How best to 'extend' end of track for longer fade out

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

I’m using Audacity 2.0.6 via (great product :wink: from EXE.

I’m re-mastering some 1950’s piano recordings. At the end of each take they start speaking over what would normally be the end or fade-out.

I’m therefore cutting it at the start of the speaking, and doing a ‘studio fade out’ effect, but it leaves an uncomfortable end, difficult to describe but ~ends half-way through a beat.

What’s the best way of ‘extending’ the end note (by a second of more)? Then I could fade this out and end on beat.
Any other ideas, gratefully accepted.

2

It’s very difficult to get this perfect because the timbre of the note changes as it decays and it’s very difficult to create that timbre change convincingly.

A couple of things that you can try:

  1. Select the tail end of the natural fade-out and use “Sliding Time scale / Pitch Shift” to stretch it. (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/sliding_time_scale_pitch_shift.html)
    Then use the Envelope tool to carefully shape the amplitude into a natural decay (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/envelope_tool.html) Tip: may be easier to switch to “Waveform (dB)” view so that you can see the quiet audio more easily (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audio_track_dropdown_menu.html#wavedb)

  2. Carefully select a section of the tail end of the waveform and use the “Repeat” effect to extend it (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/repeat.html)
    Tip: Ensure that your selection starts and ends at “Zero crossing points” file:///usr/local/share/audacity/help/manual/man/edit_menu_find_zero_crossings.html
    Tip: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_looping.html
    Tip: The “Timeline Quick Play” feature can help to find good looping points, provided there is enough “trailing fade” to make a loop possible. http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/timeline.html#tqp

Whichever method is used, if the final note fades out too quickly, you may need to “fade up” the audio so that it remains at a reasonably constant level to achieve a smooth loop.

Adding “Reverb” to the final note can help to “smooth out” the final fade (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/reverb.html)

3

Thanks VERY much Steve and so quick to reply.

The ‘sliding Time scale’ solved most of the (27!!) tracks - and was so easy to use (I hadn’t noticed it before - thanks for making me aware)

PS - If you like old piano blues and there’s a way of you sending me a personal msg with your address. I’ll get them to send you a comp copy of the CD when it’s done.

4

Very kind of you. Perhaps you could upload it to a file sharing site such a dropbox or sendspace.com or mailbigfile.com, and send me the link via a PM (Private Message icon on the right hand side of this post). I have a dropbox account, but if you use a different file sharing service, please use one that does not require registration