LAB SEVEN IN AUDITION

TASK: AUTOMATING SIGNAL LEVEL

IN ONE TRACK
Setting Up a Session

In a new session, import the following files

Soundscapes and Sound Materials CD:

Track 33: Campfire

Track 8: Glass Smashes

Track 44: Large Press

Drag the clips to the given start times:

from the

Campfire at zero seconds

Glass Smashes at fifteen seconds. Mute this track for

now.

Large Press at five seconds. Mute this track for now.

Play the session (press the space bar).

The Campfire track (the only track that you should be able to
hear since you have muted the other two tracks) is a noise-based
sound, consisting mainly of higher frequencies. Although there is a
sense of variation in the sound (the crackles and pops), on the
whole, it has a fairly uniform dynamic range.

Bring the Mixer window to the front by selecting Mixer in the

Window menu.

Selecting the Mixer window via the Window menu

The Mixer window can also be opened by selecting the Mixer
icon in the toolbar:
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The Mixer icon in the toolbar

This will open the Mixer window:

Auditions Mix window, showing four level sliders.

Setting the Level by Hand

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Play the session again, this time clicking and dragging on the
first slider (Track 1, which should contain the Campfire
clip).

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You are now controlling the amplitude of that track in real time.

Try setting the level to zero (all the way down), and then play
the session. After one or two seconds of silence, slowly raise
the slider to fade in the signal. After it has reached full
strength, lower it quickly, all the way to zero. Wait a second,
then raise it quickly. Hold the level for about three seconds,
then slowly lower it to fade the signal out.

You should have created the following amplitude envelope

shape:

The level of control, in terms of the precise time for a slider

movement, or the actual level of the slider, is still approximate, as it
is with the analogue mixer. ProTools allows for digital control over
these movements using the concept of automation.

Bring the slider back to its full level, approximately three

quarters of the way up.

Close the Mixer window, and return to the Edit window.

Viewing Automation Data

Make sure volume envelopes are being displayed in the tracks

window.
This can be controlled via the View menu:

Selecting which envelopes are displayed in the View menu

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This can also be controlled via the toolbar:

Selecting which envelopes are displayed, via the toolbar

In both cases, only the Volume Envelopes have been selected
as being displayed.
The volume envelopes are, at first, a little difficult to see, since
they are initially set to play at full (100%) level.

The volume envelope at its default, full level

Creating Volume Automation

Move the cursor directly above the small white square at the
beginning of the selected clip. The cursor will change to a
pointing finger, and the clips volume will be displayed:

Getting ready to edit the clips volume envelope

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Click on the white square, and drag it down. While you are
dragging, the new volume will be displayed to show you the
current level setting. It displays the signals level change
relative to its original amplitude, in both percent and decibels.

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Creating automation.

Drag the square all the way down so that the relative display
reads 0% (completely off).

Starting the clip at 0% volume, or off

Note: Auditions clip envelopes only affect the selected clip, and have
no control over the Mixer window. This window serves as a relative
amplitude level for all tracks after the clips volume envelopes. In
other words, they serve as Group Volume controls, but cannot be
automated.

Play the clip.

The clip should now begin with no volume, and over the
course of the entire clip, it should get louder and louder until it
reaches full volume at the very end. You have created a fade-in;
however, it is taking the entire clip to complete this fade.
What you need to do is create a breakpoint: a point in the
automation line that changes the lines level.

Place the cursor over the volume envelope line. The cursor
should turn into a pointing finger again, and a plus sign
should appear beside it:

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Getting ready to create a breakpoint

Click on the line, and a breakpoint (a small white square) will

appear. Drag this breakpoint higher.

Editing a breakpoint

Play the clip.

Try to set the automation envelope to recreate the envelope

you set by hand earlier. Experiment with creating various
envelopes. Notice that envelope changes can occur extremely
quickly, much more so than you could effect them by hand.
Break points can be moved by clicking and dragging them.
Break points can be deleted by dragging them off the clip.

Unity Gain
When you set the volume automation level, you may have noticed
that the relative display ranges from 0% at the bottom of the track,
to 100% at the top. Using volume automation, a clip can only be
attenuated lowered in amplitude.
Why does it display 0 dB when the volume envelope is set at
100%? This is known as unity gain or the level at which the track is
playing at its original level. When a signal is sent through a mixer,
including the virtual mixer in Audition, a level can either be
amplified (made larger) or attenuated (made smaller).

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Unity gain represents the point at which no change is made to the

signal level.

This is the optimum level because amplification can cause

extraneous and unwanted noise, whereas attenuating a signal will
lower its dynamic range. Sometimes, however, these changes need
to be made.
Amplification of a Track
You can, however, amplify an entire track, thereby increasing the
amplitude beyond what was originally recorded. This is done
through the tracks volume slider in the Mixer window the slider
you used to create a manual volume envelope with earlier in the
lab or by changing the tracks volume. This is done by clicking
and dragging on the Volume area of the tracks control area:

Changing the overall volume of a track

By setting this to a conservative +6 dB, for example, the entire
track will be played back at twice the level it was recorded at.
Obviously, if your track was normalized, this will create distortion.
However, if you use the volume envelope to lower the volume level
by 6 dB, you will have returned to the original volume (unity gain).
Adjusting the volume envelope above this level (- 6 dB) for certain
sections will result in amplification; adjusting it below 6 dB will
result in attenuation.
In most circumstances, you will not need to do this,
particularly if you are in the habit of normalizing your sounds
while editing them.

TASK: AUTOMATING SIGNAL LEVEL

IN MORE T HAN O NE TRACK

Return the volume for the first clip to be at unity gain.

Unmute the other two tracks, and play the session.

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Notice that the track containing Large Press will likely

predominate, almost completely masking the other tracks.
The reason it does is twofold. First, the volume is noticeably
higher in the Large Press sound; second, its broadband
frequencies cover (mask) all the frequencies of the other sounds,
which have much more limited frequency bands.
(Remember that this is simply an exercise; combining these
sounds, particularly the Campfire and the Large Press, is
problematic because they are both broadband noise-based sounds.
Even with amplitude adjustments, it will be difficult to differentiate
them aurally.)

With the given clip offsets suggested, there should be

approximately thirty seconds of audio with which to play. Try
using the volume automation on all three tracks to vary their
levels.

Bring the Campfire track into focus by raising its level while
the other two tracks are set at lower levels.

Do the same with the Large Press track.

Automate the levels of the Glass Smashing track, so that each

smash occurs at a different level.

TASK: VARIETY THROUGH REORDERING

You have already done significant editing in Project One, more
complex than any composer in the 1950s could have accomplished.
How might you do this with your sounds for this project?
This task will focus upon variety, particularly upon variety
created through the use of different performances of sound material.
Importing a Sound

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Remove the clips from the previous task by Selecting All

(Ctrl+A), then selecting Remove Clips from the Edit window.

From the Soundscapes and Sound Materials CD, import Track 41,
Axe, into Audition. This audio file is twenty-three seconds long
and consists of seven different versions of an axe chopping a
block of wood.

Drag Axe into the first track so that it begins at time zero.

Listen to the entire sound (highlight it using the Move tool,

and press the space bar).

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Listening to the Sounds

The seven versions are clearly related to one another, yet at

the same time, they are different from each other.

What makes them differentfrequency, envelope, timbre?

What makes them similarfrequency, envelope, timbre?

Creating Separate Clips for Each of the Seven Separate Sounds

Highlight a single sound event using the Selector tool. You

might need to zoom in to get a better resolution. Even though
the sounds are rather short in duration, highlight approximately one second (look at the information area in the Edit
window to see the begin time, end time, and the length of the
selection).

Auditions information pane.

Make sure that the beginning of the selection is before the

initial attack of the sound.

Selecting the sound before making a new clip.

Choose Split (Ctrl+K) from the Edit menu. Drag the new clip
down to the next track to separate it from the original.

Repeat this for the other six sounds.

Once all seven sounds have separate clips, you dont need the
original clips anymore. Select them by selecting one of them,
then choose Select All Clips in Track 1 from the Edit menu,
then Remove Clips from the Edit menu.

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Arranging the Material in a New Order

Using all seven clips, place them in a new order in a single

track without trying to space them evenly. Leave some space
(silence) between them.

Listen to the result.

Still in the same track, space them out at exact intervals of one
second.

Look at the clip info area at the bottom of Auditions window

to figure out the start times:

The current clips location in time, as it is being moved

Try to achieve as even a rhythm as possible. Simply starting
them at equal time divisions, such as one second, will not ensure
perfect timing, since your clip edits might not fall precisely on the
beginning of the sound.

Listen to the result.

Using two tracks, alternate them (first clip on track one,

second clip on track two, third on track one again, etc.), and
space them at intervals of half a second. Rearrange the clips.

Use some of the same clips twice by copying them (ControlDrag the clip with the Move Tool).

Listen to the result.

Add even more clips by copying. Bunch some of them up,

then leave some longer pauses. Think of a conversation
between two people using only short phrases, and try to get
the same sort of timing/rhythm. Always reorder the material,
using repetition of clips.

For example, A B A C pause B D A C D pause B E C D pause

A D pause. In this case, the letters refer to the different clips A
being the first, B being the second, etc.

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How long can you make this conversation go on, without it

getting predictable or boring?

Listen to the result.

Vary the amount of silence (pauses) between clips.

Add in Volume Automation to vary the volume levels, giving

accents to certain events (by reducing all other clips). Make
some clips quite loud and others very quiet. Try making entire
phrases loud or quiet.

Does this make the result more interesting? (It should.) Can
you now make the conversation go on even longer?
These types of details are the essential elements in creating
gestures in electroacoustic music.

TASK: CREATING LONGER GESTURES

This task will deal with envelope changes and creating longer
sustained gestures from shorter material.
Setting Up the Session

Create a new session or reuse the previous session after

deleting all the clips from the tracks.

From the Soundscapes and Sound Materials CD, import Track 53,
Ahhh.

Drag the clip into the first track so that it begins at time zero.
Zoom in so that you can see the first five seconds of the
session. Play the clip.

Ahhh is a short (less than one second) sustained vocal

recording. It is actually a portion of a longer phrase, and it has
already been edited with a quick fade in and fade out in order to
avoid clicks. By itself, it is a rather limited sound object because it is
of such short duration.
You will often need to create longer, sustained gestures from
shorter sound objects. Project Two is a good exercise because the
limit of ten seconds might force you to use shorter sounds than you
would normally use.
In the analogue tape studio, longer gestures were created
through looping: physically splicing together a length of magnetic
tape so that it would form a loop. Circling repeatedly through the

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tape player, the loop would continuously play the material

recorded on the tape.
Creating a Loop
We can emulate this process very simply by duplicating a clip and
placing it in the track immediately following the first one.

Select the clip, using the Move tool, and duplicate it by

selecting Clip Duplicate from the Edit menu.

Duplicating the clip 10 times, placing each new clip

immediately after the previous clip
Select 10 as the number of repetitions, and make sure No gaps
is selected. This will copy the clip and butt-end it to the previous
clip.

A track containing a clip duplicated several times.

Play the session.

You have created a rhythmic loop, in which the rhythm of the

loop is determined by the length of the clip. While this might be

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interesting, it isnt quite what we wanted (a sustained gesture). The

attack and decay of the sound object are quite apparent.

Adding a Second Loop

Using the Move tool, select the first clip, and drag it to the
second track while holding the control key this will copy the
reference (clip). Move it so that it is offset slightly from the
first clip in track one.

Adding a second loop.

Duplicate this clip several times to create approximately the

same amount of material as contained in the first track.

Play the session.

You now have a sustained gesture, but it still has an apparent

rhythm. Again, this might be interesting, but it still isnt what we
wanted.
Adding Volume Automation
The rhythm of this gesture is caused by the attack portion of the
clip. Even though the clip does not have a strong percussive attack,
its onset is still evident when it is used within a loop. What we
need to do is add a volume envelope to each clip via volume
automation.

Delete all but the first clip in each track. Do this by shiftclicking on each clip that should be deleted, then choosing
Remove Clips from the Edit menu.

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Add volume automation to both clips in the two tracks, so that

the tracks look something like this:

Adding volume automation.

Set the upper break points to -3.0 dB. This will ensure there is
no distortion.

Duplicate both clips as before. Notice that the volume

automation has also been duplicated.

Duplicated clips; automation data has also been copied.

Duplicating a clip containing automation data will also duplicate the

automation data.

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Play the session.

The rhythmic aspect should be lessened somewhat, and the

sustained aspect should have increased.
Adding Even More Loops

Select all the clips in Track 2, then copy them to tracks three
and four (control-drag them there). Then, offset these news
tracks from the first two.

The session should look something like this when you are done:

Four offset loops.

Play the session.

Although the sustained aspect of the gesture should be fairly

strong, we cant seem to get away from the rhythmic element.
Despite the extra tracks and the smooth volume envelopes, the fact
that all the clips are separated from one another by exactly the
same time delay becomes perceptible to our ears. Our hearing is
very attuned to pattern and repetition, and the method of exact
duplication will be evident when we use the procedure just given.
One method of dealing with this problem will be explored in
the next task.

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TASK: VARYING REPETITIVE MATERIAL

What we created in the previous task was a rhythmic loop. The fact
that we used a vocal sample rather than an instrumental sample
does not create the perception of unvarying repetition. In some
musical styles, this type of unvarying repetition is not only
acceptable but also desirable, as in most popular music that uses
drum loops, such as techno, jungle, drum and bass, and so forth.
In these cases, the repetition is beneficial because it is used
within the background layer. When the drum loop is first
introduced, we will be very aware of it; however, once it repeats
several times without significant change, we will stop focusing on it.
In music that uses such repetitive material, another layer is usually
introduced at that point, one that involves less direct repetition and
that will be thus perceived as more in the foreground.
If we had been successful in creating a continuous vocal drone
in the previous task using simple duplication (looping), it would
likewise involve unvarying repetition (although without the
noticeable rhythm). Using such a gesture would result in a similar
listener reaction. At first, the listener would notice the gesture/
layer; however, after several seconds, the listener would realize
(unconsciously) that the sound is unvarying and would no longer
listen to the sound as a foreground gesture.
To maintain interest in such a gesture, variation must be
introduced. This is a simple matter of changing the location of each
clip and altering its volume automation.
Varying Clip Spacing

Using the above session, move each clip so that a very short
silence occurs between clips (about fifty to 200 milliseconds).
Try to vary this amount somewhat spontaneously and
unpredictably.

Varying Volume Automation

Edit each volume envelope slightly, changing its shape and

maximum level.

Add more tracks, if needed, so that all holes are covered.

Here is one version of this task.

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The varied gesture, with unpredictable clip spacing and

volume envelopes.

Play the session.

It should have a somewhat uneven, unpredictable sustained

quality to it without any apparent repetitive rhythm.
We could continue this procedure to create thirty seconds of
varying drone material, but doing so could take a very long time. A
shortcut is to use the bounce technique that was used in Project One.

TASK: BOUNCE A GESTURE TO

CREATE A LONGER GESTURE
In Audition, bouncing will mix any audible tracks. Any tracks
that are muted will not be part of the bounce. Bouncing will also
include all automation data and will mix the current selection.

Select all clips by choosing Select All Clips from the Edit
menu (Ctrl+A).

Make sure all tracks are unmuted.

Select Mix Down To Disk from the Edit menu.

Mixing will occur, and the new file, with the default name of
Mixdown *, will appear in the Organizer window, and the Edit
View window as well.

Drag the new clip into the first track after the clips you just
mixed.

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The mixed audio file.

Notice that there is no visual repetition in the waveform and
significant variation in amplitude.

Solo this track, and play the clip.

The clip will sound identical to the four-track version. So what

is the benefit?

Control drag this clip into the other tracks, making copies of it.
Place it at uneven intervals.

Add volume automation to these clips in a similarly

unpredictable fashion.

One result of reusing the bounced material to create long

gestures.

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Play the selection.

You should now have a continually varying sustained gesture.

TASK: PITCH SHIFT

(WITH TIME CORRECTION)
Setting Up the Session

Delete all the clips in your sessions tracks, import Key

Jingle (Track 10), and move it into the first track.

Process the File

Select the clip and control drag it to another location. Select

Copy Unique Here to make an actual copy of the file. Double
click on the new clip (which should be called Key Jingle.wav
(2)) to switch to Edit View.

Remember that to process clips, we should make copies of them first

in order to avoid unexpectedly processing existing clips within tracks.

From the Effects menu, select Stretch from the Time/Pitch

submenu.

Make sure Pitch Shift is selected (1).

Change the Transpose to 12 b (the b is actually a flat, the

musical notation for lowering pitch).
This will change the ratio to 200.

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Setting up for a pitch shift with time correction

Click OK to process the file.

Return to Multitrack View.

Notice that the processed version is exactly the same length as

the original: the time correction occurred during the processing.
Also notice that it is difficult to see the difference between the two
clips. Obviously, the sound events in each clip occur at the same
time. Or do they?
Checking Synchronization

Making sure that both clips begin at the same time, zoom in to
an obvious event, such as the attack between time .4 and .5.

Are the events exactly synchronized? In fact, they are not.

Because time correction involves changing the wavelengths of the
waveforms, it cannot guarantee a certain waveform (an attack
transient, for example) will maintain its exact location in time.
Therefore, there is a trade-off between accurate frequency
transposition and accurate time retention. The time correction
algorithm will constantly shift between the two ideals, and the
result is the inexact synchronization of events.

Play the original, then compare it to the processed version.

The processed version sounds very much like an alteration of

the original rather than a new sound object. The reason is that the
duration of the sound has remained the same.

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Because the two clips have the same duration, and the events
in the two versions occur at (almost) the same time, it is possible to
combine them in interesting ways.

Play both clips at once. This combination should sound like a

thicker version of the original, suggestive of a rhythmic
unison between two percussive instruments of different sizes.

Alter the volume automation data between the two clips, so

that they have a dynamic amplitude relationship.

Creating a dynamic relationship between the original and the

time corrected process.
Now you have a dynamic blend that is more interesting than
listening to either the original or the processed version on its own.

TASK: SPEED CHANGE

Setting up the Session

Select the original Key Jingle from your sessions Organizer

window. Double click on it to place Audition into Edit View.

From the File menu, select Save Copy As, and call the copy
Key Jingle-stretch.

Import that file into the session, and double-click on it in the

Organizer Window to edit it.

Process the File

From the Effects menu, select Stretch from the Time/Pitch

submenu.

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Part of the Stretch window.

Make sure the Stretching Mode is set to Time Stretch (1.)

Change the Ratio to 50% (2.).

This will move the Stretch slider to the left.

The ratio of 50 means that the file will have the equivalent of a
50% playback speed, or half as fast.
Note that it is possible to adjust the processs preference for
low precision (a fast calculation, but not very accurate) versus high
precision (which will take longer to calculate).
Percussive vs. Sustained Sounds

Click OK, and listen to the processed clip.

The sound appears to be stretched out, which, of course, is

what has happened. The artifacts in this case are slight but
perceptible; they are most noticeable on percussive attacks. This
effect makes sense, since the process pulls apart the original
sound. How is a transient, immediate attack treated? Listen
carefully to these attack points and listen for the artifacts.

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Import Playground Rhyme and repeat the process. This

time use extreme expansion, to the maximum of 10% (ten
times as long as the original). Listen to the result.

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Playground Rhyme is much less percussive than Key

Jingle; as a result, though the process is still audible, it has less
noticeable artifacts, even at this extreme rate. Attempting to use
such excessive rates on a percussive sound would create much
more obvious artifacts.

Try the time stretching process (also known as time

compression or expansion) on the two clips, experimenting
with extreme rates in both directions (compressing and
expanding).

TASK: DELAY
Setting Up the Session

Create a new session, or reuse the previous session after

deleting all the clips from the tracks.

Import the following tracks into the session:

Track 20: Briefcase

Track 33: Campfire

Place Briefcase in the first track at time zero, control-drag a

copy of it to track two, making an actual unique copy of the
file.

Enter Edit View by double clicking on the new copy.

From the Effects menu, select Multitap Delay from the

Delay Effects submenu.

Change the Offset to 350 ms, the Delay to 350 ms, and the
Feedback to twenty-five per cent. Click on the display buttons
to enter these values directly, rather than using the sliders.

Controls for the Multitap Delay effect.

The Offset is when, in milliseconds, the first delay should
occur in most cases, this should be the same as the delay time.
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The Delay is the time, in milliseconds, between the original and the
delayed version of the signal. The Feedback is the amount of the
processed signal that is fed back into the delay. It will create a
rhythmic repetition in the delay. Twenty-five per cent feedback will
cause about four repetitions of the original delay to be audible,
with each delay having twenty-five per cent of the amplitude of the
preceding one.

Listen to the sound by previewing the process. The results

should be immediately apparent.

Process the file, and return to Multitrack view.

What about the end?

It should become obvious, once you have listened to the entire
clip, that the sound is cut offthe last few delays are not present.
The reason is that the process only created new audio data for the
current selection (the original clip). The process itself, however,
needed to create audio data that went beyond the original selection.
To get around this problem, add several seconds of silence
(Silence from the Generate menu) to the end of the file in Edit
View before executing the delay process.
Remember to select the entire file again (Ctrl+A) before doing
this, since adding silence changed the selection.

Experiment with different delay times, feedback rates, and

mix levels while previewing the results.

Phasing

Make a copy of Campfire, and enter Edit View.

Campfire also contains discrete events, but it is more

continuous in nature than Briefcase. This will allow us to explore
phasing.

Select Multitap Delay from the Effects menu.

Set the Delay and Offset to 10 ms, and the Feedback to sixtyfive per cent. Preview the result.

Notice the different type of result: this one seems to be a

frequency-based process, since the spectrum is altered, and no
rhythmic delays are heard. The reason for this result is the short
delay time combined with the high feedback rate. Because the
delay time is less than 50 ms, we cannot hear the delays as discrete
events. Furthermore, because the delays are now in the audio
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range, the process causes cancellation and reinforcement of those

wavelengths that are multiples of the delay time.
For example, a 100 Hz sine wave will repeat every 10 ms
(10 times 100 is 1,000). Therefore, a delay time of 10 ms will boost
100 Hz within the signal. It will also cut frequencies that are half of
this wavelength, or 50 Hz, as well as boost multiples (harmonics) of
the wavelength (200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz, etc.).

Slowly change the Delay time between 10 ms and 1 ms while

previewing the result.

Notice that the boost frequencies get higher as the delay time
gets lower. By 1 ms, multiples of 1000 Hz will be boosted. The
apparent intensity of the effect can be controlled by adjusting the
amount of feedback.
Flanging

Close the Multitap Delay, and select Flanger from the Delay
Effects menu.

Set the Final Mix Delay to 5 ms (1.), and the Feedback to 60%
(2.).
Note that both of these parameters are delay settings.

Change the Frequency to .5 Hz (3.)

Setting parameters in the Flanger, a delay-based process

Preview the process.

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Flanging is simply phasing with varying time delay. The

Frequency controls a sine wave, which continually varies the delay
time. The frequency of .5 Hz means that the sine wave repeats once
every two seconds.
This concept behind this type of variation is borrowed from
electronic music, specifically control voltage synthesis. In this case,
the sine wave is a low-frequency oscillator (LFO); the rate controls
its frequency, while the depth controls its amplitude.

TASK: REVERB

Select Briefcase in the Organizer window.

Reverberation is one of the most complex of audio processes,

at least high quality reverb. Natural reverb occurs through
multiple reflections within an enclosed space; the materials on the
reflective surfaces greatly influence the resulting sound, as do the
distances between the source, listener, and reflective surfaces. To
emulate the complexity of these many varying parameters, digital
reverb will often have more parameters to control than any other
process.
Different digital reverbs have different algorithms and
different parameters to control. For example, Auditions Studio
Reverb effect offers control over Room Size, Decay, Early Reflection,
Stereo Width, High Frequency Cut, Low Frequency Cut, Damping, and
Diffusion. (The exact definitions of these parameters are given in
Unit Five.)

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Settings for Studio Reverb effect

With Briefcase open within Edit View, select Studio Reverb

from the Delay Effects submenu within the Effects menu.

Set the reverb time (Decay) to 2500 milliseconds (2.5 seconds).

Set the Original Signal (Dry) it to about seventy-five per cent,

and the Reverb (Wet) to 100%.

Preview your sound.

The reverberation process should be very obvious with these

sound objects because of the silence between them.
Short, percussive sounds followed by silence reveal reverberation
better than long, continuous sounds.

Briefcase is a good neutral sound object, recorded with close

miking in order to capture the low-level details of the sound. The
neutrality allows for different kinds of processing; however, using
the sound unprocessed within a composition will produce a
somewhat unnatural result because the sounds that we hear are
most often within an ambient space. Without this room ambience,
the sound will appear to be located on the surface of the speaker.
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With the added reverb, Briefcase will now sound like it is in

a very reverberant space. Reverb will also place the sound further
from the listener. Any layer that uses reverberation will therefore
also have a depth that a layer lacking reverb will not.
Adding reverb is a fundamental way to contrast layers in a
foreground/background fashion.

Change the reverb time to about five seconds, and increase the
mix to about eighty per cent. Preview the sound.

This action should produce an obvious increase the intensity

of the process, making it sound somewhat unrealistic.
Adding Silence
You will need to add silence to the end of a file when using
reverb, just as you did with the echo/delay process.

Add as much silence to the end of your sound as the reverb

time is set to.

Normalize
In many cases, adding reverb to the file will result in a loss of
energy in the original signal. In other words, you will need to
normalize the file after the reverb process.
Reverb as a Virtual Space
Reverb can be used to place a sound within an interior
environment. In most commercial usage, reverb is used equally on
all instruments in order to place them in the same virtual room. Of
course, there is no need to limit our use of reverb to such a naturalsounding result. For example, what would happen if we placed
reverb on a sound that occurs in an exterior setting?

With Campfire open within Edit View, and the Studio

Reverb process window open, set the reverb time to
2500 milliseconds.

Preview your sound.

Adding reverberation to a campfire may seem odd and

certainly unnatural. However, it does give the illusion of the sound
object being in a reverberent space. Furthermore, because this
sound is more of a sound event, it can be perceived as a separate
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gesture. Adding reverb to Campfire will therefore place this

gesture into the background in a layered composition.

TASK: REVERB IN SERIES

Reverb is often used in combination with other processes, placing
not only the sound object but also the processes in a spatial
location. In such a case, it is most successful when it is the last
process in the series.
Because reverb is most sensitive to high frequencies, one
interesting technique is to put your sound object through a high
pass filter and then add reverb.

Open Key Jingle in Edit View.

Select FFT Filter from the Filters submenu within the Process
menu,

Remove all frequencies below 8 kHz.

Keeping only the high frequencies

Using the above setting, this process should lower the
frequencies from about 4 kHz to 8 kHz, and eliminate everything
below 4 kHz. Key Jingle contains mainly high frequencies; this
concept will not work as well on sounds, such as spoken text, that
contain mainly lower frequencies.

Process the file, and then select the Studio Reverb effect. Set
the reverb time to about two seconds.

Listen to the result.

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This is an old ballad technique used in commercial recording

studios, in which the sibilance in the voice would trigger the reverb.

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