Recording and Editing with Hindenburg Pro
Hindenburg Pro is a powerful audio recording and editing software designed for audio storytelling.
Recording
Open Hindenburg Pro in “Applications”
Navigate to “File” in the toolbar and then select “New.” (You can also select “New” from the top toolbar.)
Under the first track “Ex: Speak” use the dropdown menu to select the input you have your microphone or other device connected to. (example: “Scarlett Focusrite”)
You can see early setup steps demonstrated here: How to make your first podcast recording with Hindenburg | |Hindenburg Lessons I
If you will be recording a second track simultaneously, select that input under the second track ”Ex: Interview.”
Watch the brief steps to setup a multitrack recording here: Easy Multitrack recording in Hindenburg Pro | Hindenburg
Save your work by selecting “save” under the “File” menu
Have each person who will be part of your recording speak while you monitor their voice volume. Do this by checking sound levels in the scale on the left trackbar. Aim to keep each person’s volume in the green and yellow range.
Enable tracks by clicking the red dot on each track next to “M” and “S”, etc. for each track that you want to record. (Enabling the track means that Hindenburg will record audio from that microphone.)
The “M” or “S” under each track offers different capabilities:
- “M” will mute the track during playback
- “S” will solo the track, it will be the only track heard
When you’re ready to record and have enabled all relevant tracks, click the flashing red “record” button on toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
To pause, press the spacebar. Continue recording by clicking the record button.
Click stop or press the spacebar when finished. Save your work. Hindenburg will automatically adjust the volume levels of the track to the preset international sound standard. This can be adjusted (UK vs. EU vs. US) in the preferences found under “File” in the toolbar.
Further Resources:
General Overview: Buzzsprout provides a great overview of key features in Hindenburg here:
Remote recording. If you plan to record with a remote guest, you may benefit from this tutorial:
Editing:
Some tips to get started:
If you are working with an existing audio file, import it by selecting “Import” from the toolbar at the top of the screen. You can also drag audio in from your Finder or desktop. This may be useful in incorporating sound you recorded using a smartphone or field recorder.
Remember to save regularly as you edit.
Click and drag audio into its desired sequences across multiple tracks.
You can isolate clips to erase, copy, or cut by splitting tracks. See how to do that here:
To cut audio out of a track, click and drag the cursor over the desired segment of a track to select it and select cut in the Edit menu (or click Cmd-x).
If you are making a cut in a multi-track recording, make sure to cut across all the tracks at the same place to keep all tracks in sync. To link all tracks to simplify this process, click on all tracks you want to sync and right click. Select “link tracks.”
You can learn more about linking tracks by watching this brief tutorial: How to link tracks together in Hindenburg Pro | Hindenburg
To export, select “File” and “Export” and select your preferred file format (mp3,wav, etc.).
Here are other helpful keyboard shortcuts for editing in Hindenburg
Explore the clipboard feature. Copy and paste clips of interest into a clipboard. This can be helpful as you edit a piece together, letting you assemble clips you want to keep and then rearrange them as you construct your story. You can learn more about the clipboard here: Introduction to the most basic Audio editing tools in Hindenburg | Hindenburg Lessons I
Helpful editing effects to know:
Ducking allows you fade the volume of part of an audio track. It’s very useful if you’re playing music under narration, for example, and don’t want to overwhelm your speaker. Learn how to duck in Hindenburg Pro with this brief tutorial:
Noise Reduction. Noise reduction can remove background noise to clarify your recording. Learn how to use Hindenburg Pro’s noise reduction tool here: Hindenburg PRO | How to remove audio noise | One Dial Plugin | Noise Reduction
Further Resources:
Hindenburg provides great tutorials on a range of subjects. Check out their collection on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hindenburgsystems
Want to learn how to record and edit a podcast episode with Hindenburg? Check out this great tutorial: