Audition Quick Reference Guide

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Audition

Quick Reference Guide

Created By:

Kyle Culpepper

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Importing audio files and browsing media:

Steps

What You See

Open: Adobe Audition CS6

Note: Adobe Audition CS6 is licensed on

campus computers. The Adobe program is a

part of one of many available Adobe

applications. The primary focus of Audition is

the ability to edit and create audio tracks. This

is not the latest version of what you could

purchase. Some of this material will not be

available if you are using an older version of

Audition or the new CC version with the

Adobe Cloud.

Import File:

Select: File -> Import -> Audio

-Or-

Short Cut Command: Ctr+I

Browse: For your audio file

Supported Audio Formats:

“APE, AU, AVR, BWF, CAF (all

uncompressed and most compressed

versions), FLAC, HTK, IFF, M4A, MAT,

MPC, MP2, MP3 (Including MP3-surround

ifiles), OGA, OGG, PAF, PCM, PVF, RAW,

RF64, SD2, SF, SND, VOC, VOX, W64,

WAV (including files with up to 32

channels)”

Source: http://helpx.adobe.com/audition/using/supported-

file-formats.html

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Getting Started

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After Import is completed your audio file will

be available in the Waveform workspace for

editing.

Note: Importing further audio files will only

make those files available in the Files panel.

Select the specific audio file in the Files panel

to work on it in the Waveform workspace.

Files Panel:

Steps

What You See

This panel is an alternative tool to help

maintain your imported media files

Select to open audio file to both be a

selection option in this panel and also have it

available immediately for edit in the

waveform workspace

Select to Import media. Function is

VERY SIMILAR to open file. Doing this will

only import file to Files panel

Select to create a blank slate for an audio

track

Select after highlighting audio file in the

File window to make a new Multi-track

session

Select after highlighting audio file in the

File window to delete item from File Window

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Note: This will not remove audio file from

your computer, rather it removes the asset

from your File panel. Also, the files placed

here will disappear after closing out this

session of Audition. Use this panel as a means

to quickly work on multiple audio tracks at

once. Files with an asterisk in the title have

been altered in the workspace and will write

over the original file.

Files With Asterisk Need To Be Saved:

Altering Workspace:

Steps

What You See

The location for the various panels can be

altered by switching the “Workspace” option.

Change Workspace simply by:

Clicking: “Window” tab and “Workspace”

Select: The workspace layout you prefer

Note: We will be using the default workspace

throughout this guide.

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Saving Audio File:

Steps

What You See

Click: File -> Save As

Note: Anything you do in the Waveform

workspace will create a permanent change to

the original file, thus it is important to “Save

As” to change file name and avoid writing

over the original copy.

Choose your desired “File Name”

Browse: Your computer for a safe location to

save your work

Select: From the “Format” dropdown window

what you want your file type to be saved as

Select: Your “Sample Type” and Format

Settings as you please

Click: “Ok”

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Setting Up Audio Capture Settings:

Steps

What You See

Before the recording process begins, be

certain that your audio hardware is configured

and ready. Setting up audio can be done

through the Audio Hardware Preferences

menu system.

Click: Edit -> Preferences -> Audio

Hardware

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Audio Hardware allows you the chance to

select:

Device Class: Based on audio card in

computer station. MME and ASIO are

common driver types found on Windows

machines. ASIO is superior since it is better at

reducing latency between input and output

sources.

Below Options Based on MME setup (Most

Commonly Used In Media Center):

Default Input: Recording device

Default Output: Playback speakers

Master Clock: You can choose which device

to have everything synchronized with

Latency: Delay between input and output

devices. Only change this setting if you hear

too much latency between your various input

devices. Lowering is idea, however too much

can produce audio dropouts or clicks in your

recording. The selection of 200 ms is typically

used in the Media Center, but experimentation

may be required to determine the best setting

for your setup.

Sample Rate: The rate at which your device

captures the wave form of audio coming in. It

cannot be a continuous wave when captured.

A higher sample rate signifies a better

appearance of a continuous wave form. More

samples or a larger discrete-time signal

represented in Hertz is best. 44KHz is

standard for recording.

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Recording Audio:

Steps

What You See

Select: “Record” from the play options below

the Waveform workspace.

Note: When you select Record your recording

will start where the play head is at in the

timeline.

Doing this will write over the data following

that point, until you select stop.

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Basic Selections:

Steps

What You See

Selecting:

This is important when defining which

specific components in the timeline you wish

to edit.

Click & Drag: Your mouse over the time line

region to select, either by starting left and

going right or vice-versa

Note: Wave forms that are highlighted with a

white background are selected regions in your

workspace.

Time Selection:

Alternatively:

Click: The Start Point

Shift Click: The end point on the time line

Note: Beneficial if doing more exact

selections

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

The Many Ways to Select & Zoom

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Select All:

Double Click: Timeline to highlight whole

region

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+a

In general only the waveform is shown. To

see other selections such as Spectral

Frequency and Pitch, simply click on the

icons shown to the right

Spectral Frequency View Tool: Select this

to view the spectral frequency beneath the

waveform

Spectral Pitch Display: Select this to view

the pitch beneath the waveform

Time Selection Tool: Automatically

selected for you. Displays the audio waveform

Spectral Frequency:

Pitch Display:

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Selecting Stereo Right or Left:

Steps

What You See

When you are editing an audio file that has

two channels you can select the desired region

just like earlier, however, you have even more

freedom to select either right or left channel

segments when selecting an area to affect

Click: or to choose which channel

you intend to work on.

Note: The region grayed out will not be

influenced or altered until you click on the

related channel button L or R

Select L or R:

Adding Markers:

Steps

What You See

Markers can be handy tools when listening for

finite spots to remove or as a way to select a

specific audio range.

Markers will be added to the timeline play

head location.

Find the “Markers” panel in your workspace.

In general this is found in the panels section to

the left as the “Markers” tab.

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Click: Cue marker

-Or-

Press: M on the keyboard each time you want

to place a marker in your timeline during play

back

Click: Merge Markers after highlighting

selected markers to combine into one merged

marker

To highlight multiple markers:

Ctrl + Click: to highlight each marker shown

in the Markers panel.

Note: When you merge markers you will have

a start and end time to work with.

Double Click: On the newly generated Merge

Marker icon located in the Markers

panel. Doing so will highlight the merged

region

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Zooming In & Out:

Steps

What You See

When making a selection you may notice a

clicking or popping noise after you delete or

remove a specific selection. It may be best to

use the zoom function to clearly determine

where the sound start and end point reach the

zero line (Which is defined by the infinity

symbol) on the waveform

Note: The vertical axis represents the

amplitude of your sound wave, which is like

saying the loudness of the sound.

When zooming in we are changing the depth

of the x-axis that we see which is represented

by time in seconds. Where we are is

determined by the navigational bar at the top

of the wave form, which is shown below.

Whole timeline in view:

We are currently zoomed out completely

when the navigation bar is fully highlighted in

yellow.

Zoomed in region:

The region that is shown as a yellow

highlighted transparent box is the part that is

being viewed in the timeline. This transparent

selection in the navigation bar is something

that can be dragged (AKA: Scrubbed) to the

right or left to move to different parts of the

waveform.

A Zeroed Out Selection:

Amplitude of wave in dB

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Zoom in or out along x-axis:

Click: The “zoom in at in point” tool

to zoom in to the start point of your selection

made

Shortcut Key: Alt+Home

-OR-

Click: The “zoom in at out point” tool

to zoom in to the end point of your selection

made

Shortcut Key: Alt+End

Note: Zooming in without making a selection

prior would make both zoom tools mentioned

above act the same and strictly as simple

zoom in functions for the x-axis

-OR-

Click: The “zoom in (time)” tool to

zoom in from the center of the time line

currently displayed

Shortcut Key: =

-OR-

Click: The “zoom out (time)” tool to

zoom out from the center of the time line

currently displayed

Shortcut Key: -

Zoomed in at in point:

Zoom in or out (time):

Increase zoom of current amplitude:

Be aware that zooming the amplitude is not

modifying the loudness of the sound, just the

scale being used to measure the sound wave

Zoom in amplitude to increase how

sensitive you want your workspace to be

Shortcut Key: Alt+=

-Or-

No Amplitude re-scale:

Zoomed in 10 times

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Zoom out amplitude to decrease the

sensitivity scale

Shortcut Key: Alt+-

Zero Crossing:

Steps

What You See

As shown above when a sound wave reaches

the zero line no noise is detected. This can be

difficult to determine at times unless you

zoom in. However, you can use short cut keys

to quickly select the in and out points for this

Zero Crossing selection.

: Highlight the region you wish to work

with using any of the selection methods

described above.

:Click: “Shift i” on the keyboard to

automatically set the end and start points to be

both at their respective zero crossings

Selection Tools for Frequency Spectrum:

Steps

What You See

The tools shown to the right are all selection

tools, which will only be accessible when you

have the frequency spectrum viewable

beneath the waveform.

Marquee tool is a way to box out a

section in the frequency spectrum.

Lasso tool is a way to generate your own

selection shape of the frequency spectrum to

alter.

Using Marquee tool:

Using Lasso tool:

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Brush tool is a way to brush in the section

of the frequency spectrum you wish to alter.

Note: More will be shown as to why these

selection methods are important at a later time

Performing these selections is simple as

clicking and dragging across the region you

want to influence.

Manually Adjusting Audio Level:

Steps

What You See

Amplify your audio for the selected region.

This can be done by using the HUD (Heads-up

Display). If you don’t see the HUD simply use

the shortcut key to bring it into view: Shift +

U. You can use the same shortcut to remove

the HUD from view.

Click: the pin icon to keep the HUD unit

pinned in its current location on your display

or to unpin it.

Click & Drag: Over the digital analogue knob

to increase or decrease the overall amplitude

of your selection.

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Standard Waveform Audio Adjustment

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Note: The number you see (in this case +15

dB) is the amount that you are amplifying the

region. Because it is in yellow, this is

something that you can manually adjust as

well.

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To Manually Input Amplification:

Click: On the yellow number

Type: In the value you would like to increase

or decrease the amplitude too.

Ex: -15, 15, 20

Note: This is a dB range you are varying

When increasing the amplitude be sure not

to have the levels bar reach the red region. It

is best to aim for just around the lime and

yellow region at most.

When you see your audio reach the red zone

very obvious clipping will occur, knocking out

parts of your recordings peaks and troughs in

the waveform.

This is Over Amplified:

Normalizing Audio Level:

Steps

What You See

Normalizing audio is the process of raising or

lowering the amplitude of your audio file so

that its loudest points reach 0dB or as close

to 0dB as possible.

Note: As stated before when the audio

reaches above the red zone, your audio level

will experience clipping. This is because your

audio is above 0dB.

Normalizing will not fix clipping if it was

already present in your audio file.

Audio Levels Display Panel:

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To Normalize Across Full Wave Form:

Click: Favorites tab and Normalize to -0.1 dB

The peaks that are reach maximum height

will reach the -0.1 dB point, while lower

peaks will average to a higher point but not

that -.1 dB range.

Note: Select and reduce the amplitude of the

largest peaks first and then run the -0.1 dB

tool

Before:

After:

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Adding Fades:

Steps

What You See

On the sides are fade boxes. We will use

these to adjust the fade in and fade out effect

of our audio.

Note: Fading in or out will adjust the

amplitude of the start and end points. Our

sound wave only has two fade points.

Fade In: Fade Out:

Adjust Fade In:

Click & Drag: Fade in box

Note: Dragging the fade box to the right, in

this case, will affect all the audio that is in the

path line of your fade line envelope, Which is

represented by the yellow curved line

Moving your mouse up or down while

dragging the fade line will affect how fast the

amplitude of the fade will transition to the

original amplitude.

A positive Fade In Linear Value is going to

curve the fade line so that it is concave up.

Do this by moving right and up with your fade

In box. This will create a relatively fast fade in

effect.

Fade Line In Yellow:

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The exact opposite is done when moving the

Fade In towards a negative value which is

shown as a concave down shape for your

fade line. Do this by moving the mouse down

and to the right.

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You can adjust the fade effect line to be an S

curve (Cosine function curve) in nature

instead of Linear/Logarithmic line simply by:

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+K

-OR-

By Clicking: Edit tab->Preferences->General

Now you are able to drag up and down to

obtain an S shape instead of the one curve

fade effect

Preferences Window: General Section

Even More Fade Effects!

Click: Effects -> Amplitude and Compression -

> Fade Envelope (Process)

Doing this will open a window to use to select

all the various preset options of fading out

your audio.

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Select: From the preset options dropdown

menu to find the amplification that is to your

liking.

Note: With all selections you will be able to

adjust the yellow fade line as you wish.

Place Mouse: Cursor over yellow line before

start

Note: Cursor icon will change from time

selection tool icon to move tool icon

Click & Drag: Yellow line to desired decibel

range

Note: Each point you click and drag will make

a distinct dot along the envelope

Preview what you have done simply by

clicking the play button.

Click: Apply when satisfied or close to cancel

edit

Note: Fade effect will take place, further fade

applications will not erase the fade you just

created, but instead apply it to the most

current version of your audio file.

Again, doing this work is de-constructive. Be

sure to save-as if you want to make separate

copies of your work

Tremors Fade:

Close up of Effects: Fade Envelope Window

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Using the Clipboard:

Steps

What You See

Copy and Paste are two commands that can

come in use, especially with a clipboard to

contain your copied selections for pasting at a

later time.

How To Alternate Clipboards:

Found in the Edit menu -> Set Current

Clipboard -> Clipboard #

Note: The clipboard item with the purple dot

next to it is the active copy position

Ctrl+#: To switch between one of the five

clipboard positions

Note: Currently Clipboard 1 contains a copied

selection I previously made, while the

alternate clipboards are empty.

Make A Selection:

Highlight: The region you wish to select

Enter: Ctrl+C to copy the highlighted region

to the current clipboard selected

Note: In this example Clipboard 2 got filled.

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Copy Paste Using the Clip Board

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Paste Clipboard Selection:

Move the red play head to any section you

want to insert your copy

Press: Ctrl+V to paste in your clipboard copy.

Note: This will write over the section you are

You can repeat segments of a play list doing

the following:

Copy selection to clipboard as described

above.

Press: end on the keyboard to move the play

head to the very end of your audio clip

Press: Ctrl+# to select which clipboard option

to paste in

Press: Ctrl+V to paste in the audio segment

Press: g to remove the automatic highlighted

region and retain the play heads position

before pasting in your selection

Using Mix Paste:

Steps

What You See

Mix Paste allows you to use the clipboard, or

copy paste function, to a broader sense of its

typical use, depending on what you choose in

the Mix Paste menu will control how your

audio files will combine.

Found Under: Edit -> Mix Paste…

-OR-

Short Cut Key: Ctrl+Shift+V

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The audio clip you have stored in your

clipboard will be what is pasted in the area

your play head is located at in the time line.

Copied Audio/Existing Audio:

Adjust the scrubber bar to change the intensity

of the audio part you are blending in

• 100% will not decrease or increase the

audio segment

• An audio level of 50% is half the

original sound

• An audio level of 200% is double the

original sound

Invert Copied Audio: Reverses the phase of

the audio wave being inserted. This will

exaggerate or reduce phase cancellation if the

existing audio contains similar content.

Essentially, if the waveforms are similar

and are in phase (the waves crest and

troughs line up) then you won’t have much

cancelation occurring. If they don’t line up

initially and you hear a lot of cancelation

occurring attempt the invert copied audio

option.

Modulate: Multiplies the waveforms copied

and existing into one type.

Click: Ok to accept changes

Using the Effects Rack:

Steps

What You See

The effects rack is useful to test multiple

effects at once on the sound file shown in the

workspace before committing to the

modification.

Location: Left panel under Files panel in

Effects Rack tab

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Special Effects

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Note: The effects rack can hold up to 16

effects at once. Applying the effects selected

is a de-constructive process. Again,

remember to use “Save As” to avoid writing

over the original audio file.

Adding Effects to Effects Panel:

Click: On the side arrow in the column you

wish to add the effect in.

Select: Effect from the list that appears

Repeat up to 16 times to try out multiple the

effects.

Listen to how new effects apply by pressing

space on your keyboard.

Note: Items in red imply that your computer

system may have a difficult time applying

those effects in real time. If you notice lag in

play back then remove these selections and

test them individually.

All items that have this symbol are

currently active in the Effects Rack.

De-activate simply by clicking on to turn

off this effect; press the space bar to listen

for the changes made in real time.

Adjust Input and Output: Both allow

amplification to the respective audio sources.

The input audio source is essentially the

original wave file; the output is what you will

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be creating with the effects you choose to

apply.

The Wet and Dry scrubber bar:

Determines how much influence the effects

will create to your original sound when you

click apply.

Closer to Dry means less effect is applied to

your work.

Click: The switch at the bottom left of

this panel to turn off and on all effects at

once

Select: Apply when you are ready to commit

to these modifications

Note: Leaving the process as “selection only”

works the same as selecting the “entire file”

option unless you have a highlighted region in

your workspace that is less than the entire

timeline

Automatic Pitch Correction:

Steps

What You See

Ever want to fix the pitchy sections of a song?

Here is how:

Go to: Effects Rack->Empty Effects column-

>Time and Pitch -> Automatic Pitch

Correction

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Here we reach the technicalities of our work.

We will not change the Preset value.

If you know the Scale and Key that you’re

audio should play in then select the right fit in

the scale and key drop down menu.

Attack: Determines how aggressive this effect

will be applied to the selected audio clip

Sensitivity: Is the level at which Audition can

detect how off the pitch is in the audio clip

Reference Channel: Is the channel you are

picking up the pitch from. Example: Stereo

will have a left and right channel.

FFT Size: Is a mathematical function that is

used to correct the audio segment sample

size.

• Human voice -> Choose either 4096 or

2048

• Low frequency input then go with the

higher sample size and vice versa.

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Using The Spectral Frequency Display To Clean Up:

Steps

What You See

Using the Spectral Frequency Display helps

you pinpoint areas of noise interference in

your audio track. As described in an early

segment on this lesson the Spectral Frequency

can be brought up by clicking on the quick

launch tool at the top left.

What you may notice is that there are several

points in this file where a dot consistently

appears in the 3.5Khz frequency band

We can select each region using the marque

tool:

Select: The Marque tool

Click and Drag: Over the area to highlight

the region to remove

Click: Delete on your keyboard

Note: Audition will automatically smooth the

frequency around the perimeter of the

selection you deleted. This helps make the

noise removal less noticeable

Before:

After:

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Cleaning Up Audio

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Adaptive Noise Reduction:

Steps

What You See

Adaptive noise is a tool that allows Audition

to work on the fly to identify frequencies that

should not be there vs. frequencies that should

be in your waveform based on 7 different

adjustments. Commonly this is used to

remove hiss, rumble, and wind from the

background.

Note: Doing the adaptive noise reduction

effect will require you to make a selection a

little before your desired start time on the

timeline. Hence the name ADAPTIVE noise

reduction. The modifications you choose are

all applied after a few seconds of running the

audio clip.

7 Different Factors In Adaptive Noise

Reduction:

1.) Reduce Noise By:

Specifies in decibels by how much the

selected region will reduce unwanted

noise.

2.) Noisiness:

Percentage of noise that is left in the

audio clip

3.) Fine Tune Noise Floor:

Adjusts the noise floor above or below

the automatically calculated floor

level.

• Noise Floor is the MIN.

amount of noise required for a

microphone to pick up audio.

In Audition, there is a pre-

calculated Noise Floor level.

4.) Signal Threshold:

Manually adjust the threshold to a

desired level above or below the pre-

calculated threshold rating.

• Threshold is the loudest level

your audio signal has to reach

before being compressed

• Compression is the process of

lowering the dynamic range of

the loudest and quietest parts.

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5.) Spectral Decay Rate:

Determines how rapid noise

processing drops by 60 dB. Increasing

this effect will create a re-verb effect,

decreasing this will generate a bubbly

sound.

6.) Broadband Perspective:

Generates a start point in the

frequency bandwidth to start removing

unwanted noise. Frequencies below

say a selected value of 100Hz will not

be touched; however, frequencies

above will be altered.

7.) FFT Size:

Determines how many individual

frequency bands are analyzed. High

FFT setting will work best for artifacts

of long duration (squeaks, or

continuous hum noise). Low FFT

setting will work best for artifacts of

short duration (clicks, or pops).

Removing a Specific Noise:

Steps

What You See

Spot Healing Brush Tool:

This is a wonderful tool to help remove

unwanted sound when there are overlapping

frequencies in your bandwidth.

Spot heal brush is located on the top right

section with spectral frequency display.

Select: Spot healing brush

Click & Drag: Cursor over the spectral

frequency that appears to be the cause of

unwanted noise.

Audio Clip of Airport

Loud Ringing Noise

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After you select your region Audition will

process the job and make the adjustment.

Selecting the unwanted audio

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Starting a Multi-track:

Steps

What You See

Click: Multitrack, which is to the right of the

Waveform option

Note: Clicking on Waveform will bring you

back to the Waveform segment of Audition,

and clicking back on Multitrack will take you

back to your multi-track session. When

clicking on Multitrack without having a

Multitrack session already generated will

force you to create a Multitrack session.

Initial Multitrack Setup:

Session Name: Title of your Multitrack

Folder Location: Where you will be saving

your work at

Template: Allows for preset values for

Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Master values

Note: If “None” is selected you will

need to manually enter in the values

below

Sample Rate: The number of samples of

audio carried per second, measured in Hz.

Note: The average maximum frequency a

human ear can perceive is 20,000 Hz. To

achieve this properly you will need at most

double the sample rate. This is why 48000 Hz

is automatically selected for you.

Bit Depth: The number of bits of information

making a waveform. This describes the

resolution of each sample. The more bits you

have the more sinusoidal a wave form appears

to match the true audio wave form.

Select Multitrack

Prompt Appears After Selecting Multitrack for

the first time during your session

Bit Depth:

“When the number of bits per sample is

increased, each sample can more accurately

represent the audio signal.”

From:

https://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/usermanual/ind

ex.html#chapter=52%26section=7%26tasks=true

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Multi-track Editing

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Master: Determines how many outputs your

audio file will play from.

• Example: Stereo is good for when

making sound for two audio outputs

(Left and Right).

Click: Ok when you are satisfied with your

selections

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Navigating Multi-track:

Steps

What You See

Welcome to the Multitrack view!

Currently we are looking at a trackless

Multitrack session. Don’t worry; we will go

over inserting tracks soon. First let’s go over

some of the panels in this new view.

Note: Any work done in Multitrack is

considered non-destructible. Meaning

altering audio in this mode does not change

the original audio file.

Note: All that will be described is when using

the Default Workspace settings in Audition.

Multitrack View:

Without Any Audio Files:

With Multiple Audio Files:

C.) Track:

This is where an audio file is added, resized, and modified. This highlighted region is among many

other tracks in the multi-track session.

B.) Track Controls:

Quick audio controls are found here to normalize, record, add key frame envelopes, all of which are

non-destructive edits to the original file.

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With Two Audio Tracks:

A.) Zoom Navigator:

Adjust the zoom bar size by clicking, holding left click, and dragging the yellow end point towards

(Zoom in) the center or away from the center (Zoom out) of the zoom bar. This bar can also be

moved anywhere in the timeline (left or right) to view specific segments of all audio tracks.

D.) Scroll Bar:

Click and drag up or down on this bar to navigate up and down your track list.

E.) Play Head:

This is a movable bar that shows where in the timeline you are at. Finer adjustments can be done by

using the j,k,l key commands on your keyboard. J- Rewind, k- Pause, l-forward

Double tap or triple tap k or l commands to fast-forward or fast-rewind at different speeds.

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Points of Interest:

Steps

What You See

Master Track:

The master track is designed to apply effects

and other sound adjustments across all tracks.

This track is at the very bottom of your track

list.

Note: When scrolling using your mouse

wheel you will have two separate effects.

1.) Scrolling with your mouse over Track

Controls will cause the track list to

grow in size or appear smaller

2.) Scrolling with your mouse over any

individual track will allow you to

scroll across the track list to find the

master track at the bottom of your

workspace

Master Track:

Zoomed in view:

Track Panel Vs. Mixer Panel:

The Multitrack session contains two ways to

view your tracks. All the prior information

above has described using strictly the

Multitrack session view. A separate tab next

to your track session is called “Mixer.”

This style of audio editing may be more

attractive to users accustomed to using an

analogue setup for mixing tracks.

Other Panels:

As described when discussing Waveform

view there are alternate panels available in the

Multitrack session.

All left hand panels shown in the Waveform

view are likewise available in the same

location in Multitrack view.

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The Multi-track Tools:

Steps

What You See

While in Multitrack mode you will have

access to several tools that help make audio

compiling engaging and interesting. You will

work a lot with the individual track controls to

further adjust your audio tracks.

Depending on which of the four options you

have selected (Inputs/Outputs, Effects, Sends,

or EQ) you will be able to control what is

available for you from the track control

section.

Note: To view all options in the track controls

section use the scroll wheel on your mouse

while over the tracks control area to expand or

collapse the controls available to you by each

track.

EQ Selection:

Important controls to know:

Mute: Allows you to mute the audio of a

particular track

Solo: Mutes all other tracks except others

that are highlighted as solo too

Record: Allows you to record over a track

• Note: This item only enables the

ability to record to a specified track

Monitor Input button: Allows you to

listen to the track while you are recording to

it.

• Note: This button is unable to be

engaged unless the record button is

activated.

Track Controls:

Track Name:

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You can alter the name of your track simply

by double clicking the track name, typing in a

new name, and pressing enter on the keyboard

Audio adjustment tool:

Allows the ability to increase or decrease the

sound level of your audio track

Note: Any text that is yellow is an adjustable

number or value

Pan tool:

This is what is used to change the intensity

from which speaker the individual track

appears to come from

Note: Holding down shift allows you to pan

quickly to either left or right stereo

When dealing with Stereo 5.1 tracks you will

have a more intensive pan option

At 0 your effect is applied to both right and

left outputs.

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Sum to Mono:

This option allows for a dual track (right and

left stereo track) to be played back as a mono

track.

Controlling Inputs/Outputs:

Inputs: This controls which device you can

record with

Outputs: This controls whether the track is to

be mono, stereo, or 5.1 surround sound quality

• Note: You will not be able to identify

the difference of sound quality during

creation of an audio multi track unless

you have a device that can handle the

output selected

• If the output selection Stereo is being

heard from a mono speaker system

then you will not get the full benefit of

hearing the correct pan adjustments, it

will always sound as if it is in mono

setting

The input and output options are only

available while the Input/Outputs button is

selected.

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Effects Rack:

This tool set acts just like the effects panel

discussed in the Special Effects section.

However, all effects shown in the effects rack

are track specific. Meaning that only the track

or bus you are adding effects to will be

effected.

Note: Some track effects can be labor

intensive. Be sure to use a machine that can

handle a lot of processes at once.

Track effects applied to either the master track

or the effects panel on the left will affect the

all audio tracks.

Sends:

Sends provide an ability to have audio tracks

sent to different monitors attached to your

computer.

• Note: Monitor devices can be stereo

headsets, Surround sound speakers,

mono speakers etc.

• Understanding the full scope and

applying sends is not a simple task

these tools go beyond the scope of this

guide, however, there are resources

available in atomic learning and other

areas online.

http://blog.infiniteskills.com/2012/07/a

dobe-audition-cs6-tutorial-how-to-

route-sends/

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Equalizer (EQ):

This mode allows you to apply EQ on each

track. The blue line shown to the right is a

representation of how much gain (high or

low) in the y-axis is presented across the

different frequency bands of the x-axis.

Double Click: The graph to modify the

equalizer applied to the track

A pop-up window will appear for you to

adjust the EQ levels.

Note: Just like in the effects rack and panel,

you can turn on and off the EQ effect by

clicking the power icon to make it

highlighted in green (on) or grayed out (off).

Pop-up window

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Working with keyframes:

Another tool that is hidden away, unless you

expand the tracks control section by scrolling

the mouse wheel while over the track controls

panel, is the ability to manipulate the volume,

pan, and other audio effects using keyframes.

Something new to CS6 is the ability to read,

write, latch, and touch your audio track using

whats called an automated envelope system.

Description of each mode:

Off: Turns off automation data associated

with the specified track

Read: Allows for playback of automation data

Write: Overwrites ALL Modified Track data

after playback modifications are made. (Use

with caution)

Latch: Overwrites only values you changed

during playback. When a change is made the

new value is “latched” on untill you make

further modifications or stop playback.

Touch: Like latch mode this will overwrite

only values you changed during playback.

The difference is that a gradual change will be

made to the parameter adjusted back to its

original value based on a modifiable

adjustment speed.

A deeper understanding of these modes will

only be benificial when working in

specialized scenarios. Further information will

go beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Before Expanding:

After Expanding:

Automation Mode Selections:

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Saving Multitrack Using Mixdown:

Steps

What You See

How to save a Multitrack out as one track:

Note: Do this only when you are ready to

upload your compilation or burn your

compilation out as one file.

Click: File -> Export -> Multitrack Mixdown

-> Entire Session

Breakdown of Export Multitrack Mixdown

Window:

File Name: Name of the file you are creating

Location: Where on your computer you are

choosing to save your content

Format: This is the type of file you are

generating. See format type document for

more information on the different types of

formats.

Sample Type/ New Sample Type:

Remember 48000 Hz is the recommended

sample rate for burning to an audio disc. The

New Sample Type field displays what you

have chosen when changing the Sample Type

Format Settings: Affects your audio bit rate

Mixdown Options: Allows you to separate

source files by track and bus.

Adobe Audition Quick Reference Guide

Exporting Multitrack Session

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