F/R: Basic Audio CD: Individual Track Level

Try this to assemble a CD in the montage …

On the edit page, open the first song/wave file of the CD. Select: File > Export > Create audio montage from active file (I am doing this from memory but I think I always use Shift T … I do it so often it’s auto pilot).

This will automatically ‘convert’ the track into a montage.

In the track control area … left side of the montage … go to the number ‘1’ and click this to bring up a menu. Select ‘add stereo track’.

You now have a montage with 2 stereo tracks … the top one will be the one containing the first clip/song.

This visualisation allows you to easily see and manage crossfades etc.

Now, go to the CD window. If you click the ‘wand’ symbol it will automatically create the initial track markers and introduce a handy offset for the first track.

Drag the next clip/song into the empty second track. You can easily adjust where you want this to start relative to the end of the previous clip/song.

Insert a track marker (I usually use a splice) where you want it to be. You can also add names for each marker. Delete the CD end marker … you can add this in later where you exactly want it to be.

You will notice a centre line between the L & R (blue/red) on each clip. Raising or lowering this line increases/decreases the gain of the clip/song.

There is also a fade handle at the start and end of each clip. This is handy for crossfades etc.

When you are finished assembling the clips/tracks (alternatively above and below each other) insert the CD end marker.

You can substitute clips/songs for existing ones in the montage in a number of ways. EG select the montage and right click: substitute file is one of the dialogue items.

Burn CD and other functions are easily accessed through the CD window.

This is a very, very basic overview. The montage is extremely powerful, but easy at the same time.

By adopting this, it is likely you can do away with actually burning physical CDs. This is because you can have the reference tracks either included in the montage you are assembling or in a different montage. You can easily switch between them and make/decide on adjustments. I expect this will bring incremental efficiencies to your workflow.

FWIW, one of the fantastic things about WL 8 is the way you can customise the screens to suit the specific way you work. This is worth the effort of exploring if you use the program a lot.

Good luck

Complex programs are complex to control; ease of use commonly comes with a loss of flexibility. Now if the defaults in a simple program suit you, fine; but in many cases it is barely possible to find out what the default settings actually do! In my view, the responsible author should not assume that their chosen defaults will suit the next person along.

Paul
(who started writing programs in 1971)

Ha! I just had first hand experience with that! Helping to install a contemporary version of the most ubiquitous DAW on the planet (PT) on a completely new system using 3rd party cards and interfaces. Try and just get sound out of the thing without looking up stuff … and one of us has been using the DAW since the mix days.

Then there came the ‘I wonder how that works?’ thing.

FWIW I actually thing WL8 is one of the more intuitive programs to use IF you are mastering.

Nope, maybe the second-to-last. We burn CD’s everyday, everyday, ev-er-y-day!

Here is a suggestion based on WL6 knowledge:

  1. Set up your Basic CD session as you normally would.
  2. Convert that Basic CD session to an Audio Montage.
  3. Hit the MetaNormalizer, set for equal clip loudness.
  4. Burn the CD directly from the Montage.

So in that scenario you do almost all the work in your familiar Basic CD window. Then once you convert to Montage, you only have to remember two buttons. Easy and fast.

My solution has been to set up a couple of Workspaces that do what I mostly need to do. But when I have to do something outside those two? I literally break out in a sweat.

The idea of switching from Basic CD mode to Audio Montage Mode fills me with dread.

…but the Meta-Normalizer is worth checking out. I didn’t realise it had a true ‘Loudness’ mode.

Cheers,

—JC