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AUDIO EDITOR: CHAPTER TWO
365
Calibrating files recorded from different sources
Not all recording devices have the same calibration or setup. It varies
sometimes in frequency modulation and amplitude. In such cases, you may
find that files recorded from these different sources end up with different
baselines (point 0 on the amplitude scale). Most of the time, this doesn't
adversely affect the overall quality of your tracks as the differences are
minute. However, you may encounter some files whose baselines vary
dramatically and the result of mixing them together produces unacceptable
distortion and noise.
Audio Editor allows you to calibrate such files so that they all have
matching baselines. Simply click Effect: DC Offset. In the DC Offset
dialog box, you can drag the Offset slider to move the waveform above
or below the baseline. Moving to the right shifts the baseline up, while
moving to the left pulls it down. (This does not affect the amplitude of the
file, only its waveform representation.) In this way, you can calibrate any
mismatched files to have roughly the same baseline before you decide to
mix them into the same audio file.
Waveform with an incorrect baseline
Mixing tracks
Mixing tracks refers to taking two audio files and combining them into
one. Mixing essentially blends the data from the audio files so that their
respective sounds overlap and play through one another. When mixing,
you can only mix waveforms with the same properties and need to have
the two waveforms already open in the Audio Editor workspace. (To mix
files with different properties, first convert them or cut one and click Edit:
Paste - Mix to paste it into the other.)
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