Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics

Soundtrack Pro: The Basics Overview: Soundtrack Pro is a music composing and audio editing application that includes a collection of over 5,000 royalty free instrument loops and effects. The Workspace:

Project Pane: Where your project will be located, includes the multi-track area, which will be useful for layering audio. Left Pane: Includes a video viewer and a project tab. Also includes tabs for effects and details about the audio. Right Pane: Includes the Browser for navigating to your files and meters for recording into Soundtrack Pro. Lower Pane: Includes a track mixer, tabs for track and multi-track editing and a Bin, which lists information and files about all open projects.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics

Getting Started 1. Open Soundtrack Pro by clicking on the icon in the dock

2. Open your audio files by navigating to the file using the finder in the Right Pane. Click on the small Home button (with a house on it). This will display all the files on your computer; navigate to the folder (or simply to the desktop) where your files are saved.

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Single Track Editing 1. To edit a single audio file, double click the file. This will open a new tab above the Project Pane; you will also now see the waveform of the audio file. To listen to the file simply hit the Space Bar to play.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics

2. To select a particular section of audio you must first enable the Audio Stretching Tool you can do this by hitting ‘T’ or clicking the Audio Stretching tool button, which is located just below the tabs in the Project Pane.

3. Once the Audio Stretching Tool is enabled, simply click at the beginning of the section you would like to remove on the waveform, then while holding down pull the tool back towards the end of the clip you would like to remove. The section you would like to remove will now be highlighted in light blue.

4. To delete the section you have highlighted simply hit the Delete key on the keyboard. You can also Cut the section by holding down Command + x. (This will also allow you to paste the section into another part of the file). You can Zoom In to get a better look at what you are editing by holding down Command with + (the plus sign) and Zoom Out holding down Command + - (the minus sign). REMEMBER: Any action can easily be undone by holding down Command + z on the keyboard.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics 5. To unhighlight a section of audio simply click anywhere else on the waveform. This will cause the light blue area to vanish. When you are finished using the Audio Stretch tool simply click on the Arrow tool just below the tabs in the Project Pane. 6. To Save the edits you have made go to File > Save As… this will open the Save As dialogue box. Name your file in the Save As box and select where you would like your file to be saved in the Where drop down menu. You can also select the type of audio file as an Audio File project (which is Soundtrack Pro’s default) AIFF or Wave. Select the format by clicking. Once you are satisfied simply click the Save As button.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics Multi-track Editing The multitrack project view looks much differently then the single audio editing view. Using the multitrack project view you can layer up to 128 different levels of audio. (Although normally you will only use 2-3.) The Basics

To the left of each track are some buttons and other controls for changing the settings for the audio on each track. • • • • • • •

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Rename the track by clicking on the name. This will help you to identify each track. Bypass Effects will turn off any real-time effect that were added so you can hear the audio only. Turn on by clicking on the button. Record will set the this track up for recoding, so that when you hit the record button this track will capture the audio. Mute button will mute the audio on a particular track in your project. Solo button will let you listen to only the audio on a particular track in your project (shuts off all other tracks.) Volume Control slider lets you increase or decrease the volume of all the audio files on a particular track. The Pan Control slider lets you change how much of the sound will be sent to the right channel or the left channel (such as right and left stereo speakers.) on a particular track. To play a track you can either hit the Space Bar or the play button in the Playhead.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics Bringing Audio into Multitrack 1. Once you are satisfied with the editing of the single file you can open up a new multitrack project by going to File > New > Multitrack Project

2. To bring an audio file into the multitrack project simply click on the file in the Right Pane’s Browser and while holding down drag it to the front of one of the multitrack channels.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics As you add more files to your project (such as music under someone speaking or a “bed”) you will simply drag the files into the lower channels. For example:

Notice that each piece of audio is placed in a different track for easy layering and transitions!

3. Once your audio files are in their own tracks you can easily move them around to create layering effects or a quick sequence. To move audio files within the tracks, with the Arrow Tool click and hold on a section or audio clip and slide or drag it to the desired track or section. Multitrack Editing Techniques There are a many ways to edit audio in the Multitrack view, each one is a little different and broken down into sections. Trimming 1. Once your audio file is placed in one of the tracks, move your cursor to the edge of the audio clip. A bracket that looks like a staple with a left and right arrow will appear. 2. Simply click and drag the edge of the clip to the point (either forwards or backwards) you want to trim the clip.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics Cutting 1. To cut or ‘razor’ a clip, first select the Blade tool in the top left corner of the Project Pane.

2. Then move your mouse over the audio clip and simply click at the point where you want to separate the clip. Each time you click another ‘cut’ in the audio will be made. You can see two added lines or ‘cuts’ in the audio on either side of the section we want to remove. If you want to remove a specific section or clip of audio you must click and make cuts at the beginning and end of that particular clip.

3. Once you have made your cuts, select the Arrow Tool at the top left of the Project Pane and click on one of the newly cut segments of the audio clip, to move or delete it (by pressing the delete key on the key board.) Saving and Exporting When you are satisfied with the editing of your audio project, you need to export your mix to the correct audio format. 1. To Save the edits you have made go to File > Save As… this will open the Save As dialogue box. Name your file in the Save As box and select where you would like your file to be saved in the Where drop down menu. You can also select the type of audio file as an Audio File project (which is Soundtrack Pro’s default) AIFF or Wave. Select the format by clicking. Once you are satisfied simply click the Save As button.

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Tutorial: Soundtrack Pro The Basics 2. To Export go to File > Export this will open the Export dialogue box. Name your file in the Save As dialogue box and select where you would like the exported version to go in the Where drop down menu. 3. Select the type of file you would like your project to be exported as under the File Type drop down menu. (AIFF, Wave, MP3) Simply click Export this may take a few minutes depending on the size of the file.

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