Studio One: Editing Audio

When you record audio, Studio One will create an ‘event’ for it to live in, which you can then edit.

We talk you through the basics of editing audio in Studio One.

In last month’s workshop, we got started with recording audio in Studio One. I failed to mention last month where the audio gets recorded and how much recording time you have, so let’s continue from there.

Press the ‘G’ key on your keyboard to bring up the Options window. Click on the Locations tab at the top, and it gives you your User Data Location. This is where all your Studio One projects, songs, shows and presets are stored. And you’ll also find that this is where your audio goes as recorded WAV files. You can choose any folder on your computer as your User Data Location. I’d recommend using a dedicated drive so that you don’t accidentally fill up your system drive with your recordings, but if you only have one drive, then use that.

When we hit Record, Studio One will begin to capture any audio coming to a record‑enabled track from instruments and microphones via your audio interface. As the recording progresses, the timeline pointer sweeps across the screen, and Studio One paints the track with a graphical representation of the audio signal’s varying amplitude. In case you’re wondering where the track background colour comes from, there’s a coloured strip to the left of the Track header. Click on the strip, and you can choose from a range of colours. This also flows through to the channel strip in the console to make a useful visual connection between track and channel.

The audio is now on our computer and displayed by Studio One ready for whatever you want to do next.

In Time

Studio One works on a timeline. The timeline can be free‑flowing in seconds and minutes, it can be in frames per second, or it can be in bars and beats. If you want to record as if to tape, then it’s not important, but if you want to edit, produce and rearrange your song, then recording to a tempo within Studio One will make your life much easier.

You can set a tempo and then play along to a metronome to stay on time. It doesn’t have to be a metronome; you could set up a drum beat, use a drum loop or even write in a variable tempo if you wish. But ultimately, when it comes to audio editing, if you have recorded to a tempo, you will be able to snap your edits to a grid based on bars and beats, which is extremely helpful.

Studio One offers the opportunity to edit, process and rearrange our recorded audio.

Editing Tools

You can treat Studio One as a linear recording device where your captured performance is the perfect, in‑the‑moment work of art that just requires mixing and exporting to vinyl. For the rest of us, Studio One offers the opportunity to edit, process and rearrange our recorded audio. You can use these features to edit out the bad bits, copy and paste good bits, or creatively move and blend your audio as your project or song takes shape.

There are two places where you can edit your audio. You can do it on the track, or...