From Digital Content Producer Magazine, Dec 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Reviewer: Gary Eskow, Spectral-editing component makes new version a compelling product.
The wall continues to crumble. As we have discussed in the past, the terror that once accompanied the capitalization of audio-post tools has evaporated. True, technology that relies on dedicated hardware to assemble audio, marry it to picture, add effects, and make detailed edits can still rack up the zeros on your credit card, but even the most expensive digital audio workstation will set you back only a fraction of the cost of its predecessors.
When Steinberg released Nuendo (now in its fourth iteration) close to a decade ago, the company burst through a barrier. Steinberg proved that off-the-shelf computers had become powerful enough and stable enough to handle high-pressure sessions without risking catastrophic failure. Today's generation of processors have made it even easier and more affordable to pour lots of functionality into software-based digital audio workstations (DAWs) � particularly those, such as Adobe's newly released Audition 3, that offer multicore processor support.
Unless you've been shooting on Venus for the last several months, you know that Adobe has made a major push recently to market CS3, a suite of products that includes photo layout, video, web, and other tools into a single, streamlined package that work on both the Windows and Mac platforms. Digital Content Producer reviewed Soundbooth, the CS audio component, in August. Given its target audience (you, the esteemed videographer who � being the possessor of two ears as well as a couple of eyes � wants to establish bona fides as an audio post pro), we were duly impressed. So why would Adobe release a significant update (a paid one, at that) to Audition at this time? Is it something that you should consider adding to your studio?
Think of it this way: Soundbooth is for you video folks who don't have a background in music, but feel comfortable handling some audio-editing tasks and want to use Soundbooth's AutoComposer component to customize royalty-free scores.
On the other hand, Adobe has set an ambitious goal with Audition 3, which, due to its ancestral relationship to Cool Edit Pro, is only available as a Windows application. By including MIDI functionality; a far deeper set of effects and signal processors (augmented by its ability to integrate third party plug-ins); and Loopology, a collection of thousands of waveforms organized as individual tracks into complete audio sessions; Adobe is essentially offering Audition 3 as Digidesign Pro Tools, or Nuendo, for CS3. With Audition coming in at a street price of only $349 (just $99 if you're upgrading from any earlier version of Audition,or Adobe Production Studio Premium), how well has the company done?
Installing Audition 3 on my Windows-based dual-AMD Opteron computer was easy. Mercifully, Adobe does not require any dongle or iLok authorization. My 80GB C-drive is getting a bit cramped for space, so I threw the Loopology files onto another one and opened up the application.
If you've spent much time working with DAWs, it won't take long for you to get going with Audition 3. The application understood my hardware connections on its own. Audition 3 is one of many affordable, high-quality audio interfaces that integrate audio for the non-expert, so it should route audio throughout your studio without any problem.
The first thing you'll want to do is head over to the Workspaces tab and choose one of Audition 3's primary work environments � edit, multitrack, or CD � as your default view. If you have dual monitors, you can select that option to maximize your flow.
Audition 3 handles the process of working with multiple audio tracks (we'll get to MIDI in a moment) in standard fashion. Time is essential in audio-post work, and I particularly liked Audition 3's Top/Tail views option, which you access from the view menu. By default (which you can alter), Top/Tail views immediately takes you to both the first and last 10 seconds of an audio file. This is very helpful for audio post, because you'll be setting levels and executing fades most often in these locations. Of course, automating the entire length of an audio clip is no problem. While we're on the topic of fades, group clip editing � including the quick and easy execution of fades across multiple audio lanes � is a new and valuable addition to this version of Audition.
I was quite impressed with the Radius time-stretching feature in Audition 3, which Adobe licensed from iZotope. I experimented with one of the Loopology sessions that ship with Audition 3, and I was able to change the original tempo of 86 beats per minute (bpm) all the way up to about 110bpm before any noticeable artifacts were introduced. Your requirements, which may include tightening up the length of an audio file to match a 30-second spot or changing the length of a cue, should never call for such a drastic change, so if you're looking for a program that can handle time-stretching effectively in realistic audio-post situations, you'll be quite comfortable working with Audition 3.
When you switch over to the edit view, you'll find a plethora of signal-processing tools to choose from. All of these (plus any third-party plug-ins you own) can be organized into a mastering rack and saved for future recall. Most of Audition's DSP is available in the multitrack view as well. On the whole, most of these processors are serviceable to good, but if you're discriminating about convolution reverb, for example, you won't forego the impulse responses of Audio Ease Altiverb 6.0 (which costs more than Auditon 3.0) for those that ship with Audition 3.0. On the other hand, if you simply need convolution impulse responses that can handle some of the more basic razzle-dazzle tasks � placing a screaming crowd in an outdoor stadium, for example � you'll be quite comfortable using the presets that are included with this application. The same goes for the Guitar Suite. Not bad at all, but outstanding guitar amplifier simulation packages are on the market. More are due to appear shortly, and Guitar Suite can't compete with them.
On the other hand (Wait, how many hands have we used so far?), Audition 3's Spectral Frequency display is great. Although it may come in a close second in terms of its ability to hone in on a specific frequency band when compared to a dedicated waveform editor such as Steinberg WaveLab 6, the surgery that you can perform using the multiple views that are offered here is quite detailed.
Adobe was kind enough to send me a few clips and some tips on how to work on them. A snare-drum WAV file had an annoying whistling sound. Using the Spectral Frequency display, I was able to select the offending frequencies and, using the healing brush (a cloying term), banish them. So far, so good, but expected. The next example, however, really impressed me. It contained some offensive guitar notes in an otherwise well-recorded rhythm-section track. Unfortunately, the Spectral Frequency display view didn't allow me to remove these offensive notes. Switching over to Spectral Pan display made all the difference in the world. The guitar part had been panned to one side, and thus, it was easier to identify, isolate, and obliterate using this view.
According to Adobe, the inclusion of MIDI was a topic of considerable debate during the process of rewriting Audition's previous code. Among the company's user base was a pair of camps with widely divergent perspectives. Dedicated audio editors wanted nothing to do with the performance-related tools that lowly musicians � another important company contingent � clamored for.
In an effort to please both groups, Adobe decided to make MIDI tracks available, but tuck them away from the main multitrack view. If you have a MIDI rig and want access to it, you can get it, but the process is a bit clumsy, and the MIDI editing capability is only elemental.
Creating a MIDI track is simple enough, but it took longer than is normal for other applications. Once you're done, you select a button that opens up the Sequencer in a separate view. Within this view, you select your keyboard controller as MIDI input, along with the channel it sends on. From that point, a plug-in manager detects the VST plug-ins that are part of your system, and you decide which of them you want to make available to Audition. You can also route any hardware synthesizers you may own into the system.
If your MIDI needs are simple, Audition 3 will help you get the job done, but even so, there are some inconveniences you'll have to deal with. For example, you must be in the Sequencerwindow to enter record mode. Not a big deal, but if a musician is working in multitrack view, he or she would like to be able to record without having to open another window. Nonetheless, if you have rudimentary performance chops and want to lay down a musical bed, you'll be able to get the job done. Hack away, quantize your parts afterwards, delete a few clams in the piano-roll view, and you'll be in good shape.
But if you like to shape your performances in detailed ways � changing the lengths of individual notes by small amounts, altering tempos over time, or using soft quantizing, which brings notes closer to beats without becoming nailed to them � you're out of luck. In short, MIDI is an add-on for customers who need it, but it is hardly the area in which Audition 3 shines most brightly.
There's more to say about Audition 3 � its restoration tools are helpful, if not definitive in their class, for example, but we're getting short on space. So I'll end by pointing out that the third main view � the CD view � is just that, a place in the application where you can rip files to use in your sessions, and, ultimately, burn your work to disc. A nice inclusion.
What can you say about a product that costs so little and offers so much? The spectral-editing component of Audition 3 makes it a compelling product. When you add multiclip editing, basic MIDI functionality, and, most importantly, a thorough integration with the rest of Adobe's CS3 product line, Audition 3 becomes a compelling product to consider. If, on the other hand, you do not use CS3, and your budget allows you to consider similar products that are a bit pricier, you may want to shop around before making a purchase. Regardless, Adobe deserves high marks for making Audition 3 available to its customers.
bottomline
Company: Adobe
Product: Audition 3
Assets: High-quality Spectral Frequency display, time-stretching DSP, low cost.
Caveats: Limited MIDI implementation.
Demographic: Videographers with some audio-post capabilities, audio post professionals on a budget, and field recordists.
PRICE: $349 (FULL); $99 (UPGRADE FROM EARLIER VERSION OF AUDITION OR ADOBE PRODUCTION STUDIO PREMIUM)
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