Getting Started
Adobe Audition is a professional audio application that combines advanced digital audio editing and multitrack recording in the same program. This unique approach integrates the two elements so that, for example, audio used in a multitrack project can be edited with great detail in the digital audio editor, then transferred back to the multitrack session. Mixdowns (mono, stereo, or surround) exported from the multitrack session are available automatically within the digital audio editor, where a variety of mastering tools are available to polish and “sweeten” the mix. The final mix can then be burned to a recordable CD, which is created according to the standard Red Book specification, or converted into “web-friendly,” data-compressed formats like MP3 and FLAC. Furthermore, the Multitrack Editor has a video window that enables recording soundtracks and narration in Audition while previewing video.
Audition is cross-platform and runs equally well with Macintosh or Windows computers. Thanks to combining two programs within a single, integrated application, Audition has multiple uses—restoring audio, multitrack recording for musicians, mastering, sound design, broadcast, video game sound, narration and voiceovers, file format conversion, small-scale CD production, and even forensics. Fortunately, all of this is available from a clean, easy-to-use, straightforward interface whose workflow has benefited from over a decade of continuous development and refinement.
The latest version, Audition CS6, deepens the level of integration with Premiere Pro and After Effects for easy exchange of files and even complete sequences. This greatly simplifies the process of creating a soundtrack that reflects changes in the video due to editing. There are also significant editing enhancements, such as envelope keyframe editing, clip grouping, multiple clipboards, real-time clip stretching, and more. Other new features include Automatic Speech Alignment to greatly simplify ADR, a media browser for quickly locating and previewing files, control surface support for multiple protocols, pitch correction, side-chaining, improved batch processing, and the ability to import and export more file formats than ever before. These are just the highlights; long-time Audition users will appreciate the many little extras that enhance workflow and audio quality, whereas those new to Audition will welcome its depth and flexibility.
About Classroom in a Book
Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book is part of the official training series for Adobe graphics, audio, and publishing software developed by experts in association with Adobe Systems. The lessons are designed to let you learn at your own pace. If you’re new to Adobe Audition, you’ll learn the fundamental concepts and features needed to start mastering the program. And, if you’ve been using Adobe Audition for a while, you’ll find that Classroom in a Book teaches basic to intermediate features, including tips and techniques for using the latest version of the application for a wide variety of projects.
Although each lesson concentrates on providing step-by-step instructions to reach specific goals, there’s room for exploration and experimentation. You can follow the book from start to finish, or do only the lessons that match your interests and needs. Each lesson has an introduction that explains what you can expect to learn from a chapter, and concludes with a review section summarizing what you’ve covered.
What’s in this book
This edition covers many new features in Adobe Audition CS6, and how to apply them optimally in real-world situations. It addresses audio and music professionals who depend on Audition’s tools to accomplish a variety of tasks, as well as videographers who want to become more involved in the process of creating, editing, and sweetening audio intended for video productions.
The book is organized in three separate parts. The introduction starts with how to get audio in and out of Audition on both Mac and Windows platforms, then progresses to an overview of the Audition Workspace—a collection of modules, each dedicated to specific tasks, that you can open, close, and rearrange, depending on the nature of the project, to optimize workflow and efficiency. The second part concentrates on digital audio editing in the Waveform Editor, and covers such topics as editing, signal processing and effects, audio restoration, mastering, and sound design. To segue into the final third, it also covers recording, and integration with the Multitrack Editor.
The final section covers the Multitrack Editor in detail, including editing, automation, creating music with sound libraries, in-depth coverage of mixing, and creating soundtracks for video. Throughout the book, examples using digital audio clips created specifically for this book give practical, hands-on experience that brings to life the theory presented in these pages. Even non-musicians will learn how to create music using sound libraries and loops in conjunction with Audition’s extensive toolset for sound creation and editing. You’ll even learn how to do rough testing of your room acoustics prior to mixing, using tools within Audition.
As you progress through the lessons, you’ll also discover many time-saving features Audition offers such as file conversion, automation, Multitrack and Waveform Editor integration, clip automation, time-stretching, and more. All of these can help you meet deadlines more easily than ever before—and that alone is a good reason to become familiar with Audition’s workflow, capabilities, and user interface.
Prerequisites
Before you begin to use Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book, you should have a working knowledge of your computer and its operating system. Make sure that you know how to use the mouse and standard menus and commands, and also how to open, save, and close files. If you need to review these techniques, see the documentation included with your Microsoft Windows or Macintosh system. It’s also highly recommended that you read over the introduction to the Audition manual that covers digital audio basics.
You’ll also need the ability to get audio in and out of your computer. Virtually all computers include on-board audio capabilities (audio input for recording, and internal speakers or a headphone jack for monitoring), but be aware that these use consumer-grade components and while adequate, will not showcase what Audition can do to the fullest extent. Professional and “prosumer” audio interfaces are available at very reasonable costs, and are recommended not just for doing the lessons in this book, but also for any future audio work involving computers.
Installing Adobe Audition
Before you begin using Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book, make sure that your computer is set up correctly and that it meets the necessary system requirements for software and hardware. You’ll need a copy of Adobe Audition CS6, of course, but it’s not included with this book. If you haven’t purchased a copy, you can download a 30-day trial version from www.adobe.com/downloads. For system requirements and complete instructions on installing the software, see the Adobe Audition CS6 Read Me file on the application DVD or on the Web at www.adobe.com/products/audition.html.
Note that Audition is a very efficient program, and one of its attributes is that it will run reasonably well even on older computers. However, as with most audio and video programs, having sufficient RAM is essential for a smooth computing experience. Although Audition will run with 1GB of RAM, for multitrack recording 2GB is better, and 4GB is preferable; this is also the maximum amount of RAM usable with 32-bit versions of Windows. Current versions of Mac OS X and 64-bit Windows 7 have no practical limitation on how much RAM they can address, so 8GB of RAM or more is highly recommended.
Make sure that your serial number is accessible before installing the application. You need to install Audition from its application DVD, or the online trial version you downloaded, onto your hard disk; you cannot run the program from the DVD. Follow the onscreen instructions for a successful installation.
Starting Adobe Audition
You start Audition just as you do most software applications.
To start Adobe Audition in Windows XP or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit):
Choose Start > All Programs > Adobe Audition CS6.
To start Adobe Audition in Mac OS X:
Open the Applications/Adobe Audition CS6 folder, and then double-click the Adobe Audition CS6 application icon.
Copying the Classroom in a Book files
The Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book CD-ROM includes folders containing all the electronic files for the lessons in the book. Each lesson has its own folder; you must copy the folders to your hard disk to complete the lessons. To save room on your disk, you can install only the folder necessary for each lesson as you need it, and remove it when you’re done.
To install the lesson files, do the following:
1. Insert the Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Browse the contents and locate the Lessons folder.
3. Do one of the following:
• To copy all the lesson files, drag the Lessons folder from the CD onto your hard disk.
• To copy only individual lesson files, first create a new folder on your hard disk and name it Lessons. Then, open the Lessons folder on the CD and drag the lesson folder or folders that you want to copy from the CD into the Lessons folder on your hard disk.
Additional resources
Adobe Audition CS6 Classroom in a Book is not meant to replace documentation that comes with the program or to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Only the commands and options used in the lessons are explained in this book. For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, please refer to these resources:
• Adobe Community Help: Community Help brings together active Adobe product users, Adobe product team members, authors, and experts to give you the most useful, relevant, and up-to-date information about Adobe products.
• To access Community Help: To invoke Help, press F1 or choose Help > Audition Help.
• Adobe content is updated based on community feedback and contributions. You can add comments to content or forums—including links to web content, publish your own content using Community Publishing, or contribute Cookbook Recipes. Find out how to contribute at www.adobe.com/community/publishing/download.html
• See community.adobe.com/help/profile/faq.html for answers to frequently asked questions about Community Help.
• Adobe Audition Help and Support: www.adobe.com/support/audition is where you can find and browse Help and Support content on adobe.com. Adobe Audition Help and Adobe Audition Support Center are accessible from Audition’s Help menu.
• Adobe Forums: forums.adobe.com lets you tap into peer-to-peer discussions, questions, and answers on Adobe products. The Audition forum is accessible from Audition’s Help menu.
• Adobe TV: tv.adobe.com is an online video resource for expert instruction and inspiration about Adobe products, including a How To channel to get you started with your product.
• Adobe Design Center: www.adobe.com/designcenter offers thoughtful articles on design and design issues, a gallery showcasing the work of top-notch designers, tutorials, and more.
• Adobe Developer Connection: www.adobe.com/devnet/audition.html is your source for technical articles, code samples, and how-to videos that cover Adobe Audition, as well as the Audition SDK.
• Resources for educators: www.adobe.com/education offers a treasure trove of information for instructors who teach classes on Adobe software. Find solutions for education at all levels, including free curricula that use an integrated approach to teaching Adobe software and can be used to prepare for the Adobe Certified Associate exams.
Also check out these useful links:
• Adobe Marketplace & Exchange: www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/ is a central resource for finding tools, services, extensions, code samples, and more to supplement and extend your Adobe products.
• Adobe Audition CS6 product home page: www.adobe.com/products/audition
• Adobe Labs: labs.adobe.com gives you access to early builds of cutting-edge technology, as well as forums where you can interact with both the Adobe development teams building that technology and other like-minded members of the community.
• Free audio content: Your purchase of Audition CS6 includes free libraries containing thousands of royalty-free loops, sound effects, music beds, and more. You can access them by choosing Help > Download Sound Effects and More, and then following the onscreen directions to download the content.
Also check out this useful site:
• Inside Sound (blogs.adobe.com/insidesound/): The Adobe Audio blog
Audition and social media
For the latest news and Audition-related events, follow Adobe Audition on Twitter: twitter.com/#!/Audition. The Twitter feed is also accessible from Audition’s Help menu.
You can also find Adobe Audition on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AdobeAudition. This Facebook page is also accessible from Audition’s Help menu.
Checking for updates
Adobe periodically provides updates to software. You can easily obtain these updates through Adobe Updater, as long as you have an active Internet connection and are a registered user.
1. In Audition, choose Help > Updates. Adobe Updater automatically checks for updates available for your Adobe software.
2. In the Adobe Updater dialog box, select the updates you want to install, then click Download and Install Updates to install them.
Adobe certification
The Adobe training and certification programs are designed to help Adobe customers improve and promote their product-proficiency skills. There are four levels of certification:
• Adobe Certified Associate (ACA)
• Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
• Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI)
• Adobe Authorized Training Center (AATC)
The Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) credential certifies that individuals have the entry-level skills to plan, design, build, and maintain effective communications using different forms of digital media.
The Adobe Certified Expert program is a way for expert users to upgrade their credentials. You can use Adobe certification as a catalyst for getting a raise, finding a job, or promoting your expertise.
If you are an ACE-level instructor, the Adobe Certified Instructor program takes your skills to the next level and gives you access to a wide range of Adobe resources.
Adobe Authorized Training Centers offer instructor-led courses and training on Adobe products, employing only Adobe Certified Instructors. A directory of AATCs is available at http://partners.adobe.com.
For information on the Adobe Certified programs, visit www.adobe.com/support/certification/main.html.