| Several new/beginning kids have PM'ed me about a basic class for Adobe Audition, so I will just replicate portions of my junior-college digital editing class on here, along with a few other relevant topics.
If this feels like it's a little beyond a truly beginning class, I apologize.
If I slowed it down or amplified it much further, the rest of the guys would accuse me of being the Little Nipper Storyteller. ``When you hear the noise (RAZBERRY) turn the page'' (WINK). But speaking of turning the page, the best way to get full use out of this or any tutorial is to print it out and clip it to a stand next to what you are working on.
Then you can refer back and forth to it while you are working the practice sessions I take you through. When installing Adobe Audition, when the screen comes up that says Types of Files to Associate with Adobe Audition, Deselect ALL Except .ses and .pk. When recording into the computer from tape or phono, ALWAYS record in Stereo from a stereo deck or turntable, no matter if the record or tape is Mono or Stereo. Use the highest resolution recording parameters available, such as 32-bit 192 KHz. This makes all the processes that follow considerably more accurate. For a tape deck, a simple RCA-to-Stereo-Mini (Headset) plug will do the job nicely. For phono, rather than using a USB turntable, the soundcards therefrom being VASTLY inferior, send the signal through any one of a number of good tabletop preamps you can get off eBay or Craigslist for a modest sum. Plug the preamp into the power strip your computer is plugged into, plug the phono into one end and the aforementioned RCA stereo plugs to stereo mini-plug from the output of the preamp to the input of the computer soundcard (unless it has RCA inputs in which case just use a 2nd set of RCA stereo cables). In addition, if you can find a good linear tracking turntable such as a Studer or Technics use that instead of an ordinary pivot-arm turntable for better sound and close to no wear on the record. The other choice is a Garrard Zero available all over Craigslist and eBay for about $50.
In either case, to improve record tracking and reduce wear even further, try and find a Stanton 780 cartridge with a Shibata-type stylus (MicroRidge, Nude-Square-Shank-Hyper-Elliptic, Tetrahedral, Curly, Larry an' Mo', all different names for the same thing). The DQ (Shibata) stylus also helps recover unworn parts of the record groove, allowing you to retrieve close to mint sound out of that raggedyass copy of Meco Monardo's Star Wars Disco and Other Galactic Funk or Saturday Night Fever album you ripped to shreds as a kid on a little plastic turntable.
Just remember to use an Absorb-O-Thane mat underneath the record on top of the platter and Absorb-O-Thane feet underneath the body of the turntable to kill all the motor and other noises before recording. When you set your turntable up, remove the center spindle and set a small round level there instead.
Adjust the feet of your turntable so that the bubble in the level is in the exact center. Replace the center spindle. Take a small nylon stylus brush and gently brush off the stylus tip of any dust or dirt. Do this before and after playing any record.
Now take the blank ungrooved side of a Disco Single and plop it on the platter.
Set the tonearm down on different parts of the blank record.
If it starts to slide around, set your Anti-Skate up so that no matter where you set the tonearm down on the blank disc, it will stay where you put it and not slide back to the beginning or forward to the end. For tape, try to find a player where you can set the Azimuth and Head Height without having to disassemble everything. Clean the heads and tape path with a cotton swab moistened with denatured alcohol.
Gently rub across the tape head, guides, rollers and other material which comes in contact with the tape, changing swabs as needed until the swab comes out clean with no brown residue.
To set azimuth and head height (two different screws near the playback head, check your player service manual for specifications) slowly rotate first the azimuth screw until you get the strongest signal, as shown on the player meters, and then do the same for the Head Height til you get the best treble sound.
Now, close all other programs and disconnect from the Internet.
Next, set your recording levels in the computer. Do that by:
1. Plugging the cord from the player into the Line In (green jack) of your computer soundcard, then: 2. On your desktop, double-click on the Start button, then go to Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, click on the Volume tab and click Place Volume Icon in the Task Bar. Once it appears, click the speaker icon next to the clock on the lower right side of the screen.3. Click on Options in the upper left and then click Properties. 4. Click Recording and select Stereo Mix then take that to two or three lines from the top. 5. Click Line In and set that to two or three lines from the top. 6. Click the Mute buttons one at a time on all but Line In and then re-click (activate) on Stereo Mix. You need to do this because otherwise every other noise on your computer will end up in your recording.
This will allow Adobe Audition to ``hear'' whatever is playing through the soundcard.
Now find the loudest point on the record or tape you plan to record.
On records, it's easy, just look for the spot where the grooves are the farthest apart and the deepest, without being the beginning or the end.
On tape, rewind the tape to the beginning, reset the counter to zero, play the tape all the way through and watch the little red needles bounce to tell you the level.
Note the counter number at the spot or spots where the loudest and most bass-intense music is. 1. Go into Adobe Audition and click the red Record button in the lower left. You will see a Properties slide appear. Choose Stereo, 32 bit float and 192 (or higher if your soundcard has it)
2. Set the tonearm down or run the tape to just before the loudest part and play. You should start to see a colored wavy line appear.
The top of the colored wave in the loudest point you noted before should come to just under the little white rails about a quarter inch from the top and bottom of where the recording is taking place. 3. The green bars at the bottom should bounce exactly in unison for a mono program, or close to unison for a stereo program except where one channel is featured prominently over the other. If it sounds lopsided in the headphones, put the headphones on left-for-right and see if the same lop-sidedness occurs in reverse. If it does, your hearing is normal and the original mix is indeed lopsided. To correct for this, doubleclick on your Speaker icon next to the clock, go back into Options, Properties, Recording, click the Line In button and slide the little balance arrow up at the top across from left to right until the track is balanced.
The recording also needs to be tall enough to reach the white rails without going over. If the recording is not tall enough, rewind or reset the music, go back to Recording Properties above and slide the Stereo Mix and Line In sliders up a little and repeat until the levels are correct.
You can also tell if it's too tall by the bars at the bottom of the screen.
If they slam into the right side and blink red, even for a second, go back and take down the levels til you get the strongest signal you can without slamming into the wall. Don't worry if clicks and pops from the record slam into the wall.
You can tell those from music during your test recording, because the clicks and pops will look like little toothpicks laying on top of the music. Highlight your test recording you just made, go up into Edit, Cut, rewind or reset your music and do another test recording. Your ``tape'' will now be blank again.
After the test recording, follow the directions below for Removing Center Channel using the one for Quick & Dirty as discussed below, except do NOT invert one track. If the center channel disappears entirely, fine. If not, repeat the Balance step above until you get the closest approximation you can.
Highlight and delete the test recording as described above.
Now you are set to record. Highlight the test recording you just made by clicking and dragging the mouse across it, go up to Edit and click Cut. Your ``tape'' will now be blank again, ready for recording.
Click at the extreme left edge of the recording space and then click Record in Adobe Audition, start your tape player or turntable and sit back to watch until the record or tape side is through.
If the recording is the correct level with no skips, go up to File and click Save As, write the title of the record or tape you just recorded, and the side number and number of sides (Side 1 of 3 for example), and then write Raw after it in the title bar and click Save.
After recording the file into the computer from the turntable or tape deck and saving it as the Raw version: Load the file and play it in selected spots.
When the original recording is supposed to be full stone mono, in the case of tape origin, both the meter bars near the bottom of the screen should bounce in exact unison, both in intensity as well as modulation. If not, repeat the Balance step above.
In the case of mono records, or mono records taken from cassettes, the pops and clicks will be on different channels.
For stereo, the average volume between the two channels should be close, except during passages where the left or right channel is featured prominently over the other.
If one track of a mono program bounces with more intensity apart from clicks and pops and you couldn't get it exactly right from the Balance and Center Channel Extractor steps above:
a). Click and drag the mouse over the top or bottom track whichever is louder to highlight it,
b). Go into Effects, Amplitude and type in or slide over to the minus-dB or fractions thereof you think will match the other track. This may take several tries to get exact.
(Subtraction in digital is always preferable to addition, due to artifacting) For records, or tapes with records recorded onto them, the first step is Click on Effects, Noise Reduction, Auto Click and Pop Eliminator. Choose Heavy Medium or Light sensitivity, or try a few and create your own. Never erase your original file and always save each file after you do something to it, with your abbreviations as to what you did: blablabla Raw, blablabla EQ, blablabla NR, etc. Also, always click No on Save Changes to File because they mean Do you want to write over your original file? and the answer to that is always No because presumably you just saved it a second ago under its' appended name.
It is recommended that you do your Equalizations and Denoising prior to erasing difference channel information in order to bring out voices, enhance the treble or bass response or bring clarity to one or more areas of the sonic spectrum.
Doing noise reduction before this step is not advised, as some of the treble response will be sacrificed in the noise reduction process. Equalization is performed by: Going up to Effects and sliding down to Filters, then slide across to Graphic Equalizer. Start off by setting the Master Gain to (Minus) -12.
This is a guess and may need to be tweaked later.
This step is necessary because the act of equalization increases the volume of some frequencies in relation to others.
The resulting file may end up going outside the white rails at the top and bottom of the waveform as seen in the view.
Therefore, the final volume must be reduced in order to accommodate the equalizations you are about to perform. You can also do this by going up into Effects, Amplitude and selecting 6dB Cut or 10 dB Cut whatever will allow the peaks of the music to remain within the white rails. Bass frequencies are to the left, midrange/vocals are in the center, and treble is to the right.
In order for the noise reducer to do a better job, when you increase the various treble frequencies, say from 5K-12K, when it sounds like a normal modern recording or a close approximation, bump up those frequencies just a little bit to give the Denoiser room to work. Save the file under an amended filename in case you have to go back and do it again with different parameters. Next perform the Denoise. You denoise by:
a.) Finding a 1.6 second blank piece of ``tape'' in your file, usually at the beginning or end of your selection, or between songs.
If there's not enough, highlight what there is, go up to Edit, Copy, move the mouse and click to the beginning of where the ``blank tape'' is, go up to Edit, Paste and repeat the process til you have enough to do the Noise Reduction with.
Instead of cloning the same piece of ``blank tape'' over and over, you can also Edit Copy and Edit Paste other sections of ``blank tape'' from other parts of the file in order to make up your 1.6 seconds.
b.) Highlight a 1.6 second piece of the ``blank tape'' at the beginning or end of the recording with the noise from the record or tape.
c.) Go up to Effects, slide down to Noise Reduction and slide across to Noise Reduction. Don't get fooled into using Hiss Reduction just because it's tape hiss you are trying to get rid of.
d.) Set Snapshots in Profile in the upper right corner to `9999'.
e.) Set the FFT Size and Overlays to the largest number available.
f..) Select Remove Noise on the buttons directly above.
g.) Select Capture Profile in the upper right corner and wait.
A yellow and green line will appear when it's done, profiling your noise selection
h.) Try setting the little Noise Reduction square button to about 75 or so.
i.) Click Select Entire File and click OK and wait for completion.
If you are doing an entire tape side, this could take awhile.
It also may look jammed, and start to blank out, but unless you are using a computer so old you have to crank it to get it to work, or you are so old yourself you think the CD tray is for coffee cup placement you should be alright.
Eventually it will recover and continue on its' process.
j.) Play the file to audition it once it's done.
The idea is to get rid of as much noise and hiss as possible, without damaging the music.
You can tell if your noise reduction has been too severe and you've interfered with the music if you hear a ``dingley'' or ``metallic mumbling'' noise in the background.
In that case, go to Edit, Undo and start over with a lower setting, omitting all the steps prior to h.). Conversely, if the hiss is still too much, and no ``dingley'' noise is heard, you can try a higher noise reduction setting. Save file when complete with NR after the title.
It is recommended that you cut apart the individual selections on your side of tape or LP in order to perform the remainder of the processes.
Do that by dragging the mouse over the first song til you see the first section of blank. Go up to Edit, Cut and then when that's done go back up to Edit and click Paste to New.
Go to File and click Save As, enter the track number and name and click Save. Repeat for all the rest of the songs on the side.
After all songs are separated and saved, select Close All Files.
Click on File, Open and select the first track on the tape or LP side.
Quick and Dirty Version for L-Minus-R Extraction:
1. Highlight ONE of the two tracks, either top or bottom, go up to Effects and click Invert. 2. When that's done, de-click the highlighted track so that both tracks will be operated on. 3. Go up to Effects, Amplitude and then slide down to Channel Mixer to Vocal Cut and click.
This will erase the Difference track and amplify the Main track at the same time. If you end up with nothing, you forgot to invert ONE track and not both. If you end up with no change in amplitude, you clicked on the wrong Extractor. You can also erase the difference signal more effectively by: Going up into Effects, Amplitude and then slide down to Channel Mixer.
Slide down to LR to Mid-Side and click.
The center channel (your monaural program) will extract and move to the left (or right), and the `everything else' channel will take the opposite position.
Move the mouse to either the upper or lower channel and play it in isolation.
Repeat for the other channel.
Choose the cleaner of the two, highlight it, go up into Edit, Copy to New and save the now-single-tracked program in still another amended filename.
Go into Edit and slide all the way to the bottom to Convert Sample Type.
Select the same sample rate and the same bitrate as your original file and click Stereo in the top center and click OK. Save the file. I use ``Blablabla Center Channel or C-Chan for short. Now maybe you want to Stereoize your selection so it doesn’t sound so flat and lifeless. Go up to Effects, Delay Effects and slide down to Full Reverb.
Try out all the different reverbs in the list to the right and see which one fits the best.
For stereo sources you wish to expand out into 5.1, there’s only 2 presets that preserve the left and right information.
I forget which ones they are, but you can use a stereo source, find out, and then make your own adjustments. Then preview your reverb.
You can tweak the reverb by using the Dry, Early Reflections and Wet settings. Since you are going to be mixing the Reverb track in with the Center Channel you just extracted up above, you want as little of the Center (Original Signal) as you can get away with in the Reverb. Apply your Reverb. Save the file as Blablabla Reverb. Close all files. Say No to Save Changes to Files because otherwise your original file will be overwritten, erasing all ability to go back and do anything over again.
Go to File, Open and click on Blablabla- C-Chan. When it’s open, go up to Edit, Insert in Multitrack. Repeat for the Reverb track you just made. Click the Multitrack View button to the left of the button of the CD up in the upper left corner Go up to View and click the following options: Show View Tabs Show Pan Envelopes Show Volume Envelopes Enable Envelope Editing Enable Clip Edge Dragging Go to the little grey square near the upper left corner next to where it says Track 1. Wave the mouse over the square until the hand disappears and a magnifying glass appears. Click on the lower edge of the square and push it up so that only your Center Channel and Reverb Channel is visible and all the blank tracks are hidden. For the Center Channel Track: Go up to the upper left corner of the track and you’ll see a little white square attached to a green line. Click and hold on it to pull it down to about 75%. Do the same for the white box at the other end of the green line. For the Reverb Track: Same thing, and drag each side down to about 25% or so. Play the file. if it sounds as if it’s swimming in a well, take the reverb track down even more. If it still sounds dead and lifeless, take the reverb track up a little bit. When you find the balance you like, give it another 5% or so volume on the reverb track Next, go back to Edit View and drag the mouse over the top track in the Reverb Track so that it alone is highlighted. Go up to Effects, Filters, Graphic Phase Shifter and select +90 Degrees and click OK Repeat for the bottom track, replacing -90 Degrees for +90 Degrees above. Then go up to Edit. select Mix Down to File, All Tracks Stereo and Mixdown. Play the Mixdown. If you like it, save it as Blablabla Mixdown 5.1 take 1 and go onto the next step.
Make sure the Mixdown is inside the white rails at it's loudest point. If it's not, discard the Mixdown, go back into Multitrack and reduce the volume of both tracks by the same amount and then click Mixdown again.
Save it and try again with different paramters in case you like your next attempts better. Remember to place the Reverb tracks +/- 90-degrees out-of-phase before mixing down.
Close all files. Say No to Save Changes to Files or else your original will be overwritten.
Repeat for anything you want to convert from mono or stereo to 5.1 surround
Enjoy. | 
