Your First Audio Recording

Before we start recording, we should make sure that there is a good audio signal coming in. You mightfind it helpful to expand the Levels section of the Tracks window to get a moreprecise level reading.

To do this, move the mouse pointer over the vertical bar that marks the rightside of the Levels column until it turns into left and right arrows indicatingthat the divider can be moved. Click and drag it to the right to expand themeters as much as you like.

Set your record input source. Make sure the 'InpSel' column is visible in the tracks window. If it is not click the downward pointing triangle and select Audio Input Select from the popup. In the 'InpSel' column select the audio device that you would like to record from. If you want to record stereo, select an audio device with the suffix 'L + R'.

To check Metro’s audio recording level:

  • Plug in your microphone or other device. You should see the meters respondingto your input. If you can see the input, but cannot hear anything, performthe following three steps to check your audio configuration:

a) From the Setup menu choose Digital Audio.

The Digital Audio Setup dialog box appears.

b) Click Device Options.

The sound manager Parameters dialog box appears.

c) Click Play Through if available. If your signal distorts, you can adjust the gain of the incoming signal here as well. See Digital Audio Setup for more about the audio setup dialog. For our purposes here, we can moveforward by clicking OK in both dialog boxes.

Now let's make a recording:

  1. Make sure that the track you selected is record-enabled (with a dot in the 'R' column).

  2. Press Option-R and record some audio.

  3. Press the spacebar to stop recording.

  4. Press the spacebar again to play your recording.

Notice in the Tracks window that Metro builds an Audio Display for therecorded audio information. Remember that you can always Undo the recording if youmake a mistake (Command-Z). Metro rebuilds the audio display for youperiodically while you work with audio to reflect your edits, tempo changes and new audio recordings.

If you use Apple's built-in sound card, you may notice a slight time gap before your audio starts playing. If so, see Latency and the Sound Manager. If not, go on to Changing Audio Volume.
Your First Audio Recording