Pro 10 question

hi. new to wavelab pro 10 here and running mac pro and hi Sierra.

in cubase when you save a song you end up with an icon in the folder of the song with the RED C on it.

this identifies the file as the song file, or master file, for the data used in that song.

how is Wavelab structured regarding projects and Data? what do you save as?

what is the top file called when you want to reload a previous saved session.

Thanks Spaceman

This is too long to write out, so I suggest reading the manual and watching some videos but one thing to consider is there are two main workspaces in WaveLab:

  1. The Audio Editor which is a destructive environment. The opened WAV or AIFF files are edited directly, so there is no project file to save. You simply overwrite the file. I don’t use this mode very often.

  2. The Audio Montage which is a non-destructive environment for arranging and processing files and when you save a montage, it produces a .mon file. This is similar to a Pro Tools or Logic session file. It has the data, but not the audio. I use the montage for nearly everything I do in WaveLab.

You can also save “WaveLab Projects” which saves a .wpr file to help you manage multiple audio files and montages at once but I don’t use this option so I can’t say much about it.

thanks Justin

do you create a new folder for each montage, and manually insert the audio data inside it?

if you saved a montage and then later returned, if the audio data was not available, you would surely have dramas.

thanks Spaceman

I set up my folder structure before I even make a montage. I make a folder for:

Artist/Band/Client Name

A sub-folder for the EP/Album/Project Title

Another sub-folder inside that sub-folder for the “original files” that I intend to work on for the project.

Once that is set up, I open WaveLab, create a new montage from my preferred montage template, insert the needed audio files into the montage. It’s not a copy of the files, the montage directly accesses the files which is OK because it’s non-destructive.

Then when I initially save the montage for the first time, WaveLab prompts you to save the montage file in the same folder where the source files are located which is a nice feature.

You have to do a bit of manual set up first but it’s very direct and easy.

Excellent Justin. thank You very much. that info truely helps.

i will do it your way.

since i started using wavelab i have had files all over the place , and i could see a nightmare developing.

thats the way to do it. thanks Spaceman

Yes. I think there might be a way to have WaveLab consolidate or archive all the needed files to one place but I am just I the habit of manually managing my files so everything is contained in one folder, or at least a known folder that travels with the project to wherever you archive things after you’re done.

My folder structuring is a little more involved than this but basically, if you set up the folders first and then open WaveLab and insert the files into the montage, you’ll be good to go.

Like Justin, I have a standard folder set for each project. Coming from an audio post background this is typically Pre/Pre Edits/Post/Post SRCd/Masters/Disk Images/Deliverables/Settings/WaveLab. I just copy and rename this folder for each new project. The idea is that you can come back to any file at any point in the project which is an old post habit. But of course everyone works in a different way.

I do use the WaveLab Project though. So I have a template already saved in the WaveLab sub folder. This is renamed for each project. When you open that WaveLab Project it already has everything … tabs for montages, masters, masters for streaming, references, batch processors.

The Project Manager Tab allows you to save specific things to save with the Project/reopen … although in practice everything that was on your screen when you closed the Project or WaveLab will be there next time you open it.

The File Open Project displays recent Projects and that typically saves you having to search to reopen. Everyone’s experiences are different, but Projects do really add a new level to efficiency.

This sounds like a bit of work to set up, but honestly it’s not. And once done you are set to concentrate on projects rather than setting up a session from scratch.

As Justin has mentioned, with this type of organization, back up and archive projects save everything.

Hope this is of some value. Good luck!

2 excellent posts. thank you both. Spaceman