111 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
111 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "Further region operations"
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chapter = false
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weight = 5
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#pre = "<b>1. </b>"
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+++
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In this section you will learn a few more things you can do with Regions.
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Right-clicking a selected Region reveals a context menu. The first item
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in the menu (labeled with the Region's name) contains a large sub-menu.
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All of these operations are also available from Ardour's main *Region*
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menu.
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This section describes a few of the most commonly used operations
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accessible from these menus.
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- **Play**: play back from the beginning to the end of
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that Region (shortcut "*H*").
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- **Loop**: set the loop range to fit that region's duration, and
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start looping it right away.
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- **Rename**: change a region's name.
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- **Properties**: lots of information on the region, plus ability to
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change its gain.
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- **Position**: among other options, in this sub-menu you will find
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The **Lock** toggle box: it locks the Region so that it cannot be
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Moved or Trimmed. It can still be Split, however, and the resulting
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Regions will be unlocked.
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- **Edit**: in this sub-menu you find useful tools such as **Pitch Shift** (shortcut "*Alt + 8*") and **Reverse** (shortcut "*Alt + 4*"). Pitch Shift alters the pitch of a region without changing its duration. Reverse makes the region play backwards.
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- **Gain**: useful options such as **Mute** (shortcut "*Alt + 1*), **Normalize** (shortcut "*Alt + 3*"), **Boost Gain** (shortcut "*Alt + 6*"), and **Cut Gain** (shortcut "*Alt + 7*").
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- **Duplicate**: includes Duplicate (shortcut "*Alt + D*"), Multi-Duplicate, and Fill Track.
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These were explained in detail in the chapter [Working with
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Regions](../working-with-regions).
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- **Spectral Analysis**: window displaying the overall frequency
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content of the Region.
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Feel free to explore by yourself other sub-menus not mentioned above.
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Many of them are mirrors of the options you find under Ardour's
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*Region* menu. Below we go into a bit more details on some of the most
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useful functions.
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## Pitch Shifting
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The **Pitch Shift** (shortcut "*Alt + 8*") function alters the pitch of a region without
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changing its duration. The function applies a pitch-shifting algorithm
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to create a new audio clip based on the source clip.
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The Pitch Shift window allows the user to specify the amount and direction of
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transposition desired. The window includes a **Preserve Formants**
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button. When pitch shifting by large amounts, the Preserve Formants
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option can give results that sound slightly more natural, particularly
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when used on vocal material.
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## Normalize
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The **Normalize** function (shortcut *"Alt" + "3"*) non-destructively boosts the level of the
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selected Region so that the **Peaks** are at 0 dB or less. When Normalizing
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to 0.0, the region will be as loud as possible while avoiding **Clipping**.
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Sometimes you may find useful to normalize a region to a value less than 0,
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such as -1.0, -3.0, or -6.0 decibels, so it doesn't become too loud.
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Two other useful gain operations for regions are Boost Gain (*"Alt" + "6"*), and Cut Gain (*"Alt" + "7"*). Be sure to try them out.
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## Reverse
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The **Reverse** (shortcut "*Alt + 4*") function reverses the selected region of audio, in
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effect causing it to play backwards. Reversing a region creates a
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new audio file 'behind the scenes'.
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## Operations on two or more selected Ranges
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If more than one range is selected, the operation will apply to all of
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them (for example, Normalize, Reverse, etc.)
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### Combine
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Some operations from the context menu will only become available when
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two or more regions are selected. For example, let's take a look at the
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"Combine" function, under the sub-menu "Edit". First we select two
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adjacent regions:
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Then we choose "Combine" from the right-click context menu, or from
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Ardour's main menu *Region > Edit > Combine*:
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As a result, the selected regions are combined into one. This is
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particulary useful when you have found an exact sequence of regions that
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works just as you want, and then you would like to copy and/or move the
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whole sequence as group.
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Notice that the resulting combined region has the word "compound"
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attached to its name.
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## Continuing
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In the following chapter, we will learn a bit more about the powerful
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tools Ardour has available by changing **Edit Modes**.
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Next: [CHANGING EDIT MODES](../changing-edit-modes)
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