Amadeus Pro Version 1.0.3 Macintosh

Digitizing and Editing Sound with Amadeus Pro

Table of Contents

• Where to find this software
• Capturing sound from an audio CD
• Recording sound through an internal mic
  
  
• Editing a sound file
  • Selecting sound clips
  • Playing the sound
  • Navigation
  • Simple edits
  • Shortcut Keys
  • Effects
  • Before saving - Normalize
    
    
• Saving & Compressing
  • Stereo Music
  • Mono Music after 1950
  • Mono Music before 1950
  • Batch Processing
    
    
• How to Quit

Advanced Tips for Amadeus Pro

Where to find this software

Amadeus can be found on all Public Lab Macs and can be installed on faculty, staff, and student computers.

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Capturing sound from an audio CD

1. Insert your audio CD into the CD drive.
   
   
2. From the Go Menu choose Applications and then Amadeus Pro.
   
   
3. Then choose File > Open...
   
   A window will pop up. Browse to your CD and select the audio track that you would like to capture. Click Open and wait for the track to be converted.

   

Recording sound through an internal mic

Recording sound through an internal mic can only be done on the white iMac computers at this time. This includes computers installed in faculty and staff offices as well as the public computers found in the Minifocus.

1. From the Apple Menu, choose System Preferences. From the Hardware row, select Sound. Click on the Input Tab, and choose Internal Microphone.
   
   
2. The microphone is the tiny hole on the bottom left hand corner of the monitor. To test if the microphone is working, start speaking into it. You should see the bars for the Input Level start to glow, which indicates that the mic is picking up sound. As you are speaking, the Input Level should hover somewhere around the middle. To change it, move the slider for Input Volume.
   
   
3. Go to System Preferences > Quit System Preferences.
   
   
4. From the Go Menu choose Applications and then Amadeus Pro.
   
   
5. From the Sound menu, choose Characteristics... .Sample Rate should be 44.100 kHz (CD); the Sampling Size should be 16 bits; the number of channels should be set to Stereo. With these settings, one minute will take up 10 MB of disk space.
   
   
6. Click OK.
   
   
7. In order to record, you will need to have a file open to record into. If you do not have a file open, create a new file by going to File > New. To record into an opened file, place the cursor where you would like the recording to begin. This is useful when you are recording a monologue and have missed a line. Instead of recording the entire monologue again, just place your cursor where you missed a line and record that one line.
   
   
8. Click Record, located in the Controls at the top left corner of the window. A recording window will appear.
   
   
   Controls - Record button
   
   
   Recording Window
   
   
9. Amadeus will start recording immediately. The numbers in bold are the elapsed time of the recording. The sliders at the bottom of the recording window marked Level indicate the recording volume and sensitivity, also know as gain adjustment. The default is 0 db.


The two sliders marked Gain can be moved to increase/decrease the gain in the recording. By default, both sliders are locked, which means that the sliders for both tracks are changed simultaneously. To alter the gain of each track seperately, uncheck the box to the right of the sliders marked 'Locked.' Keep in mind that the more you increase the gain, the more you will pick up background noise.

To pause recording, click the green Pause button in the top left corner of the Recording window. You can resume recording by clicking this button again. To stop recording and return to the main window, click the Stop button at the bottom right of the Recording window.

Editing a sound file

Once you are done recording you can begin to edit. If you do not already have a file open, go to File > Open... and browse to the audio file that you would like to edit.

• Selecting sound clips
  
  Click and Drag Method
  
  • You will see three horizontal "channels" in the Amadeus Pro window. The top channel is the mono sound channel or the 'whole sound' channel. The middle channel is the Left Channel and the bottom channel is the Right Channel. You can edit one or both channels of audio.
  • To edit both channels simultaneously, click anywhere in the left or right channel area (defined by a light blue background) and drag across to make a selection. The selected area will be highlighted in yellow. (See below)

  

  • To edit either channel seperately, click the Split Tracks button. (Shown below) You can also find this option by going to Sound > Split Track.

  

  • To extend the selection to the beginning of the file, from the Selection menu, choose Extend to Start. If you want to extend the selection to the end of the file, choose Selection > Extend to End.
  
  
  Manually Inputting Start and End Times

1. To make a selection using manual inputs for start and end time, click once on the Selection window. If you do not see it, go to Window > Selection. A new window will appear:
   
   
   
   
2. Enter the start time in the Start field, press Enter and the end time in the End field, and press Enter. If you do not have an end time, but know that you want your clip to be of a certain length, then fill in the Length field instead.
   
   

• Playing the sound

  Play the sound by clicking Play (shown below) in the Controls. You can also play the selection by pressing the Spacebar.
  
  

  You can also choose to play the sound at a certain point by double-clicking anywhere in the light blue track area.

  Changing Playback Settings

  The default settings for playback is to play the selected or highlighted area. If nothing is selected, then playback begins at the location of the cursor. You can change these settings by going to Amadeus Pro > Preferences and clicking on the General tab.

  

  
  

• Navigation
  

  When working with a long sound, you may wish to see the entire sound. In the Controls, click the Show/Hide Whole Sound button (shown below). You can also do this by going to the View menu and choosing Show Whole Sound.

  To see the sound in more detail, choose View > Zoom In. To display the sound at a lower magnification, choose Zoom Out. There are also keyboard shortcuts for these actions:

  Zoom In: Apple + G
  Zoom Out: Shift + Apple + G

  Viewing the Working Area

  The yellow rectangle indicates the currently selected or 'working' area. In the Whole Sound track above, a smaller yellow rectangle will indicate where in the sound your selection is located.
  
  

  
  Moving the Working Area

  To view a different part of the sound, you can hover the mouse over the smaller rectangle until it becomes a hand, then click and drag the selection to a new location.

  Changing the Size of Working Area

  To change the size of your working area, hold the cursor over the outer edge of the yellow rectangle in the Whole Sound channel. The cursor should change to a double arrow, () then click and drag the cursor to change the size of the selection.
  
  
  

• Simple Edits
  

  In the Edit menu, you will find functions to Cut, Copy and Paste sections of the sound. Just highlight the section you want to edit and apply the function. For example, you may wish to cut out the silence at the beginning or end of a recording.
  

  • Cut - Removes the selected area from the file.
  • Copy - Copies the selection and stores it in the Clipboards submenu as a current scrap of sound.
  • Paste - Overwrites the selected area with the current scrap. If nothing is selected, the scrap is inserted at the location of the cursor.
  • Crop - The opposite of Cut. The selected area is kept, while the rest is discarded.
  • Select All - The entire file is selected.
  • Paste Over - Similar to Paste, except that instead of overwriting the selection, the current scrap is mixed into it. This allows you to mix two sources of audio.
  • Cut to New File - Removes the selected area from the original file and puts it into new file.
  • Copy to New File - Copies the selected area and puts it into a new file. The original file is not modified.
  • Delete - the same as Cut.
  • Delete in All Tracks - Deletes the selection in all the tracks of the current sound file.
  • Paste to New Track - creates a new track and pastes selection there.
  • Special Characters - opens a new window - the "Character Palette" - which allows you to insert symbols and other special characters into the track names.
    
    

• Shortcut Keys
  

  You can use shortcut keys to save time when you are editing. For more information, go to Help > Amadeus Pro Help...

  • space bar - Starts playback at insertion point.
  • tab - Toggles between play/pause. Moves the insertion point to current playhead position.
  • left arrow - Shifts content of window to the left. When in play mode, playback jumps back by 0.5 seconds.
  • right arrow - Shifts content of window to the right. When in play mode, playback jumps forward by 0.5 seconds.
  • up arrow - Speeds up playback by half an octave.
  • down arrow - Slows down playback by half an octave.
  • apple + left arrow - Extends selection to previous marker. When in play mode, jumps to previous marker.
  • apple + right arrow - Extends selection to next marker. When in play mode, jumps to next marker.
  • option + left arrow - Places the insertion point at the left end of the selection.
  • option + right arrow- Places the insertion point at the right end of the selection.
  • page up - Window jumps forward in the sound.
  • page down - Window jumps backward in the sound.
  • apple + click - Places a marker at the clicked point on wavelength.
  • shift + click - Extends the selection to the clicked point.
  • double + click - Starts playing from the clicked point.




• Effects
  

  To fade a portion of the sound in or out, first click and drag to select a region of sound. From the Effects menu, select Fading>Fade In or Fading>Fade Out. To modify the type or amount of fading, go to Fading>Settings... Set the type of fade and time.
  
  You can modify your sound in many other ways by choosing an option from the Effects menu. Go to Help > Amadeus Pro Help... for details on each of these options.

  
  
• Before saving - Normalize
  

  Once edited, you should normalize the sound (to amplify it while minimizing distortion). Go to the Edit menu and choose Select All. Next, go to the Effects menu and choose Normalize.... If you see dB, click on the arrow to choose %. In the Normalize dialog box, make sure it is set to 95% of maximum. For the Reference field, choose Maximal sample value. Click OK.
  
  
  

  If your audio is too loud after normalizing

  This is indicated by red level bars in the navigator window during playback. If this happens, go to Edit > Undo. Then try decreasing the percentage by 10% and normalizing again. For example, if you used 95% then try normalizing at 85% to see if the audio is still being clipped, reaching red levels. If it is still too loud, undo again and decrease the percentage value. Repeat the process until a satisfactory level is achieved.

  If your audio is too soft after normalizing

Go to Edit > Undo. Then go to Edit > Normalize. This time in the Normalize dialog box, set it to 30% of maximum. For the Reference field, choose Maximal RMS power. Click OK. If the audio is still too soft, undo and increase the percentage value. Repeat the process until a satisfactory level is achieved.

Saving & Compressing the sound

Keep an Original Version

You should always work on an uncompressed version of your sound, so it is important to keep a copy of the original sound in case you need to edit the sound again later. To save an uncompressed version, go to File>Save As.... Be sure the File Format is set to AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format). Type in a name and click OK.

Compress Only Once

Frequently, you will want a compressed version of your sound. Only compress files that you are completely done editing. If you intend to use Amadeus Pro to edit a compressed file, the compression that had been formerly used will be lost. Files opened in Amadeus Pro are automatically decompressed. Recompressing and decompressing a file repeatedly will cause it to deteriorate in quality. It is best to compress the file just once.

Compression Settings

Amadeus Pro offers Mp3 compression. Go to File > Save As... From the Format pull down menu, select Mp3. Click on Settings.

Click the appropriate links for specific setting instructions: stereo music , mono music after 1950, mono music before 1950.

• For stereo music

1. The Encoding type should be set to Constant Bitrate (CBR). Set the Rate field to 128 kbps. The Encoding quality should be set to 2 (Recommended), and that Joint Stereo field should be checked. Click OK.
   

   
   
   

2. Type in a name for your file and click Save.
   
   
   
• For mono music after 1950
  
  
  1. In the Sound menu, select Convert Track to Mono.
  2. In the Save As window, select AIFF from the Format menu. Click on Settings.
  3. Uncompressed should be selected in the compression field. Click on Resample so that the adjacent field is highlighted. Select 44100 Hz from the pull-down menu. Click OK.
     
     
     
     
  4. Click Save. Open File -> Save As again. This time select Mp3 from the Format menu. Open the Settings window.
  5. The Encoding type should be set to Constant Bitrate (CBR). Set the Rate field to 32 kbps. Joint Stereo should be checked.

     
     

  6. Type in a name for your file and click Save.
  
  
  
  
• For mono music before 1950
  

1. In the Sound menu, select Convert Track to Mono.
2. In the Save As window, select AIFF from the Format menu. Click on Settings.
3. Uncompressed should be selected in the compression field. Click on Resample so that the adjacent field is highlighted. Select 22050 Hz from the pull-down menu. Click OK.

   

4. Click Save. Open File -> Save As again. This time select Mp3 from the Format menu . Open the Settings window.
5. The Encoding type should be set to Constant Bitrate (CBR). Set the Rate field to 24 kbps. Joint Stereo should be checked.



6. Type in a name for your file and click Save.

• Batch Processing and Qualcomm/QDesign Music

Batch Processing

If you need to convert a batch of many AIFF files to MP3, use iTunes. (NEW BATCH PROCESS INST.)

1. Go to File > New Batch Processor...

   

2. In the window that appears, select either m4a or mp4 in the Resulting Format pull-down menu. Click the Settings button, a new window will appear where you can set the Bit Rate as you normally would when saving a file. (see Saving and Compressing the Sound for details) Destination should be set to Original Location, and the Delete Original box should be Unchecked.
3. Click in the box at the bottom of the window. A dialogue box will appear. Select all of the files you want to compress and click Open. The Batch Processor will begin immediately.



4. Once the process has finished, open your sound files folder and you will see that new files have been created. The compressed files will have retained the names of the uncompressed versions, and will have either a .m4a or .mp4 extension added.

You can also convert many files at once in iTunes. Go to Macintosh HD > Applications and double click to open iTunes. drag the sound files you want to convert into the iTunes window. Select all of the files (Shift+Click) and go to Advanced > Convert Selection to AAC. As each file is converted, you will see a new file appear in the playlist. iTunes will automatically start playing the new file.

Sound files converted in iTunes will automatically be added to the iTunes music library. To view the newly converted sound file, hold down the Control key and click on the file in the iTunes window. In the pop-up menu, select Show in Finder. A new Finder window will appear with your sound file already selected. Drag this file to the Desktop so it is easier to find.

Qualcomm and QDesign Music Compression

Amadeus Pro also offers Qualcomm voice compression for sound tracks containing only native language voice, as well as QDesign Music for most other types of sound. To compress your sound file with Qualcomm or QDesign Music:

1. Go to File > Save As...
2. Select AIFF from the Format pull-down menu. Click Settings.
3. Select either Qualcomm or QDesign Music from the Compression menu. Click OK.
4. Click Save.

Go to the Amadeus Pro menu and choose Quit Amadeus Pro.