Edits from MIDI session?

[xev]

Hi! Here I am again with my noob questions 🙂

I see most people on here and other forums do their edits/cuts on the stereo master audio file.

Anyone else finds this a lot harder than doing the cuts in your DAW session? So far the music I have been making is more on the minimalist side so I find it easy to cut tweak and move the MIDI events. Would this become a problem for sessions with higher track counts?

Also, when cutting from the master WAV, how do you deal with long tails? Especially delays and reverb trails getting cut off?

Any help is welcome!

[Art Munson]

Also, when cutting from the master WAV, how do you deal with long tails?

I make my last beat at 1 to 1/12 to a second before and re-fade the ending a bit longer. As an example: Button at 29s to 29.5s, fade completely out at 31s. In reality no on really listens to fades. Listen to real world examples and endings get brutally chopped all the time.

[Mark_Petrie]

Try working with stems – with long strings separated from short strings, pads from rhythms, cymbals from the rest of the drums. That makes the issue of decay a lot easier to deal with.

[Pat]

Personally, I always do alts and edits while everything is still midi so where to slice up .wav files isn’t an issue for me. I also don’t mix down then apply my master fx as a separate operation. Everything is done while everything is midi including alts and edits. By time the composing is done, so is the mixing and mastering “for the most part” because I do it as I go and I find that it actually helps with my composing ideas because I’m inspired by almost hearing the finished product as I go. When I export the stereo file, it’s done and that’s it. It’s just how I work and I feel like I’m able to get more music done that way. I don’t recommend it or not recommend it, it’s just how I do it and it just seems to work for me.

[xev]

endings get brutally chopped all the time

Yes I can tell endings are getting murdered everywhere especially in ads.

That’s not what I meant though – What I mean is when you take different parts/phrases from your piece to make a smaller version, don’t you run into trouble when “pasting them” one after the other? (Not talking about the ending – hope that makes sense)

[Art Munson]

What I mean is when you take different parts/phrases from your piece to make a smaller version, don’t you run into trouble when “pasting them” one after the other?

Hasn’t been a problem for me and I sell a fair amount of 30 second mixes. On the other hand I don’t torture over them much when creating them.

[xev]

I always do alts and edits while everything is still midi

I knew there would be someone!

Try working with stems – with long strings separated from short strings, pads from rhythms, cymbals from the rest of the drums.

Not sure I follow you Mark, maybe because my question was poorly worded 😉
Do you mean you export the group stems and then do the edits making individual fades for each stem? That does sound easier to me than editing the master file. My audio editing skills aren’t the best.

Hasn’t been a problem for me and I sell a fair amount of 30 second mixes

Ok. Would you say it would be harder if the material is more “ambient”? I am kind of a delay junkie.

[cyberk91]

I’ve had a 23 sec alt used on Dazone fight MSG network..and they just cut it up to what they needed..to introduce the fighters one was 10 sec another was 18 sec so I may be wrong but I don’t sweat the times…I also do all my cutting in the DAW…

[Art Munson]

Would you say it would be harder if the material is more “ambient”? I am kind of a delay junkie.

I see that it might be.

I’ve had a 23 sec alt used on Dazone fight MSG network..and they just cut it up to what they needed..to introduce the fighters one was 10 sec another was 18 sec so I may be wrong but I don’t sweat the time

Exactly, we have a commercial that has been running for over a year and you wouldn’t recognize the track from the original or any of my edits. Chopped to pieces for their 15s, and 30s commercials!

[xev]

Cool thanks for the answers!

[Author]

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