I have been creating a few CD mixes for the car using my “CD standard” template for Audio Montage.
One thing that I really need is to be able to see audio analysis specifics on the files I am using within the montage. I just breezed thru the Wavelab 9.5 manual and it looks like the Global Analysis dialog is what I need.
Is this dialog accessible via the Audio Montage toolbar?
I am not in front of WL at this moment but do not remember if it is on the Analyze Tab as indicated in the manual.
Seems that this tool may only be available with the Audio File workspace?
You have to render whatever you like from the montage (eg. to a temp file), then use the analysis on it.
Yes, it would be nice to have this done automatically.
That serves no purpose in this case as am dealing with existing FLAC music files which will never be rendered. They will be either burned to a CD or rendered to one long FLAC mix file - but I have no need to see audio analysis details after the fact - I need to look at them while I am compiling the mix. Specifically for loudness information and other key analysis data.
This is a huge oversight as the montage is a key interface/collection point for a whole pile of audio files. You would think users might want to probe these files - during complication - for things like overall loudness and things like that when assembling their montage.
I can see a whole area of missing workflow when producing radio spots and other things the montage would be used for.
Having to render everything and then analyze it is truly backwards - especially if changes need to be made. A guy could be rendering and re-rendering a lot.
Consider this a feature request for the next iteration of WL.
Then analyse these files directly, before you insert them in the montage. Or if they are already inserted, open them from the montage, to analyse them. There is an easy solution for each case. I don’t see any “huge oversight” to quote you.
Just tried the method of opening each file (Pressing E) from the montage
It’s quick to move the file to the editor but again - the analysis is not saved after the initial run so I do have to reclick Global Analysis each time on each file.
This has merit but since the analysis data is not saved and more importantly - cannot be seen in the Montage interface anywhere - it’s cumbersome and not really efficient.
There’s also the Audio Analyzer plugin in the batch processor if you just want to see selected statistics for a bunch of files before level adjustment or processing, on one page. (run with No Audio Output option). Maybe if something like that could be run in order on the clips in a montage.
I too have often wished for an easy way to do audio analysis in the montage.
Just a thought here. I’m not sure what specifics you need but I have found the Meta Normalizer useful for this, using it in ‘Test Only’ mode. The result is a single text window where you can see the original loudness and original digital peaks for each clip in the montage. If you have one clip for each file and only need the loudness and peaks, this functions well as a workaround.
My primary need here is strictly dealing with loudness. When I pull 15 or 16 songs into a mix - gone are the days (circa 1991) when you could just line em up and do a mix without moving a dial or fader - because all songs back then were always in same loudness ballpark.
Now it’s become a real chore to mix a pile of songs together from different eras without one song blowing the meters out due to excessive dynamic range compression etc. So I am now taking the “spotify” route on my mixes and forcing them into the -14 LUFS loudness range to ensure that everything can be mixed without worry.
The Meta Normalizer is a godsend for this - but it would be nice to be able to see exactly what sort of loudness I am dealing with when coming into the project. I can’t bear to run audio analysis on every track by sending them out to Audio Editor and clicking Global Analysis on each track.
Again - for those doing professional album comps for CD distribution etc - it boggles my mind that determining (and viewing) EBU/LKFS and other loudness metadata would be completely missing from Montage view.
Maybe I am overthinking this - but do mastering engineers simply not have a need for this data in the Montage or do they do it in completely different way? Maybe they all deal with tracks that have been volume levelled before even getting to a Montage situation?
If it was me using WL to build a commercial release - I would want to know every detail about every track - without leaving the Montage as I am working on the final master running order.
That works great Stingray. I think you’ve mentioned it before but I never tried it.
Trying it, I found you can get Original True Peaks if your setting is true peak. I also noticed if you change the loudness setting to, say, Maximum Short Term Loudness, the Original Loudness displayed in the report is different than if you had the setting at Loudness Of Entire Clip. The report doesn’t really specifically say that. It just says Original Loudness in each case. It seems like it would be more clear if the report said Original Loudness of Entire Clip, and Original Short Term Loudness, but of course that would make the report longer. But if you know it can report all of the “Original Loudnesses”, and it will report what the current setting is, it makes sense.