Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Envelope, Please

31/07/2020

Studio One V5 adds Event Gain Envelopes for audio, which joins Event Level Envelopes and Track Automation Envelopes. So, how do you choose the right tool for the right job? Let's use a paint brush analogy: Event Level Envelopes (ELE) are like broad brushes, Track Automation Envelopes (TAE) are medium brushes, and Event Gain Envelopes (EGE) are the fine-pointed brushes you use for detail work.

EVENT GAIN ENVELOPE BASICS

To work with EGEs, right-click on an audio Event (EGEs don't work with Instrument Tracks unless transformed to audio) and check the Gain Envelope box. Unchecking this show/hide function does not remove edits, it just hides the EGE.

The envelope will be visible on that Event and any copies of the Event.

Editing an Event's EGE makes the same edits in any copies.

If you don't want a copy to be affected, bounce it to itself before adding an envelope.

Editing an EGE is like editing a TAE: add nodes, bend curves, type in values, hover over the Event's upper quarter and drag up or down to alter the envelope gain over a selected range, etc.

Like TAE, if you move the Event, the EGE moves with it.

Next, let's turn our attention to which envelope type is best suited to particular use cases.

EVENT LEVEL ENVELOPE

Some people think the EGE replaces the ELE, but I think the ELE remains the fastest way to trim an Event's level-click and drag. This is particularly useful to change the response of subsequent level-sensitive processors, like compressors, amp sims, limiters, envelope followers, and so on. For details on this technique, check out the Friday Tip Yet Another Use for Event Envelopes. ELEs are also the quickest way to add a fade in or fade out to a group of multiple Events. For example, if you've split a series of vocal Events just before an inhale, it's easy to reduce the inhale on all Events simultaneously.

EVENT GAIN ENVELOPE

I've often mentioned that rather than use heavy compression on vocals, I instead adjust levels manually to even out variations, before applying a light amount of compression. This is covered in the Friday tip Better Vocals with Phrase-by-Phrase Normalization. While this technique is still fast and effective with ELEs, EGEs allow for much more detailed editing.

Figure 1: The EGE in the lower view has smoothed out level changes in the upper waveform.

In Fig. 1, the first waveform in the upper image would be difficult to level with an ELE. Splitting would likely cause some discontinuities, resulting in potential pops. Fixing this would then require crossfading across the split.

The EGE makes levelling much easier. Furthermore, selecting the Region containing the envelope allows using the Trim function to bring up the audio's overall level. (And before proceeding, it's time for a moment of levity: Microsoft Word automatically writes Alt Text to caption images based on pattern recognition. It determined that Fig. 1 was a picture containing water, outdoor, dog, lake. )

The EGE is also great for reducing levels of p-pops, manually editing ess sounds, reducing pick noise at the beginning of a guitar attack, minimizing the severity of inhales, and more. It can bring up the decay of a guitar note to provide a more consistent signal to a compression, create extremely precise fadeouts, and more. The bottom line is when you need detailed level control, EGE is the droid you're looking for.

TRACK AUTOMATION ENVELOPE

Prior to the addition of EGE, this was the preferred way to do what the EGE can do. However, there are three main drawbacks compared to the EGE.

The waveform graphic doesn't change to reflect level changes, whereas with the EGE, you can see how level change affect the waveform level.

Changes made to one Event aren't duplicated in other Events.

You've now dedicated the TAE to a specific function, so using it for traditional level automation can be more of a problem.

The latter showcases a major advantage of having multiple envelopes: the EGE and ELE can do detailed changes on specific Events, while the TAE does overall level changes for the track. For example, imagine if you had to use the EGE in Fig. 1 to create an overall level fade. It's doable, but would take a lot more work than just using a TAE to fade out over the duration of the clip.

FINAL COMMENTS

All these envelopes can exist concurrently. However, you may need to change the editing environment. For example, suppose you've added an EGE to an Event, and now you want to add an ELE. You can't do that while the Envelope Gain is showing, because Studio One assumes that any editing you want to do is to the Envelope Gain. So, uncheck the Envelope Gain box, and now you can use the ELE to change the level or fade. The waveform will reflect these changes, as well as any you added with the EGE.

Sometimes it's a toss-up as to which approach is best. To even out level variations in vocals, if it's mostly a question of changing the level of phrases, it's often easiest to split at the beginning and end of the phrase and alter the level with the ELE. But if you need to go granular with changing overbearing consonants, breath noises, mouth clicks, and the like, then the EGE is the way to go.
LINK: https://blog.presonus.com/index.php/2020/07/31/the-envelope-please/...
See more stories from presonus

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

30/05/2026

NAB Asks FCC to Shift Regulatory Fee Burden to Big Tech, Broadband

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/05/2026

NAB Announces 2026 Board Election Results

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/05/2026

IAB Tech Lab Releases Guidance for Managing AI Crawlers and Bots

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/05/2026

Zero in on one that says yes (and no)

Zero in on one that says yes (and no) Andy Marken May 29, 2026 0 Comments Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos For content creators the most difficu...

29/05/2026

InfoComm 2026: NDI Demos NDI 6.3, Hands-On Presentation About Educational Integrations

With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...

29/05/2026

Bell Media Inks New Long-Term Media Rights Deal for Broadcast, Streaming of the Canadian Football League

Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...

29/05/2026

Spring 2026 TV Survey: Vertical Live Matters. The Bigger Story Is Context

Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format Ring Digital's Sprin...

29/05/2026

Germanys Berliner Ensemble Bolsters Backstage Infrastructure With Riedel Stage Systems

Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...

29/05/2026

InfoComm 2026: Solid State Logic Spotlights TCA Tour, Live V6.2 Software, New SSL Live Trade-in Program

Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...

29/05/2026

Gerald Jerry Pierce, Architect of Modern Digital Cinema, Passes Away at Age 73

Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...

29/05/2026

CBS Sports Becomes New Home of Barclays Women's Super League Thorough 2029-2030

Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...

29/05/2026

Calrec Scales ImPulseV to Empower Broadcasters With Greater Choice in Virtualized Workflows

Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...

29/05/2026

Switzerlands Canal Alpha Streamlines Playout to Delivery With Harmonic

Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...

29/05/2026

InfoComm 2026: PTZOptics Showcases Intelligent Video Ecosystem

PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...

29/05/2026

Arizona's Family Sports Debuts Direct-to-Consumer Streaming App

Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...

29/05/2026

DAZN Brings The Canadian Football Leagues Saturday Night Football to the Masses in New Media Rights Deal

Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...

29/05/2026

Comcast Business Supports Advanced Technology Infrastructure at Levi's Stadium for Fan Experience, Venue Operations

Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...

29/05/2026

College Sports-Production Community Gathers in Atlanta for 2026 SVG College Summit

In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...

29/05/2026

TBT Reaches Two-Year Extension With FOX Sports for New-Look $2 Million Tournament

The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...

29/05/2026

Roku Expands Premium Subscriptions Experience with FOX One

Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...

29/05/2026

CBS Sports UEFA Champions League Today Studio Show Heads Budapest for Final as Transcontinental Popularity Grows

In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...

29/05/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA, NHL Playoffs and Indy 500 Photo Finish Power a Record-Setting Week

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...

29/05/2026

Your Summer 2026 Soundtrack? Spotify's Predictions Are In

The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...

29/05/2026

Akai Pro unveil the MPC Live III Retro

New retro-inspired MPC announced There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...

29/05/2026

Bjooks Beat Gems Kickstarter continues

Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...

29/05/2026

Genelec update Aural ID

Binaural monitoring application improved Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...

29/05/2026

IMSTA FESTA 2026

6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...

29/05/2026

Remembering Gerald Jerry Pierce, Architect of Modern Digital Cinema

Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...

29/05/2026

Roku Unveils Redesigned TV Home Screen

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

Sinclair and AMP Sports to Launch Style of Play' Podcast

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

TV Pharma Ads Are Getting Longer, VAB Says

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality

Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality Kate Luvis May 29, 2026 0 Comments Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...

29/05/2026

Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton May 29, 2026 0 Comments Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...

29/05/2026

FCC Reminds Broadcasters of Their Public Interest Obligations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

Roku Unveils New TV Home Screen

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

Sinclair and AMP Sports Announce New 'Style of Play' Podcast

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

Study: YouTube Leads Global Streaming Ad Growth

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

TV Pharma Ads Are Getting Longer, According to VAB

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/05/2026

At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration

At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...

29/05/2026

Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to Video Content with Dolby Atmos

May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...

29/05/2026

Audiences Are Everywhere. Your Ad Strategy Should Be Too.

Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...

29/05/2026

Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza returns with another new lineup of eight comics

Youtube exclusive special drops today Watch now UKTV today announces another e...

29/05/2026

The Official Trailer of 'Physical 100' Italy, on Netflix From September 11

Back to All News The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...

29/05/2026

Genelec announces V2.1 for Aural ID binaural headphone monitoring application

Genelec announces V2.1 for Aural ID binaural headphone monitoring application posted: 29/05/2026 Aural ID 2.1 enhances binaural monitoring for stereo and ...

29/05/2026

Super Garden 2026 winner revealed

At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...