Editing out/cutting out crowd chatter and applause live Recording

[Kirby H]

New to Cakewalk, and DAW's in general. I made a rookie mistake when I recorded a highschool orchestra competition with a digital recirder last week.  I still don't know how it happened, the first five songs/music was recorded on tracks 1 & 2 for 13m:20s my machine (Tascam) then went completely silent on all tracks until 1h05.m, but then picked back up only on tracks  3, 4, and 5. I can't figure out how to solve problem in machine, so I exported to Cakewalk to see if I could fix there. All my client wants is raw recordings of the event. I don't have mix, or master just convert into MP3. So I need to add tracks 4 & 5 to 1 & 2, or visa versa, but the time needs to be adjusted.  I also need to cut, or edit out 52minutes of dead space, and 3 to 5 minutes between bands. Any ideas anyone? Can this even be done.  Thanks

[CJ Jacobson]

2 hours ago, Kirby H said:

All my client wants is raw recordings of the event. I don't have mix, or master just convert into MP3. So I need to add tracks 4 & 5 to 1 & 2, or visa versa, but the time needs to be adjusted.  I also need to cut, or edit out 52minutes of dead space, and 3 to 5 minutes between bands. Any ideas anyone? Can this even be done.  Thanks

The cut(split) tool and moving clips is all you need to do. 

You can just import your audio into Cakewalk onto a stereo track, if that is what was recorded originally.  After its imported into Ccb, split each song form ware you want tit to start and end and then delete all the other stuff that you do not need. The export each song and you are done

[chuckebaby]

I would use the split tool as well. Highlight the clip and place the NowTime at the points which you want to Split. Press "S" as a keyboard shortcut.

Delete the portions you don't need (you'll still have the slip edit content incase you need to roll out/roll in). Grab the ends of the Splits to add a gradual fade in/out and call it a day.

These are basic tools we all use everyday in the editing world.

[StratumSay]

Can we please get cakewalk on Mac??????? please 

[chuckebaby]

15 minutes ago, StratumSay said:

Can we please get cakewalk on Mac??????? please 

Totally off topic to the OP.

If you have a request for Cakewalk put it here. Though I wouldn't hold my breath on this one as its been discussed to overkill.

[Kirby H]

Hey all,

I truly appreciate your quick response, and I don't want to irritate all the sound guys here. But as I mentioned I'm a new guy on this end. I've been playing Guitar for 45 years ( not well either), and purchased the Tascam just last Xmas.  If some could walk me through the steps of split clip/track, and start now end now. I tried doing this with your first replies, but can't seem to make it work. I can really only perform basic recording, internal effects, etc. It's the editing that's got me stummped. Anyway thanks again

[Kirby H]

I'm really enjoying the Cakewalk DAW. I used an early versions 25 years, or so, but was too bizzy then to dedicate myself.  Back then I think the DAW came in a box of 1/2 dozen or more CD's. Anyway: 

I only know all this info because of importing tracks into Cakewalk. It's definitely more user friendly than the recorder.

Some additional questions I have . Most can be answered with a simple yes or no. Thank you in advance.

1) does the track first have to be mixed or mastered to be converted to MP3 format, or burned to a CD?

2) In a reply it was asked if I'd recorded the event on a Stereo track. I did not. I set five mic's the first day and assigned each to its own track. Combination condenser and directional. It was too many, so the 2nd day I used 3 condenser mic's on 3 tracks. Is recording live-in stereo a must, or just produce better results with CWBL?

3) Setting up From now to now, or start to end of project. My track is 3 hours long, but from 13m24s to 1h05m it's noise, or silence. When I tried the now to end feature up to 13m24s on track 1  it cleared the remaining track to end. Track 3 & 4  & 5 picked up @ 1h05m to the end. It's wierd, but just prior to 13m24s it sounded like someone bumped and knocked the mic over. Loud bang, and a few moments later all sound drops until 1h05m. I wonder if the mic falling and banging on stage may have caused some function of the machine to crash or something. Who knows...

Last one: Does work flow require listening in real time to every project, or can I advance in track faster, and still be accurate? Grabbing the bar and stretching across screen seems slow, but is it a must?  Well I just came across Navigator feature. Doesn't appear much faster though.

I sure Hope all aren't getting irritated.

Thanks,

[Kirby H]

Hey,

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe some of the middle school students who  were gathered around my set up we're messing with it while I walked away to chat with the orchestra director, or something producing the loud bang I keep hearing? That might be what Happened. I've recorded a lot in my  8 months without a glitch until now..

[RBH]

I would think that instead of importing an hour of basically silence - that you would be better off just playing the significant audio into CbB and re-recording it from your playback device. There should be minimal loss if you have a clean playback and set levels correctly.  Just treat your digital recorder like any other (audio ) input source.

Then cut and paste just audio sections where needed.  Simple fades to rid yourself of crowd noises at the beginnings and ends of performances. You can possibly cut out entirely,  sharp obnoxious  noises then maybe slip edit to maintain timing while stretching the sustain portions to cover up some interruptions . That would be entirely dependent on the song and type of noise.

Edited April 25, 2019 by RBH

[Gswitz]

 

[Kirby H]

Hi, and thank you for responding. The man in the video is just talking about noise suppression right? I want to cut out about a hundred minutes of that kind of chatter, and silence between songs on the same track. I've been working with the split tool and the smart tool and I can't seem to pull out the sections that I want. I thought I could just cut them out completely, and move the desired section of tracks together to move songs closer together for the Listener. I doubt anyone wants to wait 57 minutes to hear the next sing.

[Gswitz]

Just bounce them in place and export.

 

[bitflipper]

Lucky for you, you got the attention of an actual expert in this sort of thing. It's what Geoff (Gswitz) does. Unfortunately, experts can sometimes inadvertently talk over your head. If you're really lucky, he'll make a video for you. In the meantime, let me take a stab...

It sounds like you've managed to get the original recording into Cakewalk. At this point you have a crazy-long file sitting there. Unfortunately, there will be a lot of horizontal scrolling to get the editing done, but it can be done.

First thing I'd do is scroll the track until you get to the start of the silent part. Press F11 to insert a marker there (best to put it slightly to the right of the start of silence). Then scroll until you get to the end of the silent part and press F11 again to insert another marker there. What you're doing is specifying everywhere you want to split up the long file into smaller files. You can put in as many markers as you need.

Right-click on the track and select "Split..." from the context menu. You'll be presented with several split options, one of which is "Split at each marker". Select that one and click OK.

You'll now have multiple clips, one of which will contain the silent part. There will just be a thin vertical line showing where the boundaries between clips are.

In the track header, there is a dropdown list that may say "Volume". Select "Clips" from that list, which will allow you to select individual clips. You can now click on that silent clip and hit the Delete key to make it go away. At this point you still have silence, but you can get rid of it by sliding every clip to the right of it to the left until it butts up against the first audio portion.

Finally, use slip-edits to make gentle transitions between the remaining clips. Hover the mouse pointer over a clip until you see a little triangle cursor. A little experimentation will let you get the hang of it. It's non-destructive, so if you don't like your first attempt just press CTL-Z to undo and try again.

[bitflipper]

P.S. I'm not sure if F11 is still the default keypress for inserting markers. That may have changed at some point in the past and I've just reset it to F11 on my machine because I'm an old codger who hates change. If that's the case, somebody will correct me, I'm sure.

[Gswitz]

M key inserts marker.

[Kirby H]

Thank you BitFlipper,

It's taken me all day to copy, clone, cut and bounce on my Tascam. I didn't do anything with the already exported tracks. I actually backed em up for safe keeping. I've been do it mostly for the experience, but frustrated by the details. I've actually learned more today about both digital recording platforms than I knew the first five months. Next step will be to mix down some good stuff.

 

Thanks everyone,

[scook]

By default F11 is full screen mode, keyboard shortcut "M" brings up the marker dialog.

The default shortcuts are documented here. The link is also available in the CbB Help menu.

[bitflipper]

See? While any one of us may be full of it on a given point, collectively we're a frickin' encyclopedia.

(Kirby, I gather you're old enough to know what an "encyclopedia" is. For the kids, it's like Google with less - but better - information.)

[Gswitz]

Kirby, if you want me to make you a video, i can. If your happy, I'll let it be. 

I still have my old tascam 2488. Great company.

 

 

[Gswitz]

 

Video for Kirby.