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Task Guide: Editing and Mastering a Science-Fiction Audiobook Chapter

These guides describe the documented upstream workflow. XiAudio integration and installers are still in development; Alpha is free. Availability in a XiKey release has not yet been verified.

Scenario

You are editing and mastering a 45-minute science-fiction audiobook chapter recorded at 48 kHz / 24-bit. You need to comp the narrator's best phrases across three take Playlists, tighten breath pauses in Shuffle and Slip modes, clean harsh sibilance offline with AudioSuite De-Esser, insert a real-time Channel Strip and Maximizer on the voice chain, and bounce a WAV and FLAC master.

Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Comp Narrator Takes Across Playlists and Edit Breaths

  1. Open the recording session (Ctrl+O / Cmd+O) and switch the Narrator track view to Playlists. Audition Take 01, Take 02, and Take 03 with the Selector Tool (F7) and promote the cleanest sentence readings to the main playlist.
  2. Press F2 to enter Slip Mode, select mouth clicks or heavy breaths between sentences, and attenuate them or replace them with clean room tone.
  3. Use Shuffle Mode (F1) to close gaps when removing repeated passages, then review later clips and chapter markers for correct timing.

2. Clean Sibilance with Offline AudioSuite Processing

  1. Select a passage with sharp "s" transients using the Selector (F7) and choose AudioSuite ▸ Dynamics ▸ Dyn3 De-Esser.
  2. Render the De-Esser offline onto that clip selection so the sibilant peak is tamed directly in the waveform without changing the rest of the chapter.
  3. Apply AudioSuite ▸ Other ▸ DC Offset Removal if any field-recorded sound effect layers exhibit sub-audible DC bias.

3. Insert Real-Time Mastering DSP and Bounce to Disk

  1. Press Ctrl+= (Cmd+=) to switch to the Mix Window.
  2. On the narrator track, insert the built-in 7-band EQ, expander/gate and compressor. Adjust them by listening; a low cut near 75 Hz is only an example starting point.
  3. On the Master Fader, add the built-in maximizer if needed and inspect loudness and true peak. Choose targets from the publisher’s requirements and listen for pumping or distortion.
  4. Choose File ▸ Bounce Mix and export WAV or FLAC. Check the resulting audio before delivery.

Sources

Upstream version checked on 2026-10-14.