High frequency effects

Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows Visual QuickStart
Guide” by Jeff Partyka.

The effects in Adobe® Audition® 1.5 are too numerous to walk through the configuration
process for each one. In this tutorial, however, we’ll take an in-depth look at three effects
(Full Reverb, Graphic Equalizer, and Amplify/Fade). This will accomplish two things: you’ll
see some of the various methods used in Audition to configure effects, and you’ll get a
close-up view of three of the effects you’re most likely to use on a regular basis.

The Full Reverb effect simulates room reverberation to create the illusion of a sound
originating in a particular place in relation to the listener. It offers a high degree of
customization; you can specify the dimensions of your imaginary room and tweak the
sound further via equalization.

The Graphic Equalizer effect allows you to cut or boost preset frequency bands with the aid
of a graphic interface, which shows you a visual representation of the resulting EQ curve.

Finally, the Amplify/Fade effect allows adjustments to the volume of an audio clip, either
consistently throughout the clip via the Constant Amplification tab or at a rising or falling
rate to produce a fade via the Fade tab.

Apply the Full Reverb effect

To apply the Full Reverb effect in the Edit View:

1. Make a selection in the waveform.

2. Do one of the following:

o Choose Effects > Delay Effects > Full Reverb.
o Click the Effects tab in the Organizer window, expand Delay Effects, and
double-click Full Reverb (Figure 1).
 Figure 1: You can also open the Full Reverb effect in the Effects tab of the
Organizer window.

3. Do any of the following:

o Move the Original Signal (Dry) scrubber to adjust the prominence of the original
signal relative to the reverb sound.
o Move the Early Reflections scrubber to adjust the perceived size of the virtual
“room.”
o Move the Reverb (Wet) scrubber to adjust the prominence of the reverb sound
relative to the original signal.
o Check the Include Direct box to phase-shift the left and right channels of the
original signal to best match the Early Reflections setting.
o Check the Combine Source Left and Right box to sum an original stereo signal
to mono before the reverb is added.

4. Configure the options specific to each tab (see the following tasks).

5. Click OK. The Full Reverb effect is applied.

General Reverb tab
To configure the Full Reverb effect (General Reverb tab):

1. In the Full Reverb window, click the General Reverb tab (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The Full Reverb window.

2. Do any of the following:

o Set the Total Length scrubber, or enter a value in the adjacent field, to specify
how many milliseconds the decay of the reverb should last.
o Set the Attack Time scrubber, or enter a value in the adjacent field, to specify
how many milliseconds it should take for the reverb effect to reach maximum
amplitude.
o Set the Diffusion scrubber, or enter a value in the adjacent field, to specify how
many individual echoes should be contained in the reverb sound (higher
settings result in smoother reverb).
o Raise the Perception setting, using either the scrubber or the adjacent value
field, to increase the auditory perception that the reverb was produced
naturally in a room (lower settings result in smoother but some-what artificial-
sounding reverb).
o Click the Set Reverb Based on Early Reflection Room Size button to set the
Total Length and Attack Time settings to conform to the room-size settings
configured in the Early Reflections tab (see the next task).

3. Go on to the next tab, or click OK.

Early Reflections tab

To configure the Full Reverb effect (Early Reflections tab):
 1. In the Full Reverb window, click the Early Reflections tab (Figure 3).

Figure 3: The Early Reflections tab of the Full Reverb window.

2. Do any of the following:

o Set the Room Size scrubber, or enter a value in the adjacent field, to specify
the size of the room you want to emulate, in cubic meters.
o Set the Dimension scrubber, or enter a value in the adjacent field, to specify
the virtual room’s width-to-depth ratio.
o Set the Left/Right Location scrubber, or enter a percentage in the adjacent
field, to move the virtual sound source (the original signal to which you’re
adding reverb) to a particular off-center location in the “room.”
o Set the High Pass Cutoff scrubber, or enter a Hz value in the adjacent field, to
avoid losing low-frequency (bassy) sounds below that value (the addition of
reverb can often cause low-frequency loss due to phase issues).

3. Go on to the next tab, or click OK.

Coloration tab
To configure the Full Reverb effect (Coloration tab):

1. In the Full Reverb window, click the Coloration tab.

2. Do any of the following:

o Move the three control points in the graph to color the reverb sound.
o Adjust the amplitude or frequency scrubbers to color the reverb sound.
o Adjust the values in the Hz and dB fields to color the reverb sound.
o Specify a value in the Q field to set the width of the mid band.
o Specify a value in the ms field to set the decay time for the affected reverb.
 3. Click OK. The Full Reverb effect is applied.

Apply the Graphic Equalizer effect

To open the Graphic Equalizer effect in the Edit View:

1. Make a selection in the waveform.

2. Do one of the following:

o Choose Effects > Filters > Graphic Equalizer (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The Graphic Equalizer effect can be found in Effects > Filters.

o Click the Effects tab in the Organizer window, expand Filters, and double-click
Graphic Equalizer. The Graphic Equalizer window opens (Figure 5).
 Figure 5: The Graphic Equalizer window.

Configure the Graphic Equalizer effect

To configure the Graphic Equalizer effect:

1. Do any of the following:

o Click the 10 Bands, 20 Bands, or 30 Bands tab to specify how many frequency
bands you wish to configure (use more bands if you want to exert control over
more specific frequency ranges).
o Use a scrubber to boost or reduce the amplitude of the associated frequency
range (your adjustments will be reflected in the graph).
o As an alternative to using the Effects tab of the scrubbers, select a frequency
band in the Band drop-down menu, and enter an amplitude value in dB in the
Gain field.
o Click the Graph Actual Response button to produce a green line in the graph
representing the actual frequency adjustment that your equalization will
produce. Compare it to the requested frequency adjustment, shown in blue in
the graph (Figure 6). Increase the value in the Accuracy field as needed and
click the button again until you’re satisfied with the projected actual frequency
adjustment.
 Figure 6: When you click the Graph Actual Response button in the Graphic
Equalizer window, a line is added to the graph to illustrate actual frequency
response that will result from the current Accuracy setting.

o Click the Set All to Zero button at any time to return all equalization settings to
0 (to bring the waveform back to its unequalized state).
o Adjust the decibel value in the Range field to increase or decrease the
amplitude range of the scrubbers.
o Adjust the decibel value in the Master Gain field if you need to compensate for
volume changes that may result from your EQ settings.

2. Click OK.

Apply the Amplify/Fade effect

To apply the Amplify/Fade effect in the Edit View:

1. Make a selection in the waveform.

2. Do one of the following:

o Choose Effects > Amplitude > Amplify/Fade (Figure 7).

Figure 7: The Amplify/ Fade effect can be found in Effects > Amplitude.
 o Click the Effects tab in the Organizer window, expand Amplitude, and double-
click Amplify/Fade. The Amplify/Fade window opens.

3. Do any of the following:

o Check the DC Bias Adjust box to adjust an off-center waveform.
o Enter a value in the Peak Level field to specify a maximum amplitude for the
normalization process. Click Calculate Now to scan the waveform and normalize
based on that value.
o Check the Lock Left/Right box to lock all L and R scrubbers together so that
their settings always match; uncheck it if you want to use the scrubbers
separately.
o Check the View All Settings in dB box if you want amplitude settings to appear
as decibel values; uncheck it if you want the settings represented as
percentages of the original wave-form values.

4. Configure the options specific to each tab (see the following tasks).

5. Click OK. The Amplify/Fade effect is applied.

Configure the Amplify/Fade effect

Configure the options specific to each tab. See the following:

Constant Amplification tab

1. In the Amplify/Fade window, click the Constant Amplification tab (Figure 8).

Figure 8: The Constant Amplification tab of the Amplify/Fade window.

 2. Move the Amplification scrubbers, or enter values in the adjacent fields, to change
the volume of the selected audio.

3. Go on to the next tab, or click OK.

Fade tab
1. In the Amplify/Fade window, click the Fade tab (Figure 9).

Figure 9: The Amplify/Fade window.

2. Use the scrubbers, or the adjacent fields, to choose amplitude values for Initial
Amplification (the beginning of a fade) and Final Amplification (the end of a fade).

3. Check a button next to Linear Fades (for a smooth fade at a constant rate across your
selection) or Logarithmic Fades (if you want a steeper slope at one end of the fade).

4. Click OK. The Amplify/Fade effect is applied.

Tip
The Fade In and Fade Out presets in the Amplify/Fade effect window can be handy when
editing files originating from vinyl records or live performances. You’ll often want to fade LP
clicks and pops or audience applause in and out at the beginning and end of such files, and
these presets provide a quick and easy way to do it.

Make music talk

Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Adobe Audition Ignite” by Eric Grebler.

It takes years of practice and some considerable talent to make it seem like the instrument
you are playing is actually talking. Well, you can save the money you would spend on
expensive music lessons because the Convolution effect in Adobe® Audition® 1.5 allows
you to achieve similar results in seconds. The Convolution effect works by multiplying the
samples in one waveform by the samples in another waveform. Using this effect, you must
first load a waveform (for instance a vocal track) that will become the impulse that other
waveforms are multiplied by (such as a guitar track).

Apply the Convolution effect

To apply the Convolution effect:

1. Open the waveform that you would like to use as the template for others to be
multiplied by. If you want to make your music talk, choose a piece of audio with
spoken word, such as a vocal track. The waveform or a selection within the waveform
must be at least 5 seconds long.

2. Click on Effects. The Effects menu will appear.

3. Click on Special. A submenu of special effects will appear.

4. Click on Convolution. The Digital Convolution dialog box will open.

5. Click on the Add Sel button. Your entire waveform or the current selection will be
added.

6. Click on the Save button. A dialog box will appear from which you can save your
waveform as an impulse that will be applied to future waveforms.

7. Type a descriptive name for your impulse.

8. Click on the Save button. The dialog box will close and you will return to the Digital
Convolution dialog box.
9. Click on the X in the top-right corner of the dialog box. This will close the effect
without applying any changes to your audio. At this point, we only had the dialog box
open to save our impulse.

10. Double-click to open the waveform that you would like to multiply (the guitar
track, for example). It will open in the window.

Guitar riffs are particularly good tracks to apply Convolution effects with spoken audio
because the guitar really sounds like it is talking.

11. Repeat Steps 2-4 to open up the Digital Convolution dialog box.
12. Click on the Load button to load the impulse that you created earlier so that it
can be applied to this audio. A dialog box will open from which you can choose the
file.

13. Click on the desired impulse file to open. This file will be multiplied against your
audio.

14. Click on the Open button. The impulse file will be loaded and you will be
returned to the Digital Convolution dialog box.
 15. Make any other adjustments to the settings in the dialog box.

16. Click on the OK button. The effect will be applied and the dialog box will close.

Real-time, real easy

Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows: Visual QuickStart
Guide” by Jeff Partyka.

Effects are an easy way to perfect audio you’re editing in Adobe® Audition®. But what if
you don’t want to alter the clip itself? No problem, just add a real-time effect.

A real-time effect is one that is added to audio nondestructively and that responds
immediately to your tweaking. You can adjust the settings for a real-time effect as you’re
listening to a mix and hear the results in real time (or close to real time, depending on the
speed and performance of your computer). Because the effect is nondestructive, you can
easily remove it as well.

Add a real-time effect

Adding an effect to a sound in a multitrack session is a simple drag-and-drop maneuver. In
this example, you’ll see how to add the QuickVerb effect to a clip in Track 1.

To add a real-time effect to a track:

1. Open a clip, and then open the Effects tab in the Organizer window (Figure 1).
 Figure 1: The Effects tab in the Organizer window.

2. Locate the QuickVerb effect and drag it to Track 1 in the track display (Figure 2).
 Figure 2: To add an effect to a track, drag it from the Organizer window to the
appropriate track in the track display.

The QuickVerb configuration tab opens (Figure 3).

Figure 3: When you add an effect to a track, a corresponding effect configuration window
opens.

Tips
 • Once an effect has been added, you can reconfigure it by clicking the FX button in the
track-controls area.

• Right-click the FX button and choose Rack Setup to remove or reorder a track’s
effects or to create or apply effect presets.

Mix real-time effects

To mix real-time effects:

1. Right-click a track’s FX button and choose FX Mixer. The FX Mixer tab opens (Figure
4).

Figure 4: The FX Mixer window.

2. Do any of the following:

o To adjust the original signal’s volume in relation to the effects being added to
it, move the Dry Out slider up or down.
o To adjust each effect’s volume in relation to the original signal and the other
effects, move the effects sliders up or down.
o To mute an effect, click the effect’s Bypass button.
 3. Do one of the following:
o If you want an effect’s input to receive the output from the previous effect, click
the Serial button.
o If you want an effect’s input to receive the output of the dry, original signal,
click the Parallel button.

Tips
• When you choose the Serial option for an effect, you may notice that the Src (original
signal) and Prv (output from the previous effect) field values are set to 0 and 100,
respectively. When you choose the Parallel option, these settings are reversed.
However, you can create your own Serial/Parallel hybrid settings by dragging across
these fields to fine-tune the mix of dry signal and previous effect that the effect
you’re configuring receives.

• Once you’re satisfied with the effects you’ve added to a track, click the Lock button in
the track-controls area to lock your settings in place and lighten the load on your
computer processor. (Locked tracks are moved to the back-ground mix and cannot be
processed until they are unlocked.)

• To turn off all of a track’s effects, right-click the FX button and select Bypass.

Panning for golden surround sound

Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows Visual QuickStart
Guide” by Jeff Partyka.

Who says surround sound is just for big-budget Hollywood productions? With the
multichannel capabilities of Adobe® Audition®, even low-budget projects can have glorious
surround sound.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to take advantage of Audition’s Multichannel Encoder to
pan and otherwise fine-tune tracks in a multichannel mix.

Get started
In the Panning Assignment menu in the Track Options pane (Figure 1), you can choose to
use the Surround Panner to place a mono or stereo track in a particular location in the
surround-sound field. You can also assign tracks to any of the individual channels, including
the subwoofer.
Figure 1: The Panning Assignment drop-down menu in the Track Options dialog box.

1. Choose View > Multichannel Encoder (Ctrl+E) to open the Multichannel Encoder
window.

2. Click the Panning Assignment pull-down menu to reveal the Panning Assignment
menu options:
o Surround Panner, Stereo Source: Allows you to use the Surround Panner to
place a stereo source in any desired location in the surround-sound field. Left-
and right-channel information will always be sent to the appropriate front and
rear channels to preserve the separation of the original stereo track; the center
channel will receive a summed combination of the two.
o Surround Panner, Summed to Mono: Sends a summed mono version of your
track to all channels.
o LFE Only: Sends the selected track to the subwoofer channel.
o FL + FR, Stereo: Sends the selected track in stereo to the front left and right
speakers.
o Ls + Rs, Stereo: Sends the selected track in stereo to the rear left and right
speakers.
o Center + LFE, Stereo: Sends the left channel of a stereo track to the center
speaker, and the right channel to the subwoofer. If the track is mono, both
speakers will receive the same signal.
o Center Only, Mono: Sends the selected track in mono to the center channel.
o FL Only, Mono: Sends the selected track in mono to the front left channel.
o FR Only, Mono: Sends the selected track in mono to the front right channel.
o Ls Only, Mono: Sends the selected track in mono to the rear left channel.
o Rs Only, Mono: Sends the selected track in mono to the rear right channel.

3. Select a Panning Assignment. An appropriate number of channel controls becomes

active in the Surround Panner.

The Surround Panner

The Multichannel Encoder window contains the Surround Panner (Figure 2), which is a
graphic representation of the surround-sound field and the perceived location of the each
track in relation to the listener (whose location is always at the center of the crosshairs).
With a track selected in the Track List pane, you can move the panner point (the white dot)
in the Surround Panner to any location to determine where the listener will think that sound
is located (Figure 3).

If you place the panner point directly on top of one of the five channels or the subwoofer
(marked LFE), the selected track will come only from that particular channel. If you place it
anywhere else, the track will be sent to a particular combination of channels that will
produce the appropriate effect.

Figure 2: The Surround Panner provides a graphic representation of the surround-sound

field and its six channels.
Figure 3: The location of the panner point (the white dot) in the Surround Panner
represents the selected track’s virtual location in relation to the listener.

Use pan envelopes

Pan envelopes enable you to change the panning of a track over time using the wave-form
display in the Multichannel Encoder window (Figure 4).

Figure 4: When you enable pan envelopes, two lines appear in the waveform display to
help you change a track’s panning over time.

To change a track’s panning over time using pan envelopes:

1. Select a track in the Track List pane.

2. Choose either Surround Panner, Stereo source or Surround Panner, Summed to Mono
from the Panning Assignment drop-down menu.

3. Select the Pan Envelopes check box. Two envelope lines, one green and one yellow,
appear in the waveform display. (You may see only the yellow one at first, as it sits
on top of the green one.)

4. Check the Splines box if you want smoother panning transitions.

5. Click the waveform at a point for which you want to set panning. A vertical line
appears in the waveform (Figure 5).

Figure 5: A vertical line in the waveform display indicates the place in your track
where you want to adjust panning.
 6. Set panning by dragging the panner point in the Surround Panner to the location you
want.

A pair of handles appears on the vertical line in the waveform (Figure 6). These
handles move as you drag the panner point around the Surround Panner (and vice
versa).

Figure 6: When you drag the panner point to a new location, a pair of handles for
envelope adjustment appears in the waveform.

7. When you’re through creating your panner point placements, drag the vertical
playback cursor to the beginning of the waveform and click Play Track or Play All.

Watch the Surround Panner display change during playback to reflect your pan
envelopes.

Tips
• You can create as many handles as you want on a pan envelope line in the wave-
form simply by clicking the line.

• To delete a handle, drag it above or below the waveform display.

• To remove all handles and return the pan envelopes to the default setting, click the
Clear All button.

Finding normal
Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows: Visual Quickstart
Guide” by Jeff Partyka.

One hallmark of a poorly mastered CD is inappropriate matching of volume levels. When a

subdued, acoustic song sounds louder than the full-tilt rock number that preceded it, you
know the mastering engineer didn’t do a good job.

Adobe® Audition™ includes the Group Waveform Normalize tool to help you control the
relative volume of CD tracks so that they add up to a cohesive listening experience. During
normalization, the program finds the loudest part of each waveform and then adjusts the
waveforms’ levels so that they all peak at the same amplitude. If the levels are raised, you
can apply hard limiting during the process to avoid clipping.

Normalize settings
Settings in the Normalization pane include the following:

• Normalization: You can choose between normalizing to an average level (which the
program determined during analysis on the Analyze Loudness tab) or to a particular
dB level.

• Use Equal Loudness Contour: Checking this box helps ensure that all tracks are set to
the same perceived amplitude.

• Out of Band Peaks: You can specify whether you want to use hard limiting to avoid
clipping.

• Statistics RMS Width: This setting determines the length of an audio selection that
Audition uses to determine Root-Mean-Square (RMS) values.

Normalize CD tracks
To normalize tracks in CD Project view:

1. Select Edit > Group Waveform Normalize. The Choose Files tab of the Group
Waveform Normalize window opens.
2. Select the track or tracks that you want to normalize.

3. Display the Analyze Loudness tab.

4. Click the Scan for Statistical Information button.

Audition analyzes tracks and displays amplitude information for each.

5. Display the Normalize tab.

 6. Configure the settings.

7. Click Run Normalize.

Audition adjusts the amplitude of each waveform according to your specifications.

Tips
• The human ear can be fooled into perceiving volume disparities if amplitude peaks
occur at the same decibel level but at different frequencies. The Use Equal Loudness
Contour setting is designed to help make up for this.

• An RMS value tells you the average amplitude of an audio clip, and can be a better
indication of perceived volume than a peak amplitude value.

Burn your CD
Once you’ve created your CD track list and tweaked normalization settings and track
properties, you can burn your CD within Audition.

Set up a recorder
To set up a CD recorder:

1. Choose Options > CD Device Properties. The CD Device Properties window opens.
 2. In the Device menu, select the recordable drive you want to use.

3. Choose a buffer size and write speed.

4. Select the Buffer Underrun Prevention box if your recorder supports that feature.

5. Click OK. Your recorder is configured.

Write the CD
To write a CD:

1. Place a blank CD into your recorder.

2. Click the Write CD button, or choose File > Write CD. The Write CD window opens.

3. In the Write Mode drop-down menu, choose Test, Write, or Test & Write. The Test
procedure determines whether your burner can handle your project with the current
settings without buffer underruns.

4. If desired, select Eject CD When Complete.

5. If you want to include CD-Text information such as artist name and album title or a
UPC/EAN code (a 13-digit number used to identify commercial CDs), select Write CD-
Text.
 6. Click Write CD. Disc writing begins. The Track and Disc bars indicate burning
progress.

On-cues mark the spot

Skip to subnavigationExcerpted from “Using Audition” by Ron Dabbs.

In theatrical terms, when something is on cue, it occurs when it is supposed to occur. In

Adobe® Audition™, a cue is a point that denotes a particular location such as the beginning
of a musical phrase, a track, or an anomaly.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to make your audio hit its marks just like the most
veteran of actors. We’ll begin by discussing cues and the cue list. Next, we’ll look at how to
add cues both manually and automatically, Finally, we’ll show you how to create cues using
the Delete Silence and Auto-Cue functions.

Get started
Cues are not limited to marking only one location point. A cue can identify a segment of the
audio with a beginning point and an ending point. When the cue notes both the beginning
and ending points, the cue is said to contain a range. The beginning cue mark or point
appears as a small red triangle called a cue handle above and below the waveform. When
two or more cue points are merged together to form a range, the ending cue handle turns
blue, and both cue handles turn to point to each other as shown below.

Merged cue points create a range from the beginning cue mark to the ending cue mark.

Before we discuss creating, placing, and modifying cues and ranges, let’s look at the Cue
List window.

Cue List window

The Cue List window enables management of cues. Adding, deleting, merging, sorting, and
modifying cues and ranges can be done from the window. The window is displayed by
pressing Alt+8 or selecting Window>Cue List.

Column Bar Runs along the top of the cue list window. Sort cues by clicking on any of the
headings. The sequence of the headings can be rearranged by dragging the heading
horizontally.

Edit Cue Info Brings up the cue information and allows you to edit the Begin, End, Length,
Label, Description, and Type fields.

Auto-Play Automatically plays the highlighted cue when enabled.

Add Adds cues to the cue list.

Del Deletes a cue from the cue list.

Merge Creates a cue range from the highlighted cues.

Batch Displays the Batch Process Cue Ranges dialog box in preparation to save the cue
ranges to discrete files.

The Cue List window shows the four different types of cues. Cue 2 has an end time and is
called a range. Cue information can be edited directly in the Cue List window.

Manual cue placement

There are a number of ways to create or place cue marks. Let’s look at some of the
different methods.

Cue from the keyboard

The quickest and easiest way to place a basic cue mark is to locate the cursor at the
desired location on the waveform or clip and press F8. Note that the cue handle and label
may be hidden by the cursor.

Cue from the mouse

Placing cue points with the mouse is almost as easy as from the keyboard. Locate the
cursor at the desired spot and right-click on the yellow triangle, called the cursor handle. A
pop-up menu presents the options. Select the desired cue type.

Auto-cue placement
Now we’re going to put Adobe Audition to work for us using the Delete Silence and Auto-
Cue functions.

Use Delete Silence to place cues

To start, we’re going to make cues from a wave file. The trick here is that we are going to
do it “automatically.” Make sure that Adobe Audition is opened and in the Edit View
workspace. Close any open files or sessions.

1. Select File>Open and open a .wav file that contains several areas of dead time.

2. Press Alt+8 to open the Cue List window.

3. Drag the Cue List window by the title bar and dock it above the waveform display.
This will keep the window visible without overlapping the waveform display.

4. Select Edit>Delete Silence and make sure that Mark Deletions in Cue List is checked
and the Limit Continuous Silence to vale is 150 milliseconds.

5. Press the Scan for Silence Now button and note the number of silent locations and
total seconds of silence. This is the amount of time that will be deleted from the
waveform length shown in Selection/View Controls.

6. Press the Find Levels button. Notice that the signal will be considered as silence any
time the signal falls below –63.5dB for more than 140 milliseconds.

7. Click OK.

The Delete Silence function has removed the dead time and marked the beginning of each
phrase with a basic cue mark.

Use Auto-Cue to place cues

Now we are going to leave the dead time intact and make each cue a range.
Adobe Audition should be open and in the Edit View mode. Close any open files or sessions.

1. Select File>Open and open another .wav file that contains several areas of dead time.
 2. If the Cue List window if not already open, press Alt+8 to open the Cue List window
and dock it above the waveform display.

3. Select Edit>Auto-Cue>Auto-Cue Settings.

4. Click the Find Levels button. Notice that only signal above –58.8dB for a duration of
at least 25 milliseconds will be considered as valid audio. Click OK.

5. Select Edit>Auto-Cue>Find Phrases and Mark.

Choosing the Find Phrases and Mark option uses the values determined by the Find Levels
function to locate the beginning and ending of each phrase. Since the function located both
a start and end point, the cue points were merged into a range. Note that unlike cues,
ranges display an End time value in the Cue List window.

Cues can be modified from either the Cue List window or the waveform display. Using the
Find Phrases and Mark function creates a range for each segment of audio.

Create ranges
We’ve just seen how ranges can be created automatically, but what if we want to create a
range from other cues? It’s simple, but there are some limits. Only two ranges can be
merged at a time. Cues are not held to that rule. You can combine as many cues as you
want at one time.

The Cue List window makes it simple to create or merge cues. Highlight the cues that will
be combined by dragging over them or holding down the Shift key and highlighting the
desired cues. Use the Control key to select nonsequential cues or to deselect cues. Click the
Merge button in the Cue List window. The new cue range will retain the properties of the
first cue point and inherit an end time. The later cue point will cease to exist as a cue.

Let’s look at another way to create a range.

Use Adjust Selection to Phrase

We are going to work with a .wav file that contains several areas of dead time once again.
Adobe Audition should be in the Edit View mode. Close any open files or sessions.

1. If the Cue List window if not already open, press Alt+8 to open the Cue List window
and dock it above the waveform display.

2. Right-click in the Organizer window, choose Import, and locate your .wav file. Drag
the file from the Organizer window into the Waveform Display.

3. Highlight one of the phrases in the waveform. It doesn’t matter which one, and you
do not need to be careful how close your selection is to the phrase as long as the
selection does not include any other phrase.

4. Select Edit>Auto-Cue>Adjust Selection to Phrase. The selection area should have

contracted around the phrase.

5. Press F8.

The Cue List window should now show a range labeled Cue 1. You can create a range from
a selected area any time by pressing F8 or one of the other cue mark placement keys.

Modify cues and ranges

Cues can be modified through the Cue List window or in the Waveform Display area. To
change cues in the Cue List window, press the Edit Cue Info button and enter the changes
in the appropriate fields. Changing the length will alter the end point but not the beginning.
A dropdown menu permits changing the cue type. Highlight the Label and Description fields
and type the information to change them. Clicking the Add or Del buttons will add or delete
highlighted cues respectively.

Unless the exact time location or length is known, moving cues in the waveform display
may be easier. To resize the cue, place the cursor over the cue handle. When the cursor
shape changes to a hand, hold the left mouse button down and drag to the desired
position. You can also right-click on the cue handle to access other options from a pop-up
menu. These options include opening the Cue List window, changing the cue type, and
deleting the cue. The menu is contextual, meaning that if the cue is a range, an option will
be present to change the range into a cue point. If the cue is not a range, the option Make
Range will be shown.

Edit audio with frequency-specific

precision
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With revolutionary frequency-space editing in Adobe® Audition™ 1.5, you can edit audio
with maximum precision. Using the Marquee Selection tool in Spectral View, you can
quickly isolate artifacts and background noise, apply effects to specific frequency ranges,
and more.

1. Visually identify individual sounds.

Open a file containing unwanted artifacts and background noise. (Our example includes two
coughs by a musician during an old classical recording.) Choose View > Spectral View. To
view greater detail, choose Options > Settings, click the Display tab, choose 1024 from the
Resolution menu, and click OK. Then zoom in on the artifacts: Right-click+drag in the
horizontal ruler.

You can quickly toggle between Waveform View and Spectral View by pressing F9.
Waveform View shows changes in amplitude only, helping you identify musical beats and
evaluate dynamic range. Spectral View shows changes in both amplitude and frequency—
helping you isolate individual sounds. For most editing tasks, spectral resolution values
between 256 and 1024 work best. Lower values reveal less detail, but they increase
performance; higher values do the opposite.
2. Select sounds in specific frequency ranges.
In the toolbar, select the Marquee Selection tool. Then drag a selection around an artifact
in the spectral display. Press the spacebar to preview your selection. If it needs fine-tuning,
position the cursor over a selection edge, and drag. As you drag, note the range of selected
frequencies in the status bar.

If you want to preview selections in the context of surrounding audio, use the preroll and
postroll options in Adobe Audition. (To configure these options, right-click the Play or Play
To End button in the transport controls.) Note that when you preview a marquee selection,
you hear all frequencies in the same range of time, not just those in the selection. To
instead preview only frequencies in the selection, choose Edit > Copy To New.

3. Repair artifacts in a single step.

Choose Favorites > Repair Transient. Adobe Audition replaces the artifact by copying
surrounding audio. To make the repair even more seamless, choose Effects > Amplitude >
Amplify/Fade, select 3dB Boost from the Presets list, and click OK.

Favorites let you quickly apply frequently-used effects and scripts. The Repair Transient
favorite automatically applies the Fill Single Click Now command from the Click/Pop
Eliminator effect. This command requires a selection of less than 25,000 samples—a bit
more than half a second at CD quality.

Edit audio with frequency-specific

precision
Skip to subnavigation

4. Replace artifacts with ambient sound.

Repeat step 2, and select an artifact that doesn’t interact with musical frequencies. (In our
example, we selected the second cough, which emphasized upper frequencies above the
music.) Hold down Ctrl, drag the selection to an area that contains only ambient sound,
and choose Edit > Copy. Again hold down Ctrl, drag the selection back over the artifact,
and press Delete. Then choose Edit > Paste.

The Ctrl key lets you move marquee selections horizontally only, ensuring that they stay in
the same frequency range. When you delete the contents of these selections, feathering
occurs at the top and bottom edges, reflecting a smooth rolloff curve at the highest and
lowest frequencies. (Note that if you paste into a marquee selection without first deleting
its contents, Adobe Audition combines pasted and existing audio.)
5. Remove background noise from specific frequency ranges.
To view the entire file, right-click the horizontal ruler, and choose Zooming > Zoom Full.
Then drag across the spectral display to select only frequencies that contain noise. (Like
many audio files, our example includes high-frequency hiss.) Right-click the selection, and
choose Capture Noise Reduction Profile. Then choose Effects > Noise Reduction > Noise
Reduction, and click Select Entire File. Click Preview, move the Noise Reduction Level slider
to fine-tune the effect, and click OK.

Most noise reduction tools require a selection of isolated noise, which usually exists only at
the beginning or end of a file. With the Marquee Selection tool, however, you can visually
define noise profiles in virtually any material—even when desirable audio exists in the same
range of time.
6. Selectively process bass frequencies.
With the Marquee Selection tool, you can easily apply frequency-specific processing—a
particularly effective technique with bass frequencies. To zoom these frequencies, right-
click the vertical ruler, and drag from 2,000 to 0 Hz. In the spectral display, drag across the
entire file, selecting only frequencies from 300 Hz to 0 Hz. Choose Effects > Amplitude >
Hard Limiting. Set Limit Max Amplitude to -.1 dB and Boost Input to 6 dB, and click OK.
Press the spacebar to hear the more pronounced yet tighly focused bass in the processed
file. (Dynamics processing effects such as Hard Limiting enhance bass without making it
overly loud and boomy.)

We’ve barely tapped the potential of the Marquee Selection tool. In addition to performing
frequency-specific audio restoration and processing, you can edit individual instruments or
independently manipulate fundamentals and overtones. Explore this tool further, and you’ll
continue to uncover new possibilities.