Home › Forums › General Questions › 15, 30 and 60 second edits
Tagged: alt mixes, alternate mixes, edits
- This topic has 56 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 1 month ago by Art Munson.
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July 31, 2017 at 7:17 am #27799KrisemmParticipant
One thing im curious about.
Because I’m working on recycling a lot of older material, hardly any of those tracks are exactly 60 or 120bpm, so its proving difficult in some cases, to get the end of a 15 or 30 second segment to allign without it being halfway through a 4 beat or an 8 beat pattern.
I knew I had some good stuff that could be converted, but some others, because they’re too fast or too slow to allign to real-time needs, can only arrive at that point with an unnatural fadeout.
Its trial and error, but its also cauding me to be a bit more creative, which is always a good thing.July 31, 2017 at 9:07 am #27805Michael NickolasParticipantcan only arrive at that point with an unnatural fadeout.
Fade-outs are frowned upon in library music. You want a button ending, or a final hit that decays naturally, like a crash cymbal. There is an art to creating timing edits from stereo mixes, but the more you do it the better you’ll get at it. You don’t need an exact tempo of 60 or 120. You do need to know your audio editing tools and software very well. And you need your ear to guide you to a musical solution. Many times I’ve fought with an edit for a long time, only to start all over from scratch and find the solution in just minutes!
July 31, 2017 at 9:14 am #27807Art MunsonKeymasterWhat Michael Nickolas said. Plus there is more to life than 4 or 8 bard phrases or 4/4 time. It’s all about being musical and that comes with using your ear and practice.
I’ve been meaning to do a video on this, at least my way of doing it. I really need to get on the stick.
July 31, 2017 at 9:25 am #27809KrisemmParticipantI use FL studio. Its mostly geared towards 4/4, although I’ve managed to coax 3/4, and maybe 6/8 out of it.
I have bitwig as well, and im sure its more adept at irregular time sigs, but I hate the thoughts of learning it when Im so used to using FL, which is fantastic. The only way I feel creatively limited with FL is the time sigs which are a little rigid.
Been meaning to look into reaper for a long time as I’ve heard so many good things about it. Wondering what DAW you guys all use, and if you have absolute creative freedome re: time sigs ??July 31, 2017 at 9:29 am #27811Art MunsonKeymasterI use FL studio. Its mostly geared towards 4/4, although I’ve managed to coax 3/4, and maybe 6/8 out of it.
That’s okay as long as you can lay your mix out on a timeline and edit to subdivisions. I might find that my last beat would end on beat 2 and an 8th note. As long as it’s musical it will not matter.
July 31, 2017 at 9:34 am #27812Michael NickolasParticipantI don’t think Art meant actually creating full songs in different time sigs. I think the concept is something like – if it takes a two and one half beat drum intro to get your 30 seconds, go for it. As long as it sounds musical and natural. And, two track editing software (not a full blown DAW program) doesn’t care about time signatures.
July 31, 2017 at 9:35 am #27813Michael NickolasParticipantoops, didn’t see Art’s reply before posting…
July 31, 2017 at 9:41 am #27815KrisemmParticipantYeah I just set a marker called “deadline” at the 15 or 30 second point cos I know whatever goes past that, is surplus to requirements, and between the 10 to 15 second point, or 25 to 30 second point, I can do whatever, as long as it doesnt sound weird, in an abrupt kinda way.
July 31, 2017 at 9:46 am #27816KrisemmParticipantI know Michael, but Im thinking some time sigs lend themselves better to falling on an odd beat. I mean, 15, being an odd number, will never naturally allign with multiples of 4 x 4, cos the nearest is 12 or 16 beats, so some compromise is needed. with a different time sig like 3/4, it would take 5 repitions for it to naturally allign ( 3 x 5 ).
Im just gonna start writing waltzes=P
Problem solved =)
August 4, 2017 at 10:46 am #27854MojorisingGuestSeems like most of you are saying ending a track within a second or two of the cut off, but letting it ring out naturally maybe 3-5 over the time limit?? This would be way easier for me! A library I just signed with wants all the edits final crash within 1-3 seconds of time limit but for the track to end right on time. So a 30 second is exactly 30, or 29 and 25 frames. Makes a lot of my fade outs sound abrupt. And takes a lot of extra time.
August 4, 2017 at 11:12 am #27856Art MunsonKeymasterA library I just signed with wants all the edits final crash within 1-3 seconds of time limit but for the track to end right on time.
Yep, some libraries want them that way.
August 4, 2017 at 1:55 pm #27860SteveWParticipantThere’s at least one exclusive library I’ve spotted who have plenty of 30 sec edits ringing out from 25 and ending at 35!
So it surely can’t be down to what the end user is dictating, with so much variation in what libraries call a 30 sec edit? Very confusing when making “general” 30 sec edits though.
August 5, 2017 at 7:47 am #27864woodsdenisParticipant“Hail Mary” bars for us old timers (bars of 2/4) LOL. Also depending on territory some TV station require slightly less than 30 sec so audio doesn’t line up when played together.
February 19, 2019 at 4:52 am #31709Alistair BrownGuestHi everyone, sorry to jump on an old thread but this is a topic that has me interested at the moment and I can’t find too much other information out there on t’interwebs. A few posts have hinted at using just an audio editor (e.g. Audacity) for making timed edits (rather than in the DAW). Is that the approach most of you would take; bounce out the final track, import the audio to an editor, and make timed edits from there? If so, I have mentioned Audacity but do any of you use other software?
Are any of you aware of other material (videos?) demonstrating the process?
Many thanks!February 19, 2019 at 7:07 am #31711Art MunsonKeymasterA few posts have hinted at using just an audio editor (e.g. Audacity) for making timed edits (rather than in the DAW).
I use my DAW (Sonar). I have Audacity but it’s just easier, for me, to use my DAW. I use my original project file blow out all the tracks, save as an “edits” file, load in the mastered track and make my edits there. That way my time line, markers and BPM all line up.
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