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- Podcast Basics
- Editing with BandLab
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I can record directly to BandLab using the record button at the top of the screen. Depending on your computer/device and browser or app, you may need to do some troubleshooting if your mic is not being recognized. For the most part, you will get prompts from BandLab or your device so pay attention to those and be sure to allow access when prompted if you plan to record straight to BandLab. BandLab recommends using Google Chrome, but I've had no problems with Firefox. If you're having issues, you may find this article helpful: Getting sound into BandLab: Microphones.
If I already have my audio files, I can add the recordings to BandLab by clicking and dragging them into the workspace from my documents folder (or wherever you saved your files). You can also import files one at a time into each track, but if you drag multiple files at once, BandLab will create a new track for each file.
The tracks are listed from top to bottom. BandLab automatically color codes your tracks but you can change the color and the order that they appear by clicking on the three dot menu to the right of the track name. The track name, order it appears in the editor, and the color do not affect the sound quality of your project -- these are all features that you can use to help yourself stay organized in the project.
The playback controls include pause, play, stop, forward, back, and record. You can play/stop by hitting the space bar. You can record directly to BandLab and you can record over any track. To avoid recording over a track, create a new track (the 'Add Track' button in the upper left above your track titles) and then hit the record button.
BandLab is non-destructive, which means that as you delete content in your timeline, it is actually still there to retrieve later. For example, if you delete the first few seconds of your recording, you can click and drag the left-hand edge of that segment to reveal or recover the deleted section.
BandLab allows you to move the order of the tracks as they show up in the workspace. For the most part, the order is a matter of personal preference and you will likely change the order several times throughout the editing process. To change the order, I can simply click on the three dots menu next to the name of each track and select 'move up' or 'move down.'
I can hide a track by clicking the mute button. I can hide all other tracks by clicking the solo button. Both of these are located below the track name. You can mute multiple tracks simultaneously and/or solo multiple tracks simultaneously. Depending the number of tracks you want to mute, one of these may be easier than the other -- this is a matter of personal preference.
I will begin my podcast with background music and then fade that back when I begin talking. So I will move those two tracks to the top of the workspace and I will mute the hiking sound and the interviewee tracks while I work on these first two tracks.
You can jump to different time points in the projects by clicking on the timeline at the top of the tracks. The project will play when you click on the timeline. You can select a section of a track by selecting (click and drag) the section and then hitting the space bar.
I can change my view of the tracks to be able to see a section more closely or to be able to see the entirety of a long section at once by using magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the timeline. If you double click on a segment, it will also open up the exploded view in the lower part of the screen, which is a much bigger view of the segment. There are also options for zooming within the exploded view. For longer projects, you will likely use these tool dozens of times throughout the editing process to get a closer view of things and be able to really fine tune your timings.
I will use the Zoom tool to sync up the claps in the speakers' tracks. This will enable me to fine-tune the placement of those tracks so that the claps happen at exactly the same time.
To undo or redo any changes you make, press ctrl+Z.
The automation tool allows you to set different volume levels at different points on the timeline throughout a track. We can use the automation tool to fade the background music out as the speaker starts talking. To activate the automation tool, click on the little icon that looks like two dots connected by lines that is next to the 'Add Track' button above your track controls on the left.
When the tool is active, you'll see a white volume level line within each track. You can double-click anywhere on the line to create a point at which the volume will change. If you create one point and then click and drag that point, you can raise or lower the output level of that track. If you create another point after that first point, you can lower that point and the level will fade from the first point down to the second point and then the level will stay at that same level following the second point.
If you lower that second point all the way down to the bottom of the track, you'll see that it is at negative infinity decibels -- this means no output or sound at all from that track. This is a great way to fade out our intro music once the speaker begins talking. We can either drop it all the way so that the song can't be heard at all, or we can lower it down to the point where it is still audible but doesn't make it difficult to understand the speaker.
If we want to then fade the background music back up later in the podcast, we can create two new points on the timeline and raise the second point to bring the music level higher and more prominent in the listener's ear.
The automation tool allows you to drag the points back and forward along the timeline to adjust how gradual a fade is. You can delete a points by double-clicking them. You can reset the entire track's points by right-clicking and selecting 'Reset Automation.'
To delete an entire segment, you can select it (click on it with the selection tool - if you still have the automation tool active, click the automation icon to get back to the selection tool) and hit the delete key. You can undo this by hitting ctrl+Z. If you have automation timings attached to a segment, you'll be prompted to decide if you want to also delete those.
You can also click and drag the start or end of a segment to delete the beginning or end.
To slice a segment, place the playhead where you want to create the slice, then click on the main menu and select 'Edit' and then 'Slice at Playhead.' If you want to delete the middle section of a recording, this will allow you to drag one of the edges of the new slice or you can create two slices and delete the segment between those slices to remove the middle section.
Since BandLab is non-destructive, there isn't a whole lot of difference between doing this and using the automation tool and changing the volume levels. The automation tool can be used for a lot more than just volume levels, but for our purposes, it's a great and easy way to do what we need without making too many steps.
To increase the overall volume of my voice recordings, I am going to increase the gain of each. I'm going to amplify the entire duration of each voice recording, so I will double-click the track to view the exploded view. Down to the left of the exploded view, there is a slider with the title 'Region Gain.' I can move this slider up (to the right) or down (to the left) to boost or lower the gain of the segment. When boosting the gain, be sure to avoid 'clipping,' which occurs when the peaks of the waveform are amplified so much that they are cut off, creating distortion -- you can see this visibly in the waveform when those peaks hit the upper or limit and are cut off or have a flattened peak.
For more info on using the Region Gain tool, visit the BandLab help page: How do I adjust the Gain level of my audio regions?
Once you have amplified your voice recordings you may notice that any imperfections have also been amplified. If you have a continuous white noise or background noise that you find distracting, such a ventilation system or computer fan, you can eliminate that sound from your recording. BandLab makes it quite painless by using the Denoise tool. You can remove background noise by simply right-clicking the segment and selecting 'Denoise.' You should see that any quiet areas in the waveform (the flat-ish sections) are now completely flat lines and may not even show in the editor view at all.
For more information on using the denoise tool, visit the help page: How do I remove background noise?
Within any track, I can click on a segment and drag it to any location along the timeline. If you have the automation tool enabled, you will need to disable it so that you can move a segment (click the automation tool button to toggle it on and off). It's helpful to move the two interview tracks to be next to each other in the track listing, so that one is right above the other. Then find the clap sound in each -- this should be a very tall and short vertical line or wave and will not necessarily show up in the same general area of each track. You might want to use the solo button to isolate the sound for each when you're determining where the clap is.
Once you know where the clap in each track is, position the first speaker along the timeline where you want them to start in the podcast. Then drag the other speaker's segment so that the clap in that segment lines up with the clap in the first speaker's segment. You will want to use the zoom tool (magnifying glass icons in the upper right-hand corner of the timeline) to zoom in so that you can fine-tune the position of the second speaker's segment. However, they don't need to line up exactly in the same spot, but they should be quite close.
You can learn more about these and the other tools at the BandLab Studio help page.