Crossfades

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Brian_SG

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I'm recording at home and usually I won't have a whole song idea all together at once so I'll record maybe 4 or 8 bars at a time. The problem is when I piece them together I get a small click. I've done some research and crossfades seem to be what I need to use. I've tried every type of waveform and I still hear that click. Also another problem is it says there may be insufficient audio in the parts where I'm trying to crossfade so even if I try to put the fade in it doesn't do anything. I'm using PT 7.3, not sure if any other information would help. Thanks in advance.
 
crossfades are your best friend when editing...but in order for them to like you, you'll want to record 1 measure before and after the part that you're actually recording

then you trim the extra stuff back, leaving just a tiny smidge of audio that hangs over into the previous(or next) bar...this is the snippet that you'll do your crossfade on. you can't crossfade if you don't have any overlapping audio.
 
Yeah, crossfades are the right tool, but they still have to be employd in the right places to make a smooth transition, and sometimes that isn't even where you think it should be. It also isn't usually the same spot in the time line for all tracks. And finally, sometimes a symetric crossfade won't do it and you have to use an asymetric crossfade. So, like a lot of tools, some experience and skill need to be accumulated before you can do fine joinery work with them.

For the not enough audio problem, it sounds like you need to punch in sooner, which will usually help also with locking into the groove by the time you get to the new part.

Also, I would recommend that you not sweat getting crossfades perfect for this case, but instead retrack the parts once the arrangement is finished, which will almost certainly yield a more coheisive sound.
 
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Haha, that clears things up a lot. I'll try it out and see how it goes.
 
I'm not a pro tools user, so I don't know the particulars, but what I do is record the next part on an adjacent track, setting a punch in marker a couple of phrases ahead of where the new part starts. Start playing even before that, so that when the punch in happens you're already groovin. After the take I then lock time, and then slide the new part up onto the real track. I usually have auto crossfade set, so there's now a crossfade at the punch in point where the objects join. Then I set a loop from a ways before to a ways after the crossfade, and as the song loops, I can slide the crossfade forward or back till I find the spot where it works best, adjusting the length and /or slope of the crossfade as necessary.
 
Brian, the idea with crossfades is you blending two tracks to smooth the cut. In order to do that, star recording one or two bars before and one extra bar at the end.

By doing that you assure that you have somehting to blend over the next track. I've tried this method with great results.

Hope this help. Luck!
 
if you are zooming down to sample level to do crossfades, you need to make sure you are slicing your audio at the zero-crossing...this ENSURES no clicks.
 
you need to make sure you are slicing your audio at the zero-crossing
I was just going to post this sage advice.

Anyway, +1

There should be some sort of preferences option that you can select to make sure all cuts are at zero crossing. At least there is in Cubase.
 
While slicing at zero crossings is a good idea, it really isn't necessary for crossfades with proper overlap, so long as the crossfade region doesn't extend beyound the overlap. It is very important for a butt joint, but in a crossfade, the fade out of the 1st object is completed before the end of the 1st object, and the fade in of the second object starts well after the second object's beginning. In essence, the volume is fully down for each objects beginning/end, and there will be no click from non zero-crossing slices. But hey, if you've got a preference setting for automatically placing cuts at the nearest zero crossing, then by all means, use it.
 
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