Audio Editing Operations

This section describes the various audio editing features available when using the Acoustic Labs Multitrack Recorder. Much of the information expects that the user is familiar with the waveform navigating techniques of highlighting audio and using markers. These topics are covered in Section #6: Waveform Navigating.

Overview of the Editing Operations

Whenever creating a professional audio production the topic of editing audio waveforms will be something of concern. The most common editing features allow the user to cut, copy and paste various sections of audio. The Acoustic Labs Multitrack Recorder fully supports these features which can be accessed via the pull down menu system (visual aid item #1) by selecting the "Edit" pull down menu. To the right is a visual aid that shows the "Edit" pull down menu activated and displays the various editing features available.

Cut, Copy and Paste Audio

The most common editing features used when editing audio are the cut, copy and paste operations. When performing a cut operation the selected portion of audio will be removed from the track and placed on the audio clipboard. The audio clipboard is explained in more detail below. There are two different ways to perform a cut operation. By highlighting a section of audio and selecting the "Cut Highlighted Section" option from the "Edit" pull down menu the highlighted section of audio will be removed and copied to the audio clipboard. The second method of cutting audio from a project is to set begin and end marker positions within the waveform and select "Cut Between Markers" from the "Edit" pull down menu. This will remove the audio located between the two markers and place it on the audio clipboard.

The copy feature can be used to copy a selected section of audio from a track. This copied audio section will be placed on the audio clipboard. The steps involved in copying a section of audio are similar to that of cutting a section of audio as described above. There are two different ways to perform the copy operation. By highlighting a section of audio and selecting the "Copy Highlighted Section" option from the "Edit" pull down menu the highlighted section of audio will be copied to the audio clipboard. The second method to copy audio contained in a project is to set begin and end marker positions within the waveform and select "Copy Between Markers" from the "Edit" pull down menu. This will copy the audio located between the two markers to the audio clipboard.

The audio clipboard is essentially a section of audio that is stored in memory. You cannot view what is currently contained on the audio clipboard, however the audio clipboard will always contain the audio data from the previous cut or copy operation. When you initially start the Acoustic Labs Multitrack Recorder the audio clipboard will be blank. At anytime you can paste the contents of the audio clipboard to any track at any position by using either one of the paste operations. The paste insert operation will insert the clipboard audio at the current position of the tracking bar of the currently viewed track. For additional assistance, see Section 3: Viewing Different Audio Tracks and Section 6: Using the Tracking Bar which describes the tracking bar in detail. The paste insert operation can be selected from two different areas. First, using the top toolbar (visual aid item #1) you can simply click the "Paste" button. The other option is to select the "Paste Insert" option from the "Edit" pull down menu. Either option will perform the same paste insert operation.

The other paste operation is "Paste Over" which can be accessed from the "Edit" pull down menu. The paste over feature works similarly to the paste insert feature except that instead of inserting, the clipboard audio will be placed over any existing audio - thus replacing it. As with the paste insert operation, the paste over operation will place the clipboard audio at the current position of the tracking bar of the currently viewed track.

Deleting Audio and Clearing a Track

Often users find that they need to eliminate audio data completely without saving the data to the audio clipboard. There are two options for performing this operation. One method is to delete a selected section of audio. This works very similar to the cut operation described above except that the removed audio is not stored on the audio clipboard. There are two different ways to perform a delete operation. By highlighting a section of audio and selecting the "Delete Highlighted Section" option from the "Edit" pull down menu the highlighted section of audio will be removed from the track. The second way to delete audio from a project is to set begin and end marker positions within the waveform and select "Delete Between Markers" from the "Edit" pull down menu. This will remove the audio located between the two markers. The "Clear Current Track" feature is useful when you no longer need any of the audio contained in the given track. Instead of just deleting a specific section of audio, the clear feature will remove all audio data from the currently viewed track.

Undo or Redo an Operation

After performing any edit, tool or effect operation you can easily undo the operation by selecting the "Undo" option from the "Edit" pull down menu or you can simply click the "Undo" button located on the top toolbar (visual aid item #2). The undo feature allows for up to four previous operations to be undone. The opposite of undoing an operation is the "Redo" feature. Anytime "Undo" is performed on an operation, that very operation can be redone by selecting the "Redo" option located on the "Edit" pull down menu and also available on the top toolbar. The undo and redo operations are very useful anytime an error is made while editing a project - allowing the user to easily retain the state of the project before the operation was performed.