In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to configure an external audio editor within Live, then invoke this editor to tweak audio within a clip. In this case I'll be using the external audio editor to a normalize the audio within a clip, but you can use the audio editor to make any edits you wish. This tutorial assumes you have some sort of audio editor application already installed on your system.
First you need to configure Live to specify the external audio editor you who want to use. To do this, use the "Options-> Preferences..." menu, then click the "File Folder" tab. Click the "Browse" button in the Sample Editor section. You can now browse your system for the executable of the audio editor you want to use. In the case of this example, I've selected Sound Forge. Close the preferences dialog box. The editor is now configured for use within Live.
Now, double-click on an audio clip you want to edit. To invoke the editor, right-click the waveform in the "Sample Display/Note Editor" window then select the "Manage Sample File" menu option.
This causes the select "Replace Sample Files" window to open. Click the "Edit" button for the sample you want to edit.
This launches the external audio editor and loads the sample into the editor. Note that this also takes the sample off-line within Live.
You are now free to perform any edits you wish -- and in this case I used Sound Forge to normalize the audio. Once you're done editing the audio save it using the appropriate commands from within the external audio editor.
Now return to Live (you can leave the audio editor open if you like). You'll notice that in the "Replace Files Window", the "Edit" button is illuminated for the sample you've been working on. Click the "Edit" button to reload the sample into Live and bring it back online.
As you can see from the waveform display below, the sample has been normalized and has a much higher amplitude.
Happy external audio editor tweaking!
Copyright 2007, Mark Mosher
