Soundtrack Pro
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Soundtrack Pro is a discontinued music composing and audio editing application made by Apple Inc. featured in
Logic Studio Logic Studio is a discontinued professional music production suite by Apple Inc. The first version of Logic Studio was unveiled on September 12, 2007. It claims to be the largest collection of modeled instruments, sampler instruments, effect plu ...
and
Final Cut Studio Final Cut Studio is a discontinued professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X from Apple Inc., and a direct competitor to Avid Media Composer in the high-end movie production industry. It was developed from 2005 to 2011. Three o ...
that included a collection of just over 5,000 royalty free professional instrument loops and sound effects. It was discontinued with the release of Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.


History

An earlier incarnation of the package, Soundtrack, was first sold as part of Apple's
Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Mac computers powered by macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later. The ...
4 video editor, released in April 2003. It was then released as a stand-alone product, but due to low demand it was discontinued. The main concept of Soundtrack was to allow people who are not professional
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...
s to produce original music for their videos or DVDs, royalty-free. The music could be easily scored to
QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is a ...
movies and
Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Mac computers powered by macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later. The ...
projects. Soundtrack was reinstated in January 2005 as part of Final Cut Express HD. Soundtrack ''Pro'' was introduced on April 17, 2005 as a stand-alone product and as part of the
Final Cut Studio Final Cut Studio is a discontinued professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X from Apple Inc., and a direct competitor to Avid Media Composer in the high-end movie production industry. It was developed from 2005 to 2011. Three o ...
suite, where it integrates with Final Cut Pro. Soundtrack (non-Pro) was removed from Final Cut Pro. There was also an upgrade package for users of Soundtrack. As of January 10, 2006, the stand-alone product has been dropped again. Soundtrack Pro adds features for professional
audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction ...
s and
sound designer In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
s, and focuses more on sound editing than the original Soundtrack. Since September 2007 Soundtrack Pro also comes as part of the
Logic Studio Logic Studio is a discontinued professional music production suite by Apple Inc. The first version of Logic Studio was unveiled on September 12, 2007. It claims to be the largest collection of modeled instruments, sampler instruments, effect plu ...
bundle, Apple's own audio and midi sequencing software. But it was removed from Logic Studio when
Logic Pro Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by E ...
was moved to the App Store on December 8, 2011. Soundtrack Pro 2 is included in Final Cut Studio 2 (2008). Also see a release history in context with the rest of Final Cut Studio.


Features

Soundtrack Pro has two main modes: multitrack mode and editing mode.


Multitrack mode

Multitrack mode is where the royalty-free instrument loops and sound effects can be arranged in synchronisation with the video track, and where narration or other external audio sources can be recorded. There are both single and multi-take recording features. As with all of Apple's loop arranging software, the project's master key and
tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
can be set, and all of the loops will automatically be played at those settings, regardless of the key and tempo at which they were originally recorded. At the same time, the key and tempo for the whole project can be varied over time with the master envelopes. Envelopes are a sequence of keyframes that can be applied to audio parameters. Each individual track has envelopes for volume and pan by default. Adding keyframes to these envelopes (effectively lines that run beneath each track) allows the parameters to be varied over time. Each track can also have filters and effects applied to it; these could be
Audio Units Audio Units (AU) are a system-level plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio in Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. Audio Units are a set of application programming interface (API) services provided by the operating system to genera ...
or
Logic Pro Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by E ...
plug-ins - examples of those included are Compressor, Multipressor, Flanger, Space Designer and Ringshifter. Every parameter of these effects can also be automated (that is, changed over time). In addition, there is a
mixer Mixer may refer to: Electronics * DJ mixer, a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys * Electronic mixer, electrical circuit for adding signal voltages * Frequency mixer, electrical circuit that creates new frequencies from two signals ...
interface. Using the 'touch' or 'latch' modes, changes to volume, pan and effects parameters can be recorded in real time as the project plays. Soundtrack Pro also supports external hardware mixers, or control surfaces.


Audio editing mode

The audio-editing mode is where individual clips can be edited. The
waveform In electronics, acoustics, and related fields, the waveform of a signal is the shape of its graph as a function of time, independent of its time and magnitude scales and of any displacement in time.David Crecraft, David Gorham, ''Electro ...
, as well as a
frequency spectrum The power spectrum S_(f) of a time series x(t) describes the distribution of power into frequency components composing that signal. According to Fourier analysis, any physical signal can be decomposed into a number of discrete frequencies, ...
, can be viewed for the clip. The audio can be analyzed for common audio problems such as clicks and pops, power line hum and clipped signals, and then any discovered problems can be fixed. Audio can be faded in and out, the amplitude can be altered for a selection, noise can be removed and silence, waveforms and ambient noise can be inserted. There is also a selection history tool that cycles between previous selections. After zooming in on the individual samples in the audio waveform, the pen tool can be used to edit the wave directly. There is a time-stretch tool for changing the speed of a clip, or a part thereof. Sound editing in the application is based on actions. The actions performed on a clip, such as reversing it, inverting it or normalizing it, are listed on the left-hand side, where they can be reviewed, disabled, reverted or re-ordered. Unchecking the check box for one action removes its effect (and the waveform changes animatedly to reflect the change). Moving the purple tag upwards cycles back through the actions history. The program also features
AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control over scriptable Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in all versions of macOS as part of a package of system aut ...
automation and batch processing, for which it also provides actions for
Mac OS X v10.4 Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Som ...
's Automator application.


Integration

Soundtrack Pro is designed to be used in combination with Final Cut Pro, both of which are included in the Final Cut Studio box set. It supports a 'roundtrip' workflow, in which Final Cut Pro sequences can be exported as small reference files that include scoring markers. These reference files are then dragged from Soundtrack Pro's Browser tab to the video pane. The video track includes thumbnails of the video at each scoring marker (not where there were scene breaks in Final Cut). Once the soundtrack is finished, it is exported as a mix (i.e. all the tracks are flattened together) and can then be imported into Final Cut. If the soundtrack needs to be changed, the Soundtrack Pro project file can be re-opened at any time, but the changes will only show up in Final Cut when the mix has been re-exported (to the same file). The program also allows multitrack projects to be exported directly with
Compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can tr ...
settings.


See also

* Walter Murch, an editor who advocated for Soundtrack Pro. *
GarageBand GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife softwar ...
, a similar program aimed at home users. *
Logic Express Logic Express was a "light" version of Logic Pro, a MIDI sequencer and digital audio workstation software application maintained by Apple that runs on the Mac OS X platform. It was announced on January 15, 2004, for release in March 2004. Logi ...
, a similar program aimed at amateur musicians (prosumers). *
Logic Pro Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by E ...
, a professional music-production application.


References


External links


Apple.com—Soundtrack Pro
{{Apple software Audio editors MacOS-only software made by Apple Inc.