To achieve a “perfect” cross fade, I generally find it easiest to align the tracks and apply the cross-fade before trimming any excess from the end of the first track or the start of the second track. Of course this is a matter of personal preference, but here is an example of cross-fading before trimming.
- Align the tracks as required with the second song on track 2 and the region to be cross-faded selected.
- Tip: If the tempo of rhythmic tracks are greatly different (as in this demonstration) it will be difficult to achieve a really smooth mix, but try and get the beats to match in the centre of the fade.
- Tip: Set the end of the fade to a natural starting point in the second track, such as the start of a verse or chorus.
- Tip: Listen to the selection and adjust as necessary until you think it’s right. If it’s not quite right you can quickly undo the effect (Ctrl+Z), make an adjustment to the selection or overlap, then reapply the effect (Ctrl+R).
2) Effect menu > Cross Fade Classic (or use a custom key binding for Cross Fade Classic).
3) Without adjusting the selection, Split the cross faded section. (Edit > Clip Boundaries > Split or Ctrl+I)
4) Play the selected region. If it doesn’t sound quite right, undo (Ctrl+Z) and go back to step 1, otherwise continue to step 5.
- Select the (no longer required) end section of track 1 and delete it:
- Select and “Split Delete” the no longer required section of track 2 (Edit > Remove Audio > Split Delete or Alt+Ctrl+K)
The cross fade is now complete.
Optionally you may want to select then Mix and Render the tracks, but that is not necessary as the tracks will automatically be mixed when the project is exported.
Here is the finished cross-fade that was used in this demonstration:
And here is the Cross Fade Classic plug-in: (please don’t just down load it and say nothing. If you download it, please post some feedback).
cross-fade-classic.ny (1.35 KB)