User Guide

AVAILABLE RECORDING TIME
Near the bottom of the Record dialog you will see the Time recorded and Time left
on drive fields. These two boxes show how much time you have recorded and
how much time is available on your hard drive for additional recording. If
your Time left on drive field shows a limited amount of available time, you may
want to free up some space on your hard drive or pick an alternate drive
where Sound Forge XP stores its temporary files. You can get more
information on temporary file usage by referring to the Temporary Storage
section in chapter 6, Sound Forge XP Reference.
RECORD METERS
The Record Meters can be scaled to view differing dynamic ranges by right-
clicking on the meters and selecting the appropriate range from the shortcut
menu. For most recording situations it is probably best to select -42 to 0 dB,
as this is the most practical range to view a good record signal. To view very
low levels, select -90 to 0 dB. This is a good way to measure the amount of
noise you have in your system due to noisy sound sources and/or poor
equipment (such as an inexpensive sound card).
Also in this shortcut menu, you can set the meters to Hold Peaks and Hold Valleys.
A good way to view the peak levels while setting the record level is to select
Hold Peaks (see Adjusting Levels Using the Peak below). To reset the current peak,
single-click on the meter’s text output (just above the meters).
CHECKING RECORD LEVELS
Sound Forge XP allows you to check the level of your input source before
recording begins.To view your levels, select the Monitor check box. The meters
will light up in relation to the level of the incoming signal. For best results,
the input level should be somewhere in the yellow range with an occasional
red. Once your levels are checked you can immediately begin recording by
selecting the Record button. If you do not see the meters light up, you may have
your mixer levels or input source set incorrectly. (For more information, refer
to Appendix B, Troubleshooting.)
RECORDING
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