Automating Envelopes and Ducking in Wavelab Pro

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Automating Envelopes and Ducking in Wavelab Pro

Automating Pan Envelopes

You can automate pan envelopes individually via clip envelopes.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, select the clip for which you want to apply pan automation.
2. In the Automation/Envelope pane of the Inspector window, click Add Automation Envelope.
3. In the pop-up menu, select Pan.
4. Optional: By default, the pan envelope is applied after the effects. If you want to apply the pan envelope before the effects, click Pan Envelope After or Before Effects.
5. Optional: Click Pan Law and select the pan law that you want to use. The following options are available:
• Channel Damp (0 dB | -∞)
• Constant Power (+3 dB | -∞)
• Channel Boost (+4,5 dB | -∞)
• Channel Boost (+6 dB | -∞)
1. Optional: To have a better overview of the envelope you are editing, you can hide the envelopes of other parameters. To hide envelopes, click Show/Hide Automation Envelope in the Automation/Envelope pane.
1. In the clip, edit the pan envelope.
   You can also select an envelope point and edit its value in the Value and Position fields at the bottom of the Automation/Envelope pane in the Inspector window.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/automating_pan_envelopes_t.html>

Automating Volume/Fades Envelopes

You can automate volume/fades envelopes individually via clip envelopes.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, select the clip for which you want to apply volume/fades automation.
2. In the Automation/Envelope pane of the Inspector window, select Volume/Fades.
3. Optional: By default, the volume/fades envelope is applied after the effects. If you want to apply the volume/fades envelope before the effects, click Level/Fade Envelope After or Before Effects.
4. Optional: To have a better overview of the envelope you are editing, you can hide the envelopes of other parameters. To hide envelopes, click Show/Hide Automation Envelope in the Automation/Envelope pane.
1. In the clip, edit the volume/fades envelope.
   You can also select an envelope point and edit its value in the Value and Position fields at the bottom of the Automation/Envelope pane in the Inspector window.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/automating_volume_fades_envelopes_t.html>

Changing Overall Level Envelopes of Clips

The default envelope curve contains no level envelope points, but you can use it to change the overall level for a clip.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, place the mouse cursor on the envelope curve.
   The mouse cursor takes the shape of a circle with two arrows that point up and down.
2. Click and drag the curve up or down to change the clip envelope level.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/clips_volume_envelope_overall_changing_t.html>

Converting Envelopes to Mono or Stereo

It is possible to display two level envelope curves for stereo clips, allowing you to control the level separately for the left and right channels.

Note

Only level envelopes can be converted to stereo.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, select a clip.
1. Select the Envelope tab.
2. In the Shape section, click Convert.
1. Select Convert to Stereo or Convert to Mono.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/audio_montage_envelopes_mono_stereo_converting_t.html>

Pan Laws

The power of the sum of the channels drops by about 3 dB if a signal is panned hard left or right, compared to the same signal being panned center. This can be compensated with pan laws.

Experiment with the laws to hear which fits best. The pan laws can be set for tracks, clips, and the montage output.

• To set the pan laws for clips, use the Pan Law pop-up menu in the Envelope tab in the Montage window, or use the Pan Law pop-up menu and knob in the Inspector window.
• To set the pan laws for tracks and the montage output, use the Pan Law pop-up menu and knob in the Inspector window.

The following pan laws are available:

Channel Damp (0 dB/Mute)

This law does not compensate for power loss. If a signal is panned hard left or right, the power of the sum of the channels drops by 3 dB.

Constant Power (+3 dB/Mute)

This is the default law. Regardless of the pan position, the power of the sum of the channels remains constant.

Channel Boost (+4.5 dB/Mute)

If this law is selected and a signal is panned hard left or right, the power of the sum of the channels is higher than with a signal-panned center.

Channel Boost (+6 dB/Mute)

If this law is selected and a signal is panned hard left or right, the power of the sum of the channels is higher than with a signal-panned center. This is the same as the previous option, but with even greater power boost.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/clips_envelopes_pan_laws_c.html>

Clip Ducking

Ducking happens when the level or send effect of one clip is modified through the presence of another signal on another track or channel. You can create ducking effects between clips on two adjacent tracks.

If you use the Ducking option, the presence of another clip on an adjacent track causes ducking.

A typical application for ducking would be a music track with a commentary voice-over on another track. Whenever the commentary voice starts, the level of the music track is lowered by a specific level through automatically created level envelope curves.

You can also create a ducking effect for effect envelopes that are routed to a clip. Each clip plug-in has its independent envelope. When the envelope is all the way down, only the wet signal is applied. When the envelope is all the way up, the processed/wet signal is at its maximum.

Note

• The method of ducking clips is independent from clip modulation, though they share some concepts. Ducking clips is more flexible but needs more manual adjustments.
• The clips that cause ducking must be positioned completely inside the time range of the clip to which ducking is applied.
• If the clips that cause ducking contain silent passages, ducking does not function properly. These clips must be edited so that each phrase is a separate clip without any silence.
• When Ducking is performed it is applied to one clip at a time. For example, if the music consists of several clips that have been spliced together, only one of the clips is ducked by the voice-over. To solve this issue, you can to repeat the function for each clip or use the Render function in the Master Section to create a specific (single) file from the separate clips and re-import this as a new clip in the audio montage.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/clips_ducking_c.html>

Creating Voice-Over Ducking Effects for Clips

In the following example, the track to which ducking is applied contains music and an adjacent track that causes ducking contains a voice-over.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, place the clips that contain the music and the voice-over on separate adjacent tracks.
   The voice-over clips must be located inside the time range of the music clip.
2. Select the clip containing the music.
3. Select the Envelope tab.
4. In the Selector section, open the Envelope Type pop-up menu, and select Volume/Fades.
5. In the Level section, click Ducking.
1. In the Ducking Settings dialog, make your settings.
   Depending on whether the voice-over track is above or below the music track, you must select Previous Track or Next Track.
1. Click OK.

Result

The level of the music is automatically lowered by the voice-over clips.

After Completing This Task

Play back the audio to check the result. You can edit the envelope points to fine-tune the ducking effect.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/clips_ducking_effect_creating_t.html>

Ducking Settings Dialog for Ducking Clips

In the Ducking Settings dialog, you can create ducking effects for clips.

• To open the Ducking Settings dialog, select the Envelope tab in the Audio Montage window, and click Ducking in the Level section.

Fall Region

Balance Clip Fade In ignores any duration or gap settings in the Fall Region section. Instead, the ducking envelope lowers the volume from the fade in end position of the voice-over clip.

Duration allows you to set the time it takes for the level to fall when ducking starts.

Gap before Clip allows you to set the time between the end of the fall region and the start of the voice clip.

Rise Region

Balance Clip Fade Out ignores any duration or gap settings in the Rise Region section. Instead, the ducking envelope raises the volume from the fade out start position of the voice-over clip.

Duration allows you to set the time it takes for the level to rise to the original level after ducking ends.

Gap before Clip allows you to set the time between the end of the voice clip and the start of the Rise region.

Modulator Clips

Previous Track and Next Track define whether the modulator track should be the one before (Previous Track) or after (Next Track) the track that is to be ducked.

If Only Selected Clips is activated, only the selected clips on the modulator track cause ducking.

Damp Factor

Sets the amount of ducking, that is, the degree of attenuation that is applied to the affected clip.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/audio_montage_ducking_settings_dialog_r.html>

Track Ducking

Ducking allows you to control the level of an audio track with another audio track.

Usually, this is used to attenuate the level of an audio track that contains music or ambience sound whenever a signal is present on an accompanying voice track. The track containing the music is called the carrier track and the track containing the voice recording is called the modulator track.

You can select multiple voice tracks as modulator tracks for a carrier track. You can also apply ducking to modulator tracks, for example, to give one voice track priority over another.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/ducking_tracks_c.html>

Applying Ducking for Tracks

Prerequisite

You have two audio tracks and you want to attenuate the level of one of the tracks every time a signal is present on the other track.

Procedure

1. In the montage window, select the carrier track, that is, the track containing the music.
1. Right-click the track control area of the carrier track and click Show Ducking Controls.
1. In the track control area of the carrier track, activate Ducker On/Off.
2. Click Source to open the Modulator Tracks menu and select one or multiple modulator tracks, that is, the tracks containing the voice recording.
3. Play back the audio montage.
   The volume of the music track is lowered every time the voice track contains a signal.
4. Optional: Click Ducker Settings to open the Ducker plug-in and change the ducking settings to fine-tune the ducking effect.
1. Optional: If you are using multiple modulator tracks, you can also apply ducking to modulator tracks.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/ducking_tracks_applying_t.html>

Ducker Settings for Track Ducking

The Ducker settings allow you to make settings for the ducking effect for tracks.

• To open the Ducker settings, activate Ducker On/Off in the track control area and click Ducker Settings.

Bypass Effect

If this option is activated, the Ducker is bypassed during playback.

Presets

Allows you to save and load ducking presets.

Music Attenuation

Allows you to specify the level reduction that is applied to the music track (carrier).

Voice Threshold

Allows you to set the level threshold of the voice track (modulator) that triggers ducking. If the level of the voice track exceeds the threshold, the level of the music track (carrier) is lowered.

Attenuation Hold Time

When the level of the voice track falls below the set voice threshold, the Attenuation Hold Time determines how long the level of the carrier track stays reduced before it starts rising to its original level again.

Music Fade-Out

Determines the time it takes for the music level to change from 0 dB to the set Music Attenuation level.

Fade-In Shape/Fade-Out Shape

Allows you to select the shape of the fade-out/fade-in curve. The following curve shapes are available:

• Linear changes the level linearly.
• Sinus (*) changes the level according to a sine curve. When used in a crossfade, the loudness (RMS) remains constant during the transition.
• Square-Root (*) changes the level according to a square-root curve. When used in a crossfade, the loudness (RMS) remains constant during the transition.
• Sinusoid changes the level according to a sine curve.
• Logarithmic changes the level according to a logarithmic curve.
• Exponential changes the level according to an exponential curve.
• Exponential+ changes the level according to a more pronounced exponential curve.

Music Fade-In

Determines the time after which the level rises to the original level when the level of the voice track (modulator) falls below the set Voice Threshold and after the specified Attenuation Hold Time.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/wavelab_pro/v11/en/wavelab/topics/audio_montage/ducker_settings_r.html>