CoolEdit

CoolEdit should come up with just one track showing. If it shows 4 tracks, click the button in the upper left. (Which one? Hold the mouse over a button until a text box comes up. You want the one that says “Switch to Single Waveform view.”

1. New--44100, mono, 16 bit2. Get your tape cued. 3. On CoolEdit, hit the “Record” button (red circle).4. Check levels. 5. Delete your test wave.

CoolEdit

6. Record bite. 7. Save bite.

File--“Save As…” Save as type: Windows PCM (*.wav)

8. Start a new wave file for each bite.9. Editing! Remarkably intuitive. It’s what you get when you cross MS Word with a tape deck.

CoolEditYou can edit in single waveform mode or in multitrack mode. There’s lots of ways to do it. This is mine.

**Make sure “Enable Undo” is checked!!Edit menu-- check “Enable undo”

Zoom in & out using the magnifying glass buttons. Hold the mouse over them to find out what they do. Click where you want to zoom in or out, then click the appropriate button.

Hit spacebar to listen to the track. Click where you want to start.

CoolEditSingle Waveform mode

Highlighting selections: two ways to do itclick & dragright click, left click

Highlight to magnify, highlight to delete, highlight to amplify…

Delete: hit delete button

CoolEditSingle Waveform mode

Too quiet? Turn it up!Amplify:

Transform menu--Amplitude--Amplifymove the slider, or guess (150%? 175%?)

Also useful if your subject mumbles the last few words. But don’t overdo it. You’ll hear it.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

Insert waveforms in multitrack.Edit menu--Insert in Multitrack

*Note: nothing happens. But click on the button in the upper left to get to the multitrack mode, and it’ll be there.

*VERY IMPORTANT: Save session. You could save all your waveforms and still lose a lot of good work if you forget to do this.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

Right-click on a waveform and drag to move it. Left and right, or up and down between tracks.

Hit spacebar to start. Horrible cacophony, huh? All your tracks playing at the same time. To avoid this, make sure your bites don’t overlap. Or, create a muted track to use as a notepad. Press the “m” button to the left of each track you want to mute.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

Scissors button on the top toolbar puts a splice point into your bite. This is the real strength of multitrack mode. This is very, very handy. Two splice points isolates a useful (or useless) part of the bite. Click on the part you want. From there you can move it, amplify it, delete it, whatever. (You’ll find some things are easier to edit in multitrack mode, some are easier in single waveform mode. Play around.)

To adjust volume of a segment (amplify), right-click on it. In the dialog box, select “Volume.” Don’t raise or lower more than 3-4 dB or you’ll hear it.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

Fadeouts: good for polishing your bites. Especially when there’s a lot of background noise.

Highlight the last part of your bite.Edit menu--Crossfade--Sinusoidal (you could do

linear, too. Might sound better. Try it.)

Can also pull down the green line at the top of the track to lower the volume. Pull it down all the way to undo.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

Let’s say you had to dice somebody’s bite to make it useable. You need to move it around, but you don’t want to have to move every last little segment. You can group segments together. Hold down the ctrl key and left-click all the waveforms you want to group together. Then click the “Group/Ungroup waveforms” button--on the top middle toolbar, fifth from the right.

CoolEditMultitrack mode

When you’re all done, mix it down to a single waveform.Edit menu--Mix down--All waves (Mono). Save this waveform, too.

Now, burn it to CD r.