I have a couple questions about this feature (which I admittedly just discovered this weekend–previously I had been using the Fade Out effect, to less than stellar results). I’m using Audacity 2.3.2 on Windows 10.
First, is it possible to save a “template”, if you will, of the envelope selection and its control points? The reason I’m asking is, I’m attempting to use the envelope feature to improve the fades of a huge playlist that’s 876 tracks long. Going in and measuring out the control points one by one on each of those tracks one at a time is going to be a nightmare. And almost all of them fade out the same way–about 6 or 7 seconds before the track’s end, starting with a quick fade out that stretches out into near-silence to the end. I would love to be able to “copy/paste” this template into each of the tracks instead of measuring them all out by hand from scratch. Surely this can be automated in some way?
My other question is, how do you remove an envelope’s control point(s)? Generally if I’m unhappy with it, I’ll just use the Edit → Undo feature. But sometimes I’ve already saved and closed out of a file before I realize I’ve done the envelope fade unsatisfactorily (normally from what I see in a later track that makes me think about the previous one). When I reopen the track, how do I remove the envelope control points to restore that selection to its original volume level (i.e. when there’s no Undo Envelope option)?
That was a very helpful response, Trebor–thank you!
I’ve never heard of macros before and am not very familiar with the concept. I read the manuals in the link you provided, but I’m still at a loss as to how to actually use it for my purposes.
Say I wanted the fade out to begin 7 seconds away from the end of the track (i.e. first control point), then I’d put the second control point at the very end, and finally the third one about 3 or 4 seconds from the end. How would I notate that in macro form so I could apply it to each track? (I searched for a tutorial on this specific thing on YouTube but couldn’t find anything.)
I suspect your brief can be done using fade commands in the macro.
However another way of achieving it would be an envelope-follower, like Steve’s dynamic-mirror plugin.
A very intricate envelope template could be followed using that method …
Thanks Trebor! I’ve been entertaining friends from out of town today so I haven’t had a chance to try either of those out. I’ll give one of them a whirl tomorrow night after work and see how I do.
Since I’ve never used Audacity for anything more than truncations and simple fades in the past, I imagine I’ll have more questions then.
So I’ve downloaded the Dynamic Mirror plug-in, got it working and all, and… I have no idea how to use it.
Can someone maybe give me a full step-by-step here, or is there a video tutorial I can follow? I don’t think I’ve emphasized enough how much of a noob I am at this sort of thing. =P
It is an unusual plugin, even experienced users will never have heard of the concept.
The dynamic-mirror tool in mirror mode is an envelope-follower :
it will apply the envelope of the top track in the project to all the selected tracks below it.
( you have to select the template track & all the tracks you want it applied to, then apply the dynamic mirror ).
