OK, I think I’m starting to get it. I think one enhancement I would like to see is a way to assign data from BWF over to ID3.
I do think the process is confusing–having two MetaData windows (one for the source file and one for the Render) -and- having a MetaData Window -and- a MetaData -section- above the waveform editor. So much of the WL9 UX is better but this still needs some refinement IMO.
As a former UX guy I also have a sort of paradigm grouse… this is a gross over-simplification, but here goes:
I -rarely- used Montages until this year. I always worked with editing one wav at a time and then Basic CD and the Batch Processor. But -rarely- used Montages.
And it seems like whenever I find something limited or confusing the answer to -all- problems is always “Use a montage”. It’s like 90% of the focus in the design of WL is on working with Montages. But that leaves the ‘legacy’ bits or functions working on one file at a time out in the cold. IOW: it just seems like the design tries to make you use Montages because the other single-use functions are less elegant. And frankly? A lot of the time, I don’t -need- to use a Montage and I want the single-use functions to be just as elegant as the Montage. Just my 2p.
Suntower, one thing I’d be interested in seeing is a screenshot of the metadata in your Cubase wav, as it shows in the Wavelab metadata tab. If you can anonymize it. Maybe RIFF INFO isn’t in there at all, and iXML is.
Looking at the bwf metadata in Cubase wav files, they just remind me of the extremely limited metadata in Pro Tools bwf wav files. Originator:Cubase and Originator:ProTools and originator date, and that’s about it. There’s no Artist, Title, etc. info like there would be if they had wav RIFF INFO, which they don’t.
There really doesn’t seem to be anything useful in the Cubase bwf metadata to translate.
Looking at the Cubase Media Bay, it looks like you can add tags, but I’m pretty sure they would go into the iXML if anything, which would seem pretty non-standard for a mastering app to have to translate. Or maybe not. Maybe Pyramix and Sequoia would translate that for MP3 ID3 but I seriously doubt it.
So I set up a Montage and it’s working pretty much how I would like. Some questions, though:
How does one automatically assign the MP3 Track Number? I used the @TrackIndex@ variable and I thought that would number the rendered MP3s 1,2,3,4 according to their position in the montage, but the field # in Windows File Explorer is empty.
Is there a way to create a particular MetaData preset which is the -default- for any new Montages or Audio Files edited in WL? I don’t want to even have to remember to load a MetaData preset if possible.
I can’t speak for Windows Explorer but with the preset I use, the track number/track total is also visible in the metadata in iTunes, and all other apps I use that can read metadata.
Do you have CD markers in the montage? I think that is where it gets this info from? I have CD Track Splice Markers at the start of each song. The CD Wizard makes quick work of this.
I’ll attach a screen shot so you can see how it’s entered in WaveLab. I also use the naming scheme in WaveLab to pad each file name with 01, 02, 03 for each track number but this is not part of the metadata, just a side note. I’ll also attach a picture of how it looks on Sonnox ProCodec app which is a good app for double checking things.
Yes. What I do is aside from my metadata preset, I also save a montage preset with the metadata preset already loaded, so that I can create a new montage based on the montage preset and of course the metadata preset is already loaded.
This way I do not have to remember to load a MetaData preset ever. It’s just automatically there for each new montage. You can have several montage presets stored and make new ones based on what you need to do.
A bit off topic but … Is there a quality control print out that allows you and the client to verify the data that’s been entered? In my world, for example, there can be last minute name changes on tracks (and even artist names).
OK, I got it to work… BUT… I have no idea how I got there. Or rather, because there are multiple buttons that do the same thing, I don’t know which gizmo has priority.
So here is a screen-cap. As you can see, the Montage has a MetaData tab—I assume all those settings are saved with the Montage and then, if you select ‘Inherit’ in the Render button options for the Encoding. Right?
(I guess if it were -me- I wouldn’t have the MetaData options -inside- the MP3 encoding.)
Does the Render button in the Master Section the same as the Render button on the Montage? If not, which does what?
I can’t get the rendered MP3s to show the ‘Album Artist’ in Windows file properties. Can you tell me what that corresponds to in the WL MetaData?
For the Track number I used @TrackIndex and that worked. I then tried to do what Justin P did: @TrackIndex@/@NumTracks (sic? I’m not at the PC now I may have that variable name wrong.) Anyhoo… that did NOT work. Should it?
Surprisingly, no. It may be because for EP and album projects, I first deliver as DDP with HOFA DDP Player Maker so they can get a sense of all the titles and data, and HOFA DDP Player has a way to export it’s own PQ report. People may do that more than I know.
I also work with a lot of independent artists, but I feel that maybe the bigger/major artists working with record companies care about this more.
The reality today is that no matter how thoroughly we tag the master WAV files, all the info has to be manually entered again by whoever sets up the digital distribution. It’s nice to put this info in for future-proofing and with the right presets, WaveLab makes it automatic and easy.
Everybody has different metadata needs and expectations though. Last week I received some files from a very independent artist to master that already had a crazy amount of metadata input by the client, probably from Audacity. Because I do analog processing usually, this means all the data is wiped out on my new capture files.
Just to avoid getting an email and a bunch of questions, I will go back and add all the detailed metadata again which shouldn’t be too hard, it’s just on ell higher than I would normally do. I always add the basics as shown in my screen shot in previous post, but this person had way more.
Just as a side note, there are a number of taggers, file converters, and players that can add, edit, and display ID3 metadata to wav files after the fact. When I said Wavelab and Audacity were the only DAWs, I meant the only audio editor/recorders/daws that incorporated it.
Not to beat a dead horse, but here are my remaining questions:
Does the Render button in the Master Section do the exact same thing as the Render button on the Montage? If not, which does what?
For the Track number I used @TrackIndex and that worked. I then tried to do what Justin P did: @TrackIndex@/@NumCDTracks@ and it still only shows the Track Number. I’m on Windows. Perhaps this is this just a Mac deal?
If you mean in Windows 10 Explorer, yes that only seems to show the track number. If you look at the metadata of the MP3 in iTunes (or probably any other program), it should look correct, with total tracks.
No problem. I don’t know Windows well enough to speak about it, and I never use the global master section so I can’t speak for the Render button there, but my guess is that it’s the same as in the Render ribbon tab.
I think once you get a good metadata preset combined with an ideal new montage preset you will find a workflow that is fast and automatic, and you won’t have to think about metadata too much again.
Enter the info one time (track names can be easily populated from the file names if they are perfectly named) and you can quickly have it appear everywhere.
