Steinberg CLEAN, CLEAN PLUS Reference Manual

Reference Manual

CLEAN / CLEAN PLUS

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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies AG.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies AG. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners.

© Steinberg Media Technologies AG, 2002. All rights reserved.

Operation manual by d.popow@musicandtext.com, introduction by Tom Wendt.

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Table of Contents

Preface 4

Using Clean 7

The IntelliAssistant 9

The Clean window 10

The track list 11

Setting Record and Playback volume 22

The four Effect sections 25

The Restoration section 27

The Enhancement section 30

The Mastering section 35

The Surround section 37

The Equalizer 39

The Waveform display 41

Available disk space 44

Processing the tracks 45

Maximum Level by Normalizing 47

Recording the CD-R 49

Creating CD Labels 53

Using the Label Editor 55

Defining User Variables 68

Printing CD Labels 70

Exporting audio in MP3 format 76

The Menus 78

Working with a less powerful system 81

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Preface

Welcome and thank you for your decision to use CLEAN or CLEAN PLUS. Using CLEAN/CLEAN PLUS, your PC and your CD recorder, you can create your personal audio CD or MP3 CD (data CD) from other CD, vinyl or cassette recordings. CLEAN gives you the easy-to-use optimized high-quality tools that let you compile and even professionally restore the audio in the process.

The software of both products is identical. The only difference between CLEAN and CLEAN PLUS is, that the latter comes with a Phono PreAmp.

We assume that you have previously not been working as a restoration engineer or CD producer and we would therefore like to introduce you to some of the topics that pop up when the issues “Making music on your PC” and “Record player handling” are involved. Many years after the successful introduction of the CD many people will still know what a record is and how to handle it, but the specifics and the necessary technical devices for the best playback conditions might not be that clearly present in memory any more.

The path from the record player into your PC

You will surely have recorded music on your PC before. You own a sound card with good AD/DA converters and nothing was more simple than plugging the output of your CD player or CD-ROM drive into the input of your sound card and record music as a WAV file. The level could easily be adjusted and the sound of the WAV file met your expectations.

If – on the other hand – you wish to record music from a vinyl record this way, you definitely need a pre-amplifier. That is why CLEAN PLUS includes one.

Directly connecting your record player to your sound card would not give you a usable signal. Even if you could feed your sound card with a high level signal, the treble would be distorted and the signal would sound incomplete. The reason for this is that the record player only transfers a very low useful signal.

Another aspect is, that a record does not provide a well balanced frequency spectrum. Instead, it gives you a lot of treble and not much bass. This is the result of the technology used: a good sounding bass would produce strong record groove deflections that in turn would cause the stylus to jump to the next groove upon each bass drum hit.

For this reason the CLEAN Phono PreAmp has a special phono input, same as Hi-fi amplifiers. Besides providing the pre-amplification, this input is equipped with a special equalizer, optimized for record playback. The equalizer makes up for the effect of the “bent” frequency characteristics of the record by separately amplifying the treble and bass signal components.

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If you have the program version that includes the Phono PreAmp, then you merely need to fetch your records from the cellar, connect record player and Phono PreAmp, install CLEAN and start to record.

If you have the product version without the Phono PreAmp and wish to record from vinyl records, then you will have to dust off your old Hi-fi amplifier and connect the record player to its Phono socket and the sound card to its Tape or Aux out.

If your Hi-fi amplifier is defect, then you need a dedicated pre-amp to bring the record player signal onto a frequency corrected Line level.

Now you can transfer the music on your records into your computer with a sufficient level.

Vinyl needs care

CLEAN has restoration functions to remove rumble noise, clicks, crackles background noise and sibilants etc. from your music recordings. The algorithms used for these functions are equal in every aspect to high-quality studio devices. This technology will however only give you maximum results, if the source delivers the best possible signal-to-noise ratio. This means that you should carefully clean your records before you transfer the music into your computer. This will make sure that the groove does not contain dust that would otherwise lead to crackles.

If you use a cleaning fluid, you should definitely rinse your records with water (preferably the decalcified variant) as cleaning fluids have the effect to glue small dust particles into the record groove.

Mineral water containing less mineral and sodium will also give you excellent results when you rinse your records after cleaning them.

The sound is distorted

Years of listening to CDs have trained our hearing to react sensitively to distortions. Some of the distortions that occur when you play back records are inherent in the medium itself.

The pick-up arm does not always have a strictly tangential position to the record groove. In addition, groove spacing decreases towards the center of the record. The physical circumstances can not be changed, but it is imperative that you make sure that the stylus is in a good state. If it is worn, you should get a new one.

If you have correctly connected the Phono PreAmp and the records rotate under a new stylus, you can now start to adjust the recording level of your sound card. Currently available sound cards generally offer a dynamic range and a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 80 dB.

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As a record can only provide ca. 60 dB, your sound card will most probably be sufficient to produce good recordings on your PC. You should still only use ca. 85% of the theoretically possible recording level. This way, you do not run the risk to produce ugly sounding digital distortions caused by a too high level; or undesired noise, if you record more than 60 dB. These unwanted effects only make the work of the restoration algorithms harder and increase the deep-frequency rumble noise of the record player.

The hunt for the optimum level

One obstacle for many audio recordings on the computer is finding the right level adjustments. Sound cards do not always offer a reliable level display. In order to make the best possible setting for your system, you should use the same methods that are used in a professional recording studio:

Use test signals with an exactly defined level of 0 dB to adjust the wave channel and master levels of your sound card as well as that of other possibly used devices like DAT, MD or cassette recorders.

In the Calibrate directory on the CLEAN CD you can find the files 1kHz Tone.wav, 10 kHz Tone.wav, 80 Hz Tone.wav and 100 Hz Tone.wav. These sound files contain pure sinusoidal signals with an exact level of 0 dB.

Attention: The Test tones are very loud! Make sure that volume is reduced to a minimum on your monitoring system before you load and play back any of these tones. Do so to take care of your speakers, your ears and the good relations to your neighbours.

You can use the cycle playback feature in CLEAN for continuous playback, then you don’t have to start playback again and again.

While playing back one of the test tones, you can adjust the level of your complete system. First, you should use the Output faders in CLEAN to set the output volume in a way that your sound card does not overload.

The Windows MME driver only lets you control the output volume if your sound card has a software mixer panel.

You can also record the test tone with your DAT, MD or cassette recorder, if your sound card is connected to a stereophonic sound system. Use the input controls of these devices to set them to a maximum input of 0 dB. You should not change these settings later.

Have fun applying CLEAN to your favourite music. The Steinberg Team

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Using CLEAN

This section gives you a general overview on how to use CLEAN in practise. It also contains cross-references to the sections that hold the information about the respective issue.

The basic concept behind CLEAN is that you work on a CD Project. To use CLEAN, you must therefore first create a new Project or load one that you have saved previously. A Project is a file that contains the complete data set of the CD you are about to create.

Start by double clicking the CLEAN icon on the desktop or in the Start menu.

You can also start CLEAN by dragging a Project file on the program icon.

Select “Create New Project” or “Open existing Project” in the dialog that appears.

Find more information on file handling on page 78.

Now you can either choose to use the IntelliAssistant to guide you through all preparations and automatically carry out the necessary steps, or proceed as described below.

Please find a description of how the IntelliAssistant works on page 9.

Import the desired tracks as WAV or MP3 (will be converted into WAV format) files from CD or record them (e.g. from record or tape).

Find more information about these issues on page 12 (Importing tracks from hard disk), page 13 (Importing tracks from audio CD) and page 18 (Recording audio in

CLEAN).

By selecting an entry from a Category (“Cat.”) pop-up menu, you can inform CLEAN about the source medium of each track (cassette, record or CD).

This helps CLEAN to select the best possible restoration settings when you use the AutoClean function. See page 27.

During recording or later, you can let CLEAN automatically check the audio for silence and have it insert Markers. Markers can also be inserted manually. You can move and remove them.

Based on the Marker positions you can cut your Recordings into individual tracks and put them onto the track list.

Please look up “The Record Dialog” on page 18 and “The AutoMarker functions” on page 43.

You can now play back, name and sort the tracks and determine the gap time (the length of the pause between any two tracks).

For more information, see page 17 (playback), page 15 (naming and gap time) and on page 15 (sorting).

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You can shorten track lengths and define a fade-in and/or fade-out for each track.

See “Setting the track length – The Start and End Markers” on page 41 and “The Fade-in and Fade-out Markers” on page 42.

You can use a number of very powerful pro-quality tools for restoration, enhancement and mastering as well as internal and external effects to process the sound of each track.

Processing can be done in real time so that you can monitor the effect or by calculating and creating a file. Find more information starting on page 25.

Using the AutoClean function, you can let CLEAN analyse audio for clicks, crackling and noise. You can preselect one of three restoration modes of different strengths. CLEAN analyses the audio and automatically adjusts the respective restoration effects accordingly. The five most important restoration effects provide Audition buttons which let you separately monitor the signal parts removed by each effect.

Please read more on page 27.

Using the audio editor WaveLab Lite, that’s part of the CLEAN package, you can define a specific noise finger print. This can then be used in CLEAN to remove this specific noise using the Finger Print DeNoiser.

Read more on page 28.

You want to improve the sound of a recording with a bland sound? You can let CLEAN analyse a better sounding reference track that you play back via your sound card (e.g. from your computer’s CD drive) or that resides as a Wave file somewhere on your hard disk. Then you can apply the results of the analysis to the bland sounding files. Listen and wonder how!

Read more on page 31.

You want to bring your favourite music into the MP3 format? No problem with CLEAN. No matter if you record from CD, record or cassette, if you process your own music or imported MP3 files: CLEAN can turn it all into an MP3 file and it supports a whole range of different quality levels.

Find more information in the section “Exporting audio in MP3 format” on page 76.

CLEAN lets you define the positioning of your speakers on-screen and add Surround sound quality to your CD tracks.

Read more on page 37.

Finally, you can use CLEAN to record the CD-R.

Find details on how to do this in the section “Exporting audio in MP3 format” on page 76.

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The IntelliAssistant

This intelligent Assistant actively helps you make appropriate settings and automatically carries out all processing and recording onto CD. This lets you quickly and easily achieve good results.

Proceed as follows:

1.Click on the IntelliAssistant button to bring up the IntelliAssistant dialog.

Click on this button… to bring up this dialog.

Click here to close the dialog.

Click the right button to go to the next step and the left button to go to the previous step

Use this scroll bar to move the visible part of the dialog up or down.

OK button – This lets you confirm your settings.

2.Follow the instructions and make the desired settings.

CLEAN will automatically display a red flashing frame around the program element you need to click to get to the next step.

3.Confirm all actions by clicking the OK button. Then go to the next step.

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Steinberg CLEAN, CLEAN PLUS Reference Manual

The CLEAN window

The CLEAN window is divided into a number of different areas. They represent the major functional groups within the program.

The most important of these are: the track list, the Restoration, Enhancement, Mastering and Surround sections and the Waveform display. These are described on the following pages of this manual.

 

The Restoration, Enhancement,

Track list

Mastering & Surround sections

Output volume controls

Waveform display

The CLEAN window

 

CLEAN has a number of additional controls and displays. Among these are the Volume and Equalizer controls, the AutoClean function, the Processing buttons as well as various displays.

For many CLEAN window elements tool tips are available. These are short explaining bits of text that pop up when you move the mouse cursor on the element and wait for a short while.

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The track list

 

 

 

 

 

Author name

Track time

 

 

 

 

CD Track number

 

Track title

Pause length

 

 

Source medium category

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scroll bar to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

move the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

visible part

List entries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of the list up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burn audio CD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

right:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burn data CD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left to right:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Load audio file,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove track,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove track

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delete track and

 

Transport controls, left to right: Stop, Previous Track,

 

Cycle playback

 

Rewind, Play, Fast Forward, Next Track, Record

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The track list is located in the upper left corner of the CLEAN window. You can use it to import, name, record and play back audio tracks as well as change the order in which the tracks are recorded onto CD-R. This is also where tracks are removed from a Project or even completely deleted from your hard disk. At the bottom of the track list you can find a number of recording and playback functions.

All entries in the track list – except for Time can directly be changed in the list.

The various functions are described on the following pages.

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Importing tracks from hard disk

CLEAN can import audio files in the WAV and MPEG1-Layer3 (generally called “MP3”) formats.

CLEAN can read files with a resolution of 16 bits and sample rates between 22.050 kHz and 96 kHz. It automatically converts them into the CD standard format (16 bits, 44.1 kHz).

MP3 files are automatically converted into WAV format. These files can then be processed in CLEAN as any other WAV files and be recorded onto CD-R.

You can also export files in MP3 format! Find more information in the section “Exporting audio in MP3 format” on page 76.

Proceed as follows to import a piece of audio, that is available as a mono or stereo WAV or MP3 file, into the track list:

1.Click on the “Import” button or select “Import WAV/MP3 file” from the Import menu.

A file selector opens.

2.Select the desired WAV or MP3 file and click “Open”.

The file is imported and displayed in the track list.

CLEAN transforms monophonic 16 Bit/44.1 kHz format files into a stereophonic file of the same format and checks whether enough space is available on your hard disk to save the file.

If you import MP3 files, they will automatically be converted. During conversion, the Process Time indicator informs you about the current state of the conversion.

You can also import several WAV or MP3 files in one go:

Hold down the [Ctrl] key on your computer keyboard while selecting the files with the mouse.

To import several adjacent files, hold down [Shift] on your computer keyboard and click on the first and the last file of the desired block.

Importing tracks in CLEAN is not limited to the total playing time of an audio CD (up to 80 minutes). You can exceed this time limit, e.g. to save your restored audio data on a DAT cassette (longer playing time) instead of on CD.

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Drag and Drop

You can also use Drag and Drop to drag WAV and MP3 files from the Desktop, “My Computer” window or Windows Explorer into the track list:

Find the desired file, click on it and drag it into the track list while you continue to hold down the mouse button.

MP3 files will automatically be converted.

Project files can also be opened by using Drag and Drop, see page 78.

Importing tracks from audio CD

You can use CLEAN to directly import audio from any audio CD. The data is saved as a WAV file, i.e. a digital copy of the imported track is saved on your hard disk. There is no D/A conversion, thus no loss in quality. This method of directly reading the audio data from CD is often called grabbing. Proceed as follows:

1.Open the Import menu and select “Import tracks from CD…”.

A dialog opens.

The “Import audio tracks from CD” dialog

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2.Select the CD-ROM drive from which you wish to import the audio tracks in the pop-up menu on the top left of the dialog.

If you have only one CD-ROM drive installed in your computer system, you can of course only select this drive here.

3.Insert an audio CD in the selected drive.

The tracks on the CD are displayed in a list in the middle of the dialog.

4.Select one or several tracks for import on your hard disk by clicking on them.

Selecting works similar as in the Windows Explorer:

Hold down the [Ctrl] key on your computer keyboard, if you wish to select several tracks that are not adjacent in the list.

To select several adjacent tracks in the list, hold down [Shift] on your computer keyboard and click on the first and the last track of the desired block.

You can directly add more tracks to an open Project. Use the “Add to project” function in the “Import tracks from CD…” dialog for this purpose. The files that you import with this method are stored in the same directory as the previously imported files for this Project.

5.Input a file name and a path for the imported WAV file(s). If you add files to an already open Project, this will not be necessary.

To do this, click on the small grey button with the three dots, next to the “Cancel” button in the dialog. When you first open the dialog, its standard path setting is C:\track.wav.

6.Start importing the files by clicking on the “Import” button.

Imported files are directly added to the track list.

7.Close the dialog by clicking “Cancel”.

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Changing the entries in the track List

To edit the entries Author, Title and Pause in the track list:

Double click the entry that you wish to edit, enter the desired changes using your computer keyboard and confirm by pressing [Return].

Preset Pause time – the length of the pause between two tracks on the CD – is 2 seconds. You can change this to a value between 0 and 4 seconds. Higher values will automatically be corrected to 4 seconds.

To edit the Category entry:

Right-click into the “Cat.” column to bring up a pop-up menu and select one of the three symbols (CD, vinyl record, cassette) or “Nothing” to inform the program about the source medium of the respective track.

This helps CLEAN to select the best possible restoration settings when you use the AutoClean function or use the IntelliAssistant.

CD Text Information

All entries in the Author and Title columns are recorded on CD as CD Text, which is supported by some players which show this information during playback.

Changing the track order in the list

CLEAN playback must be stopped when you change the track order. Do this:

Simply drag the desired track to its new position. To do this, click on the track that you wish to move, hold down the mouse button and move the mouse pointer to the slot where the track should wind up.

A white line indicates the upper rim of the moved track.

Track time can be changed by using the Markers in the Waveform display. This is described in the section “Setting the track length – The Start and End Markers” on page 41.

Moving the visible part of the track list

If the track list contains more than 14 tracks, you can use the fader to the right of the list to move the visible part.

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Removing a track from the track list

When Playback is stopped, you can remove a track from the track list, without deleting its WAV file from your hard disk.

Select the file in the list and click the “Remove” button below the track list or press the [Delete] key on your computer keyboard.

Deleting a track

You can also remove a track from the track list and delete its WAV file from your hard disk.

Select the file in the list, then click the “Delete” button below the track list.

Deleting is an irreversible action! If you delete a file, it is lost and can not be recovered!

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Recording and Playback functions

To use the Recording and Playback functions, you must first create a Project or load one from disk.

Except for the Record button, these buttons essentially work in the same way as those on your cassette recorder or CD player. Here’s what each button does:

This button is called:

If you click on it…

Stop

…playback stops.

Play

…playback starts.

Rewind

…you move the current playback position

 

backwards in time.

Previous track …you select the previous track in the track list.

Fast Forward

…you move the current playback position

 

forward in time.

Next track

…you select the next track in the track list.

Record

…the Record dialog will be opened where you

 

can make several recording settings, and

 

start and stop recording. The details are

 

described below.

Cycle

…and the button is displayed in blue,

playback

playback of the current track is repeated

 

indefinitely. Attention: this button actually is

 

an On-/Off switch! If the button is switched

 

off (shown in grey), the complete track list

 

will be repeated.

Except for the Record and Cycle buttons, all buttons always affect the track that is selected in the track list!

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The Record Dialog

The Record dialog opens when you click on the Record button. Recording any analog signal from record, audio cassette etc. is done in this dialog.

Here you find buttons to start or stop the actual recording and a Pause button to set CLEAN into “record ready” mode. You can also control whether recording should start or stop automatically as soon as the input signal reaches or falls below a certain level. You can let the program automatically insert a Marker if the level falls below a certain minimum level.

The following table lists all functions in the Record dialog:

Input level meters These two “LED” meters display the level of the signal that arrives at CLEAN’s input. It is a good idea to set the input level so that level peaks reach the yellow “LED” area but never the red segment at the top. If the signal is too low, you will record noise, if it is too high, it will clip drastically and not sound good.

Input level faders These Faders can be used to attenuate the signal that arrives at CLEAN’s input. The signal might have already been set at the source outside the computer or by the Mixer-software of your sound card. Find additional information in the next two sections (“The Sound card dialog” and “Setting Record and Playback volume”).

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Record Path Here you can define the path under which your recordings are stored on your hard disk. If you click on the button with the three dots, you can define the path using a file selector.

Recording length As soon as recording starts, the length of the recording in hours, and size minutes and seconds is displayed here. The value in brackets

shows the actual size of the recorded file.

AutoMarker/-Stop If the AutoMarker or AutoStop function (see below) is checked – (Threshold) means active – and the level of the recorded song falls below the value set here, CLEAN will automatically stop recording or insert

a Marker into the waveform.

Delay AutoMarker This function is active if the check mark is visible to the left of the pop-up menu. If this function is active, you can select a delay time in the pop-up. When the signal falls below the Threshold defined under AutoMarker/-Stop (Threshold), the program waits for the time-span defined here before it inserts a Marker. This may be useful if the song ends with a long decay. Markers are used to let CLEAN automatically cut a longer recording into separate tracks.

AutoStart

This function is active if the check mark is visible to the left of the

(Threshold)

pop-up menu. If this function is active, CLEAN will automatically

 

start recording, as soon as the source signal has a higher level

 

than the one set here.

Record Duration

This function is active if the check mark is visible to the left of the

(h:mm)

field. Instead of using the AutoStop function (see below) to stop

 

recording, you can insert a time value in this field after which

 

recording is stopped automatically. You can set a recording

 

length in hours and minutes. The maximum value is 2 hours. This

 

function is not available, if you have activated Delay AutoStop.

Delay AutoStop

This function is active if the check mark is visible to the left of the

 

pop-up menu. Activate this function and select a time value.

 

When the signal falls below the Threshold defined under

 

AutoMarker/-Stop (Threshold), the program waits for the time-

 

span defined here before it stops recording. This may be useful if

 

the song ends with a long fade-out. This function is not available,

 

if you have defined a Record Duration.

Record

Clicking on this switch will immediately start recording.

Stop

Click on this button to stop recording.

Pause

By clicking on the Pause button, you set CLEAN into “record

 

ready” mode. The button flashes to indicate this. If you have

 

activated the AutoStart or AutoStop functions mentioned above,

 

recording will automatically be started or stopped.

Close

Click on this button to close the dialog.

 

 

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Discard

If you click on this button, the last recording that you have made

 

since you have opened the dialog this time will be deleted from disk.

Soundcard

Click on this button to open the Soundcard dialog which is

 

described next.

 

 

Alternatively, you can use WaveLab Lite (comes on the CLEAN CD) for recording audio, as this extremely fast audio editor offers additional functions.

What can I do if recording does not work immediately?

CLEAN uses the hardware (and its active ports) selected in Windows’ Multimedia Properties control panel.

If you e.g. wish to use a Soundblaster AWE 64 sound card for recording, this card must previously (in most cases during card installation) have been selected as “Preferred device” in the Multimedia Properties control panel.

1.To check this, open the My Computer window on your Windows desktop.

2.Open the Control Panels folder and double-click the Multimedia icon.

The Multimedia Properties dialog opens.

3.Select the “Audio” tab (which is normally immediately visible) and check what’s selected in the “Preferred device” pop-up menu. If you have more than one audio card installed in your system, then select the desired device in this pop-up.

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To find out whether the Line input of the Soundblaster card in our example is active, you will have to open its audio mixer panel.

Please find more information about the sound card that you use in its hardware and software documentation.

The Soundcard dialog

This dialog is used to select the sound card inputs and outputs that you use with CLEAN and to which you have connected an external analog sound source like e.g. the combination of record player and Phono PreAmp and your monitoring equipment.

The sound card is used for analog/digital conversion.

Open the pop-up menus to select the desired inputs and outputs.

Depending on the sound card you use, you may be able to set the number of buffers and their size below the two pop-up menus. The resulting latency time (delay caused by the time needed for signal processing) will be displayed.

If you click “OK”, you confirm your settings and close the dialog.

If you click “Cancel”, you cancel your settings and leave the dialog with grace.

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Setting Record and Playback volume

Record volume

When you use CLEAN to record audio on your hard disk, this is what happens:

The audio signal from an external source (like e.g. the Phono PreAmp) arrives at the input of your sound card where it is converted from an analog to a digital signal.

The input to the analog/digital (A/D) converter of the sound card is either controlled by a Mixer software, that came with your sound card or by the Mixer in the Windows Multimedia control panel.

No matter which one you use, it is in one of these Mixers where you can cause or prevent a distorted signal. It is therefore very important that you play back the signal to be recorded and use the level indicators of the Mixer or your ears to get a sufficient, but undistorted signal into the computer.

After the A/D converter stage, the signal finally arrives at CLEAN’s internal input and you can use the CLEAN “Input” faders and level indicators to control the actual recording level. The only thing that you have to keep in mind is that the “Input” faders in CLEAN can only attenuate the signal as it has already passed the input of the sound card. If the signal has already been distorted at the sound card input, pulling down CLEAN’s “Input” fader will only attenuate a distorted signal.

Input level faders and display in CLEAN’s Record dialog.

Before you use CLEAN for recording from vinyl or cassette, you should check the Recording Control settings of your audio card. The sound source and recording level settings are very important for a successful recording. Proceed as follows:

1.Open the Mixer application of your audio card: On the Start menu on the Programs submenu, select Accessories. From the submenu that appears, select Entertainment, then Volume Control.

The Volume Control dialog opens.

2.On the Options menu in this dialog, select “Properties“.

The Properties dialog opens.

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3.In the “Adjust volume for” section of the dialog, activate the Recording option and click “OK“.

The Recording Control dialog opens.

4.Specify the audio source by activating the Select checkbox in the Line In section of the dialog.

Use the fader in this section to accurately predefine the recording level. You can later fine tune this setting from within the program.

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5.Connect the desired sound source (a cassette recorder or a record player with PreAmp or PreAmp/Equalizer) with the corresponding socket of your audio card (usually marked in red) and activate playback of the source signal.

Now you can start with the actual recording.

6.Use the Input fader and level meter in CLEAN, and listen carefully to the recording to set a sufficient level without distortion.

This means that during recording, the input level indicators should do most of their “jumping” within the yellow part of the indicator, without reaching the red part. You can adjust the level of audio files when the recording is finished. Find more information on page 47 and page 79.

Playback Volume

CLEAN’s “Output” faders control Playback volume, i.e. the volume actually output via your sound card’s out socket.

The actually recorded level of the file on your hard disk remains unchanged unless you change it by processing the track data.

When you move one of the two handles of the “Input” or “Output” fader pair with the mouse,

the other handle of each pair will follow CLEAN Output level faders automatically.

If you wish to set each fader in a pair individually, proceed as follows:

Press [Alt] and move the desired fader handle using the mouse.

Both fader pairs can separately be reset to their original values:

Press [Ctrl] and click on one of the faders of the desired fader pair.

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The four Effect sections

CLEAN has four different effect sections: Restoration, Enhancement, Mastering and Surround. Four tabs, similar to those found in many Windows dialogs, are visible at the top of the CLEAN window. Use these tabs to switch the upper right part of the window to display any of the four effect sections.

The four tabs

Use this to switch all Effects on or off.

If you activate this function, the three main restoration effects will use their high quality mode. This increases the demand for processing power.

Stereo

On/Off

The following buttons are available on all four tabs:

By clicking on the general “Effects” On/Off switch, you can switch all active effects on or off in one go.

Using the “HQ” button, you let CLEAN use other calculation methods for the three main restoration effects – DeClicker, DeCrackler and DeNoiser. In many cases, these ‘algorithms’ will give you better results, but will also consume a lot more processing power of your computer.

The “Stereo” switch is used to switch between stereophonic and monophonic audio playback.

Except for the Surround setting, which is used globally for all tracks within one Project, each track in the track list can individually be processed with the effects. Therefore, it is possible that you only apply a slight Stereo Spread effect on track 1, but use the DeClicker and the DeCrackler on the next track. CLEAN automatically memorizes the effect settings that you make. If you change from one track to another, CLEAN resets the effect parameters to the last state memorized for this track.

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