Splitting Tracks

In the Split Tracks window, you can:

• Enter track listings
• Split up your recordings into individual tracks
• Use the waveform display and toolbar to fine tune your results

You can also edit an album title and/or artist, by selecting the album from the drop-down box, right-clicking on it and selecting Edit Album Info.

Entering or Editing a Track Listing

It is worth doing this first as it makes splitting the recording into tracks much easier subsequently. You can do this while recording is in progress.

The first thing to try is VinylStudio's Lookup Track Listing feature. With luck, this will find a track listing which matches, or closely matches, your album. Most of the online databases (but not Amazon) also include track times, in which case VinylStudio will create trackbreaks for you in more or less the right places. If not, or if the retrieved listing is inaccurate, read on.

There are a number of tools in the Split Tracks window to edit an incorrect or incomplete listing, or to enter one from scratch:

• to add tracks, type them in at the end of the list; you can then drag them to the correct position in the list if necessary
• to edit a track name, click on it and press F2; you can also edit the track time in this way (press tab)
• to move a track in the list, click on it and drag it to the correct position in the list
• to delete a track, click on it and press Del
• for more options, right-click in the list

When editing track information, use the arrow or tab keys to navigate in the list. If you make a mistake, use Undo (Ctrl+Z). To preserve your existing trackbreaks when moving or deleting a track, hold down the shift key.

If you have the track times to hand (on the LP sleeve, say, or on the disc itself), it is worth typing them in, especially for classical music, as VinylStudio will then create trackbreaks for you in more or less the right places.

Splitting Your Recordings into Tracks

If you have entered (or been able to lookup) reasonably accurate track times as described above, you are already most of the way there as VinylStudio will have inserted trackbreak markers for you and you will just need to position them accurately in the gaps between the tracks as described below. If not, you can try your luck with VinylStudio's Scan for Trackbreaks feature. You will need to wait for recording to complete first, of course, and results can vary depending on the nature of the music.

Whatever stage you are at in the track-splitting process, you can insert and / or adjust trackbreaks manually in the waveform display using the controls in the toolbar beneath it. Here is an example, with a few trackbreaks already defined:

To insert a trackbreak, drag the cursor (click on the ) to the gap between the tracks and click on the Insert Trackbreak button ; you can also add a trackbreak by double-clicking anywhere in the waveform display.

To adjust the position of a trackbreak, click on and drag the trackbreak marker in question. To position it precisely, zoom in using the zoom buttons in the toolbar (see below), the scroll wheel on your mouse or the + and - keys. Move the cursor to the area of interest first - VinylStudio centres this in the display when you zoom in.

To delete a trackbreak, click on the relevant marker and then click on the Delete Trackbreak button .

To eliminate the gap between tracks, position the trackbreak at the end of the first track (zooming in as necessary) then click on and drag the green start marker while holding down the shift key. VinylStudio (usually) automatically eliminates the dead air at the end of the LP side.

Getting around in the Waveform Display

It is well worth learning how the waveform display works (and the toolbar beneath it) to get the best out of VinylStudio.

To position the cursor (the vertical black line in the waveform display), click anywhere in the waveform display or click on the and drag it to where you want it to be. VinylStudio uses the cursor to center the dislay when you zoom in, and moves the cursor along the display when the track is playing.

To zoom in an out, use the various zoom buttons in the toolbar listed above, the scroll wheel on your mouse or the + and - keys. Move the cursor to the area of interest first - VinylStudio centres this in the display when you zoom in.

A number of functions are also available by right-clicking in the waveform display.

Using the Toolbar

The toolbar beneath the waveform display provides a number of tools to help you split your recordings into tracks quickly and efficiently. Letters in brackets are shortcut keys:

(space bar)	Starts playing from the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to position the cursor if necessary.
	Stops playing
(S)	Plays the current selection (shown highlighted in yellow in the waveform display). To define a selection, click and drag in the waveform display while holding down the shift key. To clear the current selection, press Esc.
(1)	Plays a brief snatch of music spanning 1 second either side of the current cursor position.
	Determines whether the display pans to follow the cursor when it moves off the right-hand edge of the screen while playing.
	Stop playing at the next end-of-track marker.
(+)	Zoom in, centering the display at the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to position the cursor to the area of interest if necessary. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll wheel.
(-)	Zoom out. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll wheel.
(Z)	Zoom in (or out) so that the current selection exactly fills the window.
(A)	Zoom all the way out (so that the entire recording is visible).
(B)	Insert a trackbreak at the current cursor position. You can do this while the recording is playing if you wish, which can be handy for live albums. You can also insert a trackbreak by double-clicking anywhere in the waveform display.
(D or Del)	Delete the trackbreak under the cursor. Click on the trackbreak you want to delete first.
	Displays instructions on how to eliminate the gap between tracks.
(T)	Zoom in (or out) such that the current track exactly fills the window. This also opens the track details dialog, which allows you (amongst other things) to fade the track in or out.
(F)	Adjust the faders for the trackbreak under the cursor. This lets you set up a 'cross-fade' between one track and the next. Click on a trackbreak first.
	Scan for the end of the current track.
	Opens the scan settings dialog. Scanning for trackbreaks is not an exact science, so some adjustment of these settings may be needed to get the best results.
(C)	Determines whether you hear corrected or uncorrected (i.e. the original, as recorded) audio when you click Play. Corrections, such as scanning for clicks and removing tape hiss, are applied in the Cleanup Audio window.
	Turns off audio in the left or right-hand channel (so that you can listen to just one).
	Opens the Windows mixer applet, which allows you to adjust the playback volume.

TIP: it's worth learning the short-cut keys for the functions you use most; it can save a lot of time if you have a lot of albums to process. The short-cut key for a particular toolbar button is also displayed when you hover over it with the mouse.