NGWave Audio/Sound/MP3 Editor: Editing Basics Part I

If you have never used an audio editor on the PC before, NGWave is a great choice to start with. With its lightening speed and unmatched visual representation, NGWave will get you up to speed in no time.

NGWave 2.0's Help File gives a good introduction for new users. We recommend downloading the FREE evaluation version, and reading through the Getting Started section of the help file (which is launched automatically when you first run NGWave). Alternatively we have a PDF version of the manual available by clicking here.

Sound Basics

Sound is simply a variation in air pressure. Analog devices record or reproduce this by attempting to mimic the air pressure variations. A loudspeaker, for example, modifies the pressure of the surrounding air by moving a cone in and out of its shell. Similarly, a microphone picks up these variations in air pressure. Its diaphram (like the cone in the loudspeaker) moves with the pressure changes, and the pickup detects the changes and converts them to an electrical signal.

Digital audio goes a step further, by quantifying these changes. Many times a second, the current position is recorded as a number. The frequency at which this takes place is called the Sampling Frequency, or Sample Rate. By storing numbers instead of arbitrary magnetic positions, digital audio is able to more accurately reproduce the original sound.

Each sample is represented by a number corresponding to the level of the audio at that point. A Compact Disc holds digitized audio that was sampled 44,100 times per second. Each sample is represented as a 16-Bit number, giving it 65,536 possible levels for each sample. The number of bits used to store each sample is referred to as the Bit Resolution.

PC Sound Editing

Sound editing on the PC has been around for quite a while. As PCs become faster and less expensive, sound editing becomes easier and more practical.

Operations that would take hours a few short years ago can be accomplished in mere seconds these days. NGWave expands on that, and attempts to be faster at most things than most other editors.

Wave-form Display

The most basic concept in audio editing is the Wave-Form Display. This is basically a visual representation of the sound you are working with. This may not seem to make sense at first -- you certainly can't "see" sound -- but it will become second nature before you know it. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the concept by experimenting on some sound files, and getting a feel for how each sound "looks" on your screen.