Apple Soundtrack Pro 2 User Manual

Soundtrack Pro 2

User Manual

Apple Inc.

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Note:

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Preface 11 An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Overview of Soundtrack Pro

Using Soundtrack Pro in Your Post-Production Workflow

Notable Features in Soundtrack Pro

Resources for Learning About Soundtrack Pro

About This Soundtrack Pro Onscreen User Manual

Apple Websites

Chapter 1 21 Setting Up Your System

System Considerations

Connecting Equipment

Video and Audio Input and Output Devices

Video and Audio Interfaces

External Audio and Video Monitoring

Example Hardware Setups

Setting Up a System for Stereo Mixing

Setting Up a System for Surround Mixing

Chapter 2 33 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Soundtrack Pro Window Organization

Project Pane

Toolbar

Transport Controls

Timeline

File Editor

Mixer

Multitake Editor

Conform Bin

48 49

Meters Tab

Recording Tab

Browser

Search Tab

Favorites Tab

Video Tab

Project Tab

Details Tab

Effects Tab

Tracks Tab

Actions Tab

Analysis Tab

HUDs

Chapter 3 65 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro

Two Kinds of Projects

Setting Up Your Workspace

Playing Projects

About Changing Values and Timecode Entries

Locating and Adding Audio Files

Previewing Audio Files

Using Undo and Redo

Using Snapping

Reconnecting Media Files

Setting Soundtrack Pro Preferences

Chapter 4 105 Working with Multitrack Projects

10 5

Creating and Opening Multitrack Projects

10 6

Creating a Multitrack Project from Final Cut Pro Clips or Sequences

10 6

Closing Multitrack Projects

10 6

Setting Project Properties

11 0

Setting the Project Length

111

Saving Multitrack Projects

112

Setting Default Locations for Saving Media Files

113

Adding Files to a Multitrack Project

11 4

Viewing and Editing Clip and Track Properties

12 4

Tracks, Busses, Submixes, and the Master Bus

Chapter 5 127 Working in the Timeline

12 7

Working in the Timeline

12 8

Moving Around in the Timeline

13 5

Working with Tracks, Busses, and Submixes in the Timeline

14 7

Selecting Audio Clips in the Timeline

14 9

Selecting the Entire Contents of a Track

15 0

Selecting Partial Contents of One or More Tracks

151

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Audio Clips

15 3

Spotting Clips to the Timeline

Contents

15 4

Moving Clips

15 6

Snapping Clips to Clips on Adjacent Tracks

15 6

Resizing Audio Clips

157

Changing the Offset of an Audio Clip

15 8

Creating Fades and Crossfades in the Timeline

162

Truncating Overlapping Audio Clips

162

Editing Audio Clips in the Multitrack Timeline

164

Using the Timeline Editing Tools

165

Timeline Editing Tools HUD

166

Editing in Place

166

How Clips Are Affected by Media File Editing

166

How Source Audio File Editing Works in a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project

167

Modifying a Clip Without Affecting Its Source Media

168

Using the Multitrack Timeline and the File Editor Together

17 0

Spotting Sound Effects from the File Editor to the Timeline

17 0

Splitting and Joining Audio Clips

174

Editing with the Timeslice Tool

17 9

Using the Lift and Stamp Tools

183

Working with Markers

185

Using Markers with Video

18 8

Working with Tagged and Looping Clips

18 9

Replacing the Source Audio in a Clip

Chapter 6 191 Editing Audio Files

19 3

Audio File Projects

19 3

Editing Audio Files Directly in a Multitrack Project

Editing in Place

19 5 19 5

How Clips Are Affected by Media File Editing

19 6

How Media File Editing Works in a Multitrack Project

19 6

How Source Audio File Editing Works in an Audio File Project

19 7

Modifying a Clip Without Affecting Its Source Media

19 8

Editing Audio Files in the File Editor

19 8

Opening Audio Files in the File Editor Tab

19 9

Playing Audio Files in the File Editor

19 9

Soloing an Audio File in the File Editor

200

Linking the File Editor Selection and the Cycle Region

200

Scrubbing Audio Files

202

Selecting Part of an Audio File

206

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting in the File Editor

207

Zooming In and Out in the File Editor

208

Editing Audio Files Graphically with Waveform Editing Tools

212

Choosing the Sample Units in the File Editor

212

Editing Multichannel Files

Contents

214

Using Frequency Spectrum View

219

Processing Audio Files

230

Working with Actions

236

Analyzing an Audio File

240

Using the File Editor Project View

Chapter 7 251 Using the Multitake Editor

251

About the Multitake Editor

252

What Is ADR?

252

Multitake Clips

252

Creating Multitake Clips

253

Overview of the Multitake Editor

254

Editing in the Multitake Editor

255

Slipping Take Regions

256

Adding and Deleting Takes

256

Renaming Takes

257 Reordering Takes 257 Example: A Multitake Editing Workflow

Chapter 8 261 Basic Mixing in Soundtrack Pro

262 Steps in Mixing 263 Structuring an Audio Post-Production Project 263 What Is a Submix and How Do You Use It? 263 Basic Signal Routing in Soundtrack Pro 266 Example: Mixing a Project with Dialogue, Music, and Effects Submixes 270 Using Sends and Busses 273 Using the Mixer 273 Working with Channel Strips in the Mixer 284 Working with Effects in the Mixer 286 Working with Sends and Busses in the Mixer 288 Setting the Overall Project Volume Level 290 Using the Master Bus 290 Listening to a Temporary Mono Mix 291 Recording Audio in the Mixer 291 Recording Automation in the Mixer 292 Creating Multiple Mixes 292 Things to Keep in Mind While Mixing

Chapter 9 293 Mixing Surround Sound

What Is 5.1 Surround?

293 294 Creating a Surround Project 294 Setting Up for Surround 294 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro for Surround

Contents

298 Surround Speaker Placement 299 Using Surround Panners to Create a Surround Mix 299 The Mini Surround Panner 300 The Surround Panner HUD 303 Surround Panner Automation 303 Modifier Keys for Moving the Puck 304 Surround Metering 306 Surround Mixing Strategies 306 Mixing Surround Files 307 Converting a Stereo Mix to 5.1 Surround 309 Placing Dialogue and Voiceover in a Surround Mix

310 Placing Stereo Music in a Surround Mix 310 Using the Center Channel 310 Using Surround Channels

311 Using Surround Effect Plug-ins

311 Limitations of the LFE Channel 312 Accommodating Stereo Playback 312 Exporting and Delivering 5.1 Surround Projects 312 Mixdowns 313 Project Files

Chapter 10 315 Working with Video in Soundtrack Pro

315 Supported Video File Formats

316 Adding a Video to a Project

317 Playing the Video

320 Viewing Video Details 321 Working with a Video’s Audio 321 Using the Time Display and Time Ruler with Video 322 Scrubbing and Spotting with the Multipoint Video HUD 325 Removing a Video from a Project

Chapter 11 327 Working with Audio Effects

327 Processing Effects and Realtime Effects 330 Working with Effect Presets

331 Audio Effects Included with Soundtrack Pro 343 Working with Realtime Effects 353 Working with Processing Effects

Chapter 12 355 Working with Automation

355 Working with Envelopes 365 Recording Automation Data

Chapter 13 367 Recording Audio in Soundtrack Pro

367 Getting Ready to Record

Contents 7

368 Recording Audio in the Timeline 374 Recording Audio in the Mixer 375 Recording Audio in the File Editor Project View

Chapter 14 377 Creating Podcasts in Soundtrack Pro

378 Podcasting Media Production 379 Using the Podcast Track and Podcast Markers 379 Displaying the Podcast Track and the Details Tab 380 Podcast Marker Information in the Details Tab 381 Adding Markers to a Podcast 384 Adding Images to a Podcast 387 Exporting Podcasts 387 Exporting Audio Podcasts 388 Exporting Video Podcasts 390 Using Post-Export Actions for Podcast Production

Chapter 15 391 Using Control Surfaces with Soundtrack Pro

391 Connecting Control Surfaces 392 Adding and Deleting Control Surfaces 393 Premapped Controls 393 Mapping Commands to Control Surface Buttons 394 Recording Control Surface Automation

Chapter 16 395 Exporting Multitrack Projects

396 About the Export Dialog 397 Exporting and the Cycle Region 397 Exporting a Master Mix

414 Exporting Tracks, Busses, and Submixes Separately

415 Exporting Multiple Mono Files

416 Using Post-Export Actions

418 Using Export Presets

419 Exporting to AAF

419 Saving Multitrack Projects

419 Distributing a Multitrack Project and Its Media Files Together

Chapter 17 421 Using Soundtrack Pro with Other Applications

421 Using Soundtrack Pro with Final Cut Pro 421 About Soundtrack Pro Audio File Projects 422 Methods for Sending Audio from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro 422 Sending Individual Audio Clips from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro 428 About Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Projects 428 Creating Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Projects from Final Cut Pro Clips or Sequences 432 Using Soundtrack Pro with DVD Studio Pro 434 Using Soundtrack Pro with Motion

8 Contents

435 Using Soundtrack Pro with Third-Party Applications 435 Exchanging OMF and AAF Files with Other Applications 437 Exporting Audio Files

Chapter 18 439 Using Conform with Final Cut Pro

439 About Conforming Manually 439 Using Soundtrack Pro Conform

444 Reviewing and Approving the Changes in the Conform Result Project

Appendix A 449 Soundtrack Pro Keyboard Shortcuts

449 General and File 450 Layouts, Tabs, and HUDs

451 Navigating the Timeline 451 Project Playback

452 Cycle Region 453 General Editing 453 Editing Audio Clips in the Timeline 454 Moving Audio Clips and Envelope Points 455 Viewing the Timeline 456 Timeline Tools 456 File Editor Project View Tools and Commands 457 Processing and Editing Audio Files 458 Tracks, Busses, and Submixes 459 Markers 459 Selecting Audio Clips in the Timeline 460 Video Out 460 Recording

461 Using Arrow Keys to Move the Playhead 461 Working with Timeslices

Appendix B 463 Audio Fundamentals

463 What Is Sound? 463 Fundamentals of a Sound Wave 465 Frequency Spectrum of Sounds 467 Measuring Sound Intensity 469 Signal-to-Noise Ratio 470 Headroom and Distortion 470 Dynamic Range and Compression

471 Stereo Audio

473 Digital Audio 474 Sample Rate 474 Bit Depth

Appendix C 477 Working with Professional Video and Audio Equipment

Contents 9

477 About Video Interfaces, Signals, and Connectors 477 Video Interfaces 480 Video Signals and Connectors 485 About Audio Interfaces, Signals, and Connectors 485 Setting Up an Audio Interface 490 Audio Connectors, Cables, and Signal Formats 494 About Balanced Audio Signals 496 Tips for Choosing Speakers and an Amplifier 497 Frequency Response and Dynamic Range 497 Self-Powered Versus Passive Speakers 498 Amplifiers and Signal Levels for Unpowered Speakers 498 Connecting Professional Video Devices 498 Connecting Professional SD Video Devices

501 Connecting Professional Component Analog Video Devices 501 Connecting Consumer Analog Video Devices 501 Connecting Non-DV Devices to a DV Converter

503 Connecting Professional Audio Devices 503 Connecting Professional Digital Audio Devices 503 Connecting Consumer Digital Audio Devices 503 Connecting Professional Analog Audio 504 Synchronizing Equipment with a Blackburst Generator 506 Synchronizing Soundtrack Pro to External Timecode

Appendix D 509 Working with Apogee Hardware in Soundtrack Pro

510 Global Parameters

511 Units Parameters

514 Setup Buttons

Appendix E 515 Solutions to Common Problems and Customer Support

516 Solutions to Common Problems

517 Calling AppleCare Support

Appendix F 519 Using Apple Loops Utility

519 What Is Apple Loops Utility?

520 The Apple Loops Utility Interface 526 Opening Files in Apple Loops Utility 527 Tagging Files in Apple Loops Utility 528 Working With Transients 530 Saving Changes to Files 530 Removing Files From the Assets Drawer

531 Apple Loops Utility Preferences 532 Apple Loops Utility Keyboard Shortcuts

Index 537

10 Contents

An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Soundtrack Pro gives you the tools you need to create high-quality soundtracks for your film and video productions.

Most experienced film and television producers know that “audio is more than half the picture.” The art and techniques of sound recording, dialogue editing, sound effect recording and placement, mixing, and sound design play a substantial role in how audiences perceive the (visual) quality of a film or video.

Soundtrack Pro is designed to serve the art of motion picture sound post-production. Like the other applications in Final Cut Studio, Soundtrack Pro was created for the film and video industry. Soundtrack Pro gives you many specialized tools and powerful features that you can use to create high-quality audio.

Overview of Soundtrack Pro

Soundtrack Pro provides film and video professionals streamlined workflows for editing everything from individual audio files to large multitrack sound projects, including synchronizing audio and video, editing sound in place, working with automatic dialogue replacement (ADR), analyzing and fixing common audio problems like clicks and pops, and creating stereo and surround sound design. Add interoperability with the other applications in Final Cut Studio to this list of features, and you have a professional-quality audio application designed to meet the needs of the most discerning audio editors and mixers.

Preface

Soundtrack Pro features two types of projects: audio file projects and multitrack projects. You use audio file projects to edit individual audio files. This is sometimes known as waveform editing. However, unlike most waveform editing applications, Soundtrack Pro allows you to edit your audio files nondestructively by keeping track of the actions you have performed on your audio file. You can edit down to the file’s individual sample level and perform tasks ranging from audio repair to sound design. You can perform edits nondestructively using actions, which include processing effects and other operations. You can analyze audio files for a range of common audio problems, including clicks and pops, hum, and phase issues, and automatically fix problems that are found.

Multitrack projects look and function similarly to Final Cut Pro projects. You arrange a multitrack project’s audio clips on the tracks in the Timeline. Multitrack projects contain the features you expect from a high-performance and professional-quality audio editor, including features to synchronize audio and video, work with ADR and multitake editing, and automate volume, pan, and other changes over time using envelopes. You can record over multiple channels to the Timeline or the File Editor or to multiple tracks in the Timeline.

Most audio applications focus on multitrack editing or waveform editing, but not both. Furthermore, most waveform editing applications handle media destructively—making permanent changes to your media files. Soundtrack Pro provides the best of both worlds: nondestructive waveform editing while working in a multitrack project.

You can edit audio clips in a variety of ways in the Timeline. You can select, cut, copy, and paste clips; move, resize, transpose, split, and join them; and edit them in other ways. You can also apply any actions to and process menu operations for any clip directly in the Timeline.

You can organize your multitrack project for the final mix by creating busses and submixes, adding realtime effects and actions, and adding surround panning. When you’re ready to mix, you can mix in the Timeline or in the Soundtrack Pro Mixer. The Mixer models a traditional hardware mixing board and includes a channel strip for each track, bus, and submix in the project.

Soundtrack Pro includes a large library of stereo and surround sound effects and music beds that you can use for Foley effects, background ambience, sound effects, and music transitions in your audio and multitrack projects. Soundtrack Pro also includes a generous selection of professional-quality effects plug-ins, like Space Designer and Channel EQ that you can add to tracks, busses, and submixes.

You have numerous options for exporting your project. You can export your mix (or selected tracks, busses, or submixes) in a variety of audio file types including WAVE, AIFF, MP3, AAC, Dolby Digital Professional, and as a QuickTime movie. You can export your mix with Compressor, Apple’s high-performance encoding application. You can also pick from a variety of post-export actions that automatically open the mix in a Final Cut Pro sequence, or export it to Motion, Logic, or Waveburner.

12 Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Using Soundtrack Pro in Your Post-Production Workflow

On its own, Soundtrack Pro is a powerful audio editing application. As part of Final Cut Studio, Soundtrack Pro becomes an integral part of your post-production workflow.

You can easily share media projects between Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro. When you send a sequence from Final Cut Pro, your audio files and a compiled video file arrive in a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project, ready for you to edit. After editing and creating your final mix, you can automatically send a mixdown back to the original Final Cut Pro sequence. The Soundtrack Pro Conform feature allows you to quickly sync up the picture editor’s cut with the sound editor’s version of the same sequence.

Unlike many audio editing applications, Soundtrack Pro was created specifically to produce sound for motion picture audio projects. This means it has many specialized tools and features that simplify and enhance the sound-for-picture editing process.

Here are some examples of how you can use Soundtrack Pro to enhance your motion picture sound editing and mixing experience:

Â To quickly synchronize a sound effect with the picture using the Multipoint Video HUD

For more information, see “Scrubbing and Spotting with the Multipoint Video HUD” on page 322.

Â To edit audio dialogue replacement (ADR) recordings, combine them with

production sound files, and create perfect voiceover narration

For more information, see Chapter 7, “Using the Multitake Editor,” on page 251.

Â With the Soundtrack Pro Conform feature, to quickly merge two versions of the same

sequence: the picture edit (from Final Cut Pro) and the sound edit/mix (from Soundtrack Pro)

For more information, see Chapter 18, “Using Conform with Final Cut Pro,” on page 439.

Â To perfect and clean up individual audio files. You can go straight into a clip’s

waveform to correct a click or pop or add an effect. Soundtrack Pro makes it easy for you to move between editing individual clips and arranging your overall multitrack project for a quick back-and-forth workflow.

To learn more about editing individual audio files, see “Editing Audio Clips in the

Multitrack Timeline” on page 162 and Chapter 6, “Editing Audio Files,” on page 191.

Â To lift effects from one clip and apply them to other clips using lift-and-stamp tools

and the Sound Palette, and to create palettes of sound processing for future use

For more information, see “Using the Lift and Stamp Tools” on page 179.

Â To organize your multitrack project for professional sound effect editing and mixing

For more information, see “Basic Signal Routing in Soundtrack Pro” on page 263 and “Using Sends and Busses” on page 270.

Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro 13

Â To prepare your multitrack project for distribution and final delivery, such as foreign

language versions (for example, to create separate submixes for dialogue, sound effects, and music)

For more information, see “What Is a Submix and How Do You Use It?” on page 263 and “Example: Mixing a Project with Dialogue, Music, and Effects Submixes” on page 266.

Â To use advanced editing techniques and tools in the multitrack Timeline for

streamlined sound editing

For more information, see “Using the Timeline Editing Tools” on page 164, “Moving

Around in the Timeline” on page 128, “Selecting Audio Clips in the Timeline” on

page 147, and “Editing with the Timeslice Tool” on page 174.

Â To create a podcast from a video edited in Final Cut Pro

For more information, see Chapter 14, “Creating Podcasts in Soundtrack Pro,” on page 377 and “Exporting Video Podcasts” on page 388.

Â To create stereo and surround mixes for the same project

For more information, see “Mixing Surround Sound” on page 293 and “Converting a

Stereo Mix to 5.1 Surround” on page 307.

Â To set up your sound-for-picture editing system to display video on an external video

monitor or use Digital Cinema Desktop on the Apple Studio and Apple Cinema Displays

For more information, see “Setting Up a System Using a Video Output Device” on page 30 and “Video Out Preferences” on page 103.

Â To adjust the selection for an action. For example, you may have applied an effect to a

portion of a file, and you might like to move that effect to a different portion of the file.

For more information, see “Selecting Part of an Audio File” on page 202, “Editing with

the Timeslice Tool” on page 174, and “Working with Actions” on page 230.

Â To use the resizable Timecode HUD to display the current project timecode (for a

client sitting across the room)

For more information, see “Timecode HUD” on page 64.

Â With the Frequency Spectrum view and the Frequency Selection tool, to make

selections of frequency ranges as well as copy, paste, delete, and adjust the amplitude of frequency selections

These tools help you visually pinpoint specific frequencies, for example, some noise that you want to remove. For more information, see “Using Frequency Spectrum

View” on page 214.

Â To send a mixdown back to Final Cut Pro automatically

Soundtrack Pro can send a new copy of the Final Cut Pro sequence that looks just like the original sequence but has additional audio tracks that contain your mixdown. For more information, see “Sending a Mixdown Back to Final Cut Pro Automatically” on page 430.

14 Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Â As you drag clips to the Timeline, to separate the channels of stereo and

multichannel clips into individual clips, or combine separate clips into single stereo or multichannel clips

For more information, see “Separating Channels by Option-Dragging” on page 122 and “Combining Separate Clips to Create Multichannel Clips” on page 123.

Â To arrange background music or add FX and Foley in stereo or surround sound

For more information, see Chapter 18, “Using Conform with Final Cut Pro,” on page 439.

Combining these Soundtrack Pro features creates your sound-for-picture project, a balanced sound design that enhances your video or film project using tools that look like and function similarly to the tools you know from using Final Cut Pro.

Notable Features in Soundtrack Pro

Soundtrack Pro provides a powerful set of tools for your motion picture sound editing and mixing projects, including the following features.

Audio editing features:

Â Powerful audio editing: You can edit audio files nondestructively in Soundtrack Pro.

You can edit audio files graphically with sample-accurate precision and process files using actions, which can be reordered and turned on or off individually.

Â Analysis and repair of common audio problems: You can choose which problems to

analyze the file for, then fix the problems detected by analysis either individually or in a single operation. Selected problems are highlighted in the waveform display for easy viewing.

Â Multitake Editor: Use the Multitake Editor to edit multitake and synced audio that is

created by performing multitake recording (such as in automatic dialogue replacement, or ADR).

Â Edit in place: Edit and process a file’s waveform directly in the Timeline and hear the

changes in the context of your whole multitrack project. Simply select a clip in the Timeline and it appears in the File Editor tab below. Any changes you make to the media file are updated in the Timeline immediately.

Â Ability to add professional-quality effects: Soundtrack Pro includes high-quality effects

plug-ins from the Logic Pro effects library that you can use in your projects, including the Space Designer convolution reverb. You can also install third-party effects in the Audio Units plug-in format.

Â Frequency Selection tool and Spectrum View HUD: Use the Frequency Selection tool in

the Frequency Spectrum view to make selections of frequency ranges as well as copy, paste, delete, and adjust the amplitude of frequency selections. The new Spectrum View HUD provides extensive controls.

Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro 15

Â Tape-style scrubbing: The Scrub tool provides detailed scrubbing that realistically

approximates the “rock-the-reels” scrubbing on analog tape decks to help you quickly find a particular sound or event in a long audio file.

Â Multichannel support: You can edit up to 24 channels in a single audio file, and play

back and record up to six channels in a single audio file in the Timeline. Soundtrack Pro 2 supports the following types of multichannel files: AIFF, WAVE, Broadcast Wave, QuickTime, CAF, and single folder/multi-mono file AIFF.

Multitrack project features:

Â Advanced multitrack editing features: Soundtrack Pro includes the ability to lock/unlock,

enable/disable, and color-label clips and tracks in the Timeline; an advanced Timeslice tool for marquee time selections; enhanced marquee clip selection; Final Cut Pro–style J-K-L transport controls; the ability to spot clips from various media tabs to the Timeline; the ability to move clips numerically; blade tools for splitting clips; region markers; and a mode for selecting and moving envelope points with clips.

Â Record and edit automation tools: You can record movements to sliders and other

onscreen controls, play back the automation, and edit it in the Timeline.

Â OMF and AAF support: Soundtrack Pro can use these industry-standard project

interchange formats to import the editing decisions from other video and audio editing applications. You can also export a multitrack project from Soundtrack Pro as an AAF file.

Â Sophisticated export options: You can export an entire project, or selected portions of

it, to a mono, stereo, or multichannel audio file using the following audio file types: AIFF, WAVE, NeXT, Sound Designer II, MP3, AAC/Podcast, and Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3). Soundtrack Pro has a direct link to Compressor, the Final Cut Studio transcoding application, for exporting to numerous other audio and video formats. Other options include a variety of post-export actions, the ability to add your own custom AppleScript actions using the Export dialog, as well as custom export presets.

Â Lift and Stamp tools and the Sound Palette: Soundtrack Pro includes time-saving tools

for applying work you have done on one clip to one or more other clips. Use the Lift tool to copy properties from selected clips. Create a processing template in the Sound Palette that can be applied to other clips with the Stamp tool.

Final Cut Studio workflow features:

Â Send clips: You can send clips from the Final Cut Pro Timeline to Soundtrack Pro and

edit the clips in the File Editor. When you save the clip, it is automatically updated in your Final Cut Pro project. Soundtrack Pro includes similar support for Motion and DVD Studio Pro.

Â Send sequences: You can also send clips or entire sequences to a Soundtrack Pro

multitrack project to complete your final mix, adding additional tracks of sound effects, voiceover, and music. Both stereo and surround sound mixing are supported.

16 Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Â Conform: You can use the Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro to quickly merge two

versions of the same sequence: the picture edit (from Final Cut Pro) and the sound edit/mix (from Soundtrack Pro).

Â Automatic mixdown return: When you export a mixdown of the multitrack project

originally sent from Final Cut Pro, you can choose to open a new copy of the Final Cut Pro sequence that looks just like the original sequence but has additional audio tracks that contain your mixdown.

Mixing features:

Â Advanced mixing capabilities: You can mix multitrack projects in the Mixer, which

displays a virtual mixing console for a project. Using the channel strips in the Mixer, you can adjust levels, mute and solo tracks, and add realtime effects. You can create submixes using busses, and send audio to multiple physical outputs using submixes.

Â Surround editing and mixing: Soundtrack Pro provides an elegant and easy-to-use

toolset for creating and adjusting projects in 5.1 discrete surround audio including surround panning, mixing, and automation; unparalleled flexibility with surround sources; and the ability to easily switch between stereo and surround mixes.

Â Support for control surfaces: In addition to recording movements of onscreen

controls, you can connect a supported control surface and record automation of control surface movements.

Â Synchronized video display: You can add a video to a project and view it in the Video

tab or display the video on an external video monitor. Audio/video synchronization is accurate both onscreen and on the external monitor, up to HD resolutions. You can accurately place audio clips to sync with specific frames or points in time in the video.

Other features:

Â Audio recording capability: You can record audio directly into multiple tracks in the

Soundtrack Pro Timeline, including recording multiple takes.

Â Powerful Inspector tabs: These include the Tracks tab for easily viewing, selecting, and

grouping tracks, busses, and submixes, and the Bin, a hierarchical display of information about all open projects.

Â HUDs: Heads-up displays (HUDs) are semi-transparent floating windows with

controls and displays that you can use to accomplish specific tasks. The HUDs include the Fade Selector HUD for quickly applying and adjusting fades and crossfades, the Multipoint Video HUD for providing visual context when you are positioning audio clips in a video-based project, and the Timecode HUD, which displays the current project timecode.

Â Podcasting: With Soundtrack Pro, audio creators can quickly and easily produce extremely

high-quality audio and video podcasts directly from their Soundtrack Pro projects.

Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro 17

Resources for Learning About Soundtrack Pro

This manual describes the Soundtrack Pro interface, commands, and menus, and gives step-by-step instructions for creating Soundtrack Pro projects and for accomplishing specific tasks. It also includes information on setting up your system and on audio basics. It is designed to provide the information you need to get up to speed quickly so you can take full advantage of the intuitive interface and powerful features of Soundtrack Pro.

If you want to start by learning how to set up audio hardware to use with Soundtrack Pro, read Chapter 1, “Setting Up Your System,” on page 21. If you want to learn about the features and controls in the Soundtrack Pro interface, read Chapter 2, “The Soundtrack Pro Interface,” on page 33. If you want to jump right in and start using the application, skip ahead to Chapter 3, “Setting Up Soundtrack Pro,” on page 65. If you want to read about editing audio files, turn to Chapter 6, “Editing Audio Files,” on page 191. If you want to start using the multitrack Timeline, read Chapter 5, “Working in

the Timeline,” on page 127.

Soundtrack Pro provides several different sources of support.

About This Soundtrack Pro Onscreen User Manual

The Soundtrack Pro onscreen user manual allows you to access information directly onscreen while you’re working in Soundtrack Pro. To view this information, choose Help > Soundtrack Pro User Manual. The Soundtrack Pro onscreen user manual is a fully hyperlinked version of the Soundtrack Pro User Manual, enhanced with many features that make locating information quick and easy.

Â The homepage provides quick access to various features, including Release Notes,

the index, and the Soundtrack Pro website.

Â A comprehensive bookmark list allows you to quickly choose what you want to see

and takes you there as soon as you click the link.

In addition to these navigational tools, the Soundtrack Pro onscreen user manual gives you other means to locate information quickly:

Â All cross-references in the text are linked. You can click any cross-reference and jump

immediately to that location. Then, you can use the Preview Back button to return to where you were before you clicked the cross-reference.

Â The table of contents and index are also linked. If you click an entry in either of these

sections, you jump directly to that section of the user manual.

Â You can also use the Find dialog to search the text for specific words or a phrase.

18 Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

Apple Websites

There are a variety of Apple websites that you can visit to find additional information.

Soundtrack Pro Website

For general information and updates, as well as the latest news on Soundtrack Pro, go to:

Â http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/soundtrackpro

Apple Service and Support Website

Go here for software updates and answers to the most frequently asked questions for all Apple products, including Soundtrack Pro. You’ll also have access to product specifications, reference documentation, and Apple and third-party product technical articles.

To access the Apple Service and Support webpage, go to:

Â http://www.apple.com/support

To access the Soundtrack Pro support webpage, go to:

Â http://www.apple.com/support/soundtrackpro

To access the Soundtrack Pro discussion webpage, go to:

Â http://discussions.info.apple.com

Other Apple Websites

Start at the Apple homepage to find the latest and greatest information about Apple products:

Â http://www.apple.com

QuickTime is industry-standard technology for handling video, sound, animation, graphics, text, music, and 360-degree virtual reality (VR) scenes. QuickTime provides a high level of performance, compatibility, and quality for delivering digital video. Go to the QuickTime website for information on the types of media supported, a tour of the QuickTime interface, specifications, and more:

Â http://www.apple.com/quicktime

FireWire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, which makes it great for use with multimedia peripherals, such as video camcorders and the latest high-speed hard disk drives. Visit this website for information about FireWire technology and available third-party FireWire products:

Â http://www.apple.com/firewire

Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro 19

For information about seminars, events, and third-party tools used in web publishing, design and print, music and audio, desktop movies, digital imaging, and the media arts, go to:

Â http://www.apple.com/pro

For resources, stories, and information about projects developed by users in education using Apple software, including Soundtrack Pro, go to:

Â http://www.apple.com/education

Go to the Apple Store to buy software, hardware, and accessories direct from Apple and to find special promotions and deals that include third-party hardware and software products:

Â http://www.apple.com/store

20 Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack Pro

1 Setting Up Your System

The way you set up your system depends on the audio equipment you plan to use.

You can use your computer’s speaker or headphone jack to monitor the audio output from Soundtrack Pro. For better results, you may want to connect external monitors or speakers to your system, so that you can monitor the audio output at a higher level of quality. You may want to connect other external audio equipment such as an audio interface or a mixer, particularly if you plan to record your own audio in Soundtrack Pro.

Â For information on system and hardware requirements, see the Read Before You

Install document on the installation DVD.

Â For information on installing the software, see the Installing Your Software booklet.

System Considerations

To achieve the most effective results, you should consider the following issues when setting up your system.

Processor Speed and RAM

Digital audio files require intensive processing by your computer. If you plan to work on longer or more complex projects, or use multiple effects plug-ins in your projects, a computer with a faster processor can facilitate your productivity.

Soundtrack Pro is optimized for use with computers that have a multiprocessor architecture. Working with Soundtrack Pro projects on a multiprocessor-equipped computer can make your workflow more efficient, especially when creating longer or more complex projects.

If you plan to work on large projects, it’s useful to have extra random-access memory, or RAM, installed in your computer. Additional RAM allows you to play back more files simultaneously, use a greater number of effects plug-ins, and keep several multimedia applications open at the same time.

Hard Disks

It’s also a good idea to have a large hard disk with plenty of available space to store the media (audio and video) files you use with Soundtrack Pro. As you work with the application, you’ll likely want to acquire a large collection of sounds to use in your Soundtrack Pro projects. Hard disk performance is a critical aspect of your editing system: the storage capacity and data rate of your disks must match or exceed the requirements of the audio (and video) formats you are using.

If you store media files on an external hard disk, make sure the disk has a fast enough seek time and a high enough sustained data transfer rate for use with video and audio files. Consult the manufacturer’s specifications.

Dedicated Hard Disk

Every minute of stereo digital audio (recorded using a 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16-bit depth) requires roughly 10 MB of hard disk space. If you plan to record large amounts of audio in Soundtrack Pro, you may want to record to a hard disk dedicated to storage for your Soundtrack Pro projects.

Setting the Audio Input and Output

You can set the default input and output devices for Soundtrack Pro with the Audio MIDI Setup utility.

To select a default output device:

1 Double-click Audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder.

2 Choose the device from the Default Output pop-up menu.

Note: Optionally, you can choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Sound, then click Output. Select the audio interface in the list that appears.

To select a default input device:

1 Double-click Audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder.

2 Choose the device from the Default Input pop-up menu.

Note: Optionally, you can choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Sound, then click Input. Select the audio interface in the list that appears.

22 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

Audio MIDI Setup

The Audio MIDI Setup utility is a program that comes with the Mac OS X for adjusting a computer’s audio input and output settings and managing MIDI devices. You can select audio channel input and output devices, configure output speakers, set clock rates, and control levels. You may also be able to open a configuration utility provided by your audio device.

For more information, go to:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreaudio

Adding Audio Units Plug-ins to Your Computer

Soundtrack Pro includes an extensive set of professional-quality effects plug-ins. Soundtrack Pro uses effects in the Audio Units plug-in format, the native plug-in format of Mac OS X.

Audio Units plug-ins are also available from third-party manufacturers. When adding third-party effects to your computer, be sure to read the documentation, including any Read Me and installation files, that came with the plug-in. Supported Audio Units effects plug-ins appear in the Effects window under the manufacturer’s name.

Soundtrack Pro does not support VST, ASIO, MAS, or RTAS effects plug-ins.

Connecting Equipment

You can use a variety of audio equipment with Soundtrack Pro for both recording and playback. For information on connecting a specific piece of equipment to your computer, read the documentation that came with the equipment.

Final Cut Studio editing systems can be configured to meet the most demanding professional requirements. An advanced editing system can be built by expanding the basic system described in the Final Cut Pro User Manual. The following list includes equipment commonly used in Final Cut Studio editing systems:

Â Macintosh computer with Final Cut Studio installed: The core of your editing system

Â Professional video and audio devices: For capturing footage and outputting finished

projects. (For more information about video and audio devices, see Appendix C, “Working with Professional Video and Audio Equipment,” on page 477.)

Â External video and audio monitors: For viewing and listening to your program in its

final image and audio quality

Â Video and audio interfaces: For connecting professional and non-FireWire devices to

your editing system

Â RS-422 serial device control interfaces: For remote device control during capture

and output

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System 23

Â Video, audio, and remote device control cables: For separate video, audio, and remote

device control connections. Unlike a basic DV editing system that uses a solitary FireWire cable to transfer video, audio, and remote control signals, many professional configurations require separate cables for each of these signals.

Â Additional scratch disks: One or more internal or external hard disks, a RAID, or a

connection to a storage area network (SAN)

Â Control surfaces: Hardware controls that let you mix and edit your projects with

greater flexibility and precision than using a mouse to move onscreen controls

Video and Audio Input and Output Devices

An input device is used to transfer footage into your computer. For output, you record your finished movie to an output device. Basic editing systems use a DV camcorder or deck as both an input and output device. Professional editing systems may use multiple video decks to capture and output to different video formats. While Soundtrack Pro does not support video capture from devices such as camcorders or VTRs, it does support recording from a variety of digital audio devices.

To connect non-FireWire devices to your computer, you also need a third-party video or audio interface. For more information, see “About Video Interfaces, Signals, and

Connectors” on page 477.

Video Device

This is a VTR or camcorder you connect to your computer to capture and output media. The connectors and signal format on your video device determine what kind of video interface your computer needs to connect to your device.

Audio Device

This is a device, such as a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder or multitrack audio recorder, that lets you capture or output audio independently from video.

Note: When using external audio devices, it’s a good idea to connect them before opening Soundtrack Pro.

24 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

Video and Audio Interfaces

An interface is a device that adds physical video or audio connectors to your computer so that you can connect your Final Cut Studio system to other professional equipment (such as video or audio decks and monitors).

Interfaces provide input and output connectors that aren’t included with your computer. For example, if you want to output multiple audio channels to an analog audio mixer or digital multitrack, you need an audio interface that has XLR, 1/4” tip-ring-sleeve (TRS), AES/EBU, or ADAT Lightpipe output connectors.

You may also want to consider adding a third-party interface to your system if:

Â You need to capture or output many audio channels at once

Â You are integrating Final Cut Studio into a professional broadcast environment that

requires SDI, HD-SDI, or other non-FireWire video and audio connections

Â You need to capture, edit, and output full-resolution, uncompressed video signals

instead of DV video (which is compressed)

Â You are digitizing video from an older analog VTR (such as a Betacam SP deck) that

does not have digital video outputs or remote control via FireWire

Third-party video and audio interfaces can be installed in one of your computer’s PCI slots, connected to the USB port, or connected via FireWire.

For more information about selecting and connecting an audio interface for use with Soundtrack Pro, see “Setting Up an Audio Interface” on page 485.

External Audio and Video Monitoring

In the final stages of post-production, external video and audio monitors are essential to ensure the quality of your movie. Editing systems focused on these final phases of post-production are often called finishing systems.

External Audio Speakers and Monitors

You can play back audio through your computer’s speakers or headphone jack, but the audio output may not be high enough for you to evaluate your music at a professional level of quality. Connecting external speakers or monitors to your system allows you to hear the audio output with greater fidelity and a wider dynamic range. During the final mix, it is important to monitor your audio so that it matches the listening environment where the final project will be shown. For detailed information on connecting external speakers to your audio interface, see the documentation that came with the speakers.

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System 25

Setting Up a Proper Audio Monitoring Environment

Room shape and material are just as important as the quality of the speakers themselves. Every surface in a room potentially reflects sound, and these reflections mix together with the sound originating from the speakers. Rooms with parallel walls can create standing waves, which are mostly low-frequency sound waves that reinforce and cancel each other as they bounce back and forth.

Standing waves cause some frequencies to be emphasized or attenuated more than others, depending on your listening position. When you mix in a room that creates standing waves, you may adjust certain frequencies more than necessary. However, you may not notice until you play back your audio in a different listening environment, in which those frequencies may sound overbearing or nonexistent.

∏ Tip: A much cheaper alternative to building new walls is to mount angled pieces of

material to the existing walls to eliminate parallel surfaces.

If the material in a room is very reflective, the room sounds “brighter” because high frequencies are easily reflected. Mounting absorbing material (such as acoustic foam) on the walls can reduce the brightness of a room. A “dead room” is one that has very little reflection (or reverberation). Try to cover any reflective surfaces in your monitoring environment.

Amplifiers

If you are recording audio from microphones and are not running the microphone’s signal through a mixer with a microphone pre-amplifier, you need to connect an amplifier to boost the microphone’s signal before sending it to the computer. If you are connecting monitors or speakers that are not self-powered, you also need to connect them through an amplifier.

Mixers

Connecting a mixer to your system allows you to record audio from multiple microphones or instruments simultaneously, to play back the output from your computer through connected monitors or speakers, and to control the volume levels of both the audio input and output. Professional-quality mixers have a number of additional features, including equalization (EQ) controls, auxiliary sends and returns for adding external effects, and separate monitor and mix level controls. Mixers may also include inboard pre-amplification for microphones, making the use of a separate amplifier unnecessary.

Control Surfaces

Soundtrack Pro supports control surfaces that use the Mackie Control and Logic Control protocols. For information on connecting and using control surfaces, see Chapter 15, “Using Control Surfaces with Soundtrack Pro,” on page 391.

26 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

External Video Monitors

When you design and edit a video soundtrack, it’s ideal to watch the video on a monitor similar to the one you will use for the final screening. An external video monitor can display color, frame rate, and interlaced scanning more accurately than your computer display. (For information on connecting professional video devices, see “Connecting Professional Video Devices” on page 498.)

If you are working on an NTSC or a PAL project, you should watch it on an external video monitor that shows the video interlaced. For more information about external video monitoring, see the Final Cut Pro User Manual.

Example Hardware Setups

The following sections provide several examples of different hardware setups.

Setting Up a System Using Powered Speakers

With this setup, you can monitor the audio output through a set of connected powered speakers.

This setup uses the following equipment:

Â Your computer and display

Â A set of powered speakers, including speaker wire and a power adaptor

Speakers

Power cables

Speaker cables

Computer

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System 27

Setting Up a System Using a USB Audio Interface

With this setup, you can record audio input from microphones and musical instruments, and monitor audio output, through a USB audio interface.

This setup uses the following equipment:

Â Your computer and display

Â USB audio interface (from 2 to 8 channels) with USB cable to connect to your computer

Â Microphone

Â Musical instruments (guitar, bass, and keyboard)

Â Cables to connect microphones and instruments to the audio interface

Â Set of monitors or speakers

Monitors

Microphone

Power cables

USB

cable

Speaker

cables

Computer

Audio interface

Instrument

28 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

Setting Up a System Using a FireWire Interface and a Control Surface

With this setup, you can record audio input from several sources simultaneously and monitor audio output channels independently, through a mixer connected to a FireWire audio interface.

This setup uses the following equipment:

Â Your computer and display

Â FireWire audio interface with FireWire cable to connect to your computer

Â Control surface and MIDI interface with USB cable to connect MIDI interface to

your computer

Â MIDI cables to connect control surface to MIDI interface

Â Set of powered monitors or speakers

Â Speaker cables

Monitors

Power cables

Audio interface

Computer

FireWire

cable

Speaker cables

Midi interface

Control surface

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System 29

Setting Up a System Using a Video Output Device

With this setup, you can play video and audio through an external video output device. Because using a video output device can result in increased latency, you may want to combine this setup with an audio-only setup (as shown in the preceding pages), and switch between the two setups.

This setup uses the following equipment:

Â Your computer and display

Â Video output device (FireWire device or PCI card)

Â High-quality video monitor

Â Audio monitors

Computer

FireWire

cable

Video monitor

Video output device

Audio monitors

Speaker

cables

Mixer

30 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

(

Setting Up a System Using a PCI Video Interface Card with Breakout Box

Many PCI cards aren’t big enough to fit all of the necessary video and audio connectors. In these situations, a breakout box is connected to the PCI card via a multipin connector on a long cable, and the connectors are accessible on the breakout box instead of on the back of the PCI card. A breakout box is also useful because it allows you to place the connectors somewhere more convenient than the back of your computer, such as on an equipment rack or a desktop.

This setup uses the following equipment:

Â Your computer and display

Â Video interface (PCI card with breakout box)

Â High-quality video monitor

Â Audio speakers

BNC connector

Computer

with PCI card)

Breakout box

Analog or digital VTR

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System 31

Setting Up a System for Stereo Mixing

By default, Soundtrack Pro is set up for stereo mixing.

Stereo Speaker Placement and Listening Position

Most video editing suites use nearfield monitors, which are speakers designed to be listened to at fairly close range. Speakers should be at least a foot or two away from any walls to prevent early reflections of sound that combine with and muddy the original sound.

Position the speakers as far from your listening position as they are from each other (forming an equilateral triangle). For example, if the distance between the speakers is six feet, you should place yourself six feet from each speaker. The apparent width of the sound stage, or stereo image, increases as the distance between the speakers increases. However, if the two speakers get too far apart, sound information appearing in the center (between both speakers) starts to disappear.

Setting Up a System for Surround Mixing

For complete instructions on setting up the surround mixing tools in Soundtrack Pro, see “Setting Up for Surround” on page 294.

32 Chapter 1 Setting Up Your System

Video tab

Details tab

2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

In Soundtrack Pro, you work in multiple windows and tabs that you can arrange to suit your workflow.

Standard layout

Toolbar

Meters tab

Browser tab

Mixer tab

Soundtrack Pro is designed to handle every aspect of creating audio for a video or film project, from multitrack recording to advanced audio processing and mixing. You can use Soundtrack Pro together with Final Cut Pro as a complete audio post-production solution that is powerful, yet also elegant and flexible.

Transport controls

Soundtrack Pro Window Organization

The Soundtrack Pro window is arranged into several areas: the project pane and three surrounding panes: the left pane, the lower pane, and the right pane. The project pane is reserved as the central “canvas” for the multitrack Timeline and for individual audio file projects. Use the transport controls at the bottom of the window to play back projects that you open in the project pane. Task-specific tabs are docked in the left, lower, and right panes. By default, the tabs are grouped by function and are laid out for a streamlined audio post-production workflow. Nonetheless, you can easily rearrange the tabs and resize the panes to suit your needs and then save the custom layouts for future use.

Project pane

Left pane

Lower pane

Transport controls (project pane)

Right pane

Showing and Hiding the Panes

The tabs are grouped by function to optimize your workflow. For example, the media I O-related tabs (Meters, Recording, Search, Browser, and Favorites) are located in the right pane by default. When you are finished with media input, you can close the entire right pane by choosing Window > Toggle Right Pane, and thereby allow more horizontal space for the project pane and the lower pane.

34 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Or, for example, you may wish to work exclusively in the Timeline or the File Editor project view and dedicate the entire Soundtrack Pro window to that view.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 35

Because hiding and showing different panes of the Soundtrack Pro window is so convenient, you will probably use this feature frequently during the course of a project. Here are the keyboard shortcuts for hiding and showing the various panes.

Pane Keyboard Shortcut

Left pane

control A

The Meters, Search,

and Browser tabs have

been moved from the

right pane and docked

in the left pane.

Lower pane

Right pane

control S

control D

Rearranging Tabs

At any time, you can rearrange the layout by tearing off individual tabs and docking them in other panes, or simply have them float over the Soundtrack Pro window. There are numerous possible combinations. Mix and match the tabs to suit your particular workflow needs.

Note: At any time, you can revert to the default layout by choosing Window > Layouts > Standard, or pressing F1. Also, you can save any custom layouts you create. For more information on managing layouts, see “Using Project Layouts” on page 68.

36 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Project Pane

The project pane is the central “canvas” where you work on your projects in either the multitrack Timeline or the File Editor project view. Use the Timeline (shown below) to arrange audio clips in multitrack projects. Use the File Editor project view for individual audio file projects.

Tabs

Monitor Volume slider

Mono Mix button

Toolbar

Playhead Location

value slider

Transport controls

Selection Length value slider

Â Toolbar: Includes tools for common functions. You can customize which tools appear

in the Toolbar.

Â Tabs: You can switch between any projects open in the Timeline or File Editor

project view.

Â Transport controls: Control playback and the position of the playhead, and turn

recording on or off. (For more information, see “Transport Controls” on page 38.)

Â Monitor Volume slider: Adjusts the overall monitor volume when you play the project.

The volume level defaults to 0 dB when you create a project. Adjusting the Monitor Volume slider does not affect the mix signal or the export volume.

Â Mono Mix button: Click to listen to a temporary mono mix of the project.

Â Playhead Location value slider: Displays the current playhead position. You can move

the playhead by clicking the arrows, dragging, or typing a value.

Â Selection Length value slider: Displays the length of the current Timeslice (in the

Timeline) or selection (in the File Editor). You can change the Timeslice or selection length by clicking the arrows, dragging, or typing a value.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 37

Toolbar

The Toolbar is located at the top of the Soundtrack Pro window. When you first open Soundtrack Pro, the Toolbar includes buttons for creating a new project, creating a new audio file, creating a new track, and other common functions. You can customize the Toolbar, adding buttons for functions you want to access frequently. For information about customizing the Toolbar, see “Customizing the Toolbar” on page 69.

Transport Controls

You use the transport controls to control playback, set the position of the playhead, start recording, and activate the cycle region.

Play from

Record

Beginning

Go to End

Playhead Location

value slider

Selection Length value slider

Go to Beginning

Play

Cycle

MIDI Sync

Â Playhead Location value slider: Displays the current playhead position. You can move

the playhead by clicking the arrows, dragging, or typing a value.

Â Record button: Starts and stops the recording process, and arms tracks for recording

when no tracks are pre-armed.

Â Play from Beginning button: Starts playback from the beginning of the project.

Â Go to Beginning button: Moves the playhead to the beginning of the project or to the

beginning of the cycle region if it is active.

Â Play/Pause button: Starts playback at the current playhead position. If the project is

playing, stops playback.

Â Go to End button: Moves the playhead to the end of the project or to the end of the

cycle region if it is active.

Â Cycle button: Activates the cycle region, if one is set in the Time ruler. If no cycle

region is set, loops the project.

Â MIDI Sync button: Synchronizes playback with incoming MIDI Clock and MIDI

Timecode (MTC) signals.

38 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Previous and Next

Selection buttons

Timeline editing tools

Â Selection Length value slider: Displays the length of the current Timeslice (in the

Timeline) or selection (in the File Editor). You can change the Timeslice or selection length by clicking the arrows, dragging, or typing a value.

For information on using the transport controls, see “Controlling Playback with the

Transport Controls” on page 77.

Timeline

The Timeline gives you a visual representation of a multitrack project, showing the position of clips, the playhead, and other items in time. The Timeline is organized into three groups of horizontal rows called tracks, busses, and submixes, as well as a video track, a podcast track, and a Master bus. You can add and arrange audio clips in the audio tracks, use sends to create auxiliary busses, and route audio to physical output channels using submixes. You can control the sound of each audio track, bus, and submix using the controls in its header.

Automation Mode

pop-up menu

Project controls

Global Timeline view

Show pop-up menu

Time display

Track headers

Audio tracks, busses, and

submixes

Timeline controls

Time ruler

Track area

Scroll bar

Â Previous and Next Selection buttons: Move backward and forward through Timeslice

selections you’ve made in the waveform display.

Â Timeline editing tools: Select items using the Selection (arrow) tool, make time-based

selections with the Timeslice tool, split audio clips using the Blade and Blade All tools, copy and paste attributes with the Lift and Stamp tools, and scrub the Timeline with the Scrub tool. For more information, see “Using the Timeline Editing Tools” on page 164.

Â Automation Mode pop-up menu: Choose the mode for recording automation using

either the onscreen controls or an external control surface.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 39

Â Project controls: Set the project’s sample rate and other properties using these controls.

Â Show pop-up menu: Choose whether the video track, podcast track, audio tracks,

busses, submixes, and master envelopes are visible in the Timeline.

Â Global Timeline view: Shows a miniature view of the entire Timeline and the playhead

position, and lets you move quickly to different parts of a project.

Â Time display: Shows the current playhead position in both Time-based and

Beats-based formats. You can set the playhead by typing a new playhead position in the time display.

Â Time ruler: You can precisely position clips, the playhead, and other items to a specific

point in time (minutes, seconds, frames) or to a musical beat using the Time ruler.

Â Track area: Includes horizontal rows for tracks, busses, and submixes. Also includes

the playhead, envelopes, and markers.

Â Headers: Each track, bus, and submix has a header with an icon, name, volume slider,

and other controls. (For more information, see the next section.)

Â Timeline controls: Include controls to show the master envelopes, turn snapping on

or off, set the track height, and zoom in or out. (For more information, see “Timeline

Controls” on page 42.)

Â Scroll bar: Moves the Timeline horizontally so you can see different parts of the project.

Headers

Each track, bus, and submix in the Timeline has a header that includes the track name, track icon, and a set of track controls.

slider

Bypass Effects

Mute button

Panner

Name field

Volume

Envelopes

disclosure triangle

Icon

Color label

Input menu

Â Color label: Indicates the track color, which is applied to any clips on the track (unless

you choose to override the color for individual clips).

Â Icon: You can choose an icon for the track, bus, or submix, making it easy to quickly

distinguish it in a large project.

Â Name field: You can type a new name for the track, bus, or submix in the name field.

You cannot rename the Master bus.

Â Bypass Effects button: Select this button to hear the track without any of the applied

realtime effects.

40 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Solo button Arm for Recording

Submix pop-up menu

Input Routing buttons

Â Arm for Recording button: Enables (or disables) the track for recording when you click

the Record button. Only tracks have Arm for Recording buttons, not busses or submixes.

Â Mute button: Mutes (or unmutes) the track, bus, or submix.

Â Solo button: Solos (or unsolos) the track, bus, or submix. Soundtrack Pro supports

both multiple solo and exclusive solo.

Â Envelopes disclosure triangle: Shows the track, bus, or submix envelopes in the area

directly below the track.

Â Volume slider: Sets the track, bus, or submix relative volume in the overall mix.

Â Submix pop-up menu: Choose a submix for the track or bus from the menu. (Tracks

and busses only.)

Â Input Device pop-up menu: Use the Input Device pop-up menu to choose the recording

input device, and its Channels submenu to choose the channel (or set of channels).

Â Input Routing buttons: Use the Input Routing buttons to confirm or change recording

input signal routing.

Â Output pop-up menu: Choose the physical outputs for the submix from the menu.

Submixes only. (Not shown in the illustration.)

Â Panner: Sets the pan position of the track or bus. Has two modes: stereo slider or

surround panner. Appears in track and bus headers only, not in submix headers or the Master bus header.

Note: The Input Device pop-up menu and Input Routing buttons are visible only when the track height is set to Medium or Large.

For detailed information on using the track controls, see “Using the Track Controls” on page 142.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 41

Timeline Controls

The lower-left corner of the project pane contains controls for various aspects of Timeline display and operation.

Snap to Value pop-up menu

Master Envelopes button

Snapping button

Zoom control

Height control

Â Master Envelopes button: In the Timeline, shows or hides the master envelopes. In the

File Editor project view, shows or hides the envelopes for the current audio file project.

Â Snapping button: Turns snapping on or off.

Â Snap To Value pop-up menu: Sets the value to which items in the Timeline snap.

Â Height control: Sets the height of tracks, busses, and submixes to one of four settings,

from Reduced to Large. In the File Editor project view, sets the height of the envelopes for the current audio file project to one of four settings, from Reduced to Large.

Â Zoom control: Click the control or drag the slider to change the zoom level. You can

zoom in to edit clips precisely, or zoom out to display more of the Timeline.

For information about using master envelopes, see “Master Bus” on page 364. For information about snapping, see “Using Snapping” on page 94. For information about using the Height control and Zoom control, see “Moving Around in the Timeline” on page 128.

42 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

File Editor

You can edit individual audio files in the File Editor using actions. Actions give you a powerful and flexible way to edit audio files nondestructively using professional audio processing effects and other operations. You can turn individual actions on or off, reorder actions, flatten actions, and compare the project with and without actions. You can also analyze audio files in the File Editor and fix common audio problems, including clicks and pops, hum, and phase problems. The File Editor can take two forms: the File Editor project view, for detailed work on individual audio files, and the File Editor tab, for convenient editing within the context of a multitrack project.

Waveform editing tools

Time display

Actions tab

Monitor volume slider

Previous and Next

Selection buttons

Playhead Location

value slider

Automation mode pop-up menu

Transport controls

Global Waveform view

Waveform View and Frequency Spectrum View buttons

Playhead

Waveform display

Â Waveform editing tools: Include the Selection, Sample Edit, Audio Stretching, and

Zoom tools that you can use to graphically edit audio files.

Â Automation Mode pop-up menu: Choose the automation mode from the pop-up menu.

Â Previous and Next Selection buttons: Move back and forward through selections

you’ve made in the waveform display.

Â Waveform View and Frequency Spectrum View buttons: Change the display between

Waveform view and Frequency Spectrum view.

Â Time display: Shows the current position of the playhead.

Â Global Waveform view: Shows you a miniature view of the entire waveform and the

playhead position, and lets you move quickly to different parts of an audio file.

Â Waveform display (and editing area): Shows the waveform of the audio file (or its

frequency spectrum in Frequency Spectrum view). You can select parts of the audio file to apply different actions to.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 43

Â Transport controls: Control playback and the position of the playhead, and turn

recording on or off. (For more information, see “Transport Controls” on page 38.)

Â Playhead: Shows the part of the audio file currently playing.

Â Monitor Volume slider: Adjusts the overall monitor volume when you play the project.

The volume level defaults to 0 dB when you create a project. Adjusting the monitor volume slider does not affect the mix signal or the export volume.

Â Mono Mix button: Click to listen to a temporary mono mix of the project.

Â Playhead Location value slider: Displays the current playhead position. You can move

the playhead by clicking the arrows, dragging, or typing a value.

Â Actions tab: Displays the currently applied actions.

Mixer

You mix your project in the Mixer. All tracks, busses, and submixes (as well as the Master bus) have channel strips in the Mixer with volume controls, mute and solo buttons, slots for adding effects, and other controls. You can view the levels for tracks, busses, submixes, and the Master bus using level meters in their channel strips. You can also record audio and automate volume and pan changes in the Mixer.

Channel strips

Automation Mode pop-up menu

Channel Strip and Mixer

pop-up menus

Â Automation Mode pop-up menu: Choose the automation mode from the pop-up menu.

Â Channel Strip and Mixer pop-up menus: Show or hide different sections of the channel

strips and of the Mixer window.

Â Channel strips: Each track, bus, and submix has a channel strip with controls and

level meters.

44 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Each channel strip includes the following controls:

Color label

Panning controls

Arm for Recording button

Level meters and

peak indicator

Volume value slider

Name Icon

Effects slots

Mute button Solo button

Volume fader

Submix pop-up menu

Â Color label: Indicates the track color, which is applied to any clips on the track (unless

you choose to override the color for individual clips).

Â Name field: You can type a new name for the channel strip.

Â Icon: Icons let you visually distinguish channel strips in the Mixer. Double-click an

icon to change it.

Â Effects slots: Show the effects and sends for the channel strip, and let you add effects

and sends.

Â Panning controls: Set the pan position of a track or bus. In surround mode, drag

anywhere inside the black circle to position the puck. In stereo mode, drag the pan slider left or right or change the value in the value slider. You can automate pan changes by setting the appropriate automation mode for the project. These appear in track and bus channel strips only, not in submix channel strips.

Â Volume fader and value slider: Set the channel strip’s volume level by dragging the

fader or changing the value in the value slider. You can automate volume changes by dragging the slider with the project set to the appropriate automation mode.

Â Level meters with peak indicator: Show the volume level of the channel strip in real

time as the project plays. The peak indicator shows the highest level played and changes color to indicate that clipping has occurred.

Â Arm for Recording button: Click to enable the track for recording. When you click a

track’s Arm for Recording button, the Recording tab appears, showing the track’s current recording settings. The button appears in track channel strips only, not in bus or submix channel strips.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 45

Â Mute button: Click to mute (or unmute) the channel strip.

Â Solo button: Click to solo (or unsolo) the channel strip.

Â Submix pop-up menu: Choose a submix for the track or bus from the menu. (Tracks

and busses only.)

Â Output pop-up menu: Choose the outputs for the submix from the menu. Submixes

only. (Not shown in the illustration.)

Multitake Editor

Use the Multitake Editor to edit multitake and synced audio that is created by performing multitake recording (such as in automatic dialogue replacement, or ADR). This tool allows you to easily mix and match parts of different takes. Once you are done editing a multitake clip, you can collapse it into a single clip, hiding the constituent edits that are not relevant to the surrounding multitrack Timeline.

For more information about the Multitake Editor, see Chapter 7, “Using the Multitake

Editor,” on page 251.

Take editing tools

Comp track

46 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Take tracks

Conform

The Conform tool helps sound editors handle picture changes. Conforming a sequence is the act of incorporating changes sent from the picture editor into a different, changed version of a sequence being used by the sound editor. The sound editor revisits all of the audio edits, ensuring that they line up with new video footage and inserting or deleting any added or deleted media. Soundtrack Pro Conform makes this merging procedure more efficient and less tedious.

For more information about the Conform tool, see Chapter 18, “Using Conform with

Final Cut Pro,” on page 439.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 47

Items pop-up menu

Bin

The Bin tab lists information about items in all open projects. The Bin provides a hierarchical display of projects, their media files, and other information about each item, including duration, timecode, sample rate, Timeline information, and so on. You can drag files from the Bin tab to the Timeline. You can add files to the Bin for easy access at any time. The Bin also features sort and search functions to help you locate an item in any open project.

For more information about the Bin, see “Using the Bin” on page 87.

Columns pop-up menu

Item list

Preview controls

Media pop-up menu

Â Item list: Displays the files, clips, markers, and podcasts in the currently open projects.

Â Items pop-up menu: Choose what types of items (files, clips, markers, or podcasts) to

display in the Bin.

Â Columns pop-up menu: Choose what types of columns of information (Timeline

information, audio clip information, file information, metadata tags, or music information) to display in the Bin.

Â Preview controls: Include a Play button, a volume slider, and a “Preview on selection”

button. For information on using the preview controls, see “Using the Preview

Controls” on page 91.

Â Media pop-up menu: Choose menu items to Show in Timeline, Spot to Timeline, open

a file in the File Editor, and perform other functions.

48 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Meters Tab

The Meters tab displays mono, stereo, multichannel, and surround level meters that you can use to observe the volume of all submixes assigned to physical outputs or the overall output for an audio file project.

Reset button

Peaks Value and Location display

Level meters

6-channel meter2-channel meter

Â Level meters: Show the output volume of the overall project as the project plays.

Â Peaks Value and Location display: Displays the highest (peak) value played for each

jack, and its timecode. Double-click any item in the Peaks Value and Location display to move the playhead to that point in the Timeline.

Â Reset button: Resets all items in the Peaks Value and Location display.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 49

Recording Tab

The Recording tab is where you edit a track’s recording settings. When you click a track’s Arm for Recording button, the Recording tab appears, displaying the track’s current recording settings.

Peak indicator

Input Routing buttons

Level meter

Track pop-up menu

Input device pop-up menu

Input channel pop-up menu

Configure Device button

Monitor Device pop-up menu

Mute Project checkbox

Â Peak indicator: Shows the highest level reached by the recording input signal. If the

level rises above 0 dB, the peak indicator becomes red to indicate clipping.

Â Track pop-up menu: Displays the recording settings for the selected track.

Â Level meter(s): Show the input volume for the selected track during recording. Adjust

automatically to the number of channels and the channel valence selected in the Input Channel pop-up menu.

Â Input Device pop-up menu: Choose the input device for recording.

Â Input Channel pop-up menu: Choose the input channel (or channels) for recording.

Â Input Routing buttons: Use the Input Routing buttons to route the input signal to

different channels.

Â Configure Device button: Opens the Audio MIDI Setup utility for adjusting the

computer’s audio input and output configuration settings, or setting up software specific to your audio interface.

Â Monitor Device pop-up menu: Choose the output device and output channel (or

channels) for monitoring during recording.

Â Mute Project checkbox: Select to mute the project during recording, so you hear only

the sound being recorded.

50 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Browser

The Browser tab displays the disks connected to your computer in a view similar to the Finder’s list view. You can also preview files in the Browser tab and drag them to the Timeline.

Tabs

Back and Forward

buttons

File list

Preview controls

Computer and Home buttons

Path pop-up menu

Media pop-up menu

Â Back and Forward buttons: Move through previously viewed levels of the folder hierarchy.

Â Computer button: Displays your computer’s hard disk and other storage media

connected to your computer.

Â Home button: Displays the contents of your home directory.

Â Path pop-up menu: Displays the levels of the file path to the current location, letting

you move back to a previous level.

Â File list: Displays the files and folders at the current location.

Â Preview controls: Include a Play button, a volume slider, and a “Preview on selection”

button. For information on using the Preview controls, see “Using the Preview

Controls” on page 91.

Â Media pop-up menu: Choose menu items to add a Favorite, add a file to the Bin,

open a file in the File Editor, and perform other functions.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 51

Search Tab

The Search tab lets you locate audio files using a variety of criteria. You can perform text searches and search for Apple Loops and other tagged file formats using keywords for instrument, genre, mood descriptors, and other categories. Matching files are displayed in the Search Results list. Once you locate the files you want to use, you can preview them in the Search Results list or drag them to the Timeline.

Category pop-up menu

Button and Column View

buttons

Keywords list

Time Signature

pop-up menu

Search Text field

Search Results list

Preview controls

Setup button

Matches list

Scale Type pop-up menu

Nearby Keys button

File Type pop-up menu

Media pop-up menu

The Search tab has two views, Column view and Button view. Column view features a Keywords list containing keywords and a Matches list with subcategories you can use to refine your searches. Button view displays a matrix of keyword buttons you can click to see matching files.

Keyword buttons

Â Button and Column View buttons: Change the view to either Button or Column view.

Â Category pop-up menu: Restricts the available keywords to a particular category.

52 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Â Setup button: Displays the Search Setup dialog, from which you add items to the

Search database.

Â Time Signature pop-up menu: Restricts search results to files with the selected time

signature.

Â File Type pop-up menu: Choose whether to display all files, or only looping or

non-looping files.

Â Scale Type pop-up menu: Restricts search results to audio files using the selected scale.

Â Keyword buttons (Button view only): Displays files matching the keyword in the

Results list.

Â Keywords list (Column view only): Displays files matching the keyword in the Results

list, and displays subcategories in the Matches list.

Â Matches list (Column view only): Displays subcategories of the selected keywords.

Â Search Text field: Type text in the field to display matching files whose filename or

path contains the search text.

Â Nearby Keys button: Restricts search results to keys within two semitones above or

below the project key.

Â Search Results list: Displays the files matching the selected search criteria, in

alphabetical order. Includes columns displaying the tempo, key, and number of beats of each file. You can click files to preview them.

Â Preview controls: Include a Play button, a volume slider, and a “Preview on selection”

button. For information on using the preview controls, see “Using the Preview

Controls” on page 91.

Â Media pop-up menu: Choose menu items to add a Favorite, add a file to the Bin,

open a file in the File Editor, and perform other functions.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 53

Favorites Tab

You can store frequently used items in Favorites so that you can easily access them directly. You can also preview files in Favorites and drag them to the Timeline.

Button and Column View

buttons

Favorites list

Preview controls

Path pop-up menu

Media pop-up menu

Â Back and Forward buttons: Move through previously viewed levels of the folder hierarchy.

Â Path pop-up menu: Displays the levels of the file path to the current location, letting

you move back to a previous level.

Â Favorites list: Displays the files and folders at the current location.

Â Preview controls: Include Play button, a volume slider, and a “Preview on selection”

button. For information on using the preview controls, see “Using the Preview

Controls” on page 91.

Â Media pop-up menu: Choose menu items to remove a Favorite, add a file to the Bin,

open a file in the File Editor, and perform other functions.

54 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Video Tab

Use the Video tab to add a video to a project and view the video.

Video Scale pop-up menu

Video viewing area

Â Video Scale pop-up menu: Choose the scale of the video in the Video tab from the

pop-up menu.

Â Video viewing area: You add a video by dragging it into the viewing area, where you

may also watch it play.

Note: You control playback of the video within the project using the transport controls at the bottom of the Soundtrack Pro window. For more information about the transport controls, see “Transport Controls” on page 38.

Project Tab

This tab contains controls and information for the currently active project as well as any metadata (tags) associated with the project.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 55

The Project tab features the following controls and categories of information:

Â General project information: This information includes file size, creation and

modification dates, and location on the hard drive.

Â Pullup/Pulldown pop-up menus: Use these menus to adjust the video and audio

playback to compensate for film-to-video and video-to-film conversions as well as international television standards conversions.

Â Project properties: Includes project length (duration) and sample rate.

Â Initial Timecode value slider: Use this slider to set the timecode for the first frame of

the project. For more information about value sliders, see “About Changing Values

and Timecode Entries” on page 75.

Â Ruler Units pop-up menu: Use this menu to set the project ruler to be either Time-

based or Beats-based.

Each multitrack project has a project time format, which can be either Time (seconds)–based or Beats-based. Setting the time format controls the appearance of the Time display, Time ruler, Timeline gridlines, and available Snap To values. For projects set to Time-based format, time is displayed using the Time Ruler units chosen in the View menu. For projects set to Beats-based format, the time is displayed in measures, beats, and beat divisions. The default format is Time-based.

For information on setting the project time format, see “Project Time Format” on page 109.

Â Document file management: Use these controls to set project preferences for file

saving and media management. These controls are available for multitrack projects only. For more information, see “Saving Multitrack Projects” on page 111.

56 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Â Metadata: Use this area to add metadata to your project or to view your project’s

metadata. If you export this project to certain output formats (such as a podcast), Soundtrack Pro passes through the metadata to the target output file. Metadata categories include Name, Copyright, Origination Date, Keywords, and so on.

Â Music settings: Use the controls in this area to set music properties (including tempo,

time signature, and key) for the currently active project. Tempo, time signature, and key are important for projects set to Beats-based format. For projects set to Time-based format, you can usually leave the tempo, time signature, and key properties at their default settings. For more information, see “Setting Project Properties” on page 106.

Details Tab

The Details tab shows information about the currently selected media file, clip, marker, envelope point, cycle region, or Timeslice selection, and gives you a way to edit details about each. You can also view and edit details for a selection in the File Editor.

File and Clip Details

Â Name: Name of the selected clip.

Â Position value slider: Sets the position (start point) of the selected clip.

Â Duration value slider: Sets the duration (length) of the selected clip.

Â Offset value slider: Sets the offset of the selected clip.

Â Measure in pop-up menu: Sets the units shown in the Position, Duration, and Offset

value sliders.

Â Color pop-up menu: Sets the color of the selected clip.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 57

Â Enabled checkbox: Enables or disables the selected clip. For more information, see

“Enabling and Disabling Clips” on page 118.

Â Locked checkbox: Locks or unlocks the selected clip. For more information, see

“Locking and Unlocking Clips and Tracks” on page 118.

Â Transpose pop-up menu: Sets the number of semitones to transpose a looping clip.

Â Clip Speed pop-up menu: Sets the playback speed for a looping clip.

Â Created: Displays the creation date.

Â Modified: Displays the modification date.

Â Size: Displays the file size.

Â Properties: Displays the following information for the clip or file: duration, sample rate,

the timecode for the first frame of the clip or file, bit depth, and channel valence.

Â Metadata: Use this section to view the metadata for a file or a clip. Metadata

categories include Name, Copyright, Origination Date, Keywords, and so on.

Â Music: Use to view music information for a clip or file, primarily music loops in the

Search tab. The music information includes tempo, time signature, key, scale type, looping (yes or no), beats, instrument, and loop genre.

58 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Marker Details

Â Type buttons: Select whether the marker is a beat marker or a time marker.

Â Name field: Enter a name for the marker.

Â Position value slider: Sets the time position of the selected marker.

Â Duration value slider: Sets the duration for the selected marker.

Â Comment: Enter comments or notes for the marker.

Envelope Point Details

Â Position value slider: Sets the time position of the selected envelope point.

Â Measure in pop-up menu: Sets the units shown in the Position value slider.

Â Value value slider: Sets the value of the selected envelope point. In some cases, this

control is a pop-up menu (for envelope types that only allow specific values).

Â Minimum and Maximum value: Displays minimum and maximum values for the

selected envelope point.

Â Copy from Previous Point button: Sets the value of the selected envelope point to the

value of the preceding one in the envelope.

Â Copy from Next Point button: Sets the value of the selected envelope point to the

value of the next one in the envelope.

File Editor Selection Details

Â Measure in pop-up menu: Sets the units shown in the Beginning, End, and Duration

value sliders.

Â Beginning value slider: Sets the start position of the selection.

Â End value slider: Sets the end position of the selection.

Â Duration value slider: Sets the duration (length) of the selection.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 59

Effects Tab

You add effects and sends to your project and adjust effect parameters in the Effects tab. When you select a track or a bus in the Timeline or the Mixer, you can add and adjust the following effects and send settings. You can also apply effects to audio file projects.

Category list

Effect Parameters area

Add Send button

Effect list

Add Effect button Remove Effect button

Reset Effect button

Â Category list: Lists the categories of available effects. Click a category to see the

effects for that category in the Effect list.

Â Effect list: Lists the effects in the selected category. Double-click an effect to add it to

the track, bus, or submix.

Â Add Effect (+) button: Adds the selected effect to the current effects chain.

Â Remove Effect (–) button: Removes the selected effect from the current effects chain.

Â Effect Parameters area: Displays the parameters for effects in the current effects

chain. Click an effect’s disclosure triangle to see its parameters. You can adjust effect parameters using the controls in the Effect Parameters area.

Â Add Send button: Adds a send to the end of the current effects chain for the track.

You can add sends only to tracks, not to busses or submixes.

Â Reset Effect button: Resets the selected parameter or group of parameters to the

default value (or values).

60 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Mixer Objects outline

Groups outline

Tracks Tab

Use the Tracks tab to easily view, select, and group tracks, busses, and submixes. Groups provide another layer of organization and a way to easily make changes (such as volume adjustments) to many tracks, busses, or submixes at once.

Channel strip

Â Mixer Objects outline: Displays an outline view of the Timeline.

Â Groups outline: Displays an outline view of any grouped tracks, busses, or submixes

in the project. You can use the Groups outline to group Mixer objects, disable or enable groups, rename groups, delete groups, and delete items from groups.

Â Channel strip: The Tracks tab channel strip is a quick way to access the mixing

controls for a particular Mixer object. This channel strip is identical to the corresponding channel strip in the Mixer in every way, including all controls and current settings.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 61

Actions Tab

Use the Actions tab to perform edits nondestructively using actions, which include processing effects and other operations. You can also turn off or completely reorder actions.

Â Actions list: You can add, select, and reorder actions in the list.

Actions list

Action Insert bar

Actions pop-up menu

Â Actions pop-up menu: Choose menu items to flatten actions, delete actions, and

perform other operations.

Â Actions list: Shows the actions you apply to the project. You can add, select, and

reorder actions in the list.

Â Action Insert bar: Shows where new actions will be added in the Actions list and

which actions are heard when you play the project.

62 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

Analysis Tab

Use the Analysis tab to analyze audio files for a range of common audio problems, including clicks and pops, hum, and phase issues. You can fix the problems detected by analysis either individually or in a single operation. Selected problems are highlighted in the File Editor waveform display for easy viewing.

Parameter list

Analysis Type list

Analyze button

Analysis Results list

Clear Fixed button

Fix button

Magnify button

Fix All button

Â Analysis Type list: Lists the types of analysis you can select.

Â Parameter list: Some analysis types (Click/Pop and Silence) have parameters you can

adjust before analyzing the file. The parameters appear in this list.

Â Analyze button: Click to analyze the file for the problems selected in the Analysis

Type list.

Â Analysis Results list: Lists items found by analyzing the file.

Â Clear Fixed button: Removes fixed items from the Analysis Results list.

Â Magnify button: Zooms in on the selected item in the Analysis Results list for as long

as you hold down the button.

Â Fix All button: Fixes all items in the Analysis Results list.

Â Fix button: Fixes the selected items in the Analysis Results list.

Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface 63

HUDs

A heads-up display (HUD) is a semi-transparent floating window with controls and displays that you can use to accomplish specific tasks. All of these windows float over the main Soundtrack Pro window. To open any of these windows, choose Window > HUDs.

Timecode HUD

The resizable Timecode HUD makes reading current timecode very easy, particularly from a distance. You can also use the Timecode HUD to navigate in the Timeline or the File Editor by dragging the displayed hours, minutes, seconds, or frames up or down.

Sound Palette

You can use the Sound Palette HUD to lift attributes from selections in the Timeline and apply them to one or more clips (or regions of clips). For more information on the Sound Palette HUD, see “Using the Lift and Stamp Tools” on page 179.

Multipoint Video HUD

You can use the resizable Multipoint Video HUD as a visual guide for precisely spotting (placing) sound effects and other audio clips to specific frames of a video program. For more information on the Multipoint Video HUD, see “Scrubbing and Spotting with the

Multipoint Video HUD” on page 322.

64 Chapter 2 The Soundtrack Pro Interface

3 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro

This chapter describes two kinds of projects you can create in Soundtrack Pro and how to work with windows, use layouts, play projects, and set Soundtrack Pro preferences.

Two Kinds of Projects

Soundtrack Pro has two native project file formats to support state-of-the-art multitrack audio editing and powerful nondestructive audio waveform editing.

Project File extension Description

Multitrack project .stmp Similar to a Final Cut Pro project, this file

contains multiple tracks with clips that refer to media files elsewhere on your disk.

Audio file project .stap Allows nondestructive editing of audio files.

Multitrack Projects

Multitrack projects contain multiple audio tracks in the Timeline. As in a Final Cut Pro project, importing a media file creates a clip in Soundtrack Pro that then refers to the original media file. You can arrange audio clips within tracks and synchronize them to a single video clip in the video track.

You can mix a multitrack project using track controls for volume, pan, mute, solo, effects, and effect parameters. These controls are available both in the Timeline and in channel strips in the Mixer. You can create additional audio busses for effect sends. You can group audio track outputs together with submixes. Tracks, busses, and submixes can be exported to individual audio files, or a mixdown of all the tracks can be exported to a stereo or multichannel audio file. These exported files can then be imported into Final Cut Pro.

For more information, see:

Â “Creating and Opening Multitrack Projects” on page 105

Â Chapter 5, “Working in the Timeline,” on page 127

Â Chapter 8, “Basic Mixing in Soundtrack Pro,” on page 261

Audio File Projects

Soundtrack Pro allows you to edit individual audio files (sometimes known as waveform editing) using Soundtrack Pro audio file projects. However, unlike most waveform editing

applications, Soundtrack Pro allows you to edit your audio files nondestructively by keeping track of the actions you have performed on your audio file.

For more information about Soundtrack Pro audio file projects, see Chapter 6, “Editing

Audio Files,” on page 191.

You can remove, disable, or reorder past actions at any time or save actions as AppleScript documents that you can use to batch process other audio files. Actions you can perform include trimming audio, copying and pasting parts of the waveform, normalizing or amplifying levels, applying effects, and applying noise, pop, and click reduction.

Soundtrack Pro audio file projects are stored in Mac OS X packages (or bundles). A package appears to be a single file in the Finder but actually contains a collection of files such as the original audio file, temporary render files, and the list of actions applied to your audio file.

Important: So that you benefit from nondestructive editing, the default option for

saving edited audio files is as a Soundtrack Pro audio file project. Soundtrack Pro usually does this automatically any time you apply any command or effect from the Process menu or the Edit menu to a clip in the Timeline. For more information on when Soundtrack Pro automatically creates audio file projects, see “How Source Audio File

Editing Works in a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project” on page 166.

You can open the following audio file formats in the File Editor:

Â Soundtrack Pro audio file project

Â AIFF

Â WAVE

Â Sound Designer II

Â NeXT

Â QuickTime movie containing audio tracks

Â CAF (Apple Core Audio Format)

66 Chapter 3 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro

Compressed formats such as MP3 and AAC files are also supported, although these must be internally decompressed to a linear PCM format.

Soundtrack Pro supports audio files with any sample rate between 8 kHz and 192 kHz and any of the following bit depths: 8, 16, 24, 32, and 32-bit floating point. Up to 24 audio channels are supported in a single file. Audio files can be a maximum of 4 hours in length.

Note: When you set a sample rate and play a file, Soundtrack Pro plays at the nearest sample rate your hardware can support.

Setting Up Your Workspace

You can choose from several ways to set up the Soundtrack Pro workspace to suit your display size and workflow, depending on the type of project you are creating. You can arrange, reorder, and detach tabs throughout Soundtrack Pro and add and reorder buttons in the Toolbar. You can show and hide different panes (areas) of the Soundtrack Pro window. You can also create layouts for different tasks and switch between them.

Basic Window Controls

You can move, resize, or minimize a project’s windows. Most windows feature tabs, which give you flexibility in arranging the visual elements of a project.

To move a window:

m Drag the window by its title bar to a new location.

To resize the Soundtrack Pro window:

m Drag the resize control in the lower-right corner of the window until the window is the

desired size.

To minimize the Soundtrack Pro window to the Dock:

m Click the minimize button in the window’s title bar.

To close the Soundtrack Pro window:

m Click the window’s close button (or press Command-W with the window active).

Chapter 3 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro 67

Using Tabs

Soundtrack Pro uses tabs so you can quickly access different project views and controls. You can switch between projects and between different tabs. Clicking the tab you want makes it active and brings it to the front. You can rearrange and reorder the tabs to easily access the ones you use frequently.

To reorder tabs:

m Drag a tab left or right in the window’s tab area.

You can also detach a tab from its docked position, which creates a separate resizable window for the tab that can be dragged or resized. For example, you can drag the Favorites tab to a new location so that you can easily move items from the Search tab to the Bin tab.

To detach a tab:

m Drag the tab out of its docked position in the window to create a separate window for

the tab.

To attach (dock) a tab:

m Drag the tab to the top of any pane of the Soundtrack Pro window (except the top-center

project pane, which is reserved for the Timeline and the File Editor project view).

Using Project Layouts

Soundtrack Pro lets you save and recall preset window arrangements called layouts, so that you can optimize your workspace for different tasks and different display sizes. You can show, hide, and resize windows, then save each window arrangement as a layout.

To save a project layout:

1 Arrange the application windows as you want them to appear.

2 Choose Window > Save Layout.

3 In the Save dialog, type a name for the layout, then click Save.

The layout is saved, and appears in the Layouts submenu.

Note: By default, layouts are saved to the location /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Soundtrack Pro/Layouts/. Do not change the location or Soundtrack Pro may not be able to find and use your saved layouts.

68 Chapter 3 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro

To switch to a saved project layout:

m Choose Window > Layouts, then choose the layout you want to use from the submenu.

To delete a saved layout:

1 Choose Window > Manage Layouts.

2 In the Manage Layouts dialog, select the layout you want to delete.

3 Click the – (minus) button to delete the layout, then click Done.

To transfer a saved project layout file to another computer:

1 Locate the layout file in /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Soundtrack Pro/

Layouts/.

2 Transfer a copy of the file to the corresponding location in the second computer.

Customizing the Toolbar

The Toolbar at the top of the Soundtrack Pro window contains buttons for frequently used commands. You can customize the Toolbar, adding buttons for the actions you use most often, and can return to the default set later.

The default set of Toolbar buttons includes buttons for creating new projects, opening project tabs, adding markers, and other common commands. You can customize the Toolbar with additional buttons for adding fade-ins and fade-outs, processing an audio file, playing the current project through a video output device, and other commands. You can also hide the Toolbar to maximize available screen space. You customize the Toolbar by dragging items from the Customize dialog to the Toolbar.

Chapter 3 Setting Up Soundtrack Pro 69

To show the Customize dialog, do one of the following:

m Choose View > Customize Toolbar.

m Control-click the Toolbar, then choose Customize Toolbar from the shortcut menu.

The Customize dialog appears, and spaces between buttons in the Toolbar are outlined in gray.

To add a button to the Toolbar:

m Drag a button from the Customize dialog to the Toolbar.

If you drag a button between two existing buttons, the buttons move to make room for the new button.

To move a button in the Toolbar:

m Command-drag the button to a new location on the Toolbar.

You can also rearrange the Toolbar using set-width spaces, flexible spaces, and separators.

To add space or a separator to the Toolbar:

m Drag a space, flexible space, or separator from the Customize dialog to the Toolbar.

To return the Toolbar to the default set of buttons:

m Drag the default button set, located at the bottom of the Customize dialog, to the Toolbar.

You can also change the Toolbar so that it shows only icons or only text.

To show only icons in the Toolbar, do one of the following:

m Control-click the Toolbar, then choose Icon Only from the shortcut menu.

m In the Customize dialog, choose Icon Only from the Show pop-up menu.

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To show only text in the Toolbar, do one of the following:

m Control-click the Toolbar, then choose Text Only from the shortcut menu.

m In the Customize dialog, choose Text Only from the Show pop-up menu.

To show both icons and text in the Toolbar, do one of the following:

m Control-click the Toolbar, then choose Icon & Text from the shortcut menu.

m In the Customize dialog, choose Icon & Text from the Show pop-up menu.

To dismiss the Customize dialog:

m When you have finished customizing the Toolbar, click Done.

To hide the Toolbar:

m Choose View > Hide Toolbar. When the Toolbar is hidden, the menu item becomes

Show Toolbar.

Using the Shortcut Menu

You can quickly and easily access many Soundtrack Pro features with the shortcut menu (also known as the contextual menu). Using the shortcut menu by Control-clicking items in the Soundtrack Pro interface is often more convenient than using the menu bar at the top of the screen. If you have a three-button mouse connected to your computer, you can right-click to access the same controls specified by the Control-click commands in the user documentation (for example, “Control-click the Toolbar, then choose Customize Toolbar from the shortcut menu”).

Playing Projects

You can play both multitrack and audio file projects as you work, so you can hear the audio in the project along with the changes you’ve made.

To play the project:

m Click the Play button in the transport controls (or press the Space bar). Click the Play

button (or press the Space bar) again to stop playback.

As the project plays, the playhead shows the point in the project currently playing.

Soundtrack Pro lets you set the playhead and control playback of your projects in several different ways. You can use the transport controls or keyboard commands to start and stop playback and set the playhead to different points in time. You can also set a cycle region to repeat playback of a specific part of the project.

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Setting the Playhead Quickly

The playhead appears as a thin black line running vertically through the Timeline in multitrack projects, and through the waveform display in audio file projects. Where it crosses the Time ruler, the top of the playhead has a triangular handle that makes it easier to see its position onscreen and drag the playhead.

To set the playhead, do one of the following:

m Click anywhere in the Timeline (in a multitrack project) or the File Editor (in an audio

file project) to set the playhead to that position.

m Drag the triangular handle at the top of the playhead to the position you want to set it.

As you drag the playhead, you hear the audio at the current playhead position.

Drag the playhead where you want it or click in the Timeline.

When you set the playhead, it snaps to the nearest Snap To position if snapping is turned on. For information on setting the Snap To value, see “Using Snapping” on page 94. You can also set the playhead by using the transport controls or the Playhead Location value slider.

Note: If you click the Time ruler, you may accidentally activate the cycle region. Press Option-X to remove the cycle region. Press C to turn the cycle region on or off. For more information about using the cycle region, see “Working with the Cycle Region” on page 134.

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Drag the playhead where you want it or click in the waveform display.

Setting the Playhead Using the Time Display

When a project is playing, the Time display constantly updates to show the current position of the playhead in both Time-based and Beats-based formats. You can also set the playhead to a new position by entering the position in the Time display.

The arrangement of the Time-based and Beats-based positions in the Time display changes depending on the time format of the project. The position matching the time format of the project appears in large, white numerals in the upper part of the Time display, and the other position appears below it in smaller, gray numerals. Each position is labeled for quick visual recognition.

For information on setting the project time format, see “Setting Project Properties” on page 106.

To set the playhead using the Time display:

m Select either the Time or Beats position in the Time display, then enter a new position.

You can select the entire position or part of the position.

Enter a time position in the Time area.

Enter a beat position in the Beats area.

Entering Time-Based Units

When you set the playhead by entering a Time-based position in the Time display, you don’t need to enter all of the punctuation. Soundtrack Pro automatically adds the correct punctuation for the format of the Time display.

For example:

Â If you enter 01234321, Soundtrack Pro interprets it as 01:23:43;21. This stands for 1

hour, 23 minutes, 43 seconds, and 21 frames.

If you enter a partial number, Soundtrack Pro formats it with the rightmost pair of numbers as frames and with each successive pair of numbers to the left as seconds, minutes, and hours. Numbers omitted from a complete time position are interpreted as zeros. For best results, always enter delimiters to separate each division of time.

For example:

Â If you enter 01.23, Soundtrack Pro interprets it as 00:00:01;23. This stands for 1 second

and 23 frames.

You can select only part of the position in the Time display and enter a new number for that position. For example, you can select only seconds, or minutes and seconds. The other categories keep their present values. You can enter a time position in timecode format, in a way similar to the way you enter timecode in Final Cut Pro.

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Entering Beats-Based Units

When you set the playhead by entering a Beats-based position in the Time display, you enter periods between numbers to separate measures, beats, and beat divisions. Soundtrack Pro fills out the digits in the beat division category with zeros.

For example:

Â If you enter 123, Soundtrack Pro interprets it as 123.1.000. This stands for the 123rd

measure, 1st beat, with no added beat divisions.

Â If you enter 12.3, Soundtrack Pro interprets it as 12.3.000. This stands for the 12th

measure, the 3rd beat, with no added beat divisions.

Â If you enter 1.2.3, Soundtrack Pro interprets it as 1.2.300. This stands for the 1st measure,

the 2nd beat, and 300/1000ths of a beat (because each beat division is 1/1000 of a beat).

You can select only part of the position in the Time display and enter a new number for that position. For example, you can select only measures, or measures and beats. The other categories keep their present values.

Setting the Playhead Using the Playhead Location Value Slider

Below and to the left of the transport controls is the Playhead Location value slider. When a project is playing, the Playhead Location value slider constantly updates to show the current position of the playhead. You can set the playhead by entering a new position in the Playhead Location value slider.

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About Changing Values and Timecode Entries

Soundtrack Pro includes several types of value entry methods. Most of them have features that can make changing the values or timecode fields easy to do.

Using Value Sliders

There are two methods used to enter general numeric values: traditional sliders with separate numeric entry fields and value sliders that combine the slider with the numeric entry field.

Separate slider and numeric entry field

Value slider with combined slider and numeric entry field

Value sliders allow you to enter a specific number in the value field or to drag in the value field to set a value. When using the value sliders, you can use a modifier key to make normal, small, or large value adjustments. Dragging in the middle area (where the number is) works the same as an ordinary slider; dragging to the right increases the value and dragging to the left decreases the value. Additionally, you can click the right or left arrow to change the value one step at a time. You can also double-click the number itself and type a new number to enter a specific number in the value field.

To change values in normal increments, do one of the following:

m Drag left or right in the value field.

m Click the left arrow to decrease a value, or click the right arrow to increase a value.

m If you have a three-button mouse with a scrollwheel, click in the value field and use the

scrollwheel on the mouse.

To change values in fine increments, do one of the following:

m Option-drag in the value field.

m Option-click the left arrow to decrease a value, or Option-click the right arrow to

increase a value.

m If you have a mouse with a scrollwheel, Option-scroll in the value field.

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To change values in coarse increments, do one of the following:

m Shift-drag in the value field.

m Shift-click the left arrow to decrease a value, or Shift-click the right arrow to increase

a value.

m If you have a mouse with a scrollwheel, Shift-scroll in the value field.

When a value slider or value field is active (highlighted), press Tab to move to the next field.

Using Timecode Value Sliders

Soundtrack Pro uses timecode value sliders for timecode entry fields. In addition to being able to enter timecode values directly, you are able to scrub the timecode value by dragging.

If you place the pointer over a segment of the timecode, small arrows appear above and below that segment.

You can drag up or to the right to increase the value in that segment (values in segments to the left also increment if your dragging causes the selected segment to roll over). Dragging to the left or down decreases the value. You can hold down the Option key to make the value changes slower or the Shift key to make them faster.

Alternatively, you can click the up and down arrows on each side of the timecode value or press the keyboard’s Up and Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease the timecode value.

You can control which segment is affected by the up and down arrows by selecting a segment so that a caret (^) appears below the segment. You can also use the keyboard’s Left and Right Arrow keys to select other segments.

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Scrubbing Audio

You can scrub a multitrack project in the Timeline or scrub an audio file project in the File Editor. Scrubbing the project lets you hear the audio at the playhead position as you drag the playhead, so you can find a particular sound or event in the audio file.

You can scrub audio using either the Scrub tool or the playhead. For information about scrubbing, see “Scrubbing Audio Files” on page 200.

Scrubbing Video

In projects containing a video file, the video scrubs in the Video tab in sync with the audio as you scrub in the Timeline or the File Editor tab.

As you drag audio clips, markers, envelope points, or other items in the Timeline or the File Editor tab, the video scrubs at the start point of the item being dragged. Dragging multiple items scrubs the video at the start point of the item under the pointer.

You can use the Multipoint Video HUD as a visual tool for precisely positioning sound effects and other audio clips in a video program. For more information, see “Scrubbing

and Spotting with the Multipoint Video HUD” on page 322.

Controlling Playback with the Transport Controls

You use the transport controls to control playback of your project. The transport controls let you set the playhead to various points in time, start and stop playback, activate the cycle region, and start a recording session to record your own audio.

Record

Go to Beginning

Play from Beginning

Previous Frame

Play

Go to End

Next Frame

Cycle

MIDI Sync

Â Record: Starts recording at the playhead position on the track you have enabled for

recording. If no track is enabled, a new track is created when recording starts.

Â Play from Beginning: Starts playback from the beginning of the project. Playback

begins immediately, whether the project is playing or is stopped when you click the button.

Â Go to Beginning: Sets the playhead to the beginning of the project. If the cycle

region is active, and the playhead is after the beginning of the cycle region in time, the playhead is set to the beginning of the cycle region.

Â Previous Frame: Moves the playhead backward by one frame.

Â Play: Starts playing back the project from the current playhead position. Clicking the

Play button again stops playback at the current playhead position.

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Â Next Frame: Moves the playhead forward by one frame.

Â Go to End: Sets the playhead to the end of the project. If the cycle region is active,

and the playhead is before the end of the cycle region in time, the playhead is set to the end of the cycle region.

Â Cycle: If a cycle region is set, clicking the Cycle button toggles whether the cycle

region is active or inactive. If no cycle region is set, clicking the Cycle button sets the project to repeat from the beginning when the playhead reaches the end of the project. For information on setting the cycle region, see “Working with the Cycle

Region” on page 134.

Â MIDI Sync: Synchronizes playback with incoming MIDI Clock and MIDI Timecode

(MTC) signals.

Controlling Playback Using Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a number of keyboard shortcuts you can use to control playback of your project. To use keyboard shortcuts, the pointer cannot be in a text field.

Â Space bar: Plays back the project from the current playhead position. If the project is

playing, pressing the Space bar sets the playhead back to the point from which the project started playing. This is equivalent to clicking the Play button.

Â Return: Sets the playhead to the beginning of the project. If the cycle region is

active, pressing Return sets the playhead to the beginning of the cycle region. This is equivalent to clicking the Go to Beginning button.

Â Shift-Return: Sets the playhead to the beginning of the project, and starts playback if

it is stopped. This is equivalent to clicking the Start from Beginning button.

Â Option–Right/Left Arrow: Moves the playhead forward/backward by one frame.

For more tips on keyboard shortcuts for playback, see “Using the J, K, and L Keys for

Shuttling” on page 130. For a complete list of Soundtrack Pro keyboard shortcuts, see

Appendix A, “Soundtrack Pro Keyboard Shortcuts,” on page 449.

Locating and Adding Audio Files

You can locate audio files to use in a project using the media tabs, or drag files from the Finder. There are three media tabs for locating audio files: the Browser, Favorites, and Search tabs. You can also store media files for a project in the Bin for easy access in a project. The Bin also features a search function to help you locate an item in any open project.

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Supported Audio File Formats

You can add audio files in the following formats: AIFF, WAVE, Broadcast WAVE, Sound Designer II, NeXT, QuickTime (.mov) audio files, and CAF (Apple Core Audio Format). Compressed formats such as MP3 and AAC (except protected AAC) files are also supported, although these must be internally decompressed to a linear PCM format. You can also add the following types of multichannel files: AIFF, WAV, Broadcast WAVE, QuickTime, and Single Folder Multi-mono AIFF and WAV. You can import audio files with any combination of the following sample rates and bit depths:

Sample Rates

Â Any sample rate from 8 kHz to 192 kHz

Bit Depths

Â 8 bit

Â 16 bit

Â 24 bit

Â 32 bit (both integer and floating point)

Note: Files with lower bit depths or sample rates do not have the same playback quality as formats with higher bit depths or sample rates.

Supported Video File Formats

Soundtrack Pro supports standard QuickTime-compatible file formats. You can import a QuickTime movie (.mov) file into a Soundtrack Pro project, and you can import an MPEG-2 (.m2v) file if you have installed the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component. Video files using NTSC, PAL, HD, and other formats supported by QuickTime can be imported into Soundtrack Pro. Imported video files can be up to four hours in length. For more information about importing video files, see Chapter 10, “Working with Video

in Soundtrack Pro,” on page 315.

Looping and Non-Looping Files

Soundtrack Pro supports two types of audio files: looping and non-looping files. Most audio files are non-looping files unless they contain tags for tempo, key, and other information.

Many of the Apple Loops that come with Soundtrack Pro, as well as other tagged audio files, can be looping files. Looping files may contain music, rhythmic sounds, or other repeating patterns. You can resize a looping file to fill any amount of time. Looping files adjust to the project tempo and key, letting you use loops recorded in different keys and at different tempos in the same project.

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Double-click a folder to

view items inside.

Non-looping files do not adjust to the project tempo and key. You can shorten or lengthen a non-looping file, but lengthening it beyond the size of the original file adds only silence to the lengthened part. You can search for non-looping files in the Search tab using the Search text field.

Both looping and non-looping files can contain tags with information about the file, including mood, genre, and musical instrument. Soundtrack Pro recognizes tags in audio files intended for use with loop-based music applications. You can open an audio file in Apple Loops Utility and add tags, and can convert a looping file to a non-looping file, or convert a non-looping file to a looping file. For information about tagging audio files using Apple Loops Utility, see the Apple Loops Utility User Manual.

Using the Browser to Locate Files

The Browser tab shows the hard disks and other storage media connected to your computer, and lets you browse through the file hierarchy to find audio files located on disk.

To locate audio files using the Browser:

m Double-click a volume or folder in the Browser to view its contents.

You can move back through the previous locations in the Browser using the Forward and Back buttons, or through the levels of the file hierarchy using the Path pop-up menu.

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Using Favorites to Locate Files

Favorites let you store frequently used file locations, so that you can access them directly. You can add and remove Favorites from the Media pop-up menu at the lower-right corner of the Favorites tab.

To locate audio files in Favorites:

m Double-click the disk or folder you want to open.

Double-click an item to open it.

You can move back through the previous locations in the Favorites tab using the Forward and Back buttons, or through the levels of the file hierarchy using the Path pop-up menu.

Using Search to Locate Files

Using Search, you can search for media files to add to your project. Search has two views: Column view and Button view. You choose which view to display by clicking the Columns View or Button View button in the upper-left area of the window. In both views, the files matching your search criteria appear in the Search Results area, along with columns displaying additional information for tagged files. You can sort these columns by clicking the heading on top of each column. You can also perform text searches in both views, and refine your searches.

If you use Apple Loops or other tagged audio files in a project, you can search based on a variety of criteria, including musical instrument, genre, time signature, mood descriptor, and scale type. You can also search using specific keywords.

To search for items:

m Click the Search tab.

The Search tab becomes active.

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Select a keyword

matching files in the

Search Results area.

Searching for Files in Column View

In Column view, the upper area of the Search tab displays two columns: Keywords shows the categories of files that meet the search criteria, and Matches shows the total number of matching files and any subcategories containing matching files, with the number of matching files in each.

Clicking a keyword displays the files matching that keyword in the Search Results area. You can refine your search results by narrowing the criteria using the subcategories in the Matches column.

To search for files in Column view:

1 Choose the type of keywords to display in the Keywords list from the Keywords

pop-up menu.

You can use the Time Signature and Scale Type pop-up menus to restrict matches by those categories.

2 Select a keyword in the Keywords list to display matching files in the Search Results area.

to display the

Search Text field

The hints, tempo, key, and number of beats for each matching file are also displayed.

You can also perform text searches, which can be especially helpful for non-tagged files. When you type text in the Search Text field, any files with the text in their file path or filename appear in the Search Results list. The number of files appears in the Matches column under “No Category.”

To search using the Search Text field:

m Enter text in the Search Text field.

As you type, files matching the characters you type appear in the Search Results field.

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Refining a Search in Column View

There are several ways you can refine your searches in Column view. You can select items in the Matches column to add the matching files for each category to the search results, and you can enter text in the Search Text field to narrow your search to files that include the text in their file path. Selecting multiple keywords in the Keywords list narrows the search results to files matching all the selected keywords.

To refine your search using the Matches column:

m Click to select a match category, or Command-click to select multiple match categories.

Click a match category to refine your search.

Search Text field

These are files that match the category selected above.

To refine your search by selecting multiple keywords:

m Shift-click to select adjacent keywords, or Command-click to select nonadjacent keywords.

Searching for Files in Button View

In Button view, the upper area of the Search tab displays a grid of buttons, each of which is labeled with a keyword. The keywords displayed are determined by the Keywords pop-up menu; the choices are Music Beds, Instruments, Genre, Descriptors, and Custom. The keywords for each choice are fixed, and appear whether or not matching files for the keyword exist. Keywords for which no matching files exist are dimmed.

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Click a button to display

the matching files in the

Search Results area.

Search Text field

To search for files in Button view:

1 Choose the type of keywords to display on the keyword buttons from the Keywords

pop-up menu.

2 You can optionally use the File Type, Time Signature, and Scale Type pop-up menus to

restrict matches by those categories.

3 Click a keyword button to display matching files in the Search Results area.

To search by file path or filename:

m Enter text in the Search Text field.

As you type, files matching the characters you type appear in the Search Results field.

Refining a Search in Button View

There are several ways you can refine your searches in Button view. You can select multiple keyword buttons to narrow your search results to files matching all the selected keywords, and you can enter text in the Search Text field to narrow your search to files that include the text in their file path.

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To refine your search using multiple keywords:

m Click multiple keyword buttons.

Select additional keywords to refine your search.

These are files that match both of the keywords selected above.

Adding Custom Keywords

You can add custom keywords, which appear in the Keywords list in Column view and on the keyword buttons in Button view. Custom keywords can be added only in Button view.

Choose Custom from

this pop-up menu.

To add a custom keyword:

1 Choose Custom from the Keyword Type pop-up menu.

2 Control-click one of the buttons in the grid, then choose a custom keyword from the

shortcut menu.

Control-click a button, then choose the desired keyword from the submenu.

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Click the Add Directory

button, then select a

directory to add.

Adding a Directory to the Search Database

Search looks through all indexed directories (volumes and folders) for files that match your search criteria. Before a file can appear in Search, you must add the directory containing the file to the Search database and index the directory.

Note: The Search database does not update automatically. If you add files to an indexed directory, you must index the directory again before the files will appear in the Search tab.

To add a directory to the Search database:

1 Click the Setup button at the top of the Search tab.

Click here to display the Setup dialog.

2 In the Setup dialog, click the Add Directory button.

Click here to index

the directory.

3 In the file dialog, navigate to the directory you want to add, then click Open.

The directory appears in the list in the Setup dialog. You can resize the Search dialog if you need to see more items in the list.

4 Select the directory in the list, then click the Index Now button.

Note: Indexing a large collection of files may take several minutes. The bottom of the Add Directory dialog displays the progress of the directory being indexed. If you need to interrupt the indexing process, click the Stop Indexing button. You can re-index the directory later. You can deselect items you do not wish to re-index.

5 When Soundtrack Pro is finished indexing the directory, click Done to return to the

Search tab.

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Click the Remove

Directory button to

remove the selected

Removing a Directory from the Search Database

If you move or change your collection of audio files, you can remove a folder from the Search database. Removing unneeded folders from the database can shorten search times and eliminate extraneous results.

To remove a folder from the Search database:

1 Click the Setup button at the top of the Search tab.

2 In the Setup dialog, select the directory you want to remove, then click the Remove

Directory button.

directory.

3 Click Done to return to the Search tab.

Once you have added the folders containing your audio files to the Search database and indexed them, you can use Search to find the files. In both Column view and Button view, the audio files that match the search criteria appear in the Search Results area in alphabetical order. You can preview files in the File list and drag them to the Timeline. You can also add a folder to your Favorites from the Search tab.

Using the Bin

The Bin is a hierarchical list of all of the items in each open project. You can also add files to the Bin for easy access at a later time. Files appear in the Bin alphabetically by project and hierarchically within each project.

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The Bin Hierarchy

The items in the Bin are organized by project. In this hierarchy, projects contain media files, and media files contain clips.

Objects Description Contents

Projects Projects make up the top level

of the hierarchy. You can view multiple projects at once.

Media files Audio and video source files Clips

Clips If the source media file is used

ten different times in the Timeline, it will have ten clips nested in the Bin.

Media files Project markers

Markers (File Editor only)

None

To add a file to the Bin, do one of the following:

m Drag the file from the Finder to the Bin.

m Drag the file from the Browser, Favorites, or Search tab to the Bin.

Viewing and Editing Projects in the Bin

The Bin can display the following categories of information: audio clip information (looping, transposition, and so on), file information (timecode, sample rate, file size, and so on), Timeline information (duration, position, and so on), metadata tags (author, copyright, and so on) and music information (beats, key, and so on).

To control the display of information categories in the Bin:

m Choose a category from the Columns pop-up menu.

Searching Bin Information

You can search across all information displayed in the Bin. Matching text and numbers from any of the fields causes that item to appear in the list.

To search information categories in the Bin:

1 Click the Bin’s Search field.

2 Enter the search text.

3 Press Return.

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Using the Shortcut Menu and the Media Pop-Up Menu in the Bin

You can use the shortcut menu and the Media pop-up menu in the Bin for a variety of tasks. One of the most common tasks involves removing unused items from a project. This simple step will keep the media associated with a project to a minimum. You can also rename clips, markers, and podcast region markers that you’ve selected in the Bin.

To use the shortcut menu or the Media pop-up menu to affect an entire project:

1 Select a project file in the Bin.

2 Do one of the following:

Â Choose Removed Unused from the Media pop-up menu.

Â Control-click the item, then choose Removed Unused from the shortcut menu.

To use the shortcut menu or the Media pop-up menu to affect an individual item in the Bin:

1 Select an item in the Bin.

2 Choose an option from the Media pop-up menu. You can also Control-click the item,

then choose an option from the shortcut menu.

Â Show in Timeline: Selects the corresponding clip in the Timeline.

Â Spot to Timeline: Spots the clip to the Timeline with the Spot to Timecode dialog.

Â Spot to Playhead: Spots the clip to the playhead position in the Timeline.

Â Open in Editor: Opens the file in the File Editor project view.

Â Reconnect: Allows you to locate and reconnect any offline files.

Â Rename: Selects the item in the Bin so that you can enter a new name.

Â Reveal in Browser: Selects the item in the Browser tab.

Â Show in Finder: Selects the item in the Finder.

Â Replace Selected Clips with: Replaces the clip with a clip of your choosing.

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Bin Column Information

The following list describes the contents of the various Bin columns. Many Bin columns change their display style to match the settings of the dominant ruler (such as drop frame, non-drop frame, and so on). Much of this information can also be seen in the Details tab.

Â Name: Displays the icon and name for the various objects (projects, files, clips,

markers, and podcast marker regions).

Â Position: Displays the position of the object, in the dominant ruler setting. Displays

values for projects, clips, markers, and podcasts. Some items do not have a position. Others do not always display a position. (For example, a multitrack document only shows the position when the Initial Timecode value in the Project tab has been changed from the default 0 value.)

Â Duration: Displays the duration information for projects, files, clips, markers, and

podcasts.

Â Track name: Lists the current track name for audio clips.

Â Offset: Shows the slip offset value: the difference between the start of the original

file and the start of the clip (using the dominant ruler setting). Clips that start from the beginning show 0; others have a positive time value.

Â Sample rate: Shows the native sample rate of the item, in Hz (projects, files, and clips).

Â Timecode: This is the embedded timecode of the file, if present (in the dominant

ruler setting). Displays the initial timecode for items (projects, files, clips).

Â Channels: The number of channels in the item (files, clips)

Â Takes: The number of takes in the item (files, clips)

Â File size: The disk size of the item (projects, files)

Â Path: The path to the item on disk (projects, files)

Â Annotation: Displays annotation metadata (projects, files, clips).

Â Author: Displays author metadata (projects, files, clips).

Â Copyright: Displays copyright metadata (projects, files, clips).

Â Tempo: The tempo of the item, in beats per minute (projects, files, clips)

Â Time Signature: Displays time signature data (projects, files, clips).

Â Key: Displays the musical key of the item, being the letter (A, A#, B, and so on), or

“None” (projects, files, clips).

Â Scale: Displays musical scale type (projects, files, clips).

Â Looping: Indicates a looping file (Yes/No) (files, clips).

Â Beats: Displays the number of beats in the file (projects, files, clips).

Â Instrument: Displays instrument type, from Apple Loop tagged information (files, clips).

Â Genre: Displays genre name, from Apple Loop tagged information (files, clips).

Â Hint Quality: Displays the quantitative display of the amount of information saved in

the file—keywords, beat information, and transients (files, clips).

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Previewing Audio Files

You can preview files in the Bin or any of the media tabs. When you preview files, Soundtrack Pro matches the sample rate of the file to the project sample rate. When you preview looping files, Soundtrack Pro matches their tempo and key to the project tempo and key.

To preview an audio file:

m Select the file in the Bin or any of the media tabs.

The selected file starts playing. If the project is playing when you preview a file, Soundtrack Pro starts playback of the previewed file on the downbeat of the next measure of the project. You can turn preview playback on and off by holding down Option and pressing the Space bar.

Select an audio file in the Search tab to preview it.

Play button

Audio files tagged as loops play back repeatedly when previewed. You can control the playback of the file being previewed using the preview controls. You can only preview one audio file at a time.

Using the Preview Controls

The preview area at the bottom of the Bin and the media tabs contains controls you can use when previewing audio files.

Media pop-up menu

Volume slider

Preview on selection button

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Â Play button: Starts playback of the preview file. If the file is playing, stops playback.

Â Volume slider: Sets the playback volume of the preview file.

Â Preview on selection button: When activated, triggers immediate playback of the

selected clip.

Â Media pop-up menu: Choose whether to add the file to Favorites, open it in the File

Editor or Apple Loops Utility, or reveal it in the Finder.

To preview an audio file with a project:

1 Click the Play button in the transport controls to play the project.

2 When the project reaches the point in time where you want to hear the preview file,

select the file in the Search tab.

To preview a file without the project (solo):

1 If the project is playing, click the Stop button in the transport controls to stop playback

of the project.

2 Select the file in the Search tab to preview the file.

You can also preview a video file using the preview controls. For information about previewing a video file, see “Playing the Video” on page 317.

Viewing File and Clip Information

You can view information in the Details tab about audio and video files and clips in the Bin, the media tabs, and the Timeline. When you select a file or clip in the Bin, the media tabs, or the Timeline, the Details tab displays the file path and other information about the item.

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For a complete description of the items listed in the Details tab, see “Details Tab” on page 57 and “Viewing and Editing Clip and Track Properties” on page 114.

Note: The information that is displayed depends on whether or not the file is tagged. Untagged files may not display information for all categories.

Using Undo and Redo

As you edit clips and perform other operations in both multitrack and audio file projects, you might need to use the Undo and Redo commands. For example, if you don’t like the last change you’ve made to a project, it can usually be undone. Then, if you decide you prefer to keep the change you just undid, you can redo the command immediately after using Undo.

You can also use the Undo and Redo commands as a quick way of trying out changes to your project. You can make changes to any aspect of the project, then use Undo to step back through changes you don’t like to the project’s previous state. If you change your mind after undoing a change or set of changes, you can always use Redo to recover the changes. At any point, you can save a new version of the project using the File > Save As command.

You can use the Undo command repeatedly to undo every change made since the project was last saved.

To undo the last change:

m Choose Edit > Undo [item] (or press Command-Z).

The [item] in the menu changes to show the last command or operation.

You can use the Redo command repeatedly to redo every undone change since the project was last saved.

To redo the last change:

m Choose Edit > Redo [item] (or press Command-Shift-Z).

The [item] in the menu changes to show the last command or operation.

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Using Snapping

When you move and resize clips in the Timeline, or select part of an audio file in the File Editor, you usually want them to start and end at a specific point in time. To synchronize clips with a video, you may want to position them in line with a specific frame. In a music-based project, you may want to align clips with measures and beats. Soundtrack Pro includes a snapping feature that causes clips, the playhead, and other items in the Timeline and File Editor to “snap” to the nearest Snap To position.

Snapping applies to the following operations:

Â Dragging audio clips to the Timeline

Â Moving audio clips

Â Resizing audio clips

Â Setting the playhead

Â Setting the cycle region

Â Inserting markers

Â Moving markers

Â Selecting Timeslices

Â Adding envelope points

Â Moving envelope points

Â Moving crossfade edges

You can use snapping to ensure that audio clips are synchronized to a measure or beat, that they begin playing back at a precise point in time, and that they are precisely aligned with other clips in the Timeline.

When you turn on snapping, the item you are moving snaps to the nearest Snap To position in the Timeline. The available Snap To values depend on the time format of the project. For projects set to Time-based format, the available Snap To values are:

Â Ruler ticks

Â Seconds

Â Frames

Â Clips on Adjacent Tracks

Â Markers

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For projects set to Beats-based format, the available Snap To values are:

Â Ruler ticks

Â 1/4 notes

Â 1/8 notes

Â 1/16 notes

Â 1/32 notes

Â 1/64 notes

Â Markers

Â Clips on Adjacent Tracks

To turn snapping on:

m Choose View > Snap (or press G).

A checkmark next to the menu item indicates that snapping is turned on. Choose View > Snap again to turn snapping off.

To set the Snap To value:

m Choose View > Snap To, then choose a value from the submenu.

You can temporarily reverse the current snapping state while you work in the Timeline.

When snapping is turned on and Markers is chosen in the Snap To submenu, clips in the Timeline snap to the playhead as well as to markers.

To temporarily reverse the snapping state:

m Select the item in the Timeline, then hold down the Command key as you drag the item.

If snapping is turned on, Command-dragging lets you move the item without having it snap to the nearest Snap To position. If snapping is turned off, the item snaps to the nearest Snap To position. When you release the Command key, items moved in the Timeline follow the normal snapping state.

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Reconnecting Media Files

Because Soundtrack Pro multitrack projects contain references to media files, and not the files themselves, a multitrack project cannot play back if the media files it uses are erased or moved. When you open a multitrack project in Soundtrack Pro, the application checks to see if the media files it uses exist in the same location as they did when the project was last opened. If the media files are not in the expected location, Soundtrack Pro displays a Can’t Find File dialog with three choices:

Â Skip All: Opens the project without reconnecting any missing files.

Â Skip File: Opens the project without reconnecting the missing file.

Â Locate: Presents a dialog that lets you locate the missing file and reconnect it to

the project.

If you choose to open the project without reconnecting its files, you can reconnect individual audio files from the Timeline or the Bin tab and reconnect a video file in the video track in the Timeline.

To reconnect an audio file:

1 Do one of the following:

Â Select the clip in the Timeline, then choose Clip > Reconnect [filename].

Â Control-click the clip in the Timeline, then choose Reconnect [filename] from the

shortcut menu.

Â Select the clip in the Bin tab, then choose Reconnect [filename] from the Media pop-

up menu.

Â Control-click the audio file in the Bin tab, then choose Reconnect [filename] from the

shortcut menu.

2 In the dialog that appears, locate the audio file you want to reconnect.

3 Click Open to reconnect the file.

To reconnect a video file:

1 Control-click the video clip in the video track, then choose Reconnect Media Files from

the shortcut menu.

2 In the dialog that appears, locate the video file.

3 Click Open to reconnect the file.

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Setting Soundtrack Pro Preferences

You set preferences for various aspects of both the appearance and operation of Soundtrack Pro in the Preferences window. Some preferences apply to the current project, and some apply to new projects you create. You may want to specify some preferences before you begin working in Soundtrack Pro.

To open the Preferences window:

m Choose Soundtrack Pro > Preferences.

General Preferences

The General preferences include program startup behavior, Timeline defaults, and options for alerts, saving, fades, and handles.

Startup

These preferences let you set the startup behavior when you open Soundtrack Pro.

Â Last Project: Reopens the last project on startup.

Â New Multitrack Project: Creates a new, blank multitrack project on startup. This is the

default behavior.

Â New Audio File Project: Creates a new, blank audio file project on startup.

Â Meters Channel Display pop-up menu: Choose whether meters display labeled

channels in surround order (Ls, L, C, R, Rs, LFE) or output order (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

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Timeline

Â Move playhead by clicking pop-up menu: Choose whether you can move the playhead

by clicking in both the Timeline and the Time ruler or only in the Time ruler.

Â Scrollwheel pop-up menu: Choose whether an attached mouse with a scrollwheel

scrolls the Timeline or zooms in or out at the playhead position.

Â Use ellipses(...) in clip names checkbox: When selected, clips in the Timeline with long

names are center-truncated with an ellipsis. “Use ellipses (...) in clip names” is deselected by default.

Note: Selecting “Use ellipses (...) in clip names” can impact the speed at which the screen is redrawn during playback.

Â Automation Recording Sensitivity slider: Drag to set the level of sensitivity with which

onscreen and control surface movements are recorded. Setting the slider to High results in all movements being recorded.

Alerts and File Management

Â Show Alerts pop-up menu: Choose whether to show the alerts when various

conditions occur (such as disk overload, unsupported sample rates, and so on).

Â Save Audio File Project pop-up menu: Choose whether saved audio file projects

include the source audio file in the project or reference it. Note that if you move or delete the source audio file from a project that references source audio, the project cannot play.

Â Scratch Location button and display: Click this button, then browse to the location of

the disk or folder you want to use as the location for storing temporary files. The current location is shown in the Scratch Location display.

Â Edited Media Location button and display: Click this button, then browse to the

location of the disk or folder you want to use as the location for edited media such as audio file projects. The current location is shown in the Edited Media Location display.

Â New File Handle Length value slider: Enter a handle length (in seconds) for new

files. For more information, see “Modifying a Clip Without Affecting Its Source

Media” on page 197.

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Project Preferences

These preferences let you set project properties and other default settings for new projects you create.

Â Tracks pop-up menu: Sets the default number of tracks for a new multitrack project.

Â Track Height pop-up menu: Sets the default track height for new multitrack projects.

The choices are Mini, Small, Medium, and Large.

Â Snapping: Sets the default snapping mode for a new project.

Â Move Envelope Points with Clips checkbox: Sets the default envelope selection mode.

Â Overlap Mode pop-up menu: Sets whether overlapped clips are crossfaded or

truncated for new multitrack projects.

Â Default Fade Type pop-up menu: Sets default fade type.

Â Audio Pulldown pop-up menu: Sets default audio playback compensation.

Â Video Pulldown pop-up menu: Sets default video playback compensation.

Â Sample Rate pop-up menu: Sets the default sample rate for new projects. The choices

range from 32 kHz to 192 kHz.

Â Starting Timecode field: You can set the starting timecode for new projects to a value

other than 00:00:00;00 by entering a timecode value in the Starting Timecode field. You can only enter positive values in the field. When you open the project, the Time ruler and time display start from the starting timecode value.

Â Timescale pop-up menu: Choose whether the overall project uses Time-based or

Beats-based time format.

Â Export Bit Depth pop-up menu: Sets the export bit depth for the current project and

new projects. The choices are 16-bit (CD-quality audio) and 24-bit.

Â Video Frames per Second pop-up menu: Choose which video frame rate to use for

new projects.

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Â Tempo value slider: Sets the default tempo for new projects in beats per minute

(bpm). The range is 60 to 200 bpm.

Â Key pop-up menu: Sets the default key for new projects. The range is any key in the

chromatic scale from A to G#, or None.

Â Time Signature pop-up menu: Sets the default time signature for new projects. The

choices are 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, and 7/8.

Recording Preferences

These preferences let you specify settings for recording audio.

Â Input pop-up menu: Displays the available devices for audio input. Choose an input

device from the pop-up menu.

Note: For more information about setting inputs and outputs, see “Setting the Audio

Input and Output” on page 22.

Â Channels: Use these buttons to confirm or change default input signal routing settings.

Â Monitor pop-up menu: Displays the available devices for monitoring audio output.

Choose an output device from the pop-up menu.

Â Latency Compensation slider: Sets the amount of latency compensation in

milliseconds. If recorded audio is late, drag the slider right. If the recorded audio is early, drag the slider left.

For information on eliminating latency, see “Eliminating Recording Latency” on page 516.

Â Recordings Location display: Displays the default location to which recording sessions

are saved. You can set the save location by clicking the Choose button and navigating to a new location.

To select an audio interface as the output device:

m Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Sound, then click the Output button.

Select the audio interface in the list that appears.

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Apple Soundtrack Pro 2 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Apple Websites

Apple Service and Support Website

Other Apple Websites

1 Setting Up Your System

System Considerations

Processor Speed and RAM

Hard Disks

Setting the Audio Input and Output

Audio MIDI Setup

Adding Audio Units Plug-ins to Your Computer

Connecting Equipment

Video and Audio Input and Output Devices

Video Device

Audio Device

Video and Audio Interfaces

External Audio and Video Monitoring

External Audio Speakers and Monitors

Setting Up a Proper Audio Monitoring Environment

Amplifiers

Mixers

Control Surfaces

External Video Monitors

Example Hardware Setups

Setting Up a System Using Powered Speakers

Setting Up a System Using a USB Audio Interface

Setting Up a System Using a Video Output Device

Setting Up a System for Stereo Mixing

Stereo Speaker Placement and Listening Position

Setting Up a System for Surround Mixing

Showing and Hiding the Panes

Rearranging Tabs

Project Pane

Toolbar

Transport Controls

Timeline

Headers

Timeline Controls

File Editor

Mixer

Multitake Editor

Conform

Meters Tab

Recording Tab

Browser

Search Tab

Favorites Tab

Video Tab

Project Tab

Details Tab

Effects Tab

Tracks Tab

Actions Tab

Analysis Tab

HUDs

Timecode HUD

Sound Palette

Multipoint Video HUD

Two Kinds of Projects

Multitrack Projects

Audio File Projects

Setting Up Your Workspace

Basic Window Controls

Using Tabs

Using Project Layouts

Customizing the Toolbar

Playing Projects

Setting the Playhead Quickly

Setting the Playhead Using the Time Display

Setting the Playhead Using the Playhead Location Value Slider

About Changing Values and Timecode Entries

Using Value Sliders

Using Timecode Value Sliders

Scrubbing Audio

Scrubbing Video

Controlling Playback with the Transport Controls