Let’s reduce this to fundamentals. Classical editing is about selecting two clips to be joined together at a predetermined edit point, whether we are in Wavelab or Sequoia. The steps are:
- Find the files containing the two sections we want to use and insert them into our project.
- Slide and align the clips in the time domain.
- Set the 4 points for the fade specification, OutTakeStartFade, OutTakeEndFade, InTakeStartFade, InTakeEndFade.
- Test for inaudibility, slide the 4 points around, or the edit point around to suit.
Now whether bits of this are done is a “source” window or “destination” window or “montage” is just terminology.
For Step 1, I always know what sections are being used before the editing starts, because the producer or artists or me has auditioned all the takes separately and written these take numbers and desired edit point on a score, so I don’t need to go hunting around some other project and listening for the clips. If I have given the artists take CD’s, (these come from a montage), they will have referred to the desired clips as CD tracks, so I have that takeCD montage open so that I can cross reference the CD track with a correct filename.
The reason I have two montage tracks where the clips alternate is that it makes step 2 easy, the alignment in the time domain, you can find the exact points in the two waveforms that match and get them one above the other to confirm the exact waveform alignment. Step 3 is then easily done like this as well because the overlap fades can be adjusted individually. 99% of the time the fade lengths have to match exactly, and I always use the sinus shape because it’s and equal power crossfade, ie no volume change during the fade.
Step4 can then be done by sliding the clip edges and fade nodes around, and again, its nice to have them on two montage tracks so that they can all be moved independently and viewed with ease. I could do all this on one montage track, but the overlap point is messy, what with the overlapped waveforms generally filling the picture.
The issue of sliding all clips to the left or right of where you are is simply handled in Wavelab by using the little clip and track grouping buttons in the toolbar. If I forget to have these buttons in the correct status and move a clip, because all the edit fades are the same length, I can simply set the button correctly, slide the clip till it snaps to the fade nodes again and all subsequent clips are locked in again.
As I always work on the edits from start to finish this is rarely a problem. If I revisit an edit and slide it around, just set the grouping buttons correctly before sliding. Undo is used a few times.
It is very productive and very accurate. I am trying to learn and use Pyramix at present mainly for multitrack editing, but I can do it much faster in Wavelab, so its a bit frustrating.
Hope this helps further.