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Envelope editing has many applications, from creating volume swells and panning sweeps to varying the intensity of a plugin. The envelopes allow the selected parameter (volume, panning, etc.) to be modified with control points called nodes, which reside on a horizontal line over the waveform.
Most pro audio applications have some form of envelope editing feature. It can be done by clicking with a mouse, automating virtual fader movements, or drawing with a pencil tool. Many, including Cakewalk?s SONAR 5, have all three of these modes, allowing the user to choose the best method for the task at hand.
Adding node points manually with a mouse is the most labor-intensive method, but it also offers the most precise control in tight spots. In situations where there?s more room, such as creating volume swells with one instrument throughout a track, it?s better to use the automation features to create an envelope by raising and lowering the virtual faders.
But that?s not always possible, and in this tutorial we?re going to tackle one such scenario. I wanted to create an interesting variation in a vocal clip where the singer was repeating three phrases back to back in one section of the song. Although it sounded fine the way it was, I thought it might be more dramatic if the repeating phrases were processed through a different effect every other time. I also wanted both the original phrase and the repeat to have slightly moving pans to heighten the impact.
The first thing I did was to create a backup copy of the vocal, just in case. Then I opened a new track under the original track, and pasted a copy of the vocal on it, so there were two identical vocal tracks. My idea was simply to raise the volume on one track, while simultaneously lowering it on another for each of the six repetitions. Because the phrases were repeated quickly, this would be impossible to do with automation ? no one could raise and lower faders that fast, even on a real mixing console. So I created a volume envelope on each track by right-clicking on it and selecting Envelopes>Create Track Envelope>Volume.
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| Creating an envelope for the highlighted track |
An envelope appeared over each of the waveforms (see image below), represented by a thin blue line. To add single nodes to the envelope, I double-clicked on this line. Dragging the node up and down would raise and lower the track?s volume. Since each volume movement would require multiple nodes on each track, this is where manually adding nodes becomes a labor-intensive process.
But I discovered a new feature in SONAR 5, called Add Nodes at Selection. This is one of those unglamorous additions that doesn?t catch your attention until you need it. By selecting a section of audio on the timeline and then clicking on the envelope, the Add Nodes at Selection command places four nodes in the selected space ? with one click instead of four. This is a real timesaver, especially in a situation where dozens of nodes need to be placed on an envelope.
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| The great new Add Nodes at Selection command. Darker area in middle has been selected. In this image, blue envelope line has already been added in top track, and a second one is being created for bottom track. |
Bolstered by this new feature, I quickly set up the volume envelopes on both tracks. I was careful to set the crossover points at identical (mirrored) positions on the timeline, so that there wouldn?t be any odd dropouts of ambient noise as the volume for one track faded while the other was raised.
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| Finished volume envelopes. Top track is original lead vocal track, which continues for remainder of song. In this section, the vocal is first sung in the top track, then repeated in the bottom track. Envelope points are set at 0 db for a section to be heard, and at -Infinity when a section is muted. |
Next, I placed a panning envelope on each track. The phrases on one track began with a panning position of 38 in the left channel, and moved to the center by their conclusion. The other track was the opposite, moving from 38 right to center. On playback, this section was beginning to have the movement and dramatic feel I set out to create.
There was only one more thing to do: the effects. I didn?t want radically different effects for each channel, since this section was part of the song?s lead vocal. So I left the main vocal reverb intact on the original track, a nice open impulse setting from SONAR 5?s new PerfectSpace convolution reverb. For the other track, I chose a subtle ambient reverb from SONAR?s Lexicon Pantheon plugin with a distinctively different sound that would emphasize the repeated phrases.
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| Panning envelopes (red lines) have been added, moving from 38 left or right to center on each track. |
The three repeating phrases I worked on here only took about 20 seconds on playback. But it was worth the effort. And I did a similar edit when the section came up again near the end of the song, only this time I heightened the panning and raised the wet/dry ratio of the reverb on the repeated phrases.
Techniques like these create little areas of interest without altering the overall structure of a song. They create a more dramatic mix and give listeners a sense of anticipation each time they come up. Even great songs can become boring by the end if the mix lacks dynamic reference points along the way, and this is just one of an infinite range of possibilities. All that?s required is a little creative thinking.
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