Remove "silence" or mute?

[Sean McCoy]

You can have blips at punch points because of mismatched audio, which often requires adjusting the in point one way or the other. Sometimes it just means try again, or it's just not a good spot for a punch. Small clicks at the front or back of "silent" sections are usually due to low-level noise simply missing the zero crossing. With the former, rough punches can often be smoothed by experimenting with different crossfade times and proportions. With the latter, tiny amounts (1-2 ms) will usually eliminate all clicks. Either way, softedge is your friend, and it's lightning fast.

[Ian Alexander]

With softedge, be aware that the fade starts before the edge of the region and ends after the edge of the region. If you're eliminating a cough, for example, you can't end the region just before the cough. The ramp down of the softedge will still include the cough, at about half volume. You'll get used to moving the cut point back enough that the softedge will have the level down to zero before the cough starts. In reading about softedges in the help file, you'll also see that you can vary the length of the fade by how far back you put the cursor before hitting the X key. If you like the rate of the fade, but still get a bit of the noise, just Alt-drag the region boundary until you can't hear it anymore.

Another nice feature that I didn't know about until reading about it here, is Altering MT Entry Data Within Boundaries. For your cough, use K to cut the region before and after the cough. Shift-Right-Drag within the new little region until the cough is replaced by the track ambience before or after the cough. Benefits include no change in timing and no exit and return of room tone.

[Tom Roberts]

I've discovered that no matter what software tool you use, or how intelligently you have it adjusted, you usually have to go back and tweak many of the edges created by "strip silence" type of functions.

So I find it easier just to make it a manual operation to get rid of coughs, etc. I don't get too crazy about it.

While mixing a recording of a live performance, I don't bother with the leakage into the vocal mics. It's all part of the stage sound, and just mix around it ... maybe duck it a bit in between vocal lines to compensate for what a compressor may be adding.

Analog habits sometimes still sound better in the big picture.

Thomas

[Carl G.]

Hey Bob.

I'll have to work with SoftEdge. I haven't used them in any project as of yet. But it sounds like it'll cure some of the ills. I always tried automated fades and mutes.

There are some audible blips I noticed in some tracks during punch-ins, would cutting the track at the noise, or before or after, then use SoftEdge on both sides?

Thanx again
Damon

Damon, you might try setting up some quick 'fade-out/fade-in automations for the automation gallery. For me this works far faster, better, and more flexible than SoftEdge. I arrange F-Keys so my automation gallery is directly beneath the middle of the MT for quick highlight of the MT (area for edit), and then move the mouse a minimal distance from the timeline to the "Insert to MT" (of the gallery) and bham! Done! If I don't like... just press delete key (while still highlighted) and insert a different saved automation from gallery. I set them up in progressive db fader steps and slopes.... and do the same for EQ... for filtering, etc. (which SoftEdge doesn't do). SoftEdge works miracles too... but I find the automation gallery route can solve things that SoftEdge cannot and very quickly too.