Adobe Audition 3 is a digital audio workstation software that allows you to record, mix, edit and master sound recordings. An upcoming rival to Avid’s Pro Tools, Audition is developed for those interested in creating professional-quality sound for use in digital projects. Audition saves information about a recording session in an .SES file.

About Session Files

1. Adobe Audition 3 maintains information about a recording session in a session file. Session files have an .SES extension and do not contain any audio data. You can think of a session file as a recipe in a cookbook; it contains all of the instructions for creating a recipe, but the ingredients for making the dish are actually stored in your pantry and refrigerator. Likewise, the instructions for a session (e.g. panning, volume, mute/solo information, location of audio tracks, duration of audio tracks, effects applied to audio tracks) are stored in the session file while the actual audio files are stored in a specified folder on your computer or network.

Before You Create a Session

2. Create a folder for your session. Creating a new folder for each session is a good way to organize your data; you can save the session and audio files in the same folder. Ensure that you have enough disk space for the project.

Creating a Session

3. Open Adobe Audition and select “New Session” from the File menu. Set the sampling rate, import audio files and apply settings as you would normally.

Saving the Session

4. When you are ready to save the session, select “Save As” from the File menu.

   Select the folder that you want to copy the session into.

   Type the name of the session, then select “Save All Associated Files” to move those files into the session folder. Saving associated files makes copies of the files and stores them all in one place, so they are easier to find later. If you don’t do this and if you end up moving the files later, you won’t be able to replay the audio.

   Select “Save All Copies in the Format” and select the appropriate format. One format to consider is .wav, a non-lossy format that is good for general use; .wav files are usually large, though, which means that you need a lot of disk space. You can always resave files later into another format if needed. Following this article is a list of the types of audio and video files that you can export from Audition.

   Click the “OK” button when prompted to save the multitrack session.

Alternatives to Session Files

5. If you are going to work with other software applications to edit audio files, you can save the file in XML format. XML is a nonproprietary format that is used in a variety of applications. It is text-based and provides an easy way for databases and other applications to share information. The XML file generated by Audition has the same information as the .SES file, but it can be read by many different types of software applications.

For many film and broadcast professionals, the MP2 is the gold standard when it comes to compressed audio files – with much higher sound quality than MP3s and far smaller file sizes than regular MPEG or WAV files, making it especially handy for FTPing or e-mailing big chunks of audio.

1. Open Adobe Audition on your system – make sure you have version 1.5 or later, although some later versions of 1.0 or CoolEdit may also work.
2. Step 2

   Make sure you are in “Edit View,” one of the three tabs you should see just below your toolbar. Click F12 to toggle between views.

3. Step 3

   Click the ‘File’ menu in the upper left corner, and select ‘Open Audio from Video.’

4. Step 4

   Navigate to the folder where the MP2 files you want to open are stored. Make sure the ‘Files of type’ drop-down box is set to either ‘All Supported Media’ or ‘MPEG video.’

5. Step 5

   Click ‘Open.’ It may take a few seconds for your file to open, during which time you should see a progress bar. After it disappears, your MP2 file should be listed in the open files dialog on the left and ready for editing.

Adobe Audition is an audio recording program that can be used for many applications such as music, sounds effects and radio production. In fact, Adobe Audition is a staple in many radio stations and is how many major broadcasters create their production. Vocals are a key part of audio production and Audition can help you create some amazing, crisp sounding vocal parts.

1. Record your vocals into Audition. Be sure to use a decent mic and proper recording techniques to make sure that the vocal recording is as good as can be before you start tweaking it in Adobe Audition. Save your vocal track before you start working with it in Audition so you can revert to the raw audio if you don’t like where it is going.
2. Step 2

   Use noise reduction to eliminate any hiss or floor noise. Select a very small piece of audio where there is silence, and then open the noise reduction window in the noise reduction menu under effects. Click on “Capture Profile” to capture a profile of the noise you want to take out. Now select the entire piece of audio, go back to the noise reduction window and click “OK” at the bottom.

3. Step 3

   EQ your vocals. Audition offers robust EQ options. You can use the graphic equalizer to adjust frequencies on a 10-band, 20-band or 30-band level allowing you to key in on specific frequencies. You can roll off the low frequencies and take out some of the mud in the mid-range frequencies. There are presets for vocal boosts, but you may need to tweak them to locate your vocals’ exact frequency range.

4. Step 4

   Compress your vocal track. You can find compression in the dynamics processing window in the amplitude settings. In Audition 1.5, there are a few good vocal presets so try them and tweak for what works best for you. In Audition 2.0 there are some really good presets for vocals under the multiband compressor.

5. Step 5

   Amplify your track by boosting it a few dB or by normalizing it. Get it to a good level that it fits in with the other audio elements but leave a little head room.

Adobe Audition, formerly known as Cool Edit Pro, is a incredibly user-friendly software that lets you create multi-track recordings, convert sound files to MP3, Wav or whatever other format you need or want and a variety of other audio functions. If you have favorite recordings on vinyl whose sound quality has grown scratchy or hissy or CDs that have perhaps lost their sparkle, you can use the software to clean them up to, if not brand new, cleaner and newer than you might have thought possible. Here’s how to clean up old recordings using Adobe Audition.

1. Depending on the format you’re trying to improve, LP, CD or cassette, simply record what you wish to clean up into Audition in its natural form. If your piece is on a CD, you can click and drag the track from the CD folder on your computer directly into Audition so that you don’t have to record it in real time. Sorry, that trick wont work with vinyl or cassettes. You’ll just have to play the piece and record it as if you were making a copy on a tape recorder.
2. Step 2

   Once you have the sound file you wish to clean up, determine if you want to clean up just sections or the whole piece. You can choose just certain sections by left clicking and dragging your mouse to highlight whatever section you’d like to work on. If you’re going to clean up the whole sound file, this step is unnecessary.

3. Step 3

   When you’re ready to clean up, open up the “Effects” menu at the top of the screen, scroll down to “Noise Reduction.” There you will find a number of options you can use based on the noise you want to clean up on the original sound file. There is a “Pop Eliminator,” “Hiss Reduction” and “Noise Reduction.” Just choose the one you think most appropriate. You can “Preview” what the cleaned up version will sound like before you commit to doing it. Just click “Preview.”

4. Step 4

   Once you have decided that you want to use that particular clean up method just click “OK” and Audition will do the rest. If you decide after the fact that you don’t like the sound, just click on the “Edit” label in the menu and click on “Undo.” Again, you can do individual sections or the whole piece. Once you are finished, just “Save” the file as you would any computer file. You’ll be amazed at the improvement when you clean up old recordings using Adobe Audition.

Recording and mastering vocals in a song are very important. You don’t want background noise, hissing or loud pops in your song.

Now I could let the professionals handle all of that and even get some studio time, but like many in this economy, I’m broke.

So I’m going to show you how you make your vocals clearer and perfect no matter what mic you have and while sitting at home.

I use a PS3 mic and my vocals turn out clear!

Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

* PC or Mac
* Adobe Audition 3.0
* Microphone

1.
Step 1
Open Adobe Audition. It should look like this.
2.
Step 2
Choose your microphone. In Track 1, click the drop down menu shown in the picture to choose your microphone. It should be located in either Stereo or Mono.
3.
Step 3
Setup your session. In Track 1, click the R. A session is setup so AA can remember what you’ve done to a track, such as effects. You must setup a session before recording.
4.
Step 4
When the session is set up, you can start recording your vocals. In the lower left hand corner you will see a box named Transport. To start recording, click the Record button. Record 1 or 2 seconds of background noise before you begin your vocals.
5.
Step 5
Once you are done recording your vocals, it is time to start editing them. Click the Edit button shown in the picture.
6.
Step 6
Select the background noise. When you’re in Edit mode, the default cursor is known as the Time Selection Tool. Click and hold at the start of the background noise and drag the cursor to the end of the noise, similar to highlighting a word on a web page.
7.
Step 7
The first step of editing is getting the background noise out of your vocals. To do this go to Effects > Restoration > Noise Reduction (process). To capture the background noise, click the Capture Profile button. Next, select the Noise Reduction Level you want. Low means low quality microphone and high means high quality microphone.* Once you selected the level you want, click the Select Entire File button. Click OK. You should see a difference in your vocals.
8.
Step 8
The next step of editing is Mastering. Go to Effects > Special > Mastering. Here you can add effects to your vocals and sample what they would sound like.** Leave everything at default and click OK. The vocals should have changed a little.
9.
Step 9
The last step to making your vocals sound perfect is Dynamics Processing. More than likely, your vocals are a little loud and uneven in volume. Dynamics Processing will even them up. Go to Effects > Amplitude and Compression > Dynamics Processing. Once again you can add effects to your vocals and sample what they would sound like.** Leave everything at default and click OK. Your vocals are now perfect and ready for mixing!