Mastering

Mastering is the process of preparing and transferring the final mix to a master copy from which all distribution copies are made. In the mastering process, the source material is usually processed using equalization, compression, and so on. Editing, level adjustments, fades, noise reduction, and other signal restoration and enhancement may also be done during mastering. Individual Songs are put into their final order at this stage, a process commonly called “assembly” or “track sequencing.” The mastered material is then ready for CD/DVD replication, vinyl pressing, web distribution, etc.

Studio One Professional features the Project page, a complete integrated mastering solution. This creates a tight, easy-to-manage cre ative workflow that spans all the way from recording to mastering.

The Studio One Professional Project page redefines this process into one that is smart, simple, and efficient. In the Project page, your Songs can be mastered and arranged on a single timeline and then published to many professional formats. The following chapter describes the mastering process, Project workflow, and how Songs and Projects are integrated to provide a total solution not available in any other DAW.

Many of the capabilities of the Song page are available in the Project page, such as Control Link. As such, you should become familiar with the Song page. The following section describes the Project page workflow in detail.

Creating a New Project

To create a new mastering Project, do one of the following: Select Create a New Project from the Start page.

Navigate to File/New Project.

Press [Ctrl]/[Cmd]+[Shift]+[N] on the keyboard.

From the Song page, click on the [Project] quick-access button if no Project is currently open.

Project Setup

In the New Project dialog, you can specify a Project Title and save a location, as well as the Project sample rate. Click on OK to create the New Project.

DDP Import

If you'd like to base your new Project on an existing DDP image, do the following: 1.

2.

3.

Enable the "Import Tracks from DDP Image" option in the New Project window.

Click OK to create the new Project, and navigate to your DDP image in the file browser that appears.

Select the folder that contains your DDP image, then press [Open], and the image is imported, with all metadata and media intact.

This ability to import, edit, and export DDP images, often reserved for high-end standalone CD mastering systems, helps to make Stu dio One a powerhouse mastering tool. For information on exporting DDP images, see

DDP Export

.

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Album Title and Artist Name

You can enter a title for the album in the Album field, and an artist name (if applicable) in the Artist field. A drop-down arrow below these fields gives you access to a variety of additional metadata fields (such as EAN, songwriter, and genre) that you can fill out as needed.

Meta-information is used when publishing your Project to any medium. You should fill in this information so your production is accurately labeled when published and distributed to your adoring fans. When selecting artwork, the image size is limited to 512 x 512 pixels, and can be automatically scaled to fit.

Adding Tracks

The first step in the mastering process is to place the desired source material into a Project.

The Browser

Just as on the Song page, the Project page has an integrated Browser, allowing you to browse for audio effects and files to add to your mastering Project, including files in the current

Browser Pool

. Press [F5] on the keyboard, or click on Browse in the lower right hand corner of the Project page interface, to open the Browser.

Add a Song

Any Song created in Studio One Professional can be added directly to a Project by importing the Song file into the Project. There is no need to create a mixdown of the Song first, as this process is automated.

By default, your Song files are contained in the Content/Songs folder of the File Browser, with each Song file contained in its own Song folder. To add a Song to your Project, browse to the desired Song in the File Browser and then click-and-drag the Song file to the Track column or Track Lane.

Adding the Song to your Project places it in the Track column. If no master file exists for the Song, you are asked if you would like to cre ate a mix of the current state of the Song, which can then be rendered and added to the Track Lane.

When Studio One renders a mix of the Song you added, the length the of the mix is determined by the Song Start and End markers, as seen in the Marker Track of the Arrange view. Be sure these markers are set to the desired locations in the Song.

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Track Time

As you edit Songs within your Project, it is useful to be able to keep track of where you are in time within each Song, as well as the entirety of your Project. When you place the cursor along the timeline, the Track Time display in the transport shows you the position of the cursor within the current Song, and the main time display shows the cursor position within the whole Project.

Add an Audio File

Of course, any Wave, Ogg Vorbis, AIFF, REX, or MP3 audio file can also be added to the Project by dragging it into the Project from the Browser, just as you would with a Song. Imported MP3 files are converted to Wave format using the sample rate of the current Project.

Track Column

All Songs and audio files in your Project are listed vertically in the Track column, with the name of the Song or audio file clearly displayed.

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Meta-Information

At the top of the Track column, you can see Album and Artist meta-information fields. To edit these fields, click in the space next to the field, type your text, and then press Enter. If you want to enter further metadata for the album as a whole, click the small triangle button below the Artist field, and enter your information as needed.

Beneath the color-coding bar to the left of each Track in the Track Column, there is a down-arrow button. Click on this button to reveal all other meta-information fields for that Track. These fields may be edited on a Track-by-Track basis, or multiple Tracks may be selec ted and their fields edited simultaneously.

To copy meta-information from a single Track to all Tracks in your project, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the Track and choose "Copy Meta-inform ation to All Tracks" from the pop-up menu.

Meta-information is used when publishing your Project to any medium. You should fill in this information so your production is accurately labeled when published and distributed to your fans. When selecting artwork, the image size is limited to 1400x1400 pixels, and can be automatically scaled to fit.

Meta-information that has been filled in for any Song is automatically imported to any mastering Project that includes the Song, Any changes made to the meta-information of a Song after import into a Project are not automatically applied to Song meta-information inside a Project, and must be updated manually.

Auto-Incrementing ISRC Codes

In most cases, ISRC codes are assigned sequentially to each track in an album, increasing by one with each subsequent track. Because of this, if you enter an ISRC code in the meta-information of the first Track in your Project, a dialog pops up, asking if you'd like to auto matically assign incrementing ISRC codes to the rest of your Tracks. Press [Yes] if so, or [No] if you'd rather enter them manually. If track order or selection changes later on, you can always re-assign the ISRC code for the first Track in your Project to be prompted again to auto-assign the rest.

Pause

It is common for the tracks on audio CDs to be separated by a brief pause. By default, any Track added to the Project has a Pause set ting of two seconds, as per the Red Book standard. In practice, this means that two seconds of silence are appended to the beginning of the Track, so that although the Track begins immediately after the end of the previous Track, there is a brief pause in playback in between.

The Pause setting can be set to any amount of time up to 10 seconds, as per the Red Book Audio CD standard. The timing between Tracks is an important creative part of the mastering process and often differs between Projects. To change the Pause setting, click in the Pause field for a Track in the Track Column and type in a value or click-and-drag the audio Events in the Timeline.

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CD Time Display

This display shows the CD Length of your Project based on the total length of all included audio materials.

Track Sequencing

To sequence the Tracks in your Projects, simply click on the file-type icon for any Track and drag the Track above or below the other Tracks in the Track column.

Notice that the Tracks are automatically relocated in the Timeline of the Track Lane, with all other Track sequencing still intact, including Track pauses.

Track Lane and Timeline

The Track Lane is where your Tracks are represented as Audio Events. You may notice that the Tracks are staggered in the Track Lane, alternating between an upper and lower position across the Timeline. This allows two adjacent Tracks to overlap. By default, the Tracks are separated by an amount of time dependent on the Pause setting for each Track.

To move any Track manually across the Timeline, click-and-drag the Track left or right. Notice that the sequencing of all other Tracks in the Project is maintained when any Track is moved across the Timeline.

Editing Tracks

Sizing Tracks

Tracks in the Track Lane can be sized with the Arrow tool, as described in the

Size an Event

section of the

Editing

chapter. The rel ative sequencing of all other Tracks in the Project is maintained when any Track is sized. Note that a Track cannot be sized to less than four seconds in length, per the Red Book CD standard.

Volume Envelope Editing

Each Track in the Track Lane features a volume envelope, which can be edited like the volume envelopes of Audio Events, as described in the

Adjust Audio Event Volume Envelopes

section of the

Editing

chapter. A volume envelope lets you create fade-ins and fade-outs.

Crossfading Overlapping Tracks

When a Track is manually moved across the Timeline so that it overlaps in time with another Track, it is possible to crossfade the two Tracks so that one fades out as the other fades in. To crossfade overlapping Tracks, select the two Tracks and press [X] on the key board. A linear crossfade is drawn that can be edited by clicking-and-dragging on each Track’s fade handle.

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Any Track that begins after another Track in time is normally the beginning of a new track on a CD or other medium. Its starting position serves as the beginning of the track, regardless of the timing of crossfades. If you want to change the point at which the new CD track begins, simply drag the song marker to a new location within the overlapping range.

Splitting Tracks

To split any Track, set the playback cursor where you want the split and press [Alt]+[X] on the keyboard. The resulting two Tracks can now be edited like any other, including editing meta-information in the Track column. Splitting a Track for a Song does not adversely affect the ability to automatically update that Song's mastering file, so it is possible, for instance, to split a long recording into many Tracks in a Project and still edit the related Song normally.

Note it is not possible to split a Track where the resulting two Tracks would not be at least four seconds in length, per the Red Book CD standard.

Enabling and Disabling Tracks

Any Track can be disabled at any time. Disabling a Track removes the Track from the Timeline but keeps the Track in the Track column, with the label “This Track is disabled.” This is helpful if you need to remove a Track from the Project timeline but are unsure of whether the Track should be removed completely.

To disable any Track, select it in the Track column and choose Disable Track from the Project menu. To enable a disabled Track, select it and choose Enable Track from the Project menu. You can also enable or disable a track by [Right]/[Ctrl]-clicking the track in the list, and choosing Enable Track or Disable track from the contextual menu.

Track Markers

All Tracks in a Project automatically have a Track marker attached to the beginning of the Event in the Timeline. It is possible to manually insert other Track Markers by positioning the playback cursor at the chosen spot in the timeline, then [Right]/[Ctrl]-clicking in the Track Marker lane and choosing Split Track at Cursor from the drop-down menu.

Manually inserted Track Markers are green in color, while automatically placed markers are blue in color. Track Markers can be moved across the Timeline by clicking-and-dragging left or right. Track Markers can be placed anywhere on the timeline, so long as they're in numerical order, and are not tied to the limits of any single Event. This lets you create a single Track that encompasses multiple Events, create hidden tracks, and a variety of other mastering magic tricks.

Note that Track Markers are only used when burning a CD, or exporting an image file or DDP file. When exporting a digital release, manually placed Track Markers are ignored, and separate files are only rendered for actual Tracks, as listed in the Track column.

Click-and-Drag Features

Move Events

Click and drag on the beginning or end of a Track Marker while holding [Alt]/[Option], to move all Events at or after that Track Marker across the timeline as one. This allows for easier mass-editing of track position and spacing.

Move only Start/End Marker

Click and drag on the beginning or end of a Track Marker while holding [Ctrl]/[Cmd], to set a pause period between the two Tracks at that split point.

Note:

Any audio that exists in the pause zone you create between two Tracks will still continue to play during the pause. If you want silence during a pause, you'll want to accomplish that by editing your Track to suit.

Move Track

Click and drag in the center portion of a track marker to move Track marker and its related Track to a new loc ation. This is analogous to dragging tracks up and down the Track List.

Duplicate Track

Click and drag in the middle of a track marker while holding [Ctrl]/[Cmd] to duplicate that Track Marker and its primary Track to a new location on the timeline

Add (Index) Marker

Hold [Alt]/[Option] while hovering over the middle portion of a Track Marker to enable the Add Marker tool, used for placing additional Index markers within the current Track Marker.

If you click and drag on the beginning or end of a Track Marker while holding [Alt]/[Option], all Events at or after that Track Marker can be dragged across the timeline as one, for easier editing of track position and spacing. If you click and drag on the beginning or end of a Track Marker while holding [Ctrl]/[Cmd], you can drag to set a pause between the two tracks at that split point. Note: Any audio that exists in the pause zone you create between two Tracks will still continue to play during the pause. If you want silence during a pause, you'll want to accomplish that by editing your Track to suit.

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Using Insert Effects

Insert effects can be used in the Project page in much the same way as on the Song page. Each Track has a dedicated Device Rack, and there is also a Master Device Rack. Inserts are handled in the Project page as described in the

Configuring Inserts

section of the

Mixing

chapter, including the ability to use FX Chains and the built-in effects Micro Views.

Track Device Rack

Inserts in the Track Device Rack can be used to process each Track individually. The most common use is to achieve a balance with other Tracks in the mastering Project, so that any Master Device Rack processing affects each Track in a similar way. For instance, each Track probably requires individual equalization. A Track fader is available in the Track Device Rack to fine-tune the output level of each Track, and an Insert Device Rack Activate All button enables you to quickly A/B any processing.

Loudness Detection

At the top of the Track Device Rack, a Loudness Information dropdown menu is available. When you first click this menu on a Track, a Loudness Detection process runs on that Track. Once the detection process finishes, you're provided with readings for

EBU-R128

Integrated Loudness (INT) and Loudness Range (LRA), as well as True-peak readings, RMS, and DC levels for the left and right chan nels. All measurements are shown both pre-FX and post-FX. This information can help when making level balance decisions from Track to Track across the Project.

If you make changes to a Song and later wish to re-calculate its loudness, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the song in the Track column or lane, and choose Detect Loudness from the pop-up menu. To detect loudness for multiple Tracks at once, select the desired Tracks and [Right]/ [Ctrl]-click one of the selected Tracks, then choose Detect Loudness from the pop-up menu.

Track Editor

Each Track in your Project has a Track Editor, in which you can create a variety of advanced effect configurations, with assignable Macro Controls. You can open the Track Editor for a Track by clicking the knob-shaped Editor button in its Track Device Rack. For more information, see

Channel Editor

, which explains the equivalent function in the Console in Song view.

Copy a Track’s Effects to Another Track

To quickly copy any effect from one Track’s Device Rack to another, simply click-and-drag the effect from the Device Rack onto another Track in the Track column. To copy all effects from one Track to another, click and drag the Insert Device Rack header from the source Track, and drop it onto your chosen Track in the Track Column or Track Lane.

You can also save the entire Device Rack as a single preset, called an FX Chain, by clicking on the arrow next to “Inserts” at the top of the Device Rack and selecting Store Preset. Then locate the FX Chain in the Browser under Audio Effects and drag it onto any Track in your Project.

Using Hardware Inserts in a Project

As fully discussed in

Pipeline

, you can use hardware inserts by means of the Pipeline plug-in in Studio One Professional. When using Pipeline, you may need to access the audio I/O setup for your Project (found in the

Project/Project Setup/Audio I/O Setup

menu) in order to configure the inputs and outputs your hardware insert uses.

Note that when Pipeline is inserted anywhere in a Project, it is no longer possible to render audio exports offline for CD burning, disc image creation, or digital release creation. Real-time processing is used, as this is required to incorporate your hardware insert into the audio export.

Bouncing Tracks

If you feel the need to free up computer resources or external processors (used through Pipeline), you can bounce a Track in place, retaining the effects of any plug-ins or external gear in use. To do so, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the Track in the Track Column, and choose "Bounce Track" from the pop-up menu. If an external hardware effect is in use on the Track (via Pipeline), the bounce must occur in real time.

Master Device Rack

Inserts in the Master Device Rack affect every Track in the mastering Project. Peak limiting, multiband dynamics processing, and other similar processes are commonly used in the Master Device Rack to finely adjust the overall sound of the Project. Generally, a certain CHAPTER 12 ___ Studio One Reference Manual

amount of balance and equalization between all Tracks in the mastering Project should be achieved before applying Master Device Rack processing. Effects and FX Chains can be dragged to and from the Master Device Rack, just as with other types of Device Racks.

Pre- and post-fader Insert Racks are provided, each with Activate All buttons, for ultimate flexibility in adding and auditioning any pro cessing. If you plan to use a third-party plug-in to provide dithering, place the Insert post-fader and be sure to disable the Use Dithering for Playback and File Export option in the

Studio One/Options/Advanced/Audio

pane (Mac OS X: 

Preferences/Advanced/Audio

). Note that by default, Studio One only dithers when necessary (e.g., for reducing bit depth within a device or during file export) and always uses triangular-type dither with no noise-shaping.

A Master Channel output fader is available to dial in the master output level of your Project, and you can select the output for your audio device (audio interface). Note that this directly affects the output level of your Project for all export mediums. All of the output pairs provided on your audio interface can be accessed by clicking on the currently displayed audio output.

Metering

High-quality metering is critical during the mastering process. The Project page offers three types of meters, each visible at all times, to help you make creative and technical decisions while processing your material.

Spectrum Meter

The Spectrum Meter is a flexible audio-spectrum meter that offers octave, 1/3-octave, 12th-octave, FFT, Waterfall (WF), Sonogram (Sono), and Segments display modes. The Spectrum Meter displays standard peak levels and can be adjusted to display Peak Hold levels for Short, Medium, and Long time intervals, as well as average (RMS) levels within Fast, Medium, and Slow time intervals. As you move the cursor around the frequency display, the note value of the current frequency is displayed.

The visible range of the meter can be changed in any mode, to help focus in on the range you're interested in. Do this by setting the Range controls, or simply by clicking and dragging vertically within the meter.

When using the FFT display, a -3 dB/octave line is displayed in addition to the frequency and level crosshair. This line represents com pensation for the shrinking frequency-width of the FFT bands towards the higher end of the spectrum, which leads to a lower energy content. A well-balanced mix should somewhat approximate the slope of this line.

To disable the Spectrum Meter, click the "power" button under the lower left corner. Click again to re-enable the meter. To temporarily "freeze" the current state of the Spectrum Meter, click the snowflake button below the meter.

12th-Octave Meter

The bands in the 12th-octave meter correspond to the 12 musical tones in an octave, each in its appropriate place on a piano-like key board. This allows for easy reading of the pitch or note value of a given signal.

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Level/Loudness Meter

The Level/Loudness Meter is located directly beneath the Spectrum Display and is capable of displaying high-resolution Peak/RMS levels, three K-System scales (as described in

K-System Metering

) as well as the more recent

EBU R128

standard. To choose a standard to view, click the selector below the Level Meter or [Right]/[Ctrl]-click within the meter and make your selection from the drop down menu.

Nowhere is it more important to accurately meter levels than at the mastering stage of production. It is critical to be sure that the levels across all Tracks are as consistent as desired and that the signals are never clipped. When any amount of clipping occurs in your Pro ject, a red clip indicator illuminates at the bottom of the Level Meter display, which can only be cleared by clicking on the indicator.

When Peak/RMS mode is selected, you can [Right]/[Ctrl]-click on the meter display to show additional metering options, such as RMS Length, VU Hold, and Hold Length.

To disable the Level Meter, click the "power" button under the lower left corner. Click again to re-enable the meter.

Loudness Display

Real-time numerical loudness information for the final output is displayed here, in LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale, for absolute loud ness measurements), or LU (Loudness Units, for relative loudness measurements). In either mode, you can see the Integrated loud ness (INT), Loudness Range (LRA), and True-peak (inter-sample peak meter) reading. To reset the measurements, click [Reset].

Phase Meter

The Phase Meter, located to the right of the Level Meter, is helpful when checking stereo playback issues and mono compatibility.

There are two components to this meter: a Goniometer at the center of the plug-in window and a Correlation Meter at the very bottom.

The Goniometer displays left- versus right-channel amplitude on an X/Y oscilloscope. A vertical line in the Goniometer represents a mono signal. The horizontal Correlation Meter compares the amount of in-phase and out-of-phase audio signal in the left and right channels. The parameters of the Correlation Meter range from +1 (mono signal) to -1 (reversed-phase mono signal), with 0 indicating the presence of totally independent signals (true stereo).

Publishing Your Project

When your Project has been mastered, the next step is to publish it. The Project page offers many options, categorized into three main operations, including burning an audio CD, making a disc image file, and making audio files.

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Burn an Audio CD

You can burn your mastered Project to a standard Red Book audio CD directly from the Project page. Red Book is the most widely adopted technical standard for audio CDs, and it includes specifications for minimum and maximum track durations, maximum number of tracks, and how audio is encoded to the CD. Because the Project page adheres to this standard, you can be sure your audio CDs are compatible with almost any CD player.

To burn your Project to an audio CD, click on the [Burn] button at the top of the Project page. In the Burn Audio CD dialog, you can select the device you wish to use to burn the CD, as well as the speed of the burning process. In general, using slower speeds in the burning process reduces the chance for errors.

Burn Options

Several options in the Burn Audio CD dialog are intended to prevent common CD-burning errors: Test Write, Use Burnproof, and Use Temporary Imagefile. These options usually increase the time it takes to burn a CD in the Project page but they help to prevent wasting time and blank CDs on failed attempts.

The Test Write option runs tests before attempting to burn the CD in order to be sure the necessary computer resources are available.

Burnproof is a technology capable of preventing buffer under-run errors with some CD burners, in which the CD-writing process is interrupted, and the CD writer is forced to stop burning the CD before it is finished.

The Use Temporary Imagefile option changes the burn process so that an image of the CD to be burned is created before attempting to burn the CD. This helps to eliminate potential problems related to data not being made available fast enough while writing to the CD.

Make a Disc Image

Publishing your Project might require a disc-image file. For instance, sending your Project to a professional CD duplicator might require digital transmission of the content of your CD, rather than sending a potentially imperfect physical copy. Also, you may wish to use a dif ferent application to burn your CDs, in which case you need an image file. There are many file formats for disc images, some better suited to audio CD creation than others. Studio One uses a continuous audio Wave file and a cue file to achieve the most universal sup port.

To create an image of your Project, click on the [Image] button at the top of the Project page. Options are available for file format, res olution, and sample rate, as well as the ability to toggle Realtime Processing and simultaneously upload the Project to a linked SoundCloud account. In making an image, Studio One creates a cue file and a single, continuous audio file of your entire Project and places them in your Project folder. The cue file contains all of the necessary information to create the separate audio tracks for your CD by referencing the continuous Wave file. Many third-party CD-burning applications can create a CD using the Wave and cue files together.

DDP Export

DDP images are quickly becoming the standard method of getting a disc image from mastering to disc manufacturing. The DDP image contains all the contents of your master disc, plus formatting information that ensures your replicas exactly match your master. To cre ate a DDP image of your Project, click on the [DDP] button at the top of the Project page.

All of the DDP image data is exported to a single folder with the name of the Project appended with "DDP." This folder can be delivered to a duplicator.

Digital Release

It is possible to publish your Project to a single folder containing all Tracks in your Project, properly tagged with the appropriate meta information. A common use for this would be to quickly create an MP3 album in one folder and then upload it to a Web site or online retailer for distribution. This process is similar to creating a mix on the Song page, as described in the

Create a Mixdown

section.

Click on the [Digital Release] button at the top of the Project page to open the Digital Release dialog. In this dialog, you can choose whether you want to create WAV, AIFF, FLAC, CAF, Ogg Vorbis, or MP3 files (or, at 384 kHz sample rate, just WAV, AIFF, or FLAC), and where you wish to store the files. You can also choose a sample rate, a resolution (bit rate), and select Constant or Variable bit rate, depending on the format. You also have the option to simultaneously upload your Project to a linked SoundCloud account.

The folder to which all new files are written is named according to the Artist and Disc fields in the Project meta-information, at the top of the Track Column. If the Artist field is disabled, the new folder takes its title from the Disc name field. If the Artist field is enabled, the new folder title shows the artist name followed by the disc title. If neither the Artist or Disc fields have been filled in, the folder gets its title from the name of the Project.

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The name of each Track in the Track column is used for the name of the new files created. In the Options section of this window, you can include Track numbers and the artist name in the name of each new file to be created in the album. All other meta-information sup plied for each Track is used to tag the new files appropriately.

You can also choose Realtime Processing, to mix the Project down in real time.

SoundCloud Integration

PreSonus has partnered with the popular SoundCloud Web service to make it possible for you to upload your music to SoundCloud from within Studio One. This integration is the first of its kind.

Connect with SoundCloud

To publish your music to SoundCloud, you first need a SoundCloud account. Visit

http://www.soundcloud.com

to create your free account. Then, open the

Studio One/SoundCloud Client

dialog and click on Connect with SoundCloud. Your Web browser then opens to a special page to allow Studio One to connect with your SoundCloud account. Log in to your SoundCloud account on this page, click on Connect.

Studio One is now connected to your SoundCloud account.

Upload to SoundCloud

Once Studio One is connected to SoundCloud, you can upload music from your Project to SoundCloud directly from Studio One. To do this, create a digital release from any Project and choose Upload to SoundCloud in the options, or open the

Studio One/SoundCloud Cli ent

dialog.

If creating a digital release, the Tracks from the digital release are added to the SoundCloud Client window automatically, with the appropriate meta-information already filled in. If accessing the client directly, click on Add Tracks to add any audio file to the list.

SoundCloud supports the upload of any audio file from Studio One, at any resolution, and at any file size. Any number of Tracks can be uploaded at once, added from a digital release or manually.

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After adding your Tracks, select any Track in the list to edit its information in Track Info and More Info. If you want the Track to be avail able publicly, meaning any SoundCloud user can see it, select this option under Track Info. If you want the uploaded file for Track to be downloadable or streamable, select the corresponding option under More Info.

When finished editing Track information, click on Upload to upload the Tracks to SoundCloud. The Tracks appear in your SoundCloud account once the upload has completed.

Song and Project Integration

At the center of Studio One Professional’s design is Song and Project integration. This is where the usual gaps between mixing and mas tering have finally been eliminated. When Songs are placed in a Project, a link is established that allows the Song and Project to be intel ligently aware of each other so that changes to either are known to both. This integration, as described in the following sections, is sure to change the way you think about mixing and mastering.

Open a Song from Within a Project

During mastering, changes are often needed in various Tracks in a Project, after which changes to the mix are made. Traditionally, this process can be grossly inefficient, taking many hours, if not days or weeks.

In Studio One, however, you can quickly make changes to the mix of a Song in your Project. To open a Song in your Project, click on the [Edit] button (labeled with a small icon of a wrench) in any Track in the Track column. Your Song opens on the Song page, where you can make your changes. When finished, save and close the Song.

When you go back to the Project page, or open the Project in the future, you are prompted with a message informing you that the mas ter file is no longer current for the Song to which you just made changes, and you are given the opportunity to update the master file.

The Automatic Update of Mastering Files section below explains this option.

Automatic Update of Mastering Files

Of the most common questions that arise when mastering is also one of the most time-consuming: “Are these mixes the most current versions?” Often, changes are made to multitrack mixes in response to problems found during mastering. When these changes are made, new mixes have to be created and reinserted into the mastering Project.

There can be many rounds of changes for each track, resulting in a potentially confusing situation in which it is hard to tell which mix is which, and which is the final version that should be in the mastering Project. When the right mix file is finally found, the old mix is removed, and the new mix is added back into the Project, usually requiring re-sequencing the tracks in the Project.

Studio One Professional solves this problem with automatic updating of mastering files for any Song in a Project. When you change any Song included in a Project, and then open the Project, you are asked if you would like to update that Song’s mastering file. If you choose to do so, the following happens: The Song is automatically opened in its last saved state.

A mixdown of the Song is rendered.

The new mix file replaces the old one in the Project.

The Song is automatically closed.

A report is displayed in the Project indicating which files were updated and how long the entire process took.

Note that when Songs are automatically updated, and a new mix is rendered, the length of the mix is determined by the Song Start and End markers, as seen in the Marker Track of the Arrange view. Be sure that these markers are set to the desired locations in the Song.

If an update of a Song fails, check the Song for missing files and plug-in effects and then try the update again.

Any number of mastering files can be updated in a single process. This way, every time you open a Project, you can be sure you have the latest mix of each Song.

When a mastering file in a Project is not up to date, a red light appears to the left of the Track name in the Track column, as well as in the lower left corner of the Track in the Track Lane. You can choose to manually update any of these files by [Right]/[Ctrl]-clicking on the Track and selecting Update Mastering File. When the file is up to date, a blue light appears.

You can also update every mastering file in the Project at once by clicking on the [Update] button at the top of the Project page. Any files that need to be updated because saved changes have occurred to the Songs are updated in the same process described earlier.

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Add Currently Open Song to a Project

To add a Song you are currently working on to a new or open Project, select Add to Project from the Song menu. Select any open Pro ject from the list or select New Project. This adds the Song file to the desired Project and automatically renders a mixdown, placing it in the Project timeline.

Update a Mastering File from the Song Page

To update a mastering file for the currently open Song from within the Song page, select Update Mastering File from the Song file menu. This updates the mastering file for the Song, which can exist in any number of Projects. The next time any Project that contains the Song is opened, the new mastering file appears automatically for that Song.

CHAPTER 12 ___ Studio One Reference Manual

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