the current Edit Point location at any time by clicking on the N or Now Time. Clicking on the L or Local setting restores the display to showing the default or absolute time.

4.10.4 MutliChannel Use & Applications in soundBlade HD

Figure 4.27: An example multichannel Project

The above illustrations conveys some idea of the uses possible with the Multi-Channel Feature. The top 5 Panels are one EDL or Edit Decision List, and the bottom two Panels are another EDL. For the top EDL, the Sync Groups are A, B, B, C, C from top to bottom. In other words, a monaural voice over track in the top Panel, a stereo bed in the next two Panels, and stereo effects in Panels 4 and 5. Panel one of the top EDL has the Edit Target set to (yellow) D or destination. Sync Group controls the setting of Edit Targets so, the above mentioned A, B, B, C, C settings mean that the mono track in the top Panel edits in mono while the two stereo tracks edit in stereo.

4.11 Project Sample Rate

To the left of a Project’s time line, a drop down menu is located for selection of the Project default sample rate. This menu has a simple function, to set the sample rate when making address calculations on the time line. Since, “under the hood,” soundBlade uses samples per second as the counting method for all time code, time line and address calculations, sample rate becomes the basis on which all the above calculations are made. soundBlade converts all thirteen of the alternate, non–“samples” time standard choices, discussed in section 3.7.1, to samples when constructing a Project.

Note that the Project default sample rate has nothing to do with the sample rate of any audio interface used, nor does it impact the clocking of your system. It is only for locating segments on a Project’s time line.

4.12 Advanced PQ

Section 3.10 above covers the basics of PQ creation and manipulation. This section delves into some arcana of the P through W metadata functionality in soundBlade.

All PQ information and additional metadata can be viewed and modified with the help of the Mark Info window. It can be opened by selecting the Windows > Mark Info command.

Figure 4.28: The Mark Info window with ‘Show End’ checkbox selected

Apart from the PQ information, this window contains additional fields for Album Title, Album Artist, Track Title and, for compilations, Track Artist. These fields provide input for the generation of CD-Text metadata. Additionally, ISR Codes or ISRC, and a Universal Product Code/European Article Number, or UPC/EAN, code can be entered as well. For books on CD, the UPC number can be replaced with a UBC number.

ISRC or International Standard Recording Codes are unique, machine–readable identifiers for each track on a disc. On the other hand, UPC/EAN identifies the entire disc.

Creation of PQ Marks must follow a few simple rules, laid down in the “Red Book” or Compact Disc–Digital Audio (CD-DA) specification. The most important of these rules are:

There is a maximum of 99 tracks allowed on a CD
There is a maximum of 99 indexes allowed within each track
Index Markers are not allowed between End of Track and Start of Track marks
The minimum duration of a track, the minimum distance between Start of Track and End of Track marks or two consecutive Start of Track marks, must be 4 seconds, including offsets.
Two consecutive End of Track marks are not allowed but two consecutive Start of Track marks are allowed

soundBlade validates the PQ Marks against Red Book specifications and shows the result at the bottom of the PQ Window.

LEARN Index Marks are infrequently used as most CD players available do not offer the ability to locate to Indexes.

4.12.1 Album Info

4.12.1.1 Album Title

In this field, the title of the album can be entered.

4.12.1.2 Album Artist

In this field, the artist’s name can be entered.

4.12.1.3 UPC/EAN Code

This is the product’s Universal Product Code/European Article Number, usually displayed as a barcode on the package. UPC/EAN barcodes are 13 digits and, in the United States, the leading digit or country code should be set to zero before entering the additional 12 trailing digits.

4.12.2 Track Info

4.12.2.1 Track Title and Track Artist

These text fields directly represent the title and artist of the selected track in the list below. These fields are used to generate CD Text metadata.

soundBlade assigns default names to marks and the tracks they generate. The Start Marks are numbered and named based on their associated segment’s name. The End Marks and Index Marks are not numbered, and are called End and Index respectively.

You can assign your own names to the Marks. Just select a Mark from the Track Info list, type a new name into the Track Title field, and hit the enter key. The new name will appear in the list, in the CD Text metadata, and also in the Track Bar, if visible. All this information is saved as part of the Project.

Track Artist is entered in a like manner. Select a mark from the Track Info list, type an artist into the Track Artist field, and hit the enter key. The artist’s name will appear in the list and also in the resulting CD Text metadata. If, prior to Mark generation, you enter an Album Artist, as mentioned in section 4.12.1 above, soundBlade will automatically use that text string for the Track Artist.

Note: You should always check your Mark Info window for metacharacters, such as $, & and %, as well as extended ASCII characters, like å, é, ø, ö, ü, ñ, et cetera. Mac OS, which soundBlade uses to write CD-Rs, does not handle extended ASCII and metacharacters properly.

4.12.2.2 Track Start

This field displays the location of individual Marks. The location can be edited by typing directly into this field. The corresponding PQ mark will be moved accordingly.

4.12.2.3 Track Offset

This field shows the offset, if any, that is applied to the selected Mark. If the default offset is not appropriate, you can enter a custom offset for every Mark.

4.12.2.4 ISR Code (ISRC)

This field shows the International Standard Recording Code or ISRC, if any, that is associated with the selected Start of Track mark. When a record label provides ISR Codes for a title, as is usually the case, check the following guidelines to insure that the ISRC is valid: There must be exactly 12 characters. The first 5 places must be numeric or uppercase letters. The 6th through 12th places must all be numeric. Although often supplied with them, dashes or hyphens should be removed from the ISR Codes prior to entry in the Mark Info window. See Appendix 4.1 for more information on IFPI.

4.12.2.5 Lock Check Box

The Lock check box locks the PQ times for the selected CD Track to prevent inadvertent changes. When a Track is locked, its appearance in the Track Bar changes from the normal shape and color to a red, right pointing triangle.

4.12.2.6 Default Check Box

The Default check box forces an individual CD Track back to the default timings setting.

4.12.2.7 Copy Enabled Check Box

This check box displays and controls the state of the Copy Enable bit, the “flag,” of the SCMS or Serial Copy Management Scheme. The flag is set and copying is enabled when the Copy Enable check box is selected.

The default state for this button is off. That is, copying is not allowed.

SCMS or “scums” flags, implemented for consumer digital recording devices, are generally ignored by professional audio equipment. Consumer digital audio equipment however, broadly recognizes the SCMS bit and inhibits the possibility of making digital copies from CD’s with the SCMS flag set. Hence it is common practice to disable the SCMS on CD-Rs or DDP masters intended for duplication.

4.12.2.8 Emphasis Check Box

This check box shows and controls the state of the AES/EBU Emphasis flag or bit of the selected track. When the Emphasis flag is set, a CD player will de-emphasize the track on playback. The Emphasis flag is set when the button is red.

Note that digital emphasis is rarely, if ever, used in modern production. This flag provides backward compatibility with archival material that employed emphasis as a form of perceived noise reduction at the expense of reduced high frequency headroom. Do not set the Emphasis flag unless you are sure that emphasis was applied to the original data and that it has not been de–emphasized prior to use in your soundBlade Project.

4.12.3 A Word About PQ Offsets

In the Mark Info dialog, the Track Offset field is non–editable. This because PQ Offsets are applied globally, based on your Windows > Preferences > Delivery > Offsets references.

PQ Offsets are correction factors, subtracted from absolute song timing, to compensate for deficiencies in real world CD transports. They attempt to correct for the variation found with a CD transport’s ability to locate to an address, fill its audio data buffer, unmute the audio output and commence playback. Less expensive transports typically require back–timing, hence the PQ Offset, to make sure the buffer is full prior to track start so audio is not cut off by the transport’s muting circuit. With Offsets enabled, the factory defaults are very conservative and will produce satisfactory results with even the lowest quality transport but, always deliver a copy of your CD and check a range of target transports for an optimal setting.

Note that, as a rule, offsets are applied during the delivery of an original CD or DDP file set. The Mark Info Window’s PQ Offset section contains two checkboxes -- 1) Display Offsets and 2) Disable Offsets. The Display Offsets updates the track timing information in the Mark Info Window to reflect the Offset applied to each track. The Disable Offsets check box will enable or disable offset compensation. Begining with soundBlade v2.3, Offsets are applied to an EDL, not to an entire Project.

4.12.4 PQ Track Info

4.12.4.1 Total Tracks & Extended Listing

This field shows the total number of Start Marks that will appear on the disc. To the left of the Total Tracks field is an unmarked Extended Listing check box that, when unchecked, simplifies the Track Listing by hiding End of Track Marks and Indexes. This mode, showing only the essential CD Track information, is designed for resequencing Tracks by dragging and dropping as discussed in section 4.12.4.3 below.

4.12.4.2 Total Duration

This field shows the total playing time of the CD. The total playing time includes all pauses between the individual tracks as well as the “pregap” mode changing pause before the start of Track 1. The inclusion of pregap results in a different duration than would result from simply adding the disc running times, and complies with the method CD players use to calculate and display Total Duration as specified by the CD-DA Red Book.

4.12.4.3 Track Listing

This field shows a list of all Tracks present. For Start of Track marks, each entry shows the track number and name, the start and end times along with the duration. If the Extended Listing check box, mentioned in section 4.12.4.1 above, is checked, then End of Track and Indexes are also listed along with their times.

Any individual Mark can be selected by clicking on that row in the list. A selected Track is highlighted in yellow while information on the highlighted Mark will appear in the fields above within the Track Info section. See section 4.12.2 above for more information on Track Info.

If you double click on a Track Start entry in the list, soundBlade will automatically begin playing that Track based on the current timings. This provides a quick way to confirm your Mark locations.

The Track Listing also provides the ability to resequence CD Tracks. If you click–hold on any (Start of) Track entry, and drag it to a new location in the list, you can drop it and the audio implicit in the Track definition will also shuffle to the new location. This allows you to quickly resequence CD Tracks. See section 4.3 for a more general discussion of auto–snapping, including resequencing.

4.12.4.4 PQ Validator

soundBlade validates your PQ entries against the Red Book specifications. If they meet the requirements, the indicator at the lower left corner will be green and the status field will show “PQ Information is valid.” If the PQ marks violate the Red Book requirements, the button will be yellow, and a message will appear describing what is wrong with the entered parameters.

Note that you may see a “Sound begins more than 2 frames before Start Mark” message. This a reminder to check that you are not unintentionally truncating any audio at the head of your Project. Remember that, according to the Red Book specification for CD-DA discs, the first 2 seconds or 150 CD frames are “pregap,” and the first track start is at 2 seconds. Any audio before the 2 second mark will be replaced by 150 CD frames of digital zeroes on any CDs delivered and in DDP file sets. Pregap is a logical region of the disc reserved for mode changes and other non–audio functions.

4.12.5 PQ Delivery Tab

The second of the two tabs in the Mark Info window is the PQ Delivery tab. This pane controls the delivery speed and destination, as well as other options like CD Text.

Figure 4.17: The PQ Delivery tab of the Mark Info window

4.12.5.1 Destination Device Selection & Status

The Device field provides details about your CD-R mechanism. When multiple CD-R mechanisms are connected, there is a selector, represented as a white disclosure triangle, to the right of the Device label. This selector allows you to toggle between the available target mechanisms. soundBlade can only address one mechanism at a time. The Status field below the device field provides an indication of the status of your delivery media and progress of the delivery:

Figure 4.29: Device field with white disclosure triangular for selecting multiple CD-R mechanisms.

Note that soundBlade is designed to address Apple–supplied, built–in CD-R and DVD-R mechanisms as well as most third party, FireWire–attached drives supported by the operating system. USB–attached products as well as some third party drives do not function with Apple’s optical disc frameworks so, always test new mechanisms prior to use.

4.12.5.2 The Execute Button

Once the above options are to your liking, this button starts a new delivery, writing to the location shown in the “Device” field. When you click the Execute button, a standard Mac OS file browser opens where appropriate, allowing you to specify the target location for a DDP file set. A new or empty folder should be specified to contain the newly created file set that will form the basis for your CD-R delivery. Once the destination is specified, soundBlade begins the delivery process, with progress shown in the validation field at the bottom of the PQ Delivery window. During delivery to a CD-R when no media is present in the selected drive, soundBlade will prompt you to insert media and wait for a blank disc to be inserted.

If you have an existing DDP file set, you can deliver a CD-R from that DDP file set. Simply place a blank CD-R in your drive and set the desired CD-R options in the PQ Delivery tab. Then, click on Execute. soundBlade will open a Mac OS file browser, asking you to specify the location of the file set. Once that is defined, soundBlade will begin the delivery.

Note that, once a delivery has started, the Execute button changes to an Abort button, allowing you to halt the delivery process. Aborting a delivery in the midst of the delivery process will render the resulting disc or DDP file set unusable.

When you insert a blank CD-R into your target drive, you may see a dialog asking, “You inserted a blank CD. Choose an action…”. Clicking on the Ignore button will close this dialog and release the mechanism for soundBlade’s use. This behavior results from the settings in the CDs & DVDs pane of the Mac OS System Preferences. You may want to set your CDs & DVDs preferences to Ignore so as to eliminate that extra step.

4.12.5.3 The Track List Button

Clicking on the Track List button saves a text document with detailed information about the tracks in your project. This list should be included when sending your project to a replacator.

1 Click on the Track LIst button

2 soundBlade displays a Save File dialog.

3 Select a destination for the file and, if desired rename it, then click OK.

SonicStudio HD saves the Track List and opens it in SimpleText.

4.12.5.4 The Export LIst Button

Clicking on the Source Export List creates a tab-delimited text file suitable for importing into third-party applications such as spreadsheets.

4.12.5.5 Delivering Multiple CDs From An Existing DDP

It is easy to deliver multiple identical CDs once you have an existing DDP file set. Click on the “Use” button when specifying delivery to a folder that already contains a DDP file set. This will re–use the existing file set, “burning” another CD. Open a new, empty Project before reusing an existing DDP file set.

4.12.5.6 The Eject Button

The Eject button will cause the host to eject an inserted disc.

4.12.5.7 The PQ List Button

This button generates a PQ List, the industry standard text representation of the current Compact Disc’s content. This file is typically printed and the hard copy is sent, along with the appropriate DDP data set saved to your blank medium of choice, to the replicator.

LEARN: Purchase high quality CD-R blank media optimized for low speed writing. Commodity media, optimized for high speed writing, are designed for CD-ROM use and has a dye layer designed for the high speed writing regime commonly found in PC’s today. Sonic Studio products are designed to write at relatively low speeds, and high speed media will not write reliably at low speeds of 8x and below.

LEARN Write your disc at lower speeds (4x). Not only does this ensure that the data stream will be uninterrupted, regardless of host overhead but, the jitter on the resulting disc is much lower.

LEARN Write your DDP Images at 8x or Highest.

Chapter 5 Recording Audio

In addition to assembling audio from existing sound files, soundBlade offers the functionality of recording audio from external audio sources. Supported file formats for recording are AIFF, WAV, Broadcast WAV (BWF) and CAF. Sample rate and resolution are limited by the capabilities of the available Core Audio hardware or your Series 300 I/O Processor. Audio can be recorded directly into any Panel, in either mono or stereo.

Note that audio is recorded as mono, non-interleaved files when recording in AIFF, WAV, CAF or BWF format.

At this time soundBlade HC can only record 8 channels

LEARN About Using USB Devices: Direct connection of a USB audio converter should be usable with soundBlade. However, since Sonic is unable to test every USB converter, we cannot guarantee that all USB audio converters will function at all sample rates and configurations.

Connection of audio converters via USB hubs, use of USB hard disc drives and USB optical disc peripherals is not recommended or supported.

5.1 Four Steps to Recording

1 Open a new Project & Set Input

Audio can only be recorded in Panels, so a Project must be open. Choose File > New to create a new Project or File > Open… to open an existing Project. By default, soundBlade records external audio from the first two input channels of the active interface, as defined in OS X’s Audio MIDI Setup utility. By default, soundBlade is set to the inputs defined by your converter, however, these inputs can be set to any converter input or soundBlade output by selecting the desired

2 Set New Sound File Parameters

Choose Windows > New Sound file Preferences. Set the destination directory, filename, word length and file type for the sound file you wish to record. See section 5.2.1 below for more information.

3 Record Enable Panels

Record Enable the desired tracks for recording. To do this, click on the R button in the upper left corner of Panel 3 and 4. See section 5.2.2 for more explanation.

4 Start Your Recording

Initiate the recording of audio. To do this, use the Transport Controls at the top center of the Project. Clicking on the green record button will start a recording. See chapter 5.2.3 for more information.

5.2 Audio Recordings

5.2.1 Selecting external input(s)

By default, soundBlade can record audio from the first four available inputs of the interface currently configured as input in Audio MIDI Setup. However, soundBlade can be configured to record from any valid input source by means of the Windows > Audio I/O Preferences window.

[soundBlade HD Multichannel standard feature]

LEARN: the Multichannel standard feature adds the ability to send and receive from 16 buses instead of the default four.

Figure 5.1: The Audio I/O Preferences window

Figure 5.1a: The Audio I/O Preferences window with Sonic Studio Series 300 hardware attached.

The bottom half of this window shows the currently active audio interface as selected in Audio MIDI Setup.

Note that virtualized or “aggregated” devices, as defined in OS version 10.4 and higher, appear as one recording interface.

Also. after 10.5.8, an aggregate device in no longer needed for most hardware.

Note The “Use Core Audio on launch“ button, when enabled will allow soundBlade to Change output devices when you change it in Audio MIDI Set-Up.

If you leave it unchecked then soundBlade will not change outputs if you change them in Audio MIDI Set-Up window.

In the area of the audio interface icon, the line inputs L1 to Ln are shown, together with a drop down menu selector. When one of the line input selectors are clicked, a list of all available inputs for that selected audio interface are shown. Selecting any available input from the audio interface re-maps that input to soundBlade’s inputs used for recording external sources. It also relabels the output bus assigns on the Desk.

Figure 5.2: Input selectors

NOTE Your list will vary based on your I/O Converter

soundBlade’s clock source should be checked as well. To do so, select either “internal” or “external” from the Master Clock source selectors.

Figure 5.3: Clock source selection

In addition, due to Mac OS restrictions, the sample rate must be set to match the incoming clock source, even when an external clock source is selected.

Figure 5.4: Sample rate selection

The settings in the Audio I/O Preferences window reflect the settings in Audio MIDI Setup at the instant you open the Audio I/O Preferences window. However, the information in Audio I/O Preferences are not dynamically updated if anything in Audio MIDI Setup are changed while the Audio I/O Preferences window is open. To make sure that the Audio I/O Preferences window accurately reflects the current setting of Audio MIDI Setup, press the “Re-Scan I/O” button. This updates the Audio I/O Preferences and re-loads the current settings from Audio MIDI Setup. To open Audio MIDI Setup from within soundBlade, click the “Audio MIDI Setup…” button in the Audio I/O Preferences window.

Note that any new settings in the Audio I/O Preferences window come into effect immediately. However, only after saving the settings with the “save” button will the new settings be stored as defaults used for subsequent soundBlade sessions.

5.2.2 New Soundfile Parameters

You must specify where recorded files will be stored and in what format and resolution the recordings will be made. To set the sound file parameters or, to change the current parameters, select Windows > New Soundfile Preferences. The New Soundfile Parameters window appears.

Figure 5.5: The New Soundfile Parameters window.

To select the destination folder for recorded sound files, click on Set Folder to open a standard Mac OS browser and select the target destination folder. Then click OK to confirm your choices and return to the New Sound file Settings window.

Note that, although it is possible to select a destination for your sound files on external direct–attached or network–attached volumes, this is no guarantee it will work flawlessly. Please check that the necessary Quality of Service is supported throughout the entire virtual path to the selected volume. This is especially true of USB–attached mechanism. USB is not suitable for audio production.

Next, the default sound file prefix can be set in the “Soundfile” field. Recorded sound files will be collectively placed in a folder carrying the same name as the sound file prefix. Additionally, in the “Take #” field, a numeric take number suffix can be entered that will be incremented for subsequent recordings, creating unique names for each file.

The word length and file type for the recording should also be set via the appropriate drop down menu. You do not have to close the New Soundfile Parameters window to save your settings.

When selecting BWF as recording format, the New Sound file Parameters window is extended by some extra fields

Figure 5.6: The New Sound file Parameters window for BWF recording format

The “Originator”, “Reference” and “Date/Time” fields can be filled with up to 22 characters. The “Description” and “Coding History” fields each hold up to 120 characters. The standardized contents of these metadata fields are stored in the header of the BWF file.

Originator — an ASCII string containing the name of the originator/producer of the audio file.
Reference — Technically known as the “OriginatorReference,” an ASCII string containing a non–ambiguous reference “allocated by the originating organization.” The EBU has defined a format for the OriginatorReference field. For more information, see EBU Recommendation R99-1999[2].
Date — Technically known as the “OriginationDate,” ASCII characters containing the date of creation of the audio file. The format is “yyyy-mm-dd” (year-month-day).

Year is defined from 0000 to 9999, month is define from 1 to 12, day is defined from 1 to 28,29,30 or 31, while the separator between the items can be anything but it is recommended that one of the following characters is used:

- (hyphen)
_ (underscore)
: (colon)
(space)
. (stop or period)
- Time — Technically known as the “OriginationTime,” ASCII characters containing the time of creation of the audio file. The format is “HH-MM-SS” (hours-minutes-seconds).

Hour is defined from 0 to 23, while minute and second are defined from 0 to 59. The separator between the items can be anything but it is recommended that one of the above characters.

Description — An ASCII string containing a un–formatted description of the sequence. To help applications which only display a short description, it is recommended that a resumé of the description is contained in the first 64 characters, and the last 192 characters are use for details.
Coding History — The Coding History field is usually filled in and appended by any application that creates and subsequently modifies a BWF sound file.

Finally, the optional “Edit Recording” check box enables files to be opened while their recording is in progress. This feature allows you to begin marking and making other editing decisions while a recording progresses. See section 5.2.6 below for more information.

Note that the sample rate of the sound file to be recorded is not set via this window. It is set in your host’s Audio MIDI Setup. See section 5.2.1 above for more information.

5.2.3 Track arming and enabling recording

To prepare audio for recording, any track you want to record audio into must be enabled or “armed” first. To arm the desired Panel(s), click on the Record Ready button, labeled “R,” on the left of the corresponding Panel. To disarm a Panel, simply click the Record Ready button again and the Panel will return to “Safe” mode again.

5.2.4 Initiating a recording

To initiate a recording, click the green Record button in the Transport Controls to start the recording. The Playhead starts at the beginning of the time line or at the Edit Point if present. The Record buttons turns red, recording begins and, the backgrounds of the Panels in record along with their corresponding Record Ready buttons turn red while the cursor changes to a microphone symbol.

Figure 5.7: A Panel in record mode showing the “microphone” cursor

Once the recording is stopped, by either hitting the space bar or the Stop button in the Transport Controls, the newly recorded audio segment(s) are shown in the Panel(s) while soundBlade generates waveforms in the background.

If recordings replace any existing segments in the Panel, the original segment will be joined to the new recording with a default Crossfade.

Note that any existing SRPs, Track Marks or Gain Overlay nodes will be deleted by a recording. Since recording is non–destructive, any existing audio segments in a Panel that seem to be “overwritten” during recording are not physically erased from your designated volume, only the Edit Decision List has been modified. They can be reopened at any time. Alternatively, the original state of the Panels before the recording was started can easily be restored with the Edit > Undo command.

5.2.5 Manual punch in

It is also possible to “punch in” audio at any desired location within a Panel while playback is in progress. To punch into record, first arm the Panel(s) where the punch in is needed. Then, locate the Edit Point or Playhead in advance of the punch in point, providing 1 to 3 seconds of pre–roll, and commence playback by pressing the spacebar or the Play button on the Transport Controls. When the Playhead arrives at the desired punch in point, select Play > Record or click the Record button from the Transport Panel, and the punch will start. To stop the recording, either tap the space bar, select Play > Record or click the Record button again and the recording will stop, leaving the Playhead at the location where the punch out occurred.

5.2.6 Edit Recording

This option, located in the New Sound file Parameters window, allows opening, viewing and editing of the file being recorded during the recording.

To use the Edit Recording option, choose Windows > New Soundfile Preferences. Select the Edit Recording option and initiate a recording. Open the sound file in another Project from the one in which you are recording it. You can now drag the Out fade as the audio is recorded and use the EDL > Refresh command to update the waveform display. This feature provides an auto–save function, as the file is updated continuously during recording. If anything happens to interrupt the record, the file will be intact up to the moment of interruption.

Note that, when the Edit Recording option is selected, soundBlade uses about 15% more disk bandwidth for a stereo recording, so hard drive performance may be affected.

5.3 Automated Punches

When the length of a recording is known in advance, soundBlade can be set to record for a preset duration. This “timed” recording can be used for unattended recording, conserving disk space, or to replace parts of pre–existing material in one or more Panels. To automate a recording, a number of options are available.

5.3.1 Recording a selection or segment

Select a region of the desired length in the Panel(s) where recording should take place, then initiate the recording. When the recording is started, it will commence at the start of the selected region, and stop automatically at the end of the selected region. This is useful for a quick pick up or “one shot,” timed recording.

Alternatively, recording can replace one or more segments. Simply select the segments to be replaced, then initiate the recording. Recording commences at the start of the first segment, and end at the end of the last selected segment.

Note that, if multiple segments are selected, the recorded sound file will appear as one continuous sound file. If the selected segments are consecutive but not contiguous, the non-selected segments in between will be “replaced” as well. See the end of section 5.2.1 above for more information.

5.3.2 Recording using SRPs

Another method of automated recording is by using SRPs. This function is useful to “allocate” a recording interval ahead of time so you can attend to other tasks. It is also useful for re–recording or pickups or when you want to only record a particular section of a performance.

To use SRPs to automate your recording, record arm the Panels in which you want to record. Place SRPs, via the Selection >Set SRP command, at the exact start and end locations where recording should punch in and out. If multiple, consecutive recordings are required, set as many even numbered SPRs as required to define those actions.

Select the top armed Panel, then click–drag to select a region that extends from before the first SRP to the last SRP placed for recording.
Start the recording by selecting Play > Selection from the main menu.

Figure 5.8: Panel with selection enclosing SRPs armed for recording

Playback commences at the start of the selection. At the first SRP, soundBlade will drop into recording, punching out at the next SRP. This repeats itself until the end of the selection is reached. Playback stops and the areas marked by SRPs are replaced by newly created sound files. If recording was still active when the end of the selection was reached (an uneven number of SRPs was included in the selection), recording will stop at the end of the selection as well.

Note that for this method of “timed” recording, soundBlade only uses the SRPs in the top Panel being played and recorded. If SRPs are set in any other Panel that is armed for recording, they will be ignored and recording in those Panels will take place at the same position as in the top Panel being played.

After recording, the SRPs will be erased and in their place, default crossfades will connect the newly recorded segments to any existing audio segments.

5.4 Bouncing

Apart from recording from external sources, it is also possible to bounce or play audio from one Panel while recording into another, meanwhile applying processing with internally or externally available processing options. As soundBlade normally records from external sources, soundBlade needs to be set up to record from an internal source, the Panel(s) containing sound material to be re–recorded. To perform a bounce, an extra feature of soundBlade called the “EDL Desk” will need to be used. More in-depth information on how to use and setup the Desk is given in Chapter 6. After coverage of the Desk, Chapter 6 also provides examples of bouncing audio through the Desk and back to disk.

When setting up a recording, you need to patch the Desk. Think of M1/2 as sends routed to the Core Audio or Series 300 outputs, while M3/4 act as a bus internal to soundBlade, though they are available at the output of your Series 300 I/O Processor or, Core Audio device if it supports more than 1 stereo output pair. To record audio from Panel to Panel, it is also necessary to understand that sound can only be bounced from Panels 3 and/or 4, with Panels 1 and/or 2 acting as recording destinations.

5.4.1 Simple Bounce

To perform a stereo bounce from Panels 3 and 4 into Panels 1 and 2, do the following:

Edit the audio to be captured and/or processed in Panels 3 and 4.
Select Panels 1 and 2 and arm those Panels for recording. Remember to set or change the desired New Soundfile Parameters if necessary.
If using Multiple EDLs, define the top EDL as ‘Master’ and the bottom EDL as ‘Slave’ from the Master/Slave pull-down menu (labeled ‘None’ by default). This forces both EDLs to play in sync.
If not using multiple EDLs, no definition of Master or Slave is necessary since the tracks are already synced.
Set up the Desk to perform a bounce from Panels 3 and 4 into Panels 1 and 2. Patch the Desks inputs for M3, M4, M3, M4 and the outputs as M1-Out, M2-Out, M3-out, M4-our. Also notice that the monitor mode for Strip 1 and 2 is set for IN or input, while Strips 3 and 4 are set for O or output.
Set up the Master Section as desired by selecting Windows > Meters. Because this bounce is a “round trip,” out of buses 3 and 4, back in 3 and 4, and to disk from buses 1 and 2, both the Desk and the Master Section are in the signal path.
This configuration processes all plug-ins in the path.
Select Panel 1 and start the recording by selecting Play > Record from the main menu, or by clicking the Record button in the Transport Panel. Stop the recording by clicking on the Stop button in the Transport Panel.

Figure 5.9: Panels and Desk prepared for Capture.

Shows 8-channel EDL Desk from soundBlade HD.

Captures can be done manually, starting and stopping at any point of choice. Capturing can also be done from different time areas in Panels 3 and 4 than the time area into which the capturing takes place. This can be done by setting both EDLs to None Master/Slave pull-down menu in the Project window, allowing you to start the recording first, then selecting Panels 3 and 4 and playing back from any location in those Panels.

Also, capturing can be performed using SRPs, allowing for exact time predefined insertion of sound material. To set up a capture using SPRs, first prepare for a normal capture as described above. Then, before initiating the Capture, setup SRPs’ and a necessary selection, then start the capture as if performing a recording using SRPs.

Note that, as bounces include all processing in the entire signal path. Dither may or may not be applied, according to the settings of soundBlade’s preferences and any external processors used. Also, resolution of the recorded bounces can be set to 16 or 24 bits in the New Soundfile Parameters window.

5.5 Recording and time stamps

When recording a sound file in WAV or BWF format, a time stamp is added to the sound file. The time stamp added is the time of the corresponding position in the Panel(s). This allows for the sound files to be placed in the exact original location on the time line in any application that recognizes and is able to handle this feature. In soundBlade, time stamps are honored when sound files are shift–dragged into a Panel.

Chapter 6 The Desk and Meters

6.1 Signal Flow

To provide some perspective on this and later sections, it is useful to look at the signal flow through soundBlade. Figure 6.1 is a simplified block diagram of the internal flow of data through the application as managed by the SSE, the engine that “powers” Sonic Studio products.

Figure 6.1: Flow diagram for soundBlade

Notice that the line inputs apply audio to both the pan matrix and directly to disk. Also notice that Project bounces, exports and DDP deliveries bypass the pan matrix and subsequent signal processing blocks.

6.2 The EDL Desk

soundBlade offers a compact and convenient solution for mixing audio signals from the Panels, the EDL Desk. In addition to level adjustment, routing, panning and monitoring, the Desk offers the possibility to add plug–ins for sound manipulation and modification. The Desk is made visible by selecting the Windows > Desk command.

Figure 6.2: The soundBlade HD Desk. The soundBlade SE desk will only have four channels.

6.2.1 The Desk Components

The Desk resembles a typical “in–line” mixing console, with four “Strips”, one for each output bus. Inputs are either line ins or “Master,” used as “returns” for bouncing and external processing. For outputs, M1 and M2 send signal to the designated physical audio interface and are typically used for monitoring, while M3 and M4 are usually used as dedicated “sends” for bouncing and external processing.

6.2.1.1 The Faders

In the bottom half, faders are provided that control the level of the audio signal sent from the Project’s four Panels and sent to the input of the Desk. To the right of each fader is a Peak Program meter with an overload indicator above it, signalling in red when overloads occur.

Figure 6.3: A fader with gain scale and meter

The fader’s scale ranges from -144 dB to +6 dB. Alongside each scale, three white triangles or “hot spots” provide quick gain changes. Clicking on a hot spot commands a preset gain of, from top to bottom, 0 dB, -6 dB and -144 dB.

Below the fader is a gain call out field where the gain setting of the fader can be manually entered as a numerical value. Additionally, next to the gain call out are plus and minus buttons. Clicking these increases or decreases the gain setting of the fader in 0.1 dB steps. Below the fader gain call out is a text field or “scribble strip,” in which a descriptive label can be entered. To change the contents of the scribble strip, simply click on it and enter the desired text string from the keyboard. Save the new label by hitting the Return key.

By default, all faders work independently. As the primary intended use for soundBlade is stereo editing or four channel work, faders can be conveniently linked in pairs or groups. To do so, hold down the control key and click a fader. A contextual drop down menu appears.

Figure 6.4: Linking faders in groups or pairs via pull-down menu

There are two ways faders can be linked to other faders. First, a fader can be assigned to a “group,” identified by the letters “a” through “h.” To assign a fader to a group, simply select the desired group letter.

Figure 6.5: Fader assigned to fader group, indicated by group letter superimposed on fader.

This method of linking faders allows faders to be linked in any combination. As a result, if one of the linked faders is now moved, all linked faders will move as well with the same velocity, applying the same relative gain changes.

Note that, when linking faders, the relative gain settings of the individual faders are preserved.

Alternatively, faders 1 and 2 and faders 3 and 4 can be quickly linked in pairs. To do so, again hold down the control key and click on one of the faders to be linked. As the drop down menu appears, select “Link Pair.” If either fader 1 or 2 was clicked, fader 1 and 2 will be assigned the first available unused group letter and thus linked. The same applies to faders 3 and 4. To link all faders in pairs simultaneously, choose the plural “Link Pairs” from the drop down menu.

To unlink individual faders from their assigned groups, control click on the fader and select “None” from the drop down menu. To unlink all faders simultaneously, select “Unlink All” from the drop down menu.

Finally, to reset a fader to its default unity gain position, removing it from any group or link, select “Reset Fader” from the drop down menu. To reset and unlink all faders on the Desk, select “Reset All Main Faders” from the drop down menu.

6.2.1.2 Monitor Controls

Directly above the faders are four buttons arranged in a square, the monitor control buttons:

Figure 6.6: The monitor controls

The four buttons replicate the corresponding buttons to the left of each Panels in the Project. When selected, each button will light up in its own color. Otherwise, the buttons remain grey.

The S or “Solo” button provides exclusive monitoring for its associated Strip. Whenever a solo is engaged, all Strips with disabled solo buttons will be muted on output and their associated M or “Mute” button will highlight in yellow. Multiple tracks can be soloed simultaneously.

When engaged directly by the user rather than by the solo function, the Mute buttons turn green. This indicates they will not unmute when an active Solo is disengaged.

Below the solo button is the R or “Record Enable” button. Only tracks that are record enabled will drop into record when recording. When a Strip is record enabled and soundBlade is not in record mode, the Record Enable button highlights green to indicate the track is in record ready or “armed.” Only when Record Mode is engaged will the Record Enable button turn red, signaling a recording in progress on that Strip and corresponding Panel.

Finally, to the right of the R button is M or Monitor button. This button has 3 states:

O or output — During playback with monitor set to Output, the Strip always routes the audio from the corresponding Panel. When playback is paused or stopped, the Strip outputs silence or digital null data. This can be thought of as “repro” mode.
IN or input — During playback with monitor set to Input, the Strip always outputs the selected input signal routed to that Strip, regardless of playback status. See section 6.1.1.3 below for more information on selecting inputs.
A or automatic — During playback with monitor set to the default Auto mode, the Strip outputs the audio from the corresponding Panel. When playback is stopped or when Record Mode is engaged, the Strip outputs switches to sending the audio from the selected input. This can be thought of as “sel–sync” mode.
Note that Automatic only works in the described manner for tracks that are Record Enabled. If not, Auto mode replicates Output mode.

6.2.1.3 Input and output routing, panning

Above the four monitor control buttons are two selectors for input assigns on the top row, and output routing on the bottom row.

Figure 6.7: input and output routing selectors

The input assigns on the top row select the input source for routing through the Strip and Panel. By default, they are assigned line in L1 to L4 for Panels 1 to 4. Alternatively, the output buses of the individual Strips, labeled Master1 through 4, can be assigned to be recorded or bounced as well. The selector can also be set to “None” so no audio will be routed to the input of the corresponding Strip.

Note that the inputs of the Desk are “hard wired” or virtually routed directly to the output of each corresponding Panel.

The output routing on the bottom row controls the destination of each Strip. By default, each Strip is routed to an individual output labeled M1 to M4. Alternatively, outputs can be set to ”none,” disconnecting the Strip from any output bus. To allow for panning, the selector can be set to “Pan,” which routes the Strip output through the pan matrix discussed in section 6.3 below.

6.2.1.4 Inserting plug–ins

At the top of each Strip, eight slots are available for inserting plug–ins. soundBlade supports both VST and AU plug–ins and, either type can be freely intermixed in the slots.

Figure 6.8: Slots for plug–in selection

To insert a plug–in into one of the slots, simply click on the slot button and a drop down menu appears, showing all valid plug–ins available. Then, select the desired plug–in from the list. The plug–in will be inserted in the slot and the selected plug–in will open for manipulation of its parameters.

Figure 6.9: A partial Plug–in List

The slot, with its inserted plug–in, will turn green to indicate the presence of a plug–in. Additionally, the name of the plug–in will appear on the slot’s button. To bypass a plug–in, option–click on a slot. The slot turns red. To deselect a plug–in from any slot, click on the slot and select “off” from the plug–in list.

As with faders, plug–in slots can be linked to stereo pairs or larger groups, effectively linking the controls of the plug–in. Hold down the control key and click on the slot you want to link. The following contextual menu drops down.

Figure 6.10: Contextual menu for linking of plug–ins in the Desk

As with faders, selecting one of the letters assigns a group to the individual slot. This can be used to link multiple plug–ins across all Desk Strips. Also, plug–ins can be linked in pairs. When “Link Pair” is selected from the contextual menu, the adjacent plug–in slot is selected and linked as a pair. If no plug–in was present in the slot selected, and a plug–in was present in the adjacent slot, the plug–in and the current settings are copied to the slot selected and both are linked. To indicate linked slots, the slot buttons are labeled with the corresponding letter.

Figure 6.11: Linked plug–in slots

As with the faders, the Link Pairs option in the contextual menu links the slots in Strips 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, into paired slots. To unlink a single plug–in slot, open the contextual menu and select “None” to unlink the corresponding slot. To unlink all slots simultaneously, select “Unlink All” from the menu.

Notice that the contextual menu also allows you to bypass an individual Strip or group, as option–clicking does, or reset a group or all Strips.

Note that, unlike plug–ins inserted in the master “Meters” section discussed in section 6.4 below, plug–ins added to a Strip always work as monaural plug–ins. Although identical plug–ins can be paired in the Desk, this will not render two paired mono plug–ins into a stereo plug–in. For plug–ins like EQ, the effect may be that two paired mono plug–ins effectively work as a stereo plug–in as the control values of the two plug–ins will be modified together when linked. However, plug–ins that derive a steering signal from the input signal (compressors, expanders) or generally use a stereo input (reverb), will continue to work as two separate mono plug–ins. Only the controls of two paired plug–ins will be linked, not the actual audio path of the plug–ins.

LEARN: Whenever possible, it’s best to use Plug-Ins as Desk Events in soundBlade. See Section 4.6 for more information on Desk Events.

6.3 Desk Setups

Desk “setups,” static snapshots of the Desk’s state, are always saved within a Project. Thus, when opening a previously saved Project, the desk’s state will be restored to the settings when last the Project was saved. Not saved with a Project are two special desk states, called “Desk A” and “Desk B.” These separate desk setups provide two distinct states, for A/B comparison or recording and playback routing. To save the current setup as either Desk A or Desk B, first make sure the Desk is open. Then, select Desk > Save Desk Setup > Save Desk A/B to save the current state. To recall Setup A or B, select Desk > Open Desk Setup> Desk Setup A or Desk Setup B from the main menu.

LEARN: Use Desk Setups to A/B between pre- and post-processing.

Note that desk setups A and B are available in any open Project only during the current run and do not persist across application restarts.

In addition to this, the desk setup, including all plug–in settings and positions, can be saved to a file as well. To do this, select Desk > Save Desk Setup > Save To File. A standard Mac OS save dialog appears, allowing you to enter an appropriate file name and destination directory for the desk setup file.

Note that, by default, soundBlade directs the save file dialog to the ~/Library/Preferences/Sonic Preferences/Defaults directory, in your home directory, as this is the directory where Desk Setup A and B are stored automatically.

Desk setups can be recalled or opened from a stored Desk Setup file. To open a stored Desk Setup file, select Desk > Open Desk Setup> Open from File…, which will bring up a standard Mac OS file browser. Navigate to and select the desired file.

6.4 The Panner

From the output routing selectors, the output of a Strip can be sent to either one of the four output buses available to soundBlade. In addition to this one-to-one routing, output can be panned between any or all of the four outputs by means of the panner. To assign a Strip output to the panner, open the panner by selecting Windows > Panner, which brings up the Panner window.

Figure 6.12: The Panner in 7.1 mode

By default, the panner opens in stereo mode. In the upper left corner, the channel to which the panner currently applies is indicated. As this Track indicator is also a drop down menu, it operates as a Strip selector for the panner as well. In the upper right corner, the Type indicator/menu is visible and offers three options:

Off — In this state, the panner is turned off and the selected Strip is restored to the state it was in before the Strip was routed through the panner.
Stereo — In this state, if either Strip 1 or 2 is set to stereo, the other desk Strip is bus paired to it as a stereo panner. The same behavior applies to Strips 3 and 4.
MultiChannel — In this state,, the panner unfolds to show a circular joystick panner with multichannel buses, each bus indicated by a loudspeaker symbol. Note that the multichannel plus LFE choices in this menu are not operational.

Next to each loudspeaker symbol, an output selector is located. This allows for a completely flexible assignment of outputs from the panner. Any output can be assigned to any panner position. As only one output can be assigned to a single panner position, attempting to patch an already assigned Strip output to another panner output will re–assign that Strip output to the new choice, swapping positions with the Strip output formerly assigned to that output.

To change the panner state, click–hold on the red dot and drag it towards effect the desired output. The output level fields, located next to each loudspeaker symbol, indicates the panner output level in dB and are updated continuously during panner movement. Alternatively, simply click on the location in the Panner circle where you want to place the panner, and the panner moves to it instantly. Additionally, clicking on one of the loudspeaker symbols moves the panner to that position instantly.

At the bottom of the multichannel panner, two call outs and one selector are located. The “Angle” call out at left shows the angular position of the panner on a 360 degree, polar coordinate scale. To manually input the angle of the panner directly as a numerical value, click in the Angle field and enter the desired value, and confirming it by hitting the Enter key.

The Method selector, in the center, should be kept at the default “Standard” setting as the “Soundfield” re–matrixing choice is not yet operational.

The Spread field is an call out showing the extent to which sound is panned across multiple available outputs. Spread varies from 1.00 to 99.9, and is at its maximum when the sound is panned equally to all outputs, with the position indicator is in the center, and equal amplitude appearing on all outputs.

6.5 Meters Window: The Master Section

6.5.1 Overview

In a separate window from the Desk, the “Meters window” provides a Master Section, the final output control for both the Project and Desk. The Master Section window can be opened by selecting the Windows > Meters command.

Figure 6.13: The soundBlade HD Master Section.

The soundBlade SE Master Section has four meters.

6.5.2 Master Fader

The Master Section resembles a master fader section of a typical mixing desk and features a number of elements. Most important of these, at right, is a Master fader.

Figure 6.14: Master Fader of the Master Section

The Master Fader controls output amplitude across all buses. As with the Strip faders discussed in section 6.1.1.1, it has an amplitude scale at the left, with three triangular hot spots for rapid gain setting. Clicking on a hot spots instantly moves the fader to the corresponding preset position.

Below the fader is a gain call out field where the gain setting of the fader can be manually entered as a numerical value. To alter the master fader’s position, a new value can be manually entered in this field and, after confirming the new value with the Enter key, the fader will move to the corresponding position.

Also, at the bottom a “dim” button is found. Clicking the dim button immediately moves the fader to the predefined position of -20 dB, returning to it’s original position when the dim button is disengaged. When the dim button is engaged, it’s label color changes to red to indicate that dim mode is active.

6.5.3 Additional Indicators

Above the master fader are additional useful indicators. The top field represents your interface’s current sample rate. It can be changed via the Audio I/O Preferences window discussed in section 5.2.1 above. The Lock indicator is green when the host system is locked to the indicated clock and yellow when locking is in progress. When red, a proper lock to your selected clock source is not established, a serious situation that cannot be ignored.

Note that this unlocked status indicates that you should determine the cause and rectify the situation before continuing. Damage to your monitoring signal chain and data corruption during recording can result.

The third indicator shows green when dither on output is enabled and grey when dither is disabled. To disable dither, control–click on the “Dither” label, and a contextual menu appears, allowing dither to be enabled or disabled. Dither parameters can be set via soundBlade’s Windows > Preferences > Delivery Tab.

6.5.4 Master Meters

To the left of the Master fader is a section from which the window gets its name, the bus meters. All four output buses have their own individual peak program meter. Above each meter is a field showing the numerical value of the current instantaneous amplitude. When an overload occurs, these boxes turn red. soundBlade considers 3 or more consecutive samples an overload.

Above the scale at left is a small, round, unlabeled button. It selects the peak-hold mode for the meters and numerical call outs, and turns red when enabled. If peak hold mode is engaged and an overload has occurred, the frame surrounding a numerical display turns red. To clear the overload display, for individual channels with peak-hold engaged, click on the indicator and the red surround will disappear.

6.5.5 Master Plug–ins

Above the meters is a small section which contains slots for plug–ins. As with the Strips, plug–ins can be inserted here. An important difference however is that stereo plug–ins in this Master Section work as true, cross–linked stereo plug–ins. For plug–ins such as compressors, limiters and reverbs that require a stereo input for normal operation, the Master Section is the correct place to insert and use them.

To insert a plug–in in any slot, click on the slot and a menu appears. Select the desired plug–in to add it to the slot. To change the settings of a plug–in, right-click on the slot and a contextual menu appears.

Select “Open Plugin” from the menu to open the plug–in for modification. Via the same menu, all or individual plug–ins can be bypassed or reset by selecting the appropriate menu option. To bypass a plug–in, option-clicking on the appropriate slot performs the same task.

Note that, contrary to Strip plug–ins, Master Section plug–ins cannot be linked because only stereo plug–ins should be used.

6.5.6 Details Button

Finally, at the top left of the Master Section are four more buttons. Clicking on the Details button opens or closes the “Meter Details” window.

Figure 6.15: The Meter Details window

The Meter Details window has three rows at the top, with as many columns as you have output buses. The three rows show the current instantaneous values for Peak Power, Peak RMS and VU (Volume Indicator scaling) respectively, for each output bus.

Below the numeric fields is the Meter Scaling adjustment. With the Meter Scaling slider, the scaling of the Master meters can be adjusted to provide more resolution at higher amplitudes or, a very wide range so you can see activity at very low amplitude.

At the bottom of the window is the Meter Ballistics adjustment. This slider adjusts the time constants for the Master meters. However, since there are no hot spots or scale to reset or calibrate this adjustment, it is usually not changed from its default setting.

6.5.7 Clear Button

Next in line to the right is the Clear button. Clicking the Clear button clears the peak values for the numerical level indicators, as well as any overloads indicated.

6.5.8 Reset Button

Next in line to the right is the Clear button. Clicking Reset resets the peak-hold of the meters, as well as any peak-hold value in the Meters Details window discussed above.

6.5.9 Output Button

The last button at the top of the Master Section is the Output button. The Outputs button acts as a source selector for the Master Section, toggling between output and input buses as source for the meters. By default, soundBlade shows outputs M1 to 4 but in input mode, line inputs L1 to L4 can be metered as well. The label below the button indicates the current input source for the meters. In addition to that, when the inputs are selected as source for the meters, the numerical value indicators above the meters have a green background to indicate the different meter mode.

Note that, though the master fader is attached to the Master Section as a whole, its function does not change with the source selector.

6.6 Bounce Examples

Overview

This section combines information from previous sections into basic “recipes,” providing four variations on re-recording or capturing edited sound with processing to a new sound file. The first two examples involve built–in audio while the last covers external or outboard processing , forcing the use of an optional Series 300 I/O Processor or Core Audio device.

One thing you should remember throughout this section: Regardless of source, always record to Panels 1 and 2, the top two Panels of your Project. Keeping that dictum in mind, you should plan your Project layout. Since the resulting audio will be “dropped into” Panels 1 and 2 when recording stops, you may want to place a sync copy of the original or “dry” material, in Panels 3 and 4, to Panels 1 and 2, so the newly processed material will be edited in sync for you when you drop out of record.

To do this, start with a basic two point edit, with both edit points in the Source. Always include “handles” or extra material on either side of the section to be worked on. This assures some latitude when editing in the final piece.

Figure 6.16: Setting up the 2 point edit

Then, an Edit > Replace command will add a copy of the source to the destination. The result should like the figure below, with both source and destination “in sync.”

Figure 6.17: Result of the 2 point edit

Setup 1: Bouncing from source to destination Panels, using Built–In Audio

Now you are ready to capture whatever gain changes and plug–ins are in the bottom Panels of your Project to a new sound file. This bounce pass will also consolidate any edits that may be present. As bouncing from one Panel to another is performed entirely within the host computer system, only “Built–In” Core Audio is required for this action. However, your converter will work as well.

Step 1. Set up your Project, as desired, with any modification necessary.

Figure 6.18: Readying the Project

Notice that the Master and Slave tabs are used. Also, remember that plug–ins in the Desk and Project are monaural or mono-linked and not true stereo. If you want true stereo dynamics processing or reverberation applied across the 2 Mix or stereo mix bus, use Setup 2 below.

Step 2. Set up the Master Section and the Desk with I/O patching as shown below.

Figure 6.19: Set-up of the Desk and master section in soundBlade HD. Concept is the same for
soundBlade SE

If you select the destination segment on which you’re working, you can use the Play > Repeat Play command and get everything set up to taste. Remember to check the Desk and Master Sections carefully as any gain changes, pans, mutes, etc., that you’ve added to either section will affect the bounce.

Note that, in this example, there are no plug–ins in either the Desk or the Master Section. Of course, it is possible to set plug–ins in either or both positions, as the resulting sound file from the bounce will include all processing in the signal path.

Note also that, as in all other situations, true stereo plug–ins should be inserted in the Master Section only since the plug–ins in the Desk are pre–pan matrix. Although they may appear to behave as stereo plug–ins, in fact they will not process the mix bus properly.

Step 3. To execute the bounce, set the Edit Point in the Destination ahead of your punch–in point to afford some pre–roll. Start a play and click the record button in the transport controls. Whatever you are hearing will be captured to the new sound file.

Once you drop out of record and you have cleared the Desk and Project of processing, you should have a Project with the bounced material in the destination, ready for further editing or archiving. The Desk > Open Desk Setup is useful for nulling the Desk, assuming you have saved a default Desk setup.

Setup 2: Bouncing ‘in place’ or back to the same Panel using Built–In Audio

As with Setup 1 above, this setup will bounce back whatever desk events, gain changes and plug–ins are in the Panel, to a sound file in the exact same location as the source to the same Panel. This kind of bounce pass will also consolidate any edits that may be present. In this example we will show how to ‘capture’ audio in the destination Panel back to the same Panel.

Step 1. Set up your Project and Desk, as desired, with any signal modifications necessary.

Step 2. Set the Desk and Master Section to look something like figure 6.20. The example shown is without plug–ins in either section, the green slot 1 in Strip 2 indicating a recently deselected plug–in. Plug–ins could be added as desired…

Figure 6.20: Setting up the Desk and Master Section for a ‘capture in place’

The routing for track 3 and 4 is not essential to this example and can be ignored. Otherwise, make sure the output of track 3 and 4 in the EDL desk are not set to Mix 1 and Mix 2.

Step 3. To execute the bounce, set the Edit Point in the Destination ahead of your punch–in point to afford some pre–roll. Start a play and click the record button in the Transport Controls. Whatever you are hearing will be rerecorded.

Once you drop out of record and you have cleared the Desk and Project of processing, you should have a Project with the bounced material in the destination, ready for further editing or archiving.

Note that bouncing ‘in place’ will only work in the top Panel.

Setup 3: Bouncing through external sound processors using Built–In Audio

Added to or instead of using plug–ins in the Desk and Master Section (or Desk Events), it may be required to process the edited material in one of the Panels with external sound processors. This example focuses on such a scenario, commonly referred to in Classic Sonic parlance as a “Sonic Loop.”

Depending on the type of host computer you are using, it is almost always necessary to add an extra Core Audio device such as a Series 300 DSP I/O Processor to allow soundBlade to output and record sound at a quality matched to the standards of its internal SSE audio engine.

To set up the re–recording loop using external sound processors, first the Audio I/O must be set up properly to send and receive audio at the desired physical outputs. Then, the physical inputs and outputs of the designated Core Audio device must be patched to the correct inputs and outputs of soundBlade. The working of the Audio I/O Preferences window is described in detail in section 5.2.1 above.

For this example, it is assumed that the designated Core Audio device in use sends out through its first four outputs, which are assigned to Mix 1 to Mix 4 in soundBlade. Also, we assume that outputs 3 and 4 of the Core Audio device are patched as send to the external processing chain. The returns from the external processing chain are assigned to inputs L3 and L4 of soundBlade.

To set up the external processing loop, setup your Desk and Master Section as follows:

Figure 6.21: setting up the Desk and Master Section for an external effects loop

Of course, the Project, Desk and Master Section may contain plug–ins, all being re–recorded to the final processed sound file.

After setting up the Core Audio device, Audio I/O Preferences, Desk and Master Section, audio from track 3 and 4 can now be played back and rerecorded in track 1 and 2. During the bounce, the audio being recorded can be monitored at output 1 and 2 as configured in the Audio I/O Preferences.

Special care should be taken towards synchronization when the external loop is constructed via an all-digital signal path. In principal, soundBlade should always be set to use internal sync for all bouncing setups, be it for “Built–In Audio” or an external Core Audio device. When passing audio through an all-digital ‘effects loop’ as described in this example, all external sound processors should be set to sync to the incoming AES signal.

Setup 4: Bouncing through external analog processors using a Model 304

Sonic Studio’s Series 300 DSP I/O Processors provide powerful and high fidelity routing, recording, mixing and processing in compact, FireWire–attached packages. The Model 304 is an eight channel example and is a perfect fit for soundBlade.

This setup outlines the use of a Model 304 as an interface to outboard gear, specifically an analog processing chain. This example uses soundBlade’s M3 and M4 as the send to external processing, and firewire return inputs FW3 and FW4 as the returns . Remember that monaural plug–ins in the Project and Desk and stereo plug–ins in the Master Section will be in the signal path.

Step 2. Set up the Project and the Desk as shown below.

Figure 6.22a: Set-up of the Project in Multiple EDL Mode (Multiple EDLs selected in Preferences).

Figure 6.22a: Set-up of the Project in 4 Track Mode (Multiple EDLs deselected in Preferences).

Figure 6.23: Set-up of an 8-channel Desk in soundBlade HD.

The Set up is the same for soundBlade SE, there are just fewer channel strips in SE.

Notice the Record Ready settings on Strips 1 and 2. Also notice the Monitor settings on those Strips as well. This lets you hear the return from the signal processing chain.

On to soundBlade’s Audio I/O Preferences, which are patched to Line In 3 and 4 for the return from the signal processing chain. That’s why, in Figure 6.23 above, Strips 1 and 2 have FW3 and FW4 as their inputs.

Figure 6.24: Set-up of the Audio I/O

Notice that, in the Audio I/O Preferences, line inputs L3 and L4 have the Model 304’s FW 1 and FW 2 selected. Again, the idea is to send on M3 and 4 (DAW 3 and 4), while returning from external processing to soundBlade on FW returns 3 and 4, leaving M1 and 2 as your dedicated stereo monitor bus.

Once soundBlade is set up, consider your Model 304 and the Sonic Console. Due to the extensive routing and patching capabilities of the Model 304, there are many ways to accomplish the same task. The following information is presented only as a guide, so you can better learn the capabilities of your own Series 300 unit.

NOTE: There is a template for this type of external loop called ‘Sonic Loop’ included with Sonic Console. This set up can be loaded from File>Open Template in Sonic Console.

LEARN: Refer to the Sonic Console User Manual for more specific information regarding using and connecting your Series 300 FireWire Interface.

Step 3. Execute the bounce as in Setup 1. To execute the bounce, set the Edit Point in the Destination ahead of your punch–in point to afford some pre–roll. Start a play and click the record button in the transport controls. Whatever you are hearing will be captured to a new sound file.

Once you drop out of record and you have cleared the Desk and Project of processing, you should have a Project with the bounced material in the destination, ready for further editing or archiving. The Desk > Open Desk Setup is useful for nulling the Desk, assuming you have saved a default Desk setup. Just as the Desk > Open Desk Setup is useful for nulling the Desk, the Sonic Console’s Save Parameters As… command in the Mix/Output Routing tab allows you to quickly null or reset your Model 304.

Chapter 7 Sonic Studio Process

With soundBlade 2.1. the Background Manager has been updated to a new product, Sonic Studio Process. Sonic Studio Process is a stand-alone application that modernizes and improves the features of the former Background Manager with:

Multiple sample rate conversion types: New ‘Sonic HD’ and ‘Classic’
Multiple dithers: ‘Shaped PDF’, ‘Triangular PDF’ and ‘Noise Shaped’
Multiple bit depths: 16 and 24
Multiple anti-aliasing filter types: ‘Gentlest’, ‘Gentle’, ‘Steep’
Multiple file types: AIF, WAV, CAF
Extended file name support: 128 characters

Sonic Studio Process requires a separate iLok license in order to run. If you are a soundBlade LE, SE or HD user prior to April 1 2013, this upgrade is free. Contact support via the Support Portal to obtain a complimentary license. Make sure to include your soundBlade serial number!

Sonic Studio Process has its own User Manual located in the Documentation folder of your soundBlade app.

The Sonic Studio Process User Interface.

soundBlade TV: View the ‘Sonic Studio Process’ tutorial by clicking HERE.

Chapter 8 Menus: SoundBlade HD

For all menus, the keyboard equivalents for all commands are listed in Appendix 1. Also note that the word folder is used to describe disk directories, in keeping with Mac OS tradition. Finally, all edits in soundBlade HD are both instantaneous and non–destructive. The only exception is the File > Save Reversed command, which “renders” or creates a new sound file of the reversed material.

8.1 The soundBlade HD Menu

Figure 8.1: The soundBlade HD menu

8.1.1 About soundBlade HD

Opens a dialog box describing the version and build numbers of your soundBlade HD application. Clicking on the dialog box closes it.

8.1.2 Preferences...

Some of the functions and commands within soundBlade HD can be changed to adhere to your preferred values or behavior. All of these preferences can be adjusted in the Windows > Preference Window. See Section 8.10.9 for more information on setting Preferences.

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8.1.3 Services

The Services menu item provides access to Mac OS X’s system-wide services.

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8.1.4 Hide soundBlade HD

Use the Hide soundBlade HD menu item to hide soundBlade HD and all of its open windows, allowing you access to other programs running in Mac OS X. Clicking on the soundBlade HD icon in your Dock returns soundBlade HD to view

8.1.5 Hide Others

Use the Hide Others menu item to hide all visible applications except soundBlade HD allowing you to focus on soundBlade HD alone. Clicking on any icon in the doc will return that application to view.

8.1.6 Show All

The Show All menu item unhides all running programs in Mac OS X.

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8.1.7 Quit soundBlade HD

Use the Quit soundBlade HD menu item to quit soundBlade HD and close all open documents. You will be prompted to save any unsaved work before soundBlade HD exits.

8.2 The File Menu

Figure 8.2: The File menu

8.2.1 New Project

Selecting New Project from the File menu will open a new, empty Project. Any currently active Projects are unaffected but moved to the background. soundBlade HD allows you to have as many open Projects but, when the application runs out of RAM, it will begin to use virtual memory, significantly slowing down the application.

8.2.2 Open Project

A Project file lets you save your editing work in a set of files, along with most of the editing metadata you’ve added. An additional feature of a Project is that you can save your edit decisions without committing them back to a DDP file set. The Project file saves all segment names, SRPs, marks and edits and, they are all restored upon re–opening that Project.

Selecting File > Open Project brings up a standard Mac OS file browser. Locate the requested Project file and select it to open the Project in a new window.

8.2.3 Open Recent

With this menu, a list of recently opened Projects and sound files is shown. Selecting one of those files will re-open it.

If you hold down the option key prior to accessing this menu command, it divides the resulting list into Project files first and sound files second, with a divider in between. The files appear in the list with the most recently used files at the top, in the order they were opened.

Finally, if you select a sound file from this menu without any target Projects open, soundBlade HD will create a new (default) Project and open the sound file into that Project.

8.2.4 Open Sound File…

This command opens a Mac OS file browser, allowing you to select any sound file recognized by soundBlade HD. This includes AIFF, WAV, AIFC 32 bit floating point files and BWF files along with SD2 or Sound Designer II files with region definitions. See section 8.9.4.1 for more information on importing SD2 files. soundBlade HD is also able to open audio files by dragging and dropping the files into the top Panel of a Project.

8.2.4.1 Opening Broadcast WAV Files

Broadcast WAV or BWF files can contain metadata to document production processes and control how the file is handled during editorial. soundBlade HD will honor BWF time stamps and, all existing BWF metadata is conserved during editing and on export.

To force soundBlade HD to honor an existing time stamp, hold down the shift key when dragging. The sound file will open on the time line at its time stamp. Once a BWF is open, by control-clicking on the segment, a contextual menu provides a Show BWF Meta-Data command to display the metadata contained in the file’s header.

8.2.5 Open Dual Soundfile…

This command opens the Mac OS file browser allowing you to select and open dual or multi-channel mono files into separate panels.

8.2.6 Open DDP Image…

In addition to sound files, soundBlade HD can open DDP file sets. Selecting “Open DDP Image…” from this menu invokes a standard Mac OS browser. To open a DDP file set, select its containing folder and choose “Open” from the browser window. soundBlade HD will open the IMAGE.DAT audio file and metadata into a new Project.

The DDP metadata consists of three files, the DDPID, DDPMS and the DDPPQ or SD files. soundBlade HD parses or reads, then validates these files and adds PQ Marks when the DDP file set is opened.

soundBlade HD can open both consolidated and split DDP file sets. These labels refer to the audio files, with a consolidated file set employing a single audio file while the split file sets has two or more audio files. The consolidated type is far more common and that is the type that soundBlade HD saves.

Note that, if you enter CD Text metadata in the Mark Info window and the CD-Text (TS) check box is selected in the Mark Info window’s PQ Delivery tab, soundBlade HD creates 2 additional files: CDTEXT.BIN and TS, in the DDP file set.

The CDTEXT.BIN file is used by replicators for the addition of CD Text on glass masters for replication. The CDTEXT.BIN is created specifically for DDP 2.0 Image file set compliance. See Figure 8.1.6a

The TS file in the DDP file set is only used by soundBlade HD to add CD Text to CD-Rs created by soundBlade HD. For more information on delivering CD Text to replication, see section A1.5 below. See Figure 8.1.6b

Figure 8.2.6a: Anatomy of a DDP folder with CDTEXT. Note CDTEXT.bin file.

Figure 8.2.6b: Anatomy of a DDP folder without CDTEXT

8.2.7 Make securePlayer…

soundBlade HD can create securePlayer encrypted files. Selecting “Make Secure Player…” from this menu invokes a standard Mac OS browser, allowing you to create a password-protected stand–alone Amarra Player with your DDP content securely embedded in the player.

New Feature: securePlayer now allows you to create encrypted, password-protected 96 kHz DDPs that can be safely delivered electronically to clients for reference and approval.

96 kHz DDPs are for use in securePlayer only and should not be delivered for replication. Only 44.1 kHz 16-bit DDPs are acceptable for replication.

Learn see the Mark Info Window section above for more information on creating a securePlayer deliverable.

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8.2.8 New EDL

This command opens a new EDL into the current Project window. Multiple EDLs must be selected in Preferences for this command to work.

8.2.9 Open EDL...

This command invokes a standard Mac OS browser, allowing you to open previously-saved EDLs. into an open Project. Multiple EDLs must be selected in Preferences for this command to work.

8.2.10 Close EDL

This command closes the currently-selected EDL.

8.2.11 Save EDL As...

This command invokes a standard Mac OS browser, allowing you to save the currently-selected EDL under a different name.

8.2.12 Open Movie...

This command invokes a standard Mac OS browser, allowing you to open QuickTime movies. Movies open into a separate window and can be locked to the EDL from the EDL Master button.

8.2.13 Close Movie...

This command closes the movie window.

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8.2.14 Close Window

This command closes the currently active window. This can be a Project, the Mark Info window or, the Preferences window. Upon closing a Project that contains unsaved changes, soundBlade HD will open a dialog asking for changes to be saved, discarded or offering to cancel the close window operation.

8.2.15 Close Project

This command closes the currently open Project window. Upon closing a Project that contains unsaved changes, soundBlade HD will open a dialog asking for changes to be saved, discarded or offering to cancel the close window operation.

8.2.16 Save Project

This will save the current state of the active Project. It is saved with its current name and path. This command will overwrite any previously saved Project file with that name and path.

8.2.17 Save Project As…

This command lets you save a copy of the active Project under a new file name or different path. soundBlade HD allows you to choose either a destination folder or, you can navigate to an existing folder. If the destination is empty, soundBlade HD simply writes the audio and/or metadata files as directed. If, however, the destination folder is not empty, soundBlade HD alerts you that a potential conflict exists to overwrite files and asks for more direction.

8.2.18 Save As Default Project

This command save the foreground Project as the default document layout when new Projects are created. Since this is a literal “save as,” you should always deploy an empty Project, without any sound files opened into the Project, before you invoke this command.

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8.2.19 Reveal Sound In Finder

This command requires a single selected segment. As the name implies, Reveal Sound In Finder switches context to the Finder and opens a new window with the source sound file highlighted.

8.2.20 Show BWF Meta-Data

This command displays a new window revealing the Originator, Reference, Date, Time, Description and Coding history metadata contained in a Broadcast Wave File. This data can not be modified within this window

8.2.21 Build Waveform…

Files originating from a non–Sonic Studio product includes sample values but do not contain the amplitude-specific metadata needed to draw our very detailed audio time versus amplitude “waveforms.” If you would like to add waveforms while working with your sound files and have unchecked the default Windows > Preferences > EDL > View > Background Waveforms preference, you must select the Build Sound Waveform… command.

First, select the parent sound file by clicking on the segment’s Title Bar. The Title Bar will turn yellow to show that it is selected. Then, select the File > Build Sound Waveform… command.

8.2.22 Export Sound File…

This command exports sound files in either AIFF, WAV, BWF format, in 16 or 24 bit word length, and CAF files in 32 bit format. It exports the audio with amplitude changes from segment gain, plus any Gain Overlay and plug–ins.

Learn soundBlade 2.2 now supports sample-rate conversion and 32-bit CAF file support when using the ‘Export Tracks...’ or ‘Export Sound File...’ commands. This feature creates multiple files at the same time, based on the sample rate and bit depth you select. Supports 44/24 and 44/16 and 48/24. A new folder is created for each conversion, at the Path you define from ‘Set Folder’, and titled ‘44-24’, ‘44-16’ and ‘48-24’.

Since this action does multiple exports at the same time, processing can take a while.

NOTE: Multiple Export uses Sonic HD SRC algorithm and Noise Shaped Dither.

NEW Shortcut ctrl-cmd-E for Export Tracks

Figure 8.2.21: The Export Sound File Dialog Box. Note the sample-rate conversion options.

To use this function, create a selection by either clicking on a segment’s Title Bar or by click–dragging in the top Panel to create a time region selection. Make sure the top two Panels are assigned, on the first two Desk Strips, to M1-Out and M2-Out. Then choose the destination directory with the Set File button. Then, set the file type, word length and speed.

Optionally, you can specify that the newly created material replace the existing. The Edit after Export check box performs a Replace edit, synchronously replacing the material existing prior to the export with consolidated material created from the export function. Once all options are set, clicking on the Export button causes soundBlade HD to “play” the selected region, exporting the audio as it plays. See section 4.9.4 for more information on Replace edits.

Note that playing material at 1x speed will not improve the quality during an export so, it is recommended that, unless real–time playback is needed, you use either the 8x or Max speed setting as it has better temporal resolution. Also, during high speed exports, the time display and Playhead do not operate in real time and audio is not available at the outputs.

8.2.23 Export Tracks…

This command exports sound files in either AIFF, WAV, BWF format, in 16 or 24 bit word length, and CAF files in 32 bit format based on the Start Mark and End Mark It exports the audio between a Start Mark and End Mark as separate tracks, with amplitude changes from segment gain, plus any Gain Overlay or plug–ins.

Figure 8.2.22: The Export Tracks Dialog Box. Note the sample-rate conversion and
ISRC inclusion options.

To use this function, create a selection by either clicking on a segment’s Title Bar or by click–dragging in the top Panel to create a time region selection. Make sure the top two Panels are assigned, on the first two Desk Strips, to M1-Out and M2-Out. Then choose the destination directory with the Set File button. Then, set the file type, word length and speed.

Note that exporting material at 1x speed will not improve the quality during an export so, it is recommended that, unless real–time playback is needed, you use either the 8x or Max speed setting as it has better temporal resolution. Also, during high speed exports, the time display and Playhead do not operate in real time and audio is not available at the outputs.

8.2.24 Save Reversed

This command saves one or more selected segments or regions in reversed time order, creating a new sound file and segment that “plays backwards.” After invoking the command, a Mac OS file browser appears in order to select the location and file name of the new reversed file to be created. After the operation is complete, the reversed material will be edited back into the Project, replacing the original segment(s) or region(s).

Note that this operation may take a lot of time, depending upon your system configuration and the length of the selected file(s) or region, during which time soundBlade HD may appear to be inactive.

8.2.25 System Information

Figure 8.2: The File > System Information submenu

8.2.25.1 Show Console Log

Invoking this command launches the Console utility and opens the log associated with soundBlade HD. Console is the central repository for reports from running processes and applications. While soundBlade HD is running, it outputs information to Console and that information, such as details on installed options, system status and actions undertaken, then appears in the log. Also, at the command of the user, certain information regarding EDLs or Projects can be output to the log as well. See the following sections for more information on user selectable printing to the log file.

8.2.25.2 Print EDL Sound File Paths

This commands outputs a list of all locations of all sound files in use in the current Project. The output is written into the Console Log.

This command is useful if you work in a facility with multiple drives or network–attached storage on which some of your material resides. Printing the explicit path allows you to keep track of the location of all source material, for both documentation and backup.

8.2.25.3 Print Segment Info

This command prints highly detailed information on all segments in the current EDL. The output is written into the Console Log.

8.2.25.4 Print Selected Segment Info Formatted

This command prints user information on the currently selected segment(s). The output is written to the Console Log in the form of a table showing the file name, start and end time, duration and gain in dB.

8.2.25.5 Print Selected Segment Info

This command prints highly detailed information on all selected segments in the current EDL. The output is written into the Console Log.

8.2.25.6 Print SRP Info

This command prints detailed information on all SRPs in the active Panel. The output is written into the Console Log.

8.2.25.7 Write SRP Info to File

This command prints detailed information on all SRPs in the active Panel to a new file. The output is formatted in a table with details on track location, ordinal number, lock status and type, as well as any textual label added to the SRPs. Lock status is indicated by an “L” for locked and a “U” for unlocked. Standard SRPs have a “C” type indication while Sync SRPs, used on other Sonic Studio products, show an “S” type.

SRP files can be opened by dragging them directly onto the desired Panel. If the imported information is from multiple Panels, Destination Panel is treated as the first track in the group.

Note that, though the default name of the file created with this command has a “.srp” suffix, you should manually remove that suffix and replace it with a “.txt” file extension.

8.2.25.8 Send Crash Report

This command is designed to help Sonic Studio to diagnose problem you may be experiencing with your installation. It collects the most recent crash report for soundBlade HD and sends it via your internet connection to Sonic Studio.

8.2.25.9 Print Desk Info

This command outputs all Desk and Output Desk settings to the Console Log.

8.2.25.10 Enable Debugging

This command outputs all Desk and Output Desk settings to the Console Log.

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8.2.25.11 Fast Export EDL As...

Fast Export EDL as exports the contents of an EDL without processing in BWF formats and 16 or 24 bit depths:

1 Select an EDL that includes the audio you want to export. The amount of tracks in the selected edit group determines if the export is mono or stereo. When two tracks are in the current Edit \Group, material from the first two tracks of the group will be exported. If there is only a single track in the current Edit Group, the exported material will be mono.

2 Choose File > System Information > Fast Export EDL as AIFF and choose a file type and bit resolution for the exported files.

3 Choose a destination for the file[s] and click Save. Multiple files are created, based on the Track Start/End PQ marks in the EDL. The Start of Track name info is used to name each file.

Exports selection as a 16 or 24 bit BWF file.

8.2.26 Visit Sonic Studio Website

Selecting Visit Sonic Studio Website... from the File menu launches your default web browser and directs you to www.sonicstudio.com.

8.2.27 Visit Support Portal

Selecting Visit Support Portal... from the File menu launches your default web browser and directs you to http://www.sonicstudio.com/sonic/support/sonic_portal.

Note that your iLok is your soundBlade HD license. If it is lost, stolen or broken, your license is lost and can only be replaced by purchasing a new copy. PACE’s “Zero Downtime” insurance is your best choice for protecting your soundBlade HD license.

8.3 The Edit Menu

Figure 8.3: The Edit menu

8.3.1 Undo (action)

This command reverts the last command executed. For clarification, the Undo command also appends the last action performed to the menu name.

soundBlade HD provide an almost unlimited number of undos. The only limiting factor is the amount of RAM which, when completely used, will force the operating system to use virtual memory. This will slow down the operation of soundBlade HD.

Note that some individual commands actually perform several functions “behind the scenes” though to you, the user, it appears to be only one function. For that reason, you may have to Undo several times to recover a state that was reached with a single user command.

8.3.2 Redo (action)

This command reverts the last undo command, reinstating the last command performed. Additionally, for clarification the Undo command in this menu shows the (last action) undone.

8.3.3 Cut

The Cut command operates on a region within Edit Points as well as selected regions or segments, removing the defined item from the Project and placing it in soundBlade HD’s “Clipboard.” The Clipboard is a temporary memory location reserved by the operating system for each running application.

8.3.4 Copy

The Copy command operates on a region within Edit Points as well as selected regions or segments, copying the defined item from the Project and placing it in soundBlade HD’s Clipboard. Unlike the Cut command, the Copy command leaves the defined item intact instead of deleting it after copying the selection to the Clipboard.

8.3.5 Paste Commands

The Paste command inserts the content of the Clipboard into the Project, replacing, in order of choice, either:

A region within Edit Points
Selected regions or segments
From the Edit Point position

…for the duration of the audio currently on the Clipboard. The inserted content is placed between Crossfades and the Edit Point is moved, for visual reference, to the end of the inserted material.

8.3.5.1 Paste (Replace)

The basic Paste command behaves as one would now expect in the world of Mac OS, with the data in the Clipboard replacing the material in the Panel(s).

8.3.5.2 Paste (Insert)

The basic Paste (Insert) command inserts the data in the Clipboard into the Panel(s), moving the existing audio downstream. No material is lost, it is simply “pushed right,” out of the way on the pasted audio.

8.3.5.3 Paste (Constrained)

Unlike the other three paste variations, the Paste (Constrained) command ignores the Edit point location, selected region or segment, etc. Instead, it pastes the data from the Clipboard into the Panel(s) based on the time stamp or location on the time line from which the copied material originally came. This command is useful for maintaining sync when editing sound for picture.

8.3.5.4 Paste (Overlay)

The fourth variation on the Paste command places the data in the Clipboard into the Panel(s) without moving or removing the existing audio. The new material overlays the old, “lying on top of” the existing material. When you play the result, both old and new are heard together.

Because the segments now occupy the same region of the time line, it is sometimes difficult to select and manipulate these segments. For this special case, the Text view is perfect. It allows you to select, rename, gain adjust or move each individual segment at will.

Because two segments occupy the same region of the time line, it is possible that a triple overlap would occur, when you tell soundBlade HD to paste the material such that three Black Fades touch each other. This is not “legal” and a modal “CheckForTripleOverlap” dialog will pop up. To overcome this prior to a Paste (Overlap), click–drag to select a region that includes the area of interest, then select File > Export Sound File… and select the Edit after Export check box. This will consolidate any existing edits, allowing you to continue with the desired Paste (Overlap) command.

8.3.6 Select/Deselect All

These commands select or deselect all segments or regions in the current Project.

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8.3.7 Delete Selection

If a region or segment is selected, this command will delete the defined item. It will then “slip” or move left any audio after the deleted region or segment, filling in the space formerly occupied by the selected segment or region. A Crossfade is placed to transition across the deletion.

Note that, as with all editing in soundBlade HD, if both an In and Out Point are present, and the Out point is after the In Point, then they take precedents over both selected region and segments.

If only an In Point is present, then the command will not work. Finally, if both an In and Out Point are present, the Out point is after the In Point, and the edit points are inside “Edited Black,” the empty area between segments, then that region defined by the edit points will be deleted and “downstream” audio will be moved left.

8.3.8 Clear Selection

Clear Selection works similarly to the Delete Selection command. The Clear Selection command clears the selected segment, region or area defined by Edit Points, but does not move any other audio on the time line.

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8.3.9 Replace

The Replace command replaces a selection or area between In and Out Points with a selection or Segment from another Panel. If the selection from the “source” Panel is empty or no selection is made as a source, the “destination” will be replaced with digital silence.

The Replace command will replace the contents of the “destination” Panel(s) with exactly the same time length as the selected “source” material. All audio within the selection to be replaced will be discarded and replaced with the “source” material. The replace command joins the audio material before and after the replace with a default crossfade.

8.3.10 Insert

The Insert command works similar to the Replace command. Instead of replacing the audio material in the selection made in the “destination” Panel(s), it inserts the selected “source” material and moves the audio to the right of the insert point with exactly the same time as the source material’s length.

The insert command joins the audio material before and after the insert with a default crossfade.

8.3.11 Replace Left

Like the replace command, Replace left replaces the selection with the source material, only not to the right but to the left of the Edit Point in the “destination” material.

8.3.12 Replace Constrained

Replace constrained replaces the “destination” material with the selected source material at exactly the same time position in the “destination” Panel(s) as the selected “source” material has in it’s own Panel(s)

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8.3.13 Create Crossfade/Create Segment

This command is context sensitive and it’s appearance in the menu will change according to the current Panel’s state. It either creates a new crossfade from the current Cursor’s position when no selection is made, or it creates a new segment at the place of the selection when a selection is made. This command uses crossfade defaults when creating crossfades.

8.3.14 Create Crossfade from In Point/Create Segment from In & Out Point(s)

As with the previous commands, this command is context sensitive and it’s appearance in the menu will change according to the current Panel’s state. It either creates a new crossfade from the current In Points position when no Out Point is seen, or it creates a new segment at the area included by a set In and Out Point. This command uses crossfade defaults when creating crossfades.

8.3.15 Delete Crossfade

The Delete Crossfade command deletes all “frivolous” Crossfades, ones that cause no audible change in the underlying audio, from the selected region. Superfluous Crossfades are usually created with the Create Crossfade command, discussed in the previous section and, after an extensive editing session, the Delete Crossfade command will clear any visual clutter, making it easier to see the operative edits.

8.3.16 Move Segments

The Move Segment command allows the user to move one or more segments to another location on the time line. Selecting this command opens the Move Segments modal dialog, which shows the current position of the Playhead or start of the first selected segment.

Entering a new start time and clicking the Move button causes the head of the first selected segment to move to the new location. All selected segments will also more by the same amount, maintaining their relative position to each other.

Additionally, this dialog offers three extra options. By clicking the Where button, you can load either the current position of the Playhead or the location of extant In point or Out Points, all from a drop down menu. Then, by clicking the Move button, the segment(s) shift to the new location. The SRP button lets you load the current position of any extant SRPs, also from a drop down menu.

The Move button moves the defined item to the location shown in the dialog’s time code address. Clicking the Cancel button leaves the selected segments at their original position.

8.3.17 Segment Gain

This command invokes the Segment Gain dialog. For more detailed information on the Segment Gain dialog, see section 4.4.1.

8.3.18 Reverse Polarity

The Reverse Polarity command inverts the polarity of the selected segment(s) in all selected Panels. Segments with inverted polarity acquire a small, bright red dot in the upper left corner of their Title Bar to visually remind you of their inverted status.

Note that, to change the polarity relationship between a stereo pair, this command must be applied to only one channel of the pair. To do this, change the Edit Target selector of one Panel, located on the left edge of both Panels, from the default stereo setting to mono. To read more about Edit Group Selectors, refer to section 4.6 for more information.

8.3.19 Nudge Segment Left/Right

The Nudge Segment commands move or “nudge” the selected segment(s) left or right, earlier or later respectively, on the time line by a predefined value. The default “Nudge B” value used is defined in the Time Display tab of Preferences window. See section 8.9.7 for more information on the Time Display preferences.

8.3.20 Edit Segment Name

When a segment is selected, choosing the Edit Segment Name command allows the user to edit the name of the segment as it appears in the Title Bar, and in Text Mode view. As with all actions in a Project, changing the Segment name has no effect on the underlying referenced sound file. This command is equivalent to double clicking on the Title Bar to change a segment’s name.

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8.3.21 Sync to Edit Point

The Sync to Edit Point command provides a simple, visual method for sync’ing material in the Source and Destination. If you have similar material in the two Edit Targets but one of them is misaligned in time, you can visually place the Edit Point in what you consider simultaneous events in each Panel. Executing the command will cause the contents of the entire Source Panel to slip on the time line to “line up” the Source Edit Point with the Destination Edit Point, so both are time coincident.

8.3.22 Sync to Matching

When sections of audio in the Source and Destination groups match each other closely, you can use this command to align matching portions of audio in the groups. This match is performed through a numeric auto-correlation function, and can be used to match audio that doesn’t match perfectly but is similar, such as alternate takes of the same performance.

8.3.23 Sync SRP to Wherever…

This command offsets the selected segments in the current Edit Target using the first SRP in the selection as the reference point for the offset.

8.3.24 Sync SRP to In Point

This command offsets the selected segments in the current Edit Group to the In Point in the selected track using the first SRP in the selection as the reference point for the offset.

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8.3.25 Edit Fade Mode

When a selection contains one or more Fades, this command invokes the Edit Fade Mode window. See section 4.2 for a detailed description of Edit Fade Mode.

8.3.26 Loop And Fill

This command repeats the audio contents of the clipboard and fills a selection, repeating the contents of the clipboard as many time as necessary. To invoke Loop and Fill, first copy a selection or segment to the clipboard. Then, make a selection in the desired Panel where the looped audio should appear. Finally, invoke the Loop And Fill command. The selection will be filled with as many times the duration of the contents of the clipboard to match the duration of the selection. The contents of the clipboard will be joined by a default crossfade.

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8.3.27 Editing Auto Tool Override

This commands toggles the Editing Auto Tools state, either enabled or disabled. See section 8.9.6 for more information on the EDL preferences.

8.3.28 Auto Space All Segments/Tracks

The AutoSpace function offers a simple but effective tool to change all pauses between tracks to a pre-defined value. Simply select Edit > AutoSpace all Segments and all segments will be moved on the time line, with equal space between according to the Preference > Editing Tools > AutoSpacing Duration setting.

If you have PQ marks already placed in the Project, the command name changes contextually from Auto Space All Segments to Auto Space All Tracks. See sections 3.8.5 and 4.2.1 above for practical discussions about the autospacing function.

8.4 The EDL Menu

Figure 8.4: The EDL menu

8.4.1 New Tracks

[Multi-Channel Enabled in soundBlade HD Preferences] — The New Tracks command adds up to eight additional Panels to the bottom of the currently active EDL, providing additional tracks with which you can work. New tracks can be added either to the Edit Group to which the currently selected Panel belongs or, to the None Edit Group with the “…In New Edit Groups” choice.

8.4.2 Delete Track

[Multi-Channel Enabled in Preferences] — The Delete Tracks command removes selected Panels from the currently active EDL. soundBlade HD will warn you before deleting Panels. Because the Delete Track command is destructive, you may want to Save As… prior to using this function.

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8.4.3 Show Waveforms

In Waveform mode, the Track shows a representation of the actual sampled waveform. This display is derived from a “reduce file” that is saved automatically with the soundfile.

8.4.4 Show Bar View

In Bar mode, the Track displays as a blank bar. This mode simplifies the display when dealing with large numbers of Tracks.

8.4.5 Show/Hide Text View

The Show/Hide Text View command toggles the display of the selected Panel between Text Mode and Waveform Mode views.

8.4.6 Show/Hide Gain Overlay

This command forces the selected Panel to show or hide the Gain Overlay feature. The Gain Overlay is only visible in Waveform Mode, and is shown as a thin red line superimposed on the waveform display. Projects saved with Gain Overlay will open with Gain Overlay visible upon reopening.

Note that, although Gain Overlay may not be visible, when activated it is always active in the audio output signal path. Only the EDL > Bypass Gain Overlay command will bypass any Gain Overlay functionality. See section 8.4.3 below for more information on the Bypass Gain Overlay command.

8.4.7 Bypass/Enable Gain Overlay

This command bypasses or engages the Gain Overlay function. When in bypass, the Gain Overlay line in the waveform display turns grey and the corresponding Gain Overlay Button(s) on the left side of each Panel turn yellow.

Note that the Bypass/Enable Gain Overlay function can only be selected when Gain Overlay is shown. Option–clicking on a Gain Overlay Button will also bypass the Gain Overlay function.

8.4.8 Show/Hide Desk Events

This command shows or hides plug–ins in the Panels.

8.4.9 Show/Hide Gain Overlay

The Show/Hide Gain Overlay command shows or hides the Gain Overlay in the selected Panel(s).

8.4.10 Bypass Desk Events

When one or more plug–ins are selected, this command disables the selected plug–ins. If no plug–ins are selected, all inserted plug–ins will be bypassed. Selecting this command again re-enables all or the selected plug–ins. See section 4.6 for more detailed information on plug–ins.

Note that enabled or active plug–ins show up as green slots in the Desk Overlay, and that disabled plug–ins show up as red slots.

8.4.11 Create Gain Nodes

With Gain Overlay enabled and a region of the time line selected, this command creates Gain Overlay nodes at the boundaries of the region. To use this function, first click–drag within the waveform display to select a region. Then, select Edit > Create Gain Nodes to add two nodes at the “edges” of the Gain Overlay and the selected region.

Because the Edit Point is really a zero duration selection, it can also be used to create a single gain node with the Create Gain Nodes command. For more detailed information on working with the Gain Overlay, see section 4.5 above.

8.4.12 Select Gain Nodes

This command selects all Gain Nodes contained within the currently selected segment(s) or region. Selected Gain Nodes can then be subject to simultaneous changes such as gain setting, lock state, or deletion.

For more information on working with Gain Overlay mode, see section 4.5 above.

8.4.13 Refresh

The Refresh command redraws the current waveform display for the selected Panel. This command is especially useful after rebuilding the waveform files of one or more segments, to force the waveform display to display the updated information.

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8.4.14 Tiny/Small/Standard/Large/Full Track Size

The Tiny and Small Track Size command re–sizes the selected Panel(s) to a very compact vertical size, allowing you to “pack” more Panels into the same amount of screen real estate.

The Standard and Large Track Size commands resize the selected Panel(s) to standard or large vertical size. Large sized Panels are two times as tall as standard size, offering a better display with larger display or desktop settings. A Large Panel also lists more segments in Text Mode.

The Full Track Size commands resize the selected Panel(s) to full vertical size. Full sized Panels are four times as tall as standard size, offering a better display with larger display or desktop settings. A Full Panel also lists more segments in Text Mode.

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8.4.15 Select/Deselect All Tracks

The Select All Tracks and Deselect All Tracks commands select or deselect all Panels.

8.4.16 Select Next Track

Selects the track below the currently-selected track.

8.4.17 Select Previous Track

Selects the track above the currently-selected track.

8.4.18 Move Track Up/Down

The Move Track commands relocate the selected track into an adjacent Panel, allowing you to better organize the contents of your Project.

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To help you manage large projects with several multi-channel EDLs, soundBlade HD allows you to collapse EDL views, displaying only the tracks that you want to work on or hiding an EDL’s contents entirely.

To display selected tracks within an EDL:

1 COMMAND-Click the name of a Track that you want to display. The name becomes underlined, indicating that it is selected. You can select any number of Track names by COMMAND-clicking them.

2 Select ‘Feature Track’ or click the Track View pop-up (located under the EDL Name Tab) and choose Feature.

The EDL collapses to show only the Featured Tracks. Note: Though they are hidden, collapsed Tracks remain active components of the EDL in every way. So, for example, they will play if you press SPACEBAR. You can also Feature individual Tracks by choosing them by name in the Track View pop-up.

To display all of the tracks in a collapsed EDL:

1 Click anywhere in the EDL to activate it.

2 Press COMMAND+= (EQUAL SIGN) or click the EDL’s Track View pop-up and choose

Expand All. The EDL expands to reveal all of its Tracks.

To hide all of the tracks in an EDL:

1 Click anywhere in the EDL to activate it.

GETTING STARTED

2 Press COMMAND+HYPHEN or click the EDL’s Track View pop-up and choose Collapse All.

The EDL collapses, leaving only the EDL Name Tab and its Track View pop-up visible.

8.4.19 Expand All

The EDL expands to reveal all of its Tracks.

8.4.20 Collapse All

The EDL collapses, leaving only the EDL Name Tab and its Track View pop-up visible.

8.4.21 Feature Tracks

To display selected tracks within an EDL:

1 COMMAND-Click the name of a Track that you want to display. The name becomes underlined, indicating that it is selected. You can select any number of Track names by COMMAND-clicking them.

2 Select ‘Feature Track’ or click the Track View pop-up (located under the EDL Name Tab) and choose Feature.

The EDL collapses to show only the Featured Tracks.

Note: Though they are hidden, collapsed Tracks remain active components of the EDL in every way. So, for example, they will play if you press SPACEBAR. You can also Feature individual Tracks by choosing them by name in the Track View pop-up.

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8.4.22 Select Next/Previous EDL

Selects the next EDL (down) or the previous EDL (up) in a Project:

8.4.23 Move EDL Up/Down

Rearranges the order of EDLs in a Project:

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8.4.24 Auto Set Edit Group Selection

The Auto Set Edit Group Selection command is a toggle between explicit and simplified Edit Group & Target choices as discussed briefly in section 4.10 above. The explicit setting is enabled by the Windows > Preferences > Editing Tools > Edit Group Selection Menu preference. With that preference off, the Panel defaults to a simplified, check box–only mode where the Edit Group is inactive and Edit Target setting are based solely on a check box just to the left of the Edit Target designator.

8.4.25 Set To Next Available Edit Group

[Multichannel standard feature] — This command forces all selected Panels to the next Edit Group (letter) in the sequence, and is useful for configuring a Project for complex editing tasks. This command is applicable only when the Windows > Preferences > Editing Tools > Edit Group Selection Menu preference is enabled.

8.5 The Play Menu

Figure 8.5: The Play menu

8.5.1 From Selection

This command starts playback from the beginning of a selected region. If no region is selected, then playback starts at the Edit Point. If the Edit Point is not available, playback commences at the start of the first segment in the Project. This command is equivalent to tapping the Spacebar on the keyboard. The Play From Selection command will continue to play until either the Spacebar is hit again or the Playhead reaches “midnight” (23:59:59:74).

8.5.2 Selection

This command plays a selected region or segments. Whereas the Play From Selection command mentioned in section 8.5.1 above will continue to play until stopped, the play Selection command stops automatically at the end of the selection.

8.5.3 From Playhead

In normal operation, when you tap the Spacebar to start playback, the Playhead will jump to the Edit Point or, the start of the file if there is no Edit Point, and begin playback. The Play From Playhead command emulates a tape transport, with playback instead starting at the current Playhead location.

8.5.4 Repeat Play

If there is a selected region, the Repeat Play command will repeatedly play the region until stopped. If there is not a selected region, soundBlade HD will repeatedly play the entire Panel. Repeat playback continues until you stop play with the menu command or by hitting the Spacebar.

8.5.5 Stop

This command stops playback and/or recording and is equivalent to tapping the Spacebar during playback or clicking on the Stop button in the Transport Bar.

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8.5.6 Mute Track

This command mutes playback from a track and is equivalent to selecting the “M” button to the left of a Panel.

8.5.7 Solo Track

This command solos a track and is equivalent to selecting the “S” button to the left of a Panel.

8.5.8 Record Arm

This command arms a track to “record ready” state. This command is equivalent to selecting the “R” button to the left of a Panel.

8.5.9 Record

The Record command starts soundBlade HD in recording mode. Tracks armed for recording start recording while other tracks in the same Edit Group/Edit Target will simultaneously perform playback.

For more information on recording, see Chapter 5

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8.5.10 Around Selection Center

This command plays a section of sound centered around a selected region. When you choose Play Around Selection Center, a submenu appears, allowing you to select the length of playback time.

Figure 8.6: Play Around Selection Center submenu

8.5.11 Play from Selection

Like the Play Around Selection Center discussed in section 8.5.6 above, this command requires that you first select a region. Also, this command offers a submenu with duration choices for playback. Unlike Play Around Selection Center, this command begins playback at the left edge of the selection and continues, for the specified duration.

Figure 8.7: Play from Selection

8.5.12 Play to End of Selection

This command is the opposite of the Play from Selection command discussed in section 8.5.7 above, except that playback ends at the trailing edge or right side of a selected region. If there is not a selected region, playback ends at the Edit Point. This command also offers a submenu with a number of choices for the duration of the playback.

Figure 8.8: Play to End of Selection submenu

8.5.13 To In Point

This command plays a section of sound up to the In Point. The duration of playback is preset by the Play Around In Point preference. See section 8.8.5 below for more information on the Time Display preferences.

8.5.14 From In Point

This command plays a section of sound starting at the In Point. The duration of playback is preset by the Play Around In Point preference. See section 8.8.5 below for more information on the Time Display preferences.

8.5.15 To Out Point

This command plays a section of sound up to the Out Point. The duration of playback is preset by the Play Around Out Point preference. See section 8.8.5 below for more information on the Time Display preferences.

8.5.16 From Out Point

This command plays a section of sound starting at the Out Point. The duration of playback is preset by the Play Around Out Point preference. See section 8.8.4 below for more information on the Time Display preferences.

8.5.17 Play Between In & Out Points

This command starts playback at the In Point and continues to the Out Point.

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8.5.18 Move Playhead

This command lets you place the Playhead at a specific location on the time line. When you select this menu item, the Move Playhead modal dialog appears.

Figure 8.9: The Move Playhead dialog

When you enter a new time code address in the Move Playhead dialog and click Move, the Playhead will jump to the new location. Besides manually entering a new location, you can also use the Where button to load the address of the In or Out Point, if present, while the SRP button loads the locations of any existing SRPs. Clicking the Cancel button leaves the Playhead at its original location.

Note that, when the Playhead is visible by disabling the Play > Hide Playhead When Stopped toggle, you can hover the cursor over the Playhead’s location, either in the time line or Panels, the cursor changes shape to a sine wave–with–vertical line. Once in that mode, you can click–drag the Playhead to a new location.