Cross Fades

[JasonT]

Hi, new user here. Generally I use Pro Tools but am on the road and did not want to carry an external sound card around so thought I would check Audacity out. So far so good, I'm liking what I see and read. I have a quick question here, basically I am doing some simple edits on field recordings and would like to cut out the unusable portions and apply a cross fade. What I am wondering is do I have to create a new track in order to cross fade, creating fade ins and outs or can I just cut the audio, highlight a section and create a cross fade? Thanks....

[kozikowski]

At first pass, you can cut and create a fade all on one line. Zoom in so you can accurately select your deletion points and press Delete key. Then select the envelope tool--middle tool from the six pre-programmed tools in the upper left. Looks like up and down arrows and a bent blue line.

Click once at the in-point and once at the out point. Click and hold in the middle and pull down. A fade to zero and back will form. If you actually want to dissolve--both audios on at the same time (video terms, sorry) then yes you have to use two timelines and I'm not sure how to create that.

Here it is. Edit > Duplicate. There are cross-fade tools in Effects. And the last piece is the timeshift tool which is the sideways arrow tool, middle bottom, of the six tools in upper left.

You should probably know that you can get into trouble by pushing a performance before 0.0. I think 1.3.5 was much better at that. You can install 1.2 and 1.3 at the same time as long as you don't try to use them both at once. Try to find the installer for 1.3.5. It was more stable than 1.3.6.

Let me know if you can't find it.

Koz

[steve]

What I am wondering is do I have to create a new track in order to cross fade, creating fade ins and outs or can I just cut the audio, highlight a section and create a cross fade? Thanks....

You can do it in one, or in two tracks.
You can do it using a "destructive" fade (from the effects menu - 2 types in Audacity 1.3.6, "fade" and "cross fade"), or you can use the "envelope tool" (which is non-destructive and can be changed later).

The way I do it is:

1) Select the portion that will come second and press Ctrl+D (On a Mac the Ctrl key may be called something different) to duplicate the section onto a new track.
2) Use the time shift tool (double headed arrow) to slide the duplicate clip to the appropriate place.
3) Use the Envelope tool (up/down triangles) to silence the appropriate part of the first track and create the desired fades.