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Editing sound files without leaving gaps


iZiKKO

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Thanks guys! Ripple editing it is! Works like a charm.

For future reference:

To enable/disable ripple editing

  • Click the Track view Options menu and select one of the following options:
  • Ripple Edit Selection. Affects all clips that are downstream from the selected clip(s). Locked clips are ignored.
  • Ripple Edit All. In addition to downstream clips, also affects meter/key changes, tempo changes, and markers. Locked markers are ignored.
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20 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

Big tip: turn the damn thing off the moment you're done with the edit that needs it!

You can turn a project into a massive disaster area very quickly if you forget, trust me... 🤨

Will do, mate! I would be needing it only for interview edits and such. 

Edited by Kris Olin
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I recommend you try using a Wave editor for this sort of work. Wave editors are optimized for workflow when working with a stereo file. 

I have been using Wave Lab for going on 14 years. Elements is only around $100 and is all you need. 

There are also a few good freebies. The best I've used is Acoustica Basic.  https://acondigital.com/products/acoustica-audio-editor/

I also use Gold Wave a lot especially for batch converting WAVE to MP3 files. Free to try, cheap to buy lifetime updates too. http://www.goldwave.ca/

With wave lab your task is as simple as drag the mouse across the dead space and hit delete. Done. It will automatically use zero crossing to join the material. 

You can also quickly do gain and normalizing or even apply a hi pass filter to a POPPed P

Best of all is for workflow is that all tools stay open while you work. Drag mouse, click,,, done. Way faster. 

 

I just finished a video tutorial I made for a friend so I'm just uploading to Youtube now. Will be here when finished  http://www.cactusmusic.ca/tutorial-videos

 

Edited by Cactus Music
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44 minutes ago, Cactus Music said:

I recommend you try using a Wave editor for this sort of work. Wave editors are optimized for workflow when working with a stereo file. 

I have been using Wave Lab for going on 14 years. Elements is only around $100 and is all you need. 

There are also a few good freebies. The best I've used is Acoustica Basic.  https://acondigital.com/products/acoustica-audio-editor/

I also use Gold Wave a lot especially for batch converting WAVE to MP3 files. Free to try, cheap to buy lifetime updates too. http://www.goldwave.ca/

With wave lab your task is as simple as drag the mouse across the dead space and hit delete. Done. It will automatically use zero crossing to join the material. 

You can also quickly do gain and normalizing or even apply a hi pass filter to a POPPed P

Best of all is for workflow is that all tools stay open while you work. Drag mouse, click,,, done. Way faster. 

 

I just finished a video tutorial I made for a friend so I'm just uploading to Youtube now. Will be here when finished  http://www.cactusmusic.ca/tutorial-videos

 

Used to do these edits with Audacity but since I am now learning Cakewalk I'm trying to cross over to that one. BTW Audacity is an excellent free tool for simple audio editing.

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4 hours ago, Cactus Music said:

With wave lab your task is as simple as drag the mouse across the dead space and hit delete. Done. It will automatically use zero crossing to join the material. 

 

Actually CbB works like this also:

ripple.gif.ba09dbe69e8ade52bc4209f4654275c4.gif

Better yet, unlike a lot of wave editors, this is non destructive too, so if you got a little over-eager with the cut and you sliced off the end of a word, it's trivial just to nudge a clip forward and roll the edge back, apply crossfades, etc.

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OK, I've done my edits and it went nice and smooth using that Ripple Edit setting.

 When I tried to apply Gain and/or Normalise (selected all clips) I noticed that the clips moved around a little bit and messed up the flow of the interview. I solved this by combining the clips into a one solid sound file. I used Bounce To Clips -command. (Click the Track view Clips menu and choose Bounce to Clips). After that I had just one file to put some Gain on and no problems. Export to 256 kbps mp3 and project done!

Do you guys know why the clips moved around when applying Gain or Normalise? It seems weird.

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That's weird, they shouldn't have.

I'd tend to adjust stuff non-destructively there too - set your edit filter to Clip Gain and do adjustments there, rather than using the process menu. Or throwing a Boost 11 into the effects bin to control overall dynamics that way.

Once you're happy with it all, freeze the track and you're done. And if you decide you want to make changes later, simply unfreeze the track and you have all of your decisions there to adjust again.

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9 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

"Or throwing a Boost 11 into the effects bin to control overall dynamics that way."

Sorry mate, I just installed Cakewalk 3 days ago,  so I'm a bit lost with all this. Could you please explain in a bit more detail how I can make this  Boost 11 thing happening? This is how my project looks at the moment.  (BTW the interview I'm working on is Von Hertzen Brothers)

 

vhb.jpg

Edited by Kris Olin
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@Kris Olin - sorry, I should have explained.

Boost11 is a limiter plugin (which I'm fairly sure CbB has by default and wasn't carried over from the old SONAR days - there were a lot more extras bundled back then when it was a paid product), but really any compressor (such as the excellent Sonitus Compressor) or limiter will allow you to control your dynamics.

If it's not already open, press B to open the browser. Then make sure the Plugins > Audio FX tab is selected.  Have a bit of a look through there. If Boost11 is installed, it'll be in there somewhere, likely under dynamics or compression if it's set to display by categories. Drag whatever effect you choose over to the Effects Bin on the track you're working on, which is that space next to the meter.

There'll be some good presets in there to get you started but it's a fairly easy plugin to use when you spend a bit of time with it.

The other thing I mentioned was doing clip gain adjustments. You'll see in the track Edit Filter it's set to Clips. If you set that to Clip Automation > Clip Gain, you'll get envelopes on each clip where you can alter the volume on everything. This is great for getting things even, lowering breath noise before a phrase (if you don't want to delete it entirely), etc.  Combined with a compressor or limiter plugin, this can give you super even results.

When you're all done, the icon that looks like an asterisk is the Freeze function. Click that and all of the effects in the track Effects Bin and all of the gain you drew into the clips will be bounced down to complete clip with everything applied. But since this is non-destructive, you can just click that again and get back what you had at any time.

Pretty neat. Non-destructive means no regrets the next day when you open your session and you realise you really should have had that extra coffee before signing off on things in your last late-night edit.  🤨

I'd definitely suggest having a quick look through the online documentation - it'll open up a world of options if you've come from destructive wave editors. 🙂

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@Lord Tim Thanks mate! That Boost 11 is just amazing! As you said it works a lot better than just Process > Apply effect > Gain. Pretty straight forward approach and a very good interface. I'm assuming you'd need to Freeze it before exporting to mp3?

Re. Clip Automation I still need to work on those envelopes a bit more to get my head around. Cheers!

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When using ripple edit, I have found it is good to have Snap to Grid switched on and with the Snap setting preferences set to "Nearest Audio Zero Crossing". Without these two things ripple edit can cut waves at nasty points leaving audio artefacts.

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  • 2 years later...
1 hour ago, SoundIT said:

Ripple Edit looks very cool, but can I do any automation for all silence gaps (with voice over work)? There are some tools in Audacity (blah) or Audition that do i it with a gate and they render truncated waveforms. image.png.57cff6e4d1e1d56f33c14ea614b8a508.png

You could use process fx instead of just applying the fx on the fx rack. Alternatively, you can do your automatons on the track and bounce the processed sound to a new track.

Edited by Bruno de Souza Lino
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