Apple Soundtrack Pro 2 User Manual

Soundtrack Pro 2
Getting Started
K
Apple Inc.
Copyright © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement. The owner or authorized user of a valid copy of Soundtrack Pro software may reproduce this publication for the purpose of learning to use such software. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this publication or for providing paid for support services.
The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Use of the “keyboard” Apple logo (Shift-Option-K) for commercial purposes without the prior written consent of Apple may constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Apple is not responsible for printing or clerical errors.
Note:
Because Apple frequently releases new versions and updates to its system software, applications, and Internet sites, images shown in this book may be slightly different from what you see on your screen.
Apple Inc. 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014–2084 408-996-1010 www.apple.com
Apple, the Apple logo, AppleScript, Final Cut, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Studio, Logic, Mac, Mac OS, QuickTime, and Soundtrack are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Finder and NeXT are trademarks of Apple Inc.
AppleCare is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Other company and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products.
Production stills from the film “Koffee House Mayhem” provided courtesy of Jean-Paul Bonjour. “Koffee House Mayhem” © 2004 Jean-Paul Bonjour. All rights reserved. http://www.jbonjour.com
2

Contents

Preface 5 Welcome to Soundtrack Pro
5
About Soundtrack Pro
5
About This Book
6
What You’ll Need
Chapter 1 7 Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
8
Opening Soundtrack Pro
9
Setting Up Your Computer’s Audio System
10
Creating a New Multitrack Project
12
Assembling Media in Soundtrack Pro
Chapter 2 17 Assembling Your Multitrack Project
18
Working with Multitrack Projects
19
Playing and Saving a Multitrack Project
22
Creating a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project from a Final Cut Pro Sequence
23
Adding Clips to the Timeline
24
Editing Clips in the Timeline
26
Adding Markers to the Timeline
28
Creating a Fade in an Audio Clip
29
Adding a Crossfade Between Two Clips
30
Adding Tracks, Busses, and Submixes to a Multitrack Project
32
Working with Stereo and Surround Track Panners
35
Routing Your Multitrack Project
36
Adding Effects to Your Multitrack Project
39
Automating Track, Bus, Submix, and Master Bus Parameters with Envelope Points
Chapter 3 41 Working with Individual Audio Files
41
Editing Audio Files
42
How Soundtrack Pro Processes Audio Files
42
Where to Edit Audio Files
46
Opening a Logic Pro Audio File in Soundtrack Pro
47
Adding Processes and Effects to a File with Actions
50
Using the File Editor Tools
3
Chapter 4 57 Solving Audio Problems
57
Analyzing and Fixing Problems in an Audio File
60
Creating an AppleScript Droplet to Analyze and Fix Audio Files
Chapter 5 61 Mixing Stereo
and Surround Projects
61
Fundamentals of Mixing
62
Working in the Soundtrack Pro Mixer
64
Steps for Mixing a Project
Chapter 6 73 Exporting Your Multitrack Project
74
The Export Dialog
75
Exporting a Final Mix
76
Exporting a Submix
76
Exporting a Multitrack Project to Final Cut Pro
77
Exporting a Podcast
79
Saving a Multitrack Project with Its Media Files
Chapter 7 81 What’s Next?
81
More Soundtrack Pro Resources
Appendix 83 An Introduction to the Soundtrack Pro Interface
84
Working with Tabs
85
The Timeline
86
The File Editor
87
The Multitake Editor
87
Conform
88
The Mixer
89
The Bin
89
The Toolbar
90
Tabs in the Left Pane
91
Tabs in the Right Pane
92
Arranging the Soundtrack Pro Interface
4
Contents
Welcome to Soundtrack Pro
About Soundtrack Pro
Soundtrack Pro is a professional digital audio application designed for film and video post-production. As a Logic Studio owner, you will use Logic Pro to create, compose, and score your music, and Soundtrack Pro to edit and restore dialogue, create and edit sound effects and backgrounds, and mix a full soundtrack. The advanced integration of Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro allows you to easily import and export audio projects, giving you the ability to collaborate with the world of Final Cut Studio editors.
Additionally, the advanced multichannel waveform editor in Soundtrack Pro can be used as a powerful external sample editor with Logic Pro.

About This Book

This book takes you on a guided tour of Soundtrack Pro. It begins by explaining how to set up a multitrack project and import audio files, then walks you through building a multitrack project, working with audio clips, and correcting common problems in audio clips. Then it explains how to mix and export your final mix, create a podcast, and send your mix back to Final Cut Pro.
Preface
After you’re done reading this understanding of what you can do with Soundtrack Pro. You can then continue to explore and learn by working with Soundtrack Pro and referring to the user manual.
Getting Started
book, you should have a basic
5

What You’ll Need

Simply reading this book will give you enough information to get you working confidently in Soundtrack Pro. However, having Soundtrack Pro open on your computer and using some audio files—either your own or the audio files provided with Soundtrack Pro—will make some of the tasks described in these pages easier to master.
If you want to be able to practice the steps as you read, you will need:
Â
Your computer, running Soundtrack Pro
Â
Audio files (if you don’t have any, you can use the audio content that you installed with Soundtrack Pro)
Â
A video file (to play along with your project)
Now you can start exploring Soundtrack Pro.
6 Preface
Welcome to Soundtrack Pro
1
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
In Soundtrack Pro, you can create audio projects for a variety of uses: audio for video and film, submixes for DVD and other video needs, sound design, podcasts, and more. Before you can start editing your project, you need to set up your computer’s audio system and assemble your media files.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about:
Â
Opening Soundtrack Pro (p. 8)
Â
Setting Up Your Computer’s Audio System (p. 9)
Â
Creating a New Multitrack Project (p. 10)
Â
Assembling Media in Soundtrack Pro (p. 12)
1
7
Opening Soundtrack Pro
The Soundtrack Pro interface is divided into several panes, each of which contains multiple tabs. These tabs contain all of the controls in Soundtrack Pro. As you’re working, you can show and hide the left, right, and lower panes of the interface using the buttons in the top-right corner of the Soundtrack Pro Toolbar.
If you add a video file to
the video track, it’s
displayed in the
Video tab.
The Toolbar contains buttons for common
commands.
These tabs contain information about the clips, tracks, and other
contents of a multitrack
project.
These buttons show and
hide the left, right, and
lower panes of the
interface.
These tabs show input and output levels and settings.
These tabs help you locate media files. You can store frequently used files in the Favorites tab.
Each project has
its own tab.
The Timeline is where you create a multitrack project with video and
audio clips.
These tabs help you edit and mix your project.
You can learn more about the Soundtrack Pro interface in the Appendix , “An
Introduction to the Soundtrack Pro Interface,” on page 83.
To open Soundtrack Pro:
m
Double-click the Soundtrack Pro icon located in your Applications folder.
When you open Soundtrack Pro, a new, untitled multitrack project is automatically created.
8 Chapter 1
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media

Setting Up Your Computer’s Audio System

The sound from your audio files is output through the speaker or headphone jack that comes with your computer.
If you have external monitors, speakers, or other audio equipment, you’ll want to connect them through the speaker jack so you can monitor your project’s audio output. You can also connect other external audio equipment such as an audio interface or a mixer and use these audio tools to mix and listen to your project.
To view the audio input and output settings for your computer:
m
Open the Audio Midi Setup utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/Audio Midi Setup).
To view the audio input and output settings for Soundtrack Pro:
m
Select the Recording tab in the right pane of the Soundtrack Pro interface.
To learn more about working in the Recording tab, see the
Soundtrack Pro User Manual

Do You Need More Equipment?

By default, Soundtrack Pro uses the input and output devices that are defined in your computer’s System Preferences.
For basic mixing, you can connect the built-in audio output on your computer to a pair of external speakers. This gives you two output channels for stereo playback.
For 5.1 surround mixing, you will need to connect an audio I/O device with six output channels to your computer to monitor the surround sound. The six output channels need to be connected to a discrete 5.1 surround speaker system for you to hear the surround sound.
To learn more about stereo and surround audio systems, control surfaces, and other audio equipment, see the
Soundtrack Pro User Manual
.
.
Chapter 1
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
9

Creating a New Multitrack Project

A multitrack project contains multiple audio files and an optional video clip. Multitrack projects are used exclusively by Soundtrack Pro and are compatible with other Final Cut Studio applications.
When you open Soundtrack Pro, a new multitrack project is automatically created. You can also create a new project at any time while working in Soundtrack Pro.
To create a new multitrack project:
m
Click the New Project button in the Toolbar.
Click this button to create a new project.
A new, empty multitrack project appears.
New Soundtrack Pro projects are, by default, set with a sample rate of 48 kilohertz (kHz).
Soundtrack Pro multitrack projects can have a sample rate of 32 to 192 kHz. Standard CD-quality audio uses 44.1 kHz; standard digital video–quality audio uses 48 kHz.
10 Chapter 1
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
To set a project’s sample rate:
m
Choose a value from the Sample Rate pop-up menu.
Choose a sample rate for your multitrack project from the Sample Rate pop-up menu.
To configure other project properties, including metadata and music settings:
m
Click the Project tab and enter settings for your project.
The Project tab contains various settings and properties for the selected project.
Chapter 1
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
11
Assembling Media in Soundtrack Pro
Now that you’ve created your project and configured its settings, it’s time to assemble your media files. Soundtrack Pro has several tabs dedicated to locating your audio files and a method for indexing the folders of media stored on your hard drive or other volumes.
Use the Browser and Search tabs to locate your media.

Browsing for Media

The Browser tab works like the Mac OS X Finder; in it, you can look through your computer’s hard disk, external hard drive, or any other connected media device for files to use in Soundtrack Pro.
To locate files using the Browser:
m Select the Browser tab, then navigate through the file structure to find your file.
Click to select the file
you want.
The Play button
12 Chapter 1
The “Preview on selection” button
Starting Your Project and Assembling Media
You can change the
layout of the Search tab
using the Column View
and Button View buttons.
By default, any file you select will play automatically. To turn preview selection off, deselect the “Preview on selection” button. Then you can preview a selected file manually by clicking the Play button.
When you’ve located the media you’ll use in your project, you can store it in the Favorites tab. The Favorites tab is a handy container in which you can put references to clips and files.
The Bin tab is also useful for locating audio files. By default, the Bin shows the media files associated with each open project.

Searching for Files

You can search for audio files using the metadata categories that are tracked by Soundtrack Pro.
To search for files using the Search tab:
1 In the Search tab, choose the type of metadata to search for from the Keywords
pop-up menu. (For example, you can choose All to see every keyword in your file’s metadata, or you can search with categories like Instruments, Genres, and so on.)
Narrow your metadata search using the Keywords pop-up menu.
You can change the layout of the Search tab using the Column View and Button View buttons at the left of the Keywords pop-up menu.
Chapter 1 Starting Your Project and Assembling Media 13
2 Select a keyword. The files that contain the keyword you selected appear in the list at
the bottom of the Search tab.
“Ambience” is selected.
The keyword
The matches for
“Ambience” are
displayed here.
Over a hundred audio clips have the keyword “Ambience.”
To preview an audio clip, select it and then click the Play button.
If you want to listen to an audio file, select it and then click the Play button in the bottom-left corner of the Search tab.

Adding Files to the Favorites Tab

You can put references to frequently used files and folders in the Favorites tab. The Favorites tab is a good place to put references to files or folders you’ll want to use in multiple projects.
To add a file to the Favorites tab:
m Control-click the file, then choose Add to Favorites from the shortcut menu.
14 Chapter 1 Starting Your Project and Assembling Media

Indexing Your Personal Media Files

The audio files that come with Soundtrack Pro are already indexed and ready to search. If you have a collection of audio files that are tagged with compatible metadata, including filename, genre, keyword, date, and so on, you can index them so you can search for them in the Soundtrack Pro Search tab.
For instructions on indexing your media files, see the Soundtrack Pro User Manual.

Where’s Your Media?

Soundtrack Pro can process the following file types: AIFF, CAF, WAVE, Sound Designer II, NeXT sound files, and QuickTime movies. Soundtrack Pro can also decompress and process compressed file formats, including MP3 and AAC, and play QuickTime movies.
If a file you want to use is not in one of the supported file types, you can convert it. An easy way to convert a file is to open it in its original application and then export it as one of the Soundtrack Pro–compatible file types listed here.
Chapter 1 Starting Your Project and Assembling Media 15
2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project
2
You start building a multitrack project by arranging the project’s audio files on tracks in the Timeline. As you arrange the clips, you can cut, crossfade, and otherwise edit them in the Timeline.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about:
 Working with Multitrack Projects (p. 18)
 Playing and Saving a Multitrack Project (p. 19)
 Creating a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project from a Final Cut Pro Sequence (p. 22)
 Adding Clips to the Timeline (p. 23)
 Editing Clips in the Timeline (p. 24)
 Adding Markers to the Timeline (p. 26)
 Creating a Fade in an Audio Clip (p. 28)
 Adding a Crossfade Between Two Clips (p. 29)
 Adding Tracks, Busses, and Submixes to a Multitrack Project (p. 30)
 Working with Stereo and Surround Track Panners (p. 32)
 Routing Your Multitrack Project (p. 35)
 Adding Effects to Your Multitrack Project (p. 36)
 Automating Track, Bus, Submix, and Master Bus Parameters with Envelope
Points (p. 39)
17

Working with Multitrack Projects

You build a multitrack project in the Soundtrack Pro Timeline. The Timeline contains tracks for arranging files; after the clip tracks, there are additional rows for busses (which are predominantly used to share effects to groups of tracks), submixes (which are used to create groups of like audio and to route these groups to physical outputs), and the Master bus (the final mix control).
Here is a typical organization for a film or video project that has submixes for effects, music, and dialogue. While this illustration doesn’t mirror the Timeline’s organization, it does show how to route signals from beginning to output using tracks, submixes, and the Master bus.
Master
Master
bus
bus
Hardware
outputs
Audio clip
1
1
2
2
3
3
Center
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
Left
Right
LFE
Left
surround
Right
surround
Surround panner
Tracks
1
2
Submix
Effects
Effects
Channels 1–6
3
4
5
6
7
Music
Music
Channels 1–6
Dialogue
Channels 1–6
8
The Soundtrack Pro multitrack project shown above has eight tracks, which are routed to three surround submixes.
18 Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project
Each track in this multitrack project has a surround panner that feeds into one of the three surround submixes. These submixes are then routed to the Master bus, which feeds an 8-channel audio interface that connects to six surround sound speakers.
Don’t let this illustration and explanation worry you—assembling a multitrack project is easy. You just drag audio clips from the Browser, Favorites, Search, or Bin tab directly into any track in the Timeline. You can also drag audio clips directly into the Soundtrack Pro Timeline from your hard disk or any external drives you have connected to your system. When you’ve assembled your audio clips, you can edit them and route them to the Master bus using some of the techniques explained in this chapter.

Playing and Saving a Multitrack Project

Before you learn about editing techniques, here are the basics of playing and saving multitrack projects.
You can play your project at any time while editing your multitrack project.
You can position the playhead by entering a timecode here.
You can use the transport controls to play, pause, and move to the beginning and end of the Timeline.
While you can use the transport controls to play your project, it’s often easier to use keyboard shortcuts.
To play your project:
m Press the Space bar.
The project starts playing at the playhead’s location.
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 19
To stop playback:
m Press the Space bar again.
Here are a few more keyboard shortcuts to use for playing a multitrack project.
To do this Do this
To play your project at normal (1x) speed
To pause playback Press K.
To play your project in reverse at normal (1x) speed
To double, triple, or quadruple the current playback speed
To move the playhead to the beginning of clip cycle regions
To move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline and immediately start playing the project
To move the playhead to the previous edit
To move the playhead to the next edit
To solo a track Click the Solo button on the appropriate track, then press the
To mute a track Click the Mute button on the appropriate track, then press the
Press L.
Press J.
Press L or J two, three, or four times.
Press Return.
Press Shift-Return.
Press the Up Arrow key.
Press the Down Arrow key.
Space bar to play only the soloed track.
Space bar to play the project without the muted track.
As you know, you should save your project and save it often! A Soundtrack Pro multitrack project (.stmp) contains information about the clips it contains and how those clips are arranged and edited.
A multitrack project file does not include the audio files used in the project; instead, it refers to the files in their saved locations. This keeps the project file size relatively small.
Once you’ve specified a project’s name and location, saving can be as easy as playing a project.
20 Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project
To save your project:
1 Choose File > Save (or press Command-S).
The Save dialog appears.
2 Enter a name for your file and a location to save it in, and configure any other
Save options:
 Save Compacted: Saves the project without display data, which can save disk space
but may cause the project to take longer to open.
 Collect Audio Files: Saves the project file, and a copy of every audio file the project
uses, to the selected location.
 Collect Unused Audio Files: Copies every audio file associated with the project
(whether it is used in the project or not) to the selected location.
 Collect Video File: Copies the project’s video file to the selected location.
 Save Edited Media Locally: Saves the project’s edited audio files in the same folder as
the project. If this checkbox is not selected, edited media will be saved to the Edited Media Location defined in Soundtrack Pro preferences.
3 Click Save.
After you initially save your project, choosing File > Save (or pressing Command-S) saves your project without opening the Save dialog.
Note: To change your Save preferences after setting them up, choose File > Save As.
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 21
Creating a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project from a Final Cut Pro Sequence
You can select one or more audio clips or entire sequences in Final Cut Pro and send them to Soundtrack Pro as a multitrack project.
To open a group of Final Cut Pro audio clips or a Final Cut Pro sequence in Soundtrack Pro:
1
Select multiple clips in the Final Cut Pro Timeline or a sequence in the Final Cut Pro Browser.
2
Control-click the selection, then choose Send To > Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project from the shortcut menu.
A dialog appears with several settings.
3
If you want to bring associated video into the multitrack project, select Include Background Video to include the sequence’s background video with the project.
4
Verify that “Save project with latest clip metadata” is selected so that the metadata is included.
5
Enter a project name or use the default name, then click Save.
This saves the content as a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project.
From here, you can modify the audio using Soundtrack Pro.
To learn how to export a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project to Final Cut Pro, see Chapter 6, “Exporting Your Multitrack Project,” on page 73.
22 Chapter 2
Assembling Your Multitrack Project
The video track
The audio tracks shown
are organized by
function: orange and
yellow for voiceover, lime
for dialogue, green
for effects, and blue
for music.

Adding Clips to the Timeline

A typical Soundtrack Pro multitrack project contains multiple audio clips on several audio tracks. It can also contain one video file on the video track.
After you add an audio clip to a multitrack project, you may want to modify it. When you cut or otherwise modify audio clips in the Timeline, the original media file is not affected; instead, the edits are saved as nondestructive Soundtrack Pro actions.
Information about the
clip is shown in the
Details tab.
To add an audio clip to a track:
m Locate the file you want to use (the Browser or Search tab is a good place to start
looking for files), then drag the file into an audio track in your project’s Timeline.
Drag the file from the Browser, Search, or Favorites tab into an audio track in the Timeline.
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 23
If you have a video file for your project, it’s easy to add it to your project’s video track. You can add one QuickTime movie (or a file in any other video format that QuickTime supports) to the video track. When you drag the video to the track, it automatically appears at the beginning of the Timeline. If the video has an audio track, that appears on the first audio track of the Timeline. Soundtrack Pro also automatically applies the movie’s frame rate setting to the open audio project.
To add a video file to the video track in your project:
m Find the file you want to use, then drag it to the project’s video track.
The video file appears in the Video tab and at the beginning of the video track of your project’s Timeline.

Editing Clips in the Timeline

When you create a multitrack project, you should take a minute to consider how you will organize your clips on your project’s tracks. For example, you may want to arrange clips on different tracks based on their content: dialogue, effects, and music is a common pattern for grouping clips on tracks.
While arranging your audio clips, you might have to resize, cut, paste, delete, or otherwise manipulate your clips. These basic edits are explained next.
Each of these tools can be
used to edit audio files.
24 Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project
To move a clip on a track:
m Drag the clip left or right on the track, or up or down to another track.
To change the length of a clip:
m Place the pointer at the edge of the clip and then drag it left or right.
You know you can change the length of a clip when the resize pointer replaces the pointer.
To delete a clip:
m Select the clip, then press Delete.
The clip disappears from the track.
To cut a clip into several segments:
1 Select the Blade tool in the Toolbar.
The arrow pointer becomes a blade to indicate that you’re cutting, not selecting, the clip.
2 Position the blade pointer over the clip you want to cut, then click.
Each time you click, the clip is cut.
When you’re done cutting the clip, you can select the Selection tool to move, resize, or delete any leftover bits of the clip that you don’t need.
You can also cut all the clips in a project.
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 25
To cut all clips down the length of the Timeline:
1
Select the Blade All tool in the Toolbar.
The pointer becomes a double blade.
2
Position the double blade pointer at the location in the Timeline where you want to vertically cut, then click.
The clips are cut down the length of the Timeline.
When you’re done cutting your clips, you can select the Selection tool to move, resize, or delete any leftover bits of the clips that you don’t need.

Adding Markers to the Timeline

Soundtrack Pro markers are used to mark specific points in a multitrack project. They’re often used to mark scoring and editing points in a project. Soundtrack Pro has four types of markers: beat, time, end of project, and podcast markers. This section describes the first three; to learn about podcast markers, see Chapter 6, “Exporting Your
Multitrack Project” on page 73.
You can generally tell markers apart by their color: time markers are green, beat markers are purple, and end of project markers are red. If a project has many of the same type of markers, you can name individual markers with label tags. You can also attach comments to markers.
26 Chapter 2
Time marker
(green)
Beat marker
(purple)
Assembling Your Multitrack Project
End of project marker (red)
To add a marker to the Timeline:
1 Position the playhead where you want the marker.
2 Do one of the following:
 Choose Mark > Set End of Project.
 Click the Add Time Marker or Add Beat Marker button in the Toolbar.
The marker type you added appears in the Timeline.
To add name or comment text to a marker:
1 Select the marker to which you want to add text.
2 Display the Details tab by clicking it. Then type a name or comments for the marker
you’ve selected in the appropriate fields and press Return.
Type a name in the Marker Name field.
Add any comments here.
The marker’s name appears next to the marker in the Timeline. When you hold the pointer over the marker, the comment text appears onscreen.
You can easily navigate between markers in the Timeline.
To move the playhead between markers:
m Press Option-M to move to the next marker (to the right).
m Press Shift-M to move to the previous marker (to the left).
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 27

Creating a Fade in an Audio Clip

It’s simple to add a fade to an audio clip. After the fade is placed, you can use the Fade Selector HUD to reshape it as appropriate.
To create a fade in a clip in the Timeline:
1 Using the Selection tool, position the pointer over the top-left or top-right edge of
the clip.
The pointer becomes a fade pointer.
2 Drag from the corner toward the center of the clip.
A fade is superimposed over the clip.
3 To lengthen or shorten the fade, drag the edge of the fade left or right.
You can use the Fade Selector HUD to reshape your fade.
To reshape a fade’s contour using the Fade Selector HUD:
1 Double-click the fade you want to adjust to display the Fade Selector HUD.
2 Select a fade shape to apply.
To learn more about the Fade Selector HUD, see the Soundtrack Pro User Manual.
28 Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project

Adding a Crossfade Between Two Clips

A crossfade creates a smooth, even transition between two overlapping audio clips by blending the crossfaded area together. Crossfades are often used to reduce the sudden changes in loudness that can result between clips.
After you apply a crossfade to two clips, you can adjust the crossfade’s length, position, and curve.
To add a crossfade between two audio clips:
1 Verify that the Crossfade Mode button in the Timeline is selected.
2 Drag the first clip over the second clip. The more you overlap the clips, the longer the
crossfade will be.
Crossfade
The crossfade appears on top of the clips.
Here are a few more ways to work with crossfades.
To do this Do this
To adjust a crossfade’s length Hold the pointer over the crossfade’s left or right edge until you
see the crossfade pointer, then drag the crossfade’s edge to a new location.
To adjust a crossfade’s position Hold the pointer over the top or bottom edge of the crossfade until
the hand pointer appears, then drag the crossfade to a new location.
To adjust a crossfade’s curve Double-click the crossfade to display the Fade Selector HUD and
then click to select a shape.
Chapter 2 Assembling Your Multitrack Project 29
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