SOUND FORGE ADVANCED SOUND EDITING

 

Now that weve got sounds, well need to edit them to prepare them for publishing. Well have to make the sounds as full as possible and remove artifacts like clicks and static. Well also learn cool things like how to stretch a sound or lower its pitch so you can sound like Barry White.

 

Using Editing Windows

For the Following exercises we will use KC fix me.wav, available in your downloaded samples. If you havent downloaded the samples, you can get them from:

web design course

 

Using Pre-Set Options

Sound Forge is a professional sound editor, made for sound professionals. Consequently, theres an awful lot of complicated dials, levels, sliders, and options. Luckily for you, most of the editing windows also have preset options for you. To make your life a whole bunch easier, check the top pull down of most editing windows for presets. You might have to experiment to find the best one.

 

Preview and Bypass

After choosing editing options in a window, you can click the Preview button to preview your changes. Underneath the Preview button is the Bypass check box. If you check Bypass, it removes any changes so you can see how the sound is without editing.

 

Convert Stereo To Mono

Stereo sound takes twice as much memory as mono sound. Usually when youre streaming over the Internet youll want to go with mono sounds.

 

When you take two channels (left and right) and make them one, the sound volume doubles, so youll have to lower it by 50%.

 

To Convert Mono to Stereo

1. Click Process Channel Converter
2. From the preset pull down menu, choose Stereo to Mono - 50% (no faders)

 

Cleaning Up Sounds

Play KC fix me.wav. Hear all those pops and static? We can get rid of them using super cool sound editing tools. Static can be removed by using the Vinyl Restoration tools.

1. Click Tools Vinyl Restoration
2. Click Preview
3. Adjust the Click Removal and Noise Floor sliders
   Noise Floor adjusts what is interpreted as noise and what isnt. Anything below the noise floor has noise reduction applied to it.

 

Create Fuller Sounds

Your puny sounds have no body. You need to fatten them up!

Normally you want your sounds to be at their loudest volume without going over peak level. Most recordings are too quiet.

If your recording was on a CD in a jukebox, you wouldnt want someone to play it and have the volume go way down, would you?

 

Normalize Your Sounds

Normalize increases the volume of your recording. It finds the loudest sound in your recording and checks to see how far away it is from top level. It then increases the volume for all sounds but makes sure that the peak sound doesnt go over level.

To Normalize

1. Click Process Normalize
2. Click Scan Levels
   Sound Forge will scan your sound
3. Choose a setting from the pull down level (RMS works better)

 

Compression Dynamics

Compression sounds like it squishes your sound, right? Well, it does just the opposite. Compression raises the volume on all of your sounds a to move them closer to zero level. Quite sounds receive more boost than loud sounds. Compression (also called dynamics) can even out fluctuations in talking or singing, and can produce a fuller, richer sound overall.

1. Click Effects-> Dynamics Graphic
2. Choose one of the settings from the pull down menu (the settings with a "*" are reccommended.
   "2:1 starting at 12db" applies less compression than "3:1 starting at 15db"
   (Increases the volume of all sounds to create a fuller, richer sound. Also will even out spikes)

 

Fading In or Out

You can fade sounds in or out. This helps relieve the "pop" noise often heard when you cut and paste a sound.

1. Select the area to fade in / out.
2. Click Process Fade In or Out
   
   

Changing Pitch

Its easy to change the pitch (high or low) of a sound. You can sound like Barry White, or Pipi Longstocking.

1. Click Effects Pitch Shift
2. Check the Preserve Duration box
   If you dont, the sound will shorten when you raise the pitch, like playing a record faster.
3. Change the Semitones
   (there are 100 cents to every semi-tone)
4. Choose a Mode from the mode pull-down. Experiment with different modes to find the best one.

 

Stretch / Compress a Sound

Youll only be able to get good results stretching or compressing between 75-115%.

1. Click: Process Time Compress / Expand
2. Set Final Length
3. Choose a Mode
   Experiment to find the best mode.

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