Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Basic audio editors are like vacuum cleaner dry cleaner : you need them , but you seldom enjoy using them . Soundtrack Pro 1.0.1 is a rare exception : it take a shit day - to - 24-hour interval audio editing , cleanup , and level-headed - invention chores fast and pleasurable . Despite its beginner - friendly user interface , this programme load down some astonishing power , and its mechanisation creature should attract video recording and sound pros alike . Soundtrack Pro is n’t just an upgrade to Soundtrack (; December 2003 ) — it ’s an entirely new software with panoptic capabilities .
Loops and Sound Effects
Apple ’s GarageBand 2 (; April 2005 ) still overshadows Soundtrack Pro for euphony editing ; Soundtrack lacks build - in instruments and the ability to cut scores . If you ’re just looking to build up a temporary music caterpillar tread by dragging and dropping loops , though , Soundtrack Pro is perfect . It has a huge program library of high - quality iteration . With the Master Tempo Envelope , you could dynamically speed up or slow down down a music cart track , so you could do basic “ spotting”—mapping euphony to specific points in your video .
Soundtrack Pro ’s include phone program library gets a new term of a contract on animation with the addition of well-grounded effect developed bySound Ideas . The sort and tone of the recordings is easily on a par with sound - effects library that be as much as or more than Soundtrack Pro itself . For some hoi polloi , this subroutine library alone will make the software worth investing in . The integrated Search Tab , nearly indistinguishable to the Loop internet browser in GarageBand and Logic , makes sound effect as easy to find as music loops : prize Sound Effects from the pop - up menu at the top of the Search Tab , and then exercise down by category . I expect to get a line lots of bad foley body of work by people abusing Soundtrack Pro ’s sound program library ; however , in the deal of pros , the library is sound - purpose promised land . Instead of just using it as is , a healthy gist of roaring rumbling can become the basis of a new drum patch , or hawk down as a low rumble while a video title appears .
Audio Editing and Effects
Soundtrack Pro really glitter as an audio editor in chief . It function as both a unmarried - waveform editor , for alright - tuning adjustments to stereo audio files , and as a multitrack editor , for mixing files or create surround - sound task . But Soundtrack Pro ca n’t do everything ; it lacks the virtual official document and MIDI capabilities found in music programme such as GarageBand and Logic , and there ’s no simultaneous multitrack recording , as there is in GarageBand and Final Cut Pro 5 . However , it pack the vast majority of Logic Pro ’s core office into an easy - to - use port that let you get your body of work done faster .
Soundtrack Pro ’s elegant , tabbed interface will be familiar if you use other Final Cut Studio applications , peculiarly Motion 2 . Even if you ’re unexampled to Final Cut Studio , the user interface is a breather of refreshful aura . Whereas many waveform - redaction political program for the Mac and Windows alike admit jumble aggregation of disorganized fare and archaic icons , you may find almost everything in Soundtrack Pro at a coup d’oeil .
Like Apple ’s video programs , Soundtrack Pro emphasizes flexible , real - meter employment . Every change you make to a waveform or multitrack project is nondestructive , so you could easily change your brain and make alteration later without having to rely on the Undo command . Whether you ’re fading sound in and out , correcting problems with interference simplification , or adding effects , Soundtrack Pro keeps track of what you ’re doing via the Actions list . ( Effects ordinarily function in real time , but the Process : Bounce Real - fourth dimension To Action command renders the effect to a nondestructive action . ) Once an edit is an action , you may enable or disable it , change the order of actions , or even A / B ( liken the fresh sound with the unaltered pilot ) each modification . For day - to - day audio study , this way of lick saves you clock time and improves the accuracy of your edits . For experimenting with audio , there ’s nothing else like the Actions list .
Quick access to pecker for solving problems and designing creative sounds is vital ; regrettably , that kind of versatility used to usually need a programme like Logic Pro or Digidesign ’s Pro Tools — two great tools for some tasks but overkill for fixing a few audio trouble in a video track . Soundtrack Pro solves this problem by provide financial backing for Audio Unit effects and by including nearly all the burden from Logic Pro . You ’ll rule not only equalizer , compressor , filter , and so on , but also off - the - paries effects like Logic Pro 7 ’s Ringshifter ( a specialised effect for ring transition and pitch - shifting ) and Tape Delay . Even the top - shelf Space Designer convolution reverb is included . As with any pro audio software package , if you ’re not an audio expert , some of the terms and techniques required to use these effects may make you feel as though you ’ve been sink into the midsection of an advance sound - engineering stratum . Fortunately , Apple has exhaustively documented audio fundamentals in a very thorough and decipherable manual of arms .
Sound Cleanup
While specialized audio result may not be for everyone , the motivation to ready recordings plagued with problem is universal , especially when working with sound for television . Soundtrack Pro include a telephone number of lifesavers for this labor . Out of the corner , it has intimately every tool you ’ll need for doctor click and pop , hum from power lines , clipped signals , and other problems . The Analysis pane of glass mechanically checks single file for these problems and then let you limit them on an individual basis or en masse ; it also has a shaft for momently zoom along the waveform horizon on the offending section . sampling - accurate editing ( editing at the level of private samples ) have in mind that you’re able to fix even the midget trouble .
Soundtrack Pro ’s best levelheaded - cleanup tool is the Reduce Noise tool : it can easy and as if by magic reduce hiss , with control that help conserve the strait you want to keep . It work best if you first name the noise , by selecting hiss or another interference in the waveform , and then utilize the Process : Set Noise Print command . This tool take into account me to salvage what I thought might be an unusable MiniDisc recording for a client ; while third - political party options can reduce noise for you , it ’s enceinte to have the Reduce Noise feature film included and integrated . ( By direct contrast , another sound - cleanup option in Soundtrack Pro , Denoiser , is basically useless unless you want an underwater - like result ; stick with the Reduce Noise option . )
Recording and mixing in Soundtrack Pro are similarly easy and elegant . The desegregate envelopes will be intimate to users of other Apple coating . Using them , you sum up envelope for individual effect parameters by marking checkboxes next to the name of the argument , so you could quickly add an gasbag for reverb amount , for example . This feature is more canonic than mechanisation in full - feather multitrack programs such as Logic Pro . envelope can be abbreviate , copy , and pasted together with audio clips using Timeslices ( which let you choose the capacity of a track , or of multiple tracks for a section of metre ) , but you ca n’t simply drag audio snip in the Timeline and move associated envelope .
If you ’re adding narration or transcription dialogue , you ’ll peculiarly appreciate the ability to curl and record , as well as quality from multiple return . Soundtrack Pro ’s lack of coincidental multitrack audio recording is a little dissatisfactory , especially since Apple ’s entry - level GarageBand 2 support it . But most video recording customers likely wo n’t miss it .
Automation and Final Cut Integration
Soundtrack Pro ’s mechanization feature can shave minute off of a task - intensive undertaking , but you ’ll still need AppleScript chop for more - wide mechanisation . Tiger ’s Automator is terrific if you ’re scripting - phobic ; I well created a workflow that in a flash break down audio files in a folder , repaired them , and commute their sample rates and file formats . It submit just seconds to sweep the actions into place , and using them decimate a lot of repetitive work . Soundtrack Pro ’s Automator action are anaemic , though , compared with the number of parameters you may insure via AppleScript . If you have n’t learn AppleScript , seeing Automator working with Soundtrack Pro may win over you to .
Soundtrack Pro is also tightly integrated with the rest of the Final Cut Studio suite . From DVD Studio Pro , Motion , and Final Cut Pro , you may mail any audio snip to Soundtrack Pro and edit it there . There are three levels of desegregation : destructive edits to individual audio time , nondestructive edits to single audio clip , and nondestructive multitrack edits .
Nondestructive edits salve all your changes as a Soundtrack Pro projection , so you’re able to return to your audio whenever you require to make further registration . For individual clips , you’re able to make nondestructive edits to clip sent to Soundtrack Pro from Motion and Final Cut Pro . ( From Motion , blue-ribbon Edit : air Audio to Soundtrack ; from Final Cut Pro , restraint - get through a act of sound recording and choose Send To : Soundtrack Pro Audio File Project . ) As with destructive edits , your variety are automatically updated in the other app program . you may keep switching back and forth between Motion , Final Cut Pro , and Soundtrack Pro without ever import or export , making this feature habit-forming for people who pick off their sound recording obessively .
For more sophisticated multitrack redaction , Final Cut Pro can also export to a multitrack project . This does require that you reimport the save Soundtrack Pro project back into Final Cut Pro once you ’re done , though that make sense consecrate that this lineament is think for all-embracing redaction . By optionally embed TV and audio subject matter in both Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro , you could utilize this feature article to send an audio labor between the somebody doing the TV redaction and the person doing the sound editing , even if they ’re in different location .
All these lineament work seamlessly in practice , though you ’ll want to check that you ’re execute the later variant of the Final Cut Studio software ; a few bugs in the initial release have been corrected .
The number of different options and svelte differences between each of the Final Cut Studio app program could easily confuse drug user , however . Apple could make their integration much friendlier by to the full standardizing pick and carte du jour labels across all the applications and better explain the workflow difference in the documentation .
Macworld’s Buying Advice
Soundtrack Pro strike a good counterweight between the pauperism of musicians , picture editors , audio editor , and multimedia pros . There ’s no easier or nimble direction to perform day - to - day audio - edit chore , rectify sound problems , design sound , match sound recording to telecasting , or automate sound - asset management , on either a Mac or a PC . It makes an ideal accompaniment both to Final Cut Studio and to digital audio workstation tools such as Apple ’s Logic Pro and Digidesign ’s Pro Tools . While the issue of integrating option is ab initio a bit confusing , Soundtrack Pro ’s deep integration with other Final Cut Studio applications makes it a must - have for television production . Its aerodynamic sound recording features will make it suitable for euphony yield , as well , especially in compounding with a full - featured workstation . Any one of its key feature — the sound - effects depository library , the extensive collection of effects and audio - repair and -editing tools , or looped video scoring — would justify the political program ’s price , but Soundtrack Pro gives you all of them in one package .
[ Peter Kirnis a composer , TV creative person , and technology teacher and consultant base in New York . He ’s the author of the forthcoming bookReal World Digital Audio(Peachpit Press , 2005 ) . ]
