How long are your crossfades?

[Badtimes Banjo]

Hello, I have recently revolutionized my music creation by recording more than one take and, if needed, to split and copy/pasta tracks in order to eliminate mistakes or miscues.

So my question is: When you do this, how long are your crossfades? I have been zooming in and applying crossfades at one frame on either side of a split and paste. Is this sufficient or should I extend the distance? Obviously I'm going for seamless so there will be variables. I'm just trying to find out if there is a "standard" method I don't know about that can be adjusted as necessary. Thanks.

[Lord Tim]

How does it sound?

If it sounds good then it's the right amount. If it doesn't, do more.  

[Badtimes Banjo]

On 8/15/2023 at 12:29 AM, Lord Tim said:

How does it sound?

If it sounds good then it's the right amount. If it doesn't, do more.  

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.

That is part of why I am seeking guidance here. To my unprofessionally untrained ear, a cut and pasted track may sound great, but to your trained ear, it may sound like a turd. I play instruments and write in order to sing and record myself. Other than reading a couple of books and bothering people on forums, I don't have much training on how to do all this.

So if I may please ask the question differently. Let's say there is a right way and a wrong way to apply crossfades and I, Badtimes Banjo, cannot hear the difference. What is a better method to apply so that other people, who can hear the difference, will have an enjoyable listening experience?

Thank you 🖖👽

[Lord Tim]

There's no right or wrong way, honestly. This is all entirely subjective, that's kind of what I was getting at - sorry if that came across as glib or unhelpful!

To me, I might hear a crossfade and think "you know that feels a bit short" and then the next person hears it and thinks it's perfect.

There's not really a definitive answer here, it's going to come down to what you think sounds good, the opinions of other people on the actual mix itself (the Songs forum is a great place to get feedback on this kind of thing), and really experience as you grow your mixing and listening skills.

[Badtimes Banjo]

2 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

There's no right or wrong way, honestly. This is all entirely subjective, that's kind of what I was getting at - sorry if that came across as glib or unhelpful!

To me, I might hear a crossfade and think "you know that feels a bit short" and then the next person hears it and thinks it's perfect.

There's not really a definitive answer here, it's going to come down to what you think sounds good, the opinions of other people on the actual mix itself (the Songs forum is a great place to get feedback on this kind of thing), and really experience as you grow your mixing and listening skills.

No worries, you were helpful. Maybe I just needed a little more explanation, which you provided here in the follow up.

The only thing I really want to do with the dry mix is to cut out mistakes and pull good parts out of different takes to paste back in. I have a good case of tinnitus so I definitely don't trust my ears to mess around with EQ or effects, those things I outsource.

Great idea about posting to Songs. I recently moved all of my recording equipment and DAW desktop out of my one bedroom apartment and into a spare bedroom in my friend's house. So it may take a few days to get over there and export some projects to WAV for posting here. Thanks again!