3.1.1 Launching the Editor

To start the editor application, select the editor application in the Windows NT Start menu, or double click on the desktop icon:

The software will start, and the following ‘about’ box will appear:

This box shows the editor version you are using. Click Desired number of tracks to clear the box.

3.1.2 Working with Projects

After clearing the ‘about’ box, the editor will be ready to use. By default, a new, blank project will be started.

The following section explains how projects are used.

What is a Project?

A Project is where all the information relating to the edits which are made is stored. Projects contain all the information necessary to save the edited version except the source audio files. These remain in their original location, and are not changed. In this way, several projects which use the same source audio files can all be stored using very little disc space, which no requirement to make multiple copies of the audio files. A Project, then, is basically an EDL (Edit Decision List). Projects are stored as files with a .BED extension.

To start work on a new project, it is not necessary to create a new project after the editor is started. You can start working directly into the blank project.

To open an previously project, click ‘Open Existing’. A standard Windows open dialog will appear, and the required project (identified by filename) can be selected.

To start a new project, the ‘Create New’ item in the file menu is used. This starts a new blank project, and closes any project which is currently open. If changes to the currently opened project have been made. The BMS editor will ask if you want to save the project before continuing.

Clicking ‘Exit’ in the ‘File’ menu will close the editor.

When either a new project is created, or an existing project opened, the main Editor window is activated. If a new project is started, the edit window is blank. If an existing project is opened, the audio segments and edits previously performed are visible.

3.1.3 Importing and playing Audio files

If a new Project has been started, the edit window is blank. The first stage in carrying out editing is to import some audio to the editor. There are two ways to do this – either to record some audio directly into the editor from an external source, or to open an existing .WAV file.

For more information about recording audio directly into the editor, see section 6.1“Making a Recording”.

To import an existing audio file select ‘Import Audio’ from the FILE menu.

Select the file you wish to import in the ‘open file’ dialog, and the file will be imported into the editor.

Note that the original source file is not copied, and the editor continues to access it from its original location. Importing it into the Project simply makes that file available in that project.

The file will be visible in the main edit window as a waveform representation.

Notes

· The file is placed with the beginning of the file at the current playback cursor position

· When a new file is imported, there may be a short delay as the waveform display is generated. This only happens when a new file is first imported. If the file is subsequently re-imported, the waveform display will appear instantly.

· It is not necessary to wait until the waveform has been drawn before commencing with editing operations.

To play the file, click on the PLAY icon, or press the spacebar on the computer keyboard. The playback marker should advance through the audio, and the corresponding audio should be heard.

If no audio is heard, see appendix II “Troubleshooting” for more information.

The file is now ready to be edited.