Adding Audio Files and Regions to aSession

The simplest and most common task you will need to
perform involves placing existing audio files and
organizing them for playback. You can select files in
any supported sound file format from your hard drive,
add them to the Clipboard, and then place them in any
order in the Tracks window. If your Macintosh has a
CD-ROM drive, you can also add audio files or
QuickTime movies from any CD-ROM disk, or audio
files from a regular audio CD. The Library window
automatically keeps track of all source material added
to the session in this manner.
Deck uses monophonic sound files in the Sound
Designer II format. If you add any other type of sound
file, Deck will automatically copy the sound file and
convert the copy to the correct format. Deck imports
Sound Designer I, Sound Designer II, AIFF, Apple
Resource (SND), QuickTime, and WAV audio files.
Audio files may also need to be converted by Deck if
they are not at a supported sampling rate.
Although Deck makes extensive use of the Clipboard
to add audio files to a session, it does not put the
actual audio data on the Clipboard, it merely uses the
Clipboard to keep track of the files you are adding or
editing. Therefore you do not need large amounts of
RAM to add large audio files to a session.
To add sound files and regions to a session:
1. Choose File > Add Audio to Clipboard (Command-
D).
– To add tracks from an audio CD, use the Add
Audio CD Tracks to Clipboard command.
– To add a SND resource, use the Add SND to
Clipboard command.
– To add the audio from a QuickTime movie,
choose QuickTime > Import Movie.
2. Find and select the desired audio file from the list
of files on the left.
Information about the selected file appears in the
comments area in the lower left corner of the
dialog box, and a list of the regions within that
sound file appear in list in the upper right corner.
The top region represents the entire file.
3. Select the desired region in the sound file from
the list on the right.
An audio region marked with -F- represents the
entire sound file. Regions marked with -R- are
simple audio regions, and those marked with -L-
are loops (AIFF files only). Stereo files are split
and have the suffix .L (left) and .R (right).
– Click Play to audition the selected file, region, or
loop. You can hear the audio looped by turning
on the Loop Audition option.
– Turn on the Make a Copy option to copy all
imported files into the Audio Files folder for the
session. (Note that Deck automatically copies files
added from read-only media to the Audio Files
folder.)
4. Click Add Region to add the selected region to
the current track.
5. The current track is displayed in the lower right
corner of the dialog box. To remove regions from
the current track, select them and click Remove.
6. Follow steps 2 through 5 until you have added all
of the files and regions you desire, then click
Done.
If necessary, Deck converts the selected files and
regions to match the sample rate and bit depth of the
current session.
Do one of the following:
– To place the selected audio at a specific point in
time, click in the waveform area of the Tracks
window at the desired time and choose Edit >
Paste At. The current time location of the cursor’s
position is displayed at the top of the Tracks
window. If you are adding stereo or multichannel
files and regions, select two or more tracks. This
assures all the pasted audio will have its channels
in phase. For more information about the Tracks
window, see “The Tracks, Transport, and Mixer
windows”
– To place the selected audio on new tracks, choose
Edit > Deselect, then choose Edit > Paste At.
The new track (or tracks if the selected audio is
multichannel) is placed at the top of the Tracks
window and any existing audio is moved to lower
tracks.
– To place the selected audio at different points in
time on various tracks, drag them from the Library
window to the Tracks window.

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