crossfading...why?

[taeyoung]

After some research on how some people do edits or punch ins, virtually everyone I've seen doing this, does it as x-fades.

Well, maybe I'm dumb, because I never knew about crossfades before (i'm new mind you) and I have always just been going in to the file at the most detailed sample level and cutting from there and doing the same thing with the other track that I want to redo, and it seems to work just fine.

But now I am wondering why everyone does the crossfade thing, is there some kind of benefit to that, that I am missing? Also...I don't know how to do it, could someone give me a quick explanation maybe?

Why is it better to crossfade?

 

[bennychico11]

cross fading is faster. I think what you are saying you do is zoom all the way in to find the zero point and cut there? It just can be a hassle having to do that when you have 10, 20, 40, 80 separation points.

Also, a cross fade makes the transition a little smoother. Especially if maybe the actual room tone or tone of an instrument isn't exactly the same it was in the section before it (say, for example you did a punch in a few days later than the original recording...the mic, instrument, room all sounds different). Cross fading is probably the number one function I use more than anything.

 

[taeyoung]

cross fading is faster. I think what you are saying you do is zoom all the way in to find the zero point and cut there? It just can be a hassle having to do that when you have 10, 20, 40, 80 separation points.

Also, a cross fade makes the transition a little smoother. Especially if maybe the actual room tone or tone of an instrument isn't exactly the same it was in the section before it (say, for example you did a punch in a few days later than the original recording...the mic, instrument, room all sounds different). Cross fading is probably the number one function I use more than anything.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying.

OK, I can understand what you mean...I tried doing it once and it sounded like 2 clips being merged for a moment, and that's why I haven't tried doing it again. I probably just need to time it better and learn how to do it right..

Thanks Benny

 

[Ford Van]

Cross fades never need to be any longer than about 20ms! At that short of length, you shouldn't be able to notice that "it sounded like 2 clips being merged for a moment", because 20ms is pretty darn short! But, it is long enough to assure a pretty smooth cross fade.

Yes, there are a few times where possibly a longer cross fade can work, and may be desirable, but not often.

So, most likely, you just had way too long of a cross fade.

 

[bennychico11]

if it's just a simple punch in, keep them short. You just want to get rid of that nasty pop in your speaker.
but of course it depends on the material. I've had stuff that cross fades for several seconds (like when trying to blend two pieces of music into each other).

 

[danny.guitar]

I've never been successful with cross-fades/punch ins either, so I usually just do another take.

Cross fades never need to be any longer than about 20ms! At that short of length, you shouldn't be able to notice that "it sounded like 2 clips being merged for a moment", because 20ms is pretty darn short! But, it is long enough to assure a pretty smooth cross fade.

I'll keep that in mind. I'm usually too lazy to zoom in that close so I think before, I was doing cross-fades at around 40ms. Maybe that's why it sounded obvious...

 

[Ethan Winer]

Why is it better to crossfade?

I don't think it's better to cross-fade unless the two clips you're joining simply can't be spliced without a click or other disturbance. I'm currently in the middle of a big project involving many splices, and I'm doing them all as you described, zooming way in and making sure the splices are at zero crossings. Or if not at zero crossings, wherever the levels are the same and the waveform slopes (up or down) are in the same direction.

--Ethan