"Hindenburg" audio editor gets it wrong?

radi0j0hn

New member
Hindenburg Audio Editor For Broadcasting and Podcasting Blows It Bigtime.

I have been editing spoken word audio for broadcast and audiobooks ever since I got my first 550 Meg AV compatible hard drive that cost $1,000. It was worth it to finally get away from cutting audio tape and even the crude Windows programs of the time seemed miraculous.

Later, huge numbers of radio stations, including the one I managed, settled on Adobe Audition 1.5 (or 2.0) to produce commercials, news and pre-recorded shows. Audition, a modest multi-track product based on shareware’s Cool-Edit was fine for us, but there were better choices for musicians.

A lot of time editing audio is spent removing “breaths” and shorter “gasps.” To visualize the seismic style or lie-detector waveform that represents the sound, imagine the actual recording looking like this : ###########.

A breath looks a bit like this: #######------#####

A quick gasp looks like this #######<>####.

Someone saying “uh...” looks like this: #######(0)#######.

These audio flaws are very easy to spot in the visual stream representing audio. And, very much like a word processor, you highlight the ------- or <> or (0), hit delete and the audio stream comes together so there is no “hole” of silence in the audio.

If your show is a few seconds too long, often finding a few --------s or <>s can shorten the show. And pulling out every “uh...” you can find makes the guest (and whole show) sound better.

Audition 1.5 is considered obsolete and has been replaced with newer more band-friendly features. For those of us who still love the simplicity of the original, there are few choices. We could switch to Audacity which, like Audition does multi tracking needed for adding music beds, etc. But it is a bit wonky. There are several Audition wannabees, but most are only single track.

So you have few choices if you are using a Windows 10 PC other than leasing the latest Audition version for $240/year or keeping an old XP PC around, as Audio 1.5 doesn’t play well with more modern operating systems.

I was very excited to find the “Hindenburg” audio editor for podcasting, broadcasting and audiobook production. It is set up a bit like Audition 1.5, handles multiple tracks and is made for Windows 10. With prices starting at around $95 for a base model, I thought I was set. I downloaded a trial.

I loaded in an audio file to see how the editing worked and was met with visual representation of the audio totally different from ANY of the editors out there. Instead of a squiggly line like a lie-dector where breaths, gaps and “uhhh….s” could be spotted a mile way, there was this multicolored “spectral” view designed to better show volume changes. That’s something muscians want. Radio people do nice even level which is accomplished AFTER editing out all the breathes, gasps and “Uhh...s.”

I’ll check again, but to the best of my knowledge, you cannot switch to a waveform view, which renders the app useless for serious audio editing.

What were they thinking???
 
I have downloaded* and installed the program and yes, it seems a linear "waveform" veiw is not possible. I spent a good 5 minutes going through the various option on the toolbar.
I note however that Support seems quite easy to access and sak a question? Maybe do that? I am NO "coder" but since many DAWs give the two presentation options I cannot think it is big programing job?

If they fixed that it seems to be a very nice, easy to use "mini" DAW, ideal for a noob.

*I HATE those pictorial robot foilers!! The pictures are tiny, often dark and poor quality. Do they not realize that many people have poor eyesight?!!
It often takes me 5 or six trys to get accepted and many times I just say ***K'EM!

Dave.
 
If Hindenberg doesn't have a traditional waveform view, that is a serious bit of misjudgement on their part. If you are editing audio, you need to see what it is you are editing, and the spectral view does not do that. I can look at a wave form and pick out verses, choruses and even words. I can see a 't' at the end of a word and copy and paste to a word that didn't have the 't' sounded.

If you are looking for an economical, efficient and (relatively) easy application, you might consider Reaper. It is primarily a multi-tracking application, but I also use it for editing radio program material (Voice overs etc.).
 
For Reaper and radio, or podcasting, look at "Ultraschall". It's a set of theme, menu settings and other software for Reaper. One of these even allows to record phone converstations from Skype or other VOIP sources.

One disadvantage is that most resources are in German. The software itself is free, and in English.
 
Happy to see I am not alone in wondering WHAT they were thinking when the set this up as a broadcast editor. A whle back I found a guy who honestly refurbed a Dell laptop ($2,600 new!) that ran Windows XP and got it for about $150. I keep it in a case and use it for editing, as Audition 1.5 does not like Windows 10 -or vice versa. It brings in a steady $1,600/month so it was worth getting. Final output via Auphonic Leveler is done on the much newer machine, as well as uploading. Some day I'll find something better than 1.5, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I'd like to find A FANLESS laptop with an SSD that wouldn't go nuts if XP was on it so I could record with no noise.
 
Happy to see I am not alone in wondering WHAT they were thinking when the set this up as a broadcast editor. A whle back I found a guy who honestly refurbed a Dell laptop ($2,600 new!) that ran Windows XP and got it for about $150. I keep it in a case and use it for editing, as Audition 1.5 does not like Windows 10 -or vice versa. It brings in a steady $1,600/month so it was worth getting. Final output via Auphonic Leveler is done on the much newer machine, as well as uploading. Some day I'll find something better than 1.5, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I'd like to find A FANLESS laptop with an SSD that wouldn't go nuts if XP was on it so I could record with no noise.

I have AA 1.5 on a couple of W7 machines John and that is still "current" till 2020. Does not quite behave, I have to "insert into multitrack" to get things to play but other than that it works ok.

Have you considered Audacity or Sony, now Magix Sound Forge? Also, this i3 HP laptop has a fan but other than at switch on you would never know. Just bought son a Lenovo T430 (refurb) and that is super quiet. W10 but seen others about with W7. (i5, SSD, 8g ram) That will ultimately have Samplitude Pro X 3 suite on it plus SF.

Dave.
 
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