silence at the end of tracks

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
How much silence doyou put at the end of a track? I've been putting zero, which suits my short attention span when I'm listening on my ipod, but I've noticed it doesn't quite sound normal, which concerns me since I'm about to make an actual CD that some people might possibly buy. I'm not talking about fadeouts, my songs actually end, but how much silence do you allow afterward? Thanks for any help!
 
2 seconds for a vintage album
1 to 1.5 seconds for a standard Pop album
0 seconds for a Punk album

It's the law, obey all speed limits!
 
Cool, as with every aspect of the process, discretion is in order. Good to know there's a rule of thumb to start with, so I know what my discretion might be deviating from.
 
Cool, as with every aspect of the process, discretion is in order. Good to know there's a rule of thumb to start with, so I know what my discretion might be deviating from.

Please don't use my post as a rule of thumb, it was totally tongue-in-cheek.

I find the best way to space material is to start playing at the end of a song, stop looking at the computer monitor, and when you feel the next song should come in hit stop noticing where the play head is positioned/scroll stopped/etc. Then place the next song there and see if you feel the same about it a second time.

At times I also like to use the tempo of the song before and make the next song come in on the beat if the tempos are close. Using the procedure above usually ends up with the same result as we naturally want things to remain in tempo.

If a song is entirely a different tempo, like going from a fast to a slow song, you may want to increase the time slightly so that a listener is allowed to make the transition (heart rate and breathing slows down slightly).

There's no science, it's all in what you feel. I suggest not doing assembly when you are aggravated or rushed as there is a tenancy to create shorter pauses. Likewise don't assemble when you're too stoned or they might be too long.

And negative five seconds for a Pink Floyd album :D.

G.

Ah, the hidden track ...
 
I always leave as little silence as I can on a song file. But that doesn't mean the next song has to start right away. When you assemble the songs for a CD, you can assign the length of time between songs.
 
:laughings: @ Teysha's post.

Another vaguely related question for the mastering guys - I'd assume you want the length of silence on the files sent in for mastering to be exactly equal to what is wanted for the final mix, but do you want it to ACTUALLY be silence (I.e - faded out to -infinity) or is that something you'd do anyway during mastering and is it useful to have typical ambient background hum present just in case you need to build a noise profile?
 
:laughings: @ Teysha's post.

Another vaguely related question for the mastering guys - I'd assume you want the length of silence on the files sent in for mastering to be exactly equal to what is wanted for the final mix, but do you want it to ACTUALLY be silence (I.e - faded out to -infinity) or is that something you'd do anyway during mastering and is it useful to have typical ambient background hum present just in case you need to build a noise profile?

I think it's always better to err on the side of having the fade and air before start time just a "hair" longer than is what is actually going to be used. So if there is a little lingering of music or silence that' is preferred. I know I will always just fine adjust top and tails on every song. Sometimes by just a minute amount, but it's always nipped.
 
Technically, the CD red book calls for 2 sec of silence between tracks. This is to accomodate different types of automation that listen for the 2 seconds of silence. This could be a cd player counting the number of songs etc. Since the standard came out though, a lot has changed technologically, but you asked.
 
^^^I'm pretty sure that 2 seconds is meant to be BEFORe the first track, not in between tracks. Because as the CD was coming out, you'd already have 300 years of music where songs flowed from one to the other.
 
which seems odd, considering that CD's since, well, Red Book was established had no spaces between tracks. The Toshiba remaster of Abbey Road was done in 1983 or thereabouts if I'm not mistaken. Imagine the medley with spaces. Imagine Pink Floyd with spaces!
 
I like no space between tracks at all, unless it's a long pause to heighten a dramatic entry. With fades on a track the last few seconds tend to take the place of the pause as the song gets quieter, anyway.
 
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