Key features of Adobe Audition. How to make a backing track from a song in Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is one of the most popular and simplest programs for working with sound. Having a fairly wide functionality, this program is used to record and process sound, create tracks and get high-quality audio in general.

If you wanted to record something at home, having a simple microphone and an inexpensive guitar, for example, then you will definitely encounter the problem of background noise and not very high-quality sound of the recording as a whole. In fact, improving the quality of home recording is not very difficult, and this improvement process will be discussed in this article.

For recording, we need Adobe Audition, with the help of which we will improve the sound of our recording. So, having opened the program, go to the Multitrack tab. In the plate that appears after the transition, enter the session name and various settings (if you do not know what to do with the settings, leave everything as it is) and click OK.

After that, you will see the tracks on which the sound will be recorded. Press R to select a track, or press the red button below to start recording. It is important to leave 2 seconds of silence, what this is for - you will find out a little later.

This is where the two seconds of silence that we left at the beginning comes in handy. Select them and right-click. You will see a list where you will need to select Capture Noise Print. Then go to the Effects tab> Noise Reduction / Restoration> Noise Reduction Process. Having done this, a window will appear in front of you in which you can remove all unnecessary noise.

If you want to work on noise in all recordings, click Select Entire File. Then you need to adjust the effectiveness of the noise reduction, for which you play with the sliders. Do not turn the level up 100%, because part of the recording will be lost and the sound will become distorted. Once you've configured your settings, hit Apply and be happy with the result.

Now we need to normalize the recording. To do this, go to Effects> Amplitude and Compression> Normalize Process. Place the checkboxes as shown in the image below.

Now that we have a clean recording, we need to tweak the EQ. To do this, go to Effects> Filter and EQ> Parametric Eqalizer. Perfect harmony can be achieved only by manual tuning, but if you are not versed in adjusting the equalizer, you can use the ready-made presets.

If you want to add some effects, you can play around with the different settings in the Effects section. We recommend adding some reverb by going to Effects> Reverb. The settings for each recording are unique, so rely on your hearing and taste for this step. You can use the ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light plugin to tweak the reverb if you're not happy with the built-in Adobe Audition features.

In the beginning there was Microsoft. How could it be otherwise: we say Windows - we mean Microsoft, we say Microsoft - we mean Windows. But in our case, everything was even more interesting. Two former Microsoft employees, Robert Ellison and David Johnston, founded Syntrillium Software at the end of the last century and created Cool Edit. This historical antiquity could work in two modes: a usual sample editor - wave files, and a multichannel one, for mixing audio fragments placed on tracks. At the end of 1990, instead of one Cool Edit, there were two products: Cool Edit Pro and Cool Edit 2000. The second boasted two plug-ins: 4-track Studio (extension of the editor to a 4-track multitrack) and Audio Restoration. But the first, having pumped up to version 2.1, learned to mix sound in surround and got multitrack mixing of an almost unlimited number of audio tracks.

In 2003, Adobe came in, paid $ 16.5 million and bought Cool Edit Pro v2.1. Redesigned it a bit and released it under the name Adobe Audition. By the way, only Twelve Tone Systems did not sell its Cakewalk / Sonar product line to giant corporations; Sonic Foundry accepted Sony's commercial offer and parted ways with Vegas Video, ACID pH1, Viscosity and Sound Forge, and Steinberg introduced Studio Connection, which creates a direct link between Cubase and Yamaha instruments.

The partially stripped down and redesigned program was able to interact with other Adobe products: After Effects, Premiere Pro and Adobe Encore, and received support for ReWire technology, a software protocol for exchanging data between audio applications, which allowed Audition to run concurrently with Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live. that also support ReWire.

Now that you know a little about the history of Adobe Audition, it's time to try working in it to learn how to preserve singing or playing an instrument for history.

First, let's select and download any backing track. The name is dissonant, but correct: there is musical accompaniment in it, and the performer's voice is removed. We save the phonogram in any folder or directly on the desktop - whatever is more convenient, do it.

Now let's set up the microphone - whatever it is. Do you use Skype? Therefore, there is a microphone, and it does not matter if it is external or built into the webcam. The main thing is that not a dynamic one, but with an electret capsule: for a dynamic one you need a special amplifier, and we want to record tracks without unnecessary difficulties. Open the control panel Windows 7. Menu "Start" - "Control Panel", click on the shortcut "Sound". A window pops up, select "Record", "Microphone" and "Properties" on it.

Let's say you have the most ordinary microphone and the most standard sound card, as well as the most ordinary acoustic guitar and ordinary voice. You decided to record yourself, took a guitar, turned on the program, moved to the microphone, recorded, listened and .. After listening to your recording, you most likely heard distracting noises that drown your entire recording, and the recording turned out to be distorted somewhere lousy. In principle, there is nothing to be surprised at, but I will tell you how you can improve your recording a little. For this we need the Adobe Audition program (I will use the CS6 version).

And so we go into the program and see this in front of us

You need to go to the Multitrack tab. Then a sign will pop up (This is if you have the same version as mine CS6) where you need to enter the name of this session, and enter other settings, if you do not know what to enter, click OK.

The tracks will appear in front of you, where the recording will go. In order to select the road on which the recording will go, you need to press the letter R (Indicated in the picture) And to start recording, on the red button below. When you start recording, leave a 2-second silence, then I will explain what it is for.

So you recorded and saw the recording in front of you, click on the recording with the left mouse button 2 times, you will be automatically transferred to another Waveform tab. Now you need to remove unnecessary noise and normalize the sound.

Select that same 2-second silence and right-click, you will see a list, you need to select Capture Noise Print (Capture noise). Next, at the top there is an Effects tab and in it Noise Reduction / Restoration and then the Noise Reduction process. A sign will appear in front of you, in which you can remove all unnecessary noise.

If you want to remove noise from the entire recording, click Select entire file, below you need to adjust the noise reduction efficiency, I advise you not to remove it at 100%, because along with the noise, some of your recording will be removed and you will get a distorted sound. Click Apply and voila, the noise is gone))

Next, you need to normalize the recording, go to the Effects tab, then Amplitude and Compression and Normalize process and do it as shown in the picture, click ok.

Now it's much better right?)) But I would have adjusted the equalizer and added a couple of effects, but I'll tell you this next time!

Sound engineers and music performers often use a sound editor to mix, process, and edit Adobe Audition audio content. On it you can edit audio tracks, as well as edit individual files in various formats.

One of the possible jobs for Adobe Audition is preparing backing tracks based on the available songs. Both beginners and famous artists resort to this. The video lesson presents one of the options for their manufacture.

True, I would like to make a reservation right away, despite the fairly good level of the Adobe Audition program, it does not guarantee high quality of the result, which in the end will be noticeably lower than the desired one. In other words, the professional version will not work.

Sometimes this method doesn't work at all. This happens because the quality of the future backing track, as you know, always directly depends on the quality of the source material. But, unfortunately, not all sound engineers do their job professionally.

The song, as the basis for the backing track, should be in uncompressed PAF format, and if in MP3, then the recording should be with the highest bit rate.

Where to start and how to make a backing track from a song in Adobe Audition?

Video tutorial "How to make a backing track from a song in Adobe Audition"

Uploading the file

1. To do this, simply drag it from the source into the Adobe Audition editor window.
2. Go to the tabs "Effects", "Filters", and then "Extract the central channel".
3. Press the preview button. In the standard amiсi style, the instruments are channelized to varying degrees from left to right, and the voice is usually placed in the center of the panorama. We cut this effect out of the “mix”, leaving only the instruments separated in stereo.
   Before starting work, you must carefully work out the search for high-quality and professionally recorded vocals. This is very important, because it often happens that the phonogram is mixed incorrectly, then it is not possible to extract vocals from such a recording and you have to start over, with another recording of the song. And this is followed by the loss of time and, to put it mildly, mood.
4. Next, press the preview button and constantly monitor the center channel level slider. If you move it to the left, the voice will be heard quieter, and the instruments in the stereo base will be louder. If you move the mixer to the right, then on the contrary, the voice will be heard louder, and the sound of the instruments will “go away”. By moving the slider to the left, you can achieve acceptable, i.e. the desired sound level of the backing track. Keep in mind that along with the voice, a useful signal is inevitably cut out from the "instrumental". It is possible that the original vocals will be slightly audible. Do not worry and do not pay attention to him, because when performing to a backing track, the singer's voice will still cover the lack of results of the sound engineer's work.
5. At the end, we check the work and, if the result suits us, click "OK" and save the minus one.

Job is done. Unfortunately, it is not possible to completely cut out the voice in this way on the Adobe Audition editor, therefore the quality of the backing track will differ significantly from the desired one.

If you need a high quality backing track, you need to find a high-quality recording of music, an original "instrumental" and work with it. Or use the services of a professional and order a backing track from a good sound engineer.

Common sound editors for the Windows platform can be roughly divided into three large groups. The first includes the simplest "one-button" utilities designed to perform two or three tasks. The settings in them are the required minimum, and the final result will satisfy only the most unassuming user. The second is represented by professional packages with extremely broad capabilities, but a very unfriendly interface. But the third is much more interesting. With sufficient power and richness of functionality, the programs included in it can be called convenient with some stretch. Adobe Audition is one of them.

One of the most common sound editors for the Windows platform is Adobe Audition CC 2014

What should you know before starting work?

• The program is quite expensive (more than 10,000 rubles). And if you don't want to mess with pirated software, it's worth looking for cheaper alternatives.
• Adobe Audition requires 64-bit Windows and serious resources to run properly.
• If you just need to quickly cut out noise from a soundtrack, use any available free utility. Adobe Audition is a program for those who aim for the best result and are willing to spend a little time on it.

Passport data

• Official website: https://creative.adobe.com/products/audition
• Latest version: CC 2014
• Russian interface: yes

Precise trimming of the audio section

When part of a track is removed straight away, there is almost always a clearly audible click. It can be removed by applying the noise reduction function, but it is much more graceful to pre-adjust the borders so that the click becomes inaudible. For this:

1. Open the required audio file.
2. Select the part of the composition that you want to cut.
3. Press the key combination Shift + I (menu item "Edit" - "Move to zero" - "Move the selection boundaries to the nearest 0 points inside"). After that, the selection borders are changed so that the zero points of both edges of the range coincide.

Possible options for the operation:

• Shift + O: Change borders to move them outward.
• Shift + H, Shift + K: change only the left border (right and left, respectively).
• Shift + J, Shift + L: change only the right border (right and left, respectively).

Step-by-step instructions for trimming an audio section accurately. Using the noise canceling function

Cleaning the composition from noise

This procedure will not make a masterpiece out of a low-quality recording, but it can get rid of most of the noise. You will have to pay for this by narrowing the dynamic range, which is not critical for everyday non-professional purposes.

1. Download the required file.
2. We mark the most noisy area.
3. Launch the Noise Analyzer: "Effects" - "Noise Reduction / Recovery" - "Capture Print Noise".
4. Open the main filter dialog: "Effects" - "Noise reduction / restoration" - "Noise reduction (process) ...".
5. Next, you have to tinker with the settings. The "Noise level reduction" slider adjusts the aggressiveness of the algorithm (the less, the stronger), and everything below the blue control line you will no longer hear. The "Start / Pause" button in the lower left part of the window will allow you to preliminarily evaluate the result. When you like it, click Apply.

The procedure for cleaning a composition from noise

Coping with microphone noise

A recording made with a consumer microphone is rarely perfect and needs additional cleaning. The same is true for old tape cassettes or gramophone records. In both cases, it is required to remove hiss and constant background noise from the audio file.

1. We open the file for processing.
2. If necessary, select a section of the track (or press Ctrl + A, if we want to remove noise in the entire file).
3. Launch the filter: "Effects" - "Noise reduction / restoration" - "Reduce hiss (process) ...".
4. After that, you need to decide on two main parameters: the noise level (upper slider) and the degree of reduction (lower), controlling the result using the start / stop button (green triangle in the lower left corner of the window).
5. When all is well, click the "Apply" button.

Clearing an audio file from hiss and background noise

Making a "backing track"

This is the name of the composition from which the performer's voice was cut out by software. It will be difficult to achieve a professional result without the necessary knowledge, but such a file will be acceptable for karaoke.

1. We find the required file.
2. Launch the filter: "Effects" - "Stereo Imagery" - "Center Channel Extractor".
3. Set up the "Extract" tab. We indicate where the voice will be cut from (the “Extract” drop-down list), the approximate frequency range (male or female voice), and if the “custom” item is selected, then the phase angle, panorama and delay.
4. Set up the "Recognition" tab. There are 5 sliders here, their position is found out empirically.
5. Set up what we will cut out: music or vocals (right sliders "Channel center level" and "Side channel. Levels"). If the first parameter is low, the voice is dropped, the second is the musical accompaniment.

In order to get a satisfactory result, you have to play with the settings for a long time. Please be patient!

Recording sound from an external source

The built-in Windows tools for this purpose are rather weak, therefore it is better to use the capabilities of Adobe Audition. To do this, you need a dedicated microphone, a Skype headset, or an advanced webcam.

1. Create a new project: "File" - "New" - "Audio file ..." (or press Ctrl + Shift + N). The consumer format, understood by any music center, assumes a sampling rate of 44100 Hz, the presence of 2 channels (stereo) and a bit depth of 16 bits. These values ​​should be set.
2. Open the Windows system mixer ("Control Panel" - "Sound") and make sure that the required device is active and configured (the required gain level is set).
3. When everything is ready, press the red circle in the lower center of the screen or the Shift + Space key combination.
4. Recording will begin, which can be interrupted at any time by pressing the same button.
5. After that, you will need to save the file (Ctrl + S).

An example of how Adobe Audition CC 2014 works when recording sounds from external sources

Creating a multitrack recording

If you need to mix several different compositions into one file with alternate switching between them, get the effects of fading, mixing and smooth blending, in Adobe Audition this is very easy to achieve.

1. Create a project: "File" - "New" - "Multitrack session ..." (or press Ctrl + N).
2. We set the necessary parameters (the requirements are the same as when recording sound) and click "OK".
3. On the gray ribbon in the upper right half of the screen (the default label color is blue), press the right mouse button and select "Insert" - "Files ...".
4. Select the desired audio file and click "Open".
5. We repeat steps 3 and 4 the required number of times.
6. After that, on the yellow line of each file, mark the areas of volume change (1 click with the left mouse button).
7. Then, with the left mouse button held down, you can either raise them up (and then the fragment will muffle all other tracks below it), or lower them down (with the opposite effect).
8. When everything is ready, save the project (Ctrl + S) and export it to any available audio format: "File" - "Export" - "Mixing multitrack" - "Entire session" - "mp3 audio (* .mp3) format."

Describes how to mix different songs into one file using effects

The described operations are only a small part of the capabilities of Adobe Audition. In fact, its potential is much higher. However, in order to get the most out of the program, you will need to spend a lot of time studying the instructions.