Getting Started With Audio Mentor
Getting Started With Audio Mentor
You won?t find an easier product to use for this type of work. Each screen is explained by our Training Wheels Help system. Even though each step is explained in great detail, we?ve also included a demo file and will take you through a quick tutorial.
- After you launch Audio Mentor, click on the Start Button
- On the next screen where you choose the source you plan to process, just click on the File button
- You?ll see one file already copied here called Demo1.wav
- Click on this file and then press the Done button
- You?ll then be whisked into the processing page. Click on Demo1.wav again and then click on the Preview button. What you?ll hear is a standard old 78 recording?complete with clicks, pops, some hiss and some surface noise. Prepare to be amazed
- If the file hasn?t stopped playing, the Preview button has changed to a Stop button?just click on it again to stop playback.
- Now click on the Clean button and our Cleaning page will appear. You should see the default settings for this set at Scratch (70.00), Crackle (65.00) and Hiss (45.00). Press the Preview button. You should hear that same file, but now missing all of the noise. To hear a before and after, just click on the Bypass button?this will engage or disengage the filtering.
- The next step is simply to hit the Process button to make what you?re hearing permanent.
- When you?re working on your own files, you can make adjustments to any of these filters while the music is playing?this makes it very easy to ?dial in? your audio until it sounds perfect to your ears.
Though the product is extremely easy to use in conjunction with its onboard Training Wheels Help System, there are several items that cannot be covered in that Help and we thought we?d review them briefly here
The Setup Menu
To access Mentor?s Setup menu, you simply right click your mouse anywhere in the body of the program and the menu will instantly appear. From here, you?ll be able to register the product, setup the MP3 encoder, the sound card and other preferences that we?ll outline below.
MP3 encoder- This product ships with an MP3 encoder. If you just want to make MP3 files and have no preference?you don?t even need to read this! You also can download other encoders on the Internet and tell Mentor here. This is just available if you have an MP3 encoder that you?d prefer to use. To change MP3 encoders, just click on the Browse button and show Mentor where you have the .dll or exe version of that encoder
Sound Card- Mentor has a list of all of your onboard sound cards as seen by Windows. This is just duplicate information that already appears in the Mentor Wizard, so you don?t need to change this unless you have a specific reason to do so.
Preferences- If you are new to Mentor, there is really very little reason for you to experiment with the Preferences Menu. The product is designed to work right out of the box and to make your experiences as painless as possible. However, we will explain each heading that you?ll come across in here just so you know what it does.
Drive and Directory For (Bin 1, Bin 2, Bin 3) This is just the location of the bins necessary for Mentor to function. They default to the Documents and Settings/Owner/My Documents/My Music/ subdirectories. You can change these by simply clicking on the (? ) buttons to the right of each listing.
Drive and Directory For Presets This is where factory presets as well as your own presets will appear. To change this directory, just click on the (?) button to the right.
File Path For Advanced Wave Editor If you are using Audio Mentor in conjunction with DC SIX, DC FIVE, DC Millennium or another wave editor, just click on the (? ) to the right and point it to the exe file for that application on your hard disk. From this point on, when you click on the ADV button in the upper left of Mentor, it will launch that application with your current wave file automatically.
Other Settings Checkboxes Click on these items to activate them. A check in the checkbox means that this particular feature is now active in Mentor.
CD RIP Audio CDDB Lookup If you have an active Internet connection on your machine and place a prerecorded CD in your CD ROM, it will instantly look up this disc on the Internet and fill in the record and song titles automatically for you.
Devices: Use WDM Drivers (Direct X) There are different drivers used by Windows to pass sound through your machine. This system defaults to the newer WDM drivers, but there are still some sound cards which only support the older MME drivers. If your system is working perfectly, there is no need to uncheck this box, however, if you have trouble recording or playing, you may want to uncheck this box and try it again.
Processing: Loop Previews This simply means that whenever you audition any filter in Mentor, your file will play over and over again while you?re adjusting things. This means that you get a constant stream of audio so you can judge the filtering without interruption.
Recording: Record in Pro Quality (24 Bit 96 kHz) All CDs end up at 16 bit 44.1 kHz. No matter how you record the audio into the system, Mentor will automatically default to 16 bit 44.1 kHz to make CDs. If you have a professional sound card on your system, you may want to record in your audio at the 24-bit 96kHz sampling rate in order to archive that untreated audio so that you can revisit it at a later date for backup purposes. If your end goal is to simply record CDs from vinyl or tape, then leave this box unchecked.
Recording: Set High Auto Detect Level If you are having problems with Mentor automatically recording or going into pause mode automatically between songs, you may want to try checking this box. Mentor tries to sense silence at the beginning of a record or at the end of a record. If you don?t have a very high quality sound card, it will sense the noise on the line and begin recording. By checking this box, you will set the trigger for recording and pausing a little higher and have the chance to fix this problem. Of course, if your audio has a quieter introduction, Mentor may also wait too long to start recording and miss the intro. If the automatic recording function fails, you can always just set the system to record manually and it simply mimics a standard tape recorder from that point.
Sounds: Use Chime Sound At The End Of Processing If you want the system to provide an audible chime when it?s finished a processing job, just check this box. If you are monitoring the sound manually while working with Mentor, you may want to uncheck this.
Questions?
We have tried to make this product as easy to use as is humanly possible. But don?t feel bad if you get stuck somewhere and need help. Just call us at 717 764 9240 and we?ll not only answer the phone, but we?ll also help you get the product up and running. Our office hours are Monday-Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST. If our ?on? hours don?t click with your ?off? hours, simply email us at [email protected] and we?ll answer you as quickly as we can.
