Punch in/out and crossfades

Question

Level 2

202 points

Punch in/out and crossfades

I'm really surprised at how lousy the documentation is for Garageband '08. I'd just like to learn how to:

1 - Punch in on a track
2 - Smooth out the result of the punch-in (I belive that's called crossfading, correct)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

MacBookPro 2.16, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 2GB RAM

Posted on Nov 1, 2007 2:40 PM

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Answer 1

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Nov 1, 2007 2:50 PM in response to Scott F.

1. record on another trak

2. open GB's help and search for "curve"

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Answer 2

Scott F. Author

Level 2

202 points

Nov 1, 2007 3:39 PM in response to HangTime

Thanks, but it's still not clear. When I watch people use ProTools do to something like this they always seem to be able to easily create this "blend" or "crossfade" to smooth out an edit. Is this not easily done in GB? Or am I just missing something? Do I have to actually go into the curve and lower the volume for the track with the error to have it fade into the punch in? There must be an easier way, isn't there? Thanks...

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Answer 3

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Nov 1, 2007 3:44 PM in response to Scott F.

having never used PT, i don't know what tools it offers, but each piece of software is different. in GB you could cut out parts with the split menuItem, and/or use the curves to fade out/in between tracks

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Answer 4

Scott F. Author

Level 2

202 points

Nov 1, 2007 3:55 PM in response to HangTime

thanks. if someone out there could offer a step by step to this I'd appreciate it, or at least point me to a URL that explains it. Thanks...

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Answer 5

Mr Sween

Level 1

80 points

Nov 1, 2007 3:58 PM in response to Scott F.

In GB, it is very simple to pucnh in punch out. And for crossefade, nothing is more simple. Btw, if you go to HangTime site, you'll find tips and tricks. iLife 08 Apple site have some video that shows how to use GB.

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-studio-42 ->for punch in out
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-compose-46
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-compose-44

Links up here should help understand basic tips about waht you're asking here.

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Answer 6

Scott F. Author

Level 2

202 points

Nov 1, 2007 4:13 PM in response to Mr Sween

Thanks! I'll look into it and reply with results....

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Answer 7

Nov 1, 2007 5:12 PM in response to Mr Sween

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-studio-42 ->for punch in out

That's not punch in/out, but multitake recording. Punching in is not possible in GB (the program starts to stutter).

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Answer 8

Mr Sween

Level 1

80 points

Nov 1, 2007 5:58 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-studio-42 ->for punch in out

That's not punch in/out, but multitake recording. Punching in is not possible in GB (the program starts to stutter).

Hmmm... Seems you have no idea what is a punch in out... The video is a punch in, but a multiple take in punch in-out... And GB is great in doing it because you can punchin-out as much as you want till your tired of doing it! Then, you choose what part you prefer, and end with it. you can keep other takes, if you think one sounds not too bad too. But, at least, this is how punch in works in GB!

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Answer 9

Mr Sween

Level 1

80 points

Nov 1, 2007 6:13 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

I forgot to mention that there is little difference between doing it on an old tape recorder, and GB. In GB, you simply cut what you don't need. On a tape, doing puch in needed to know so much, only tech in studio are able to do it. In GB, cut what you don't want, or want to punch over (well, it is erased), place the yellow line where you want your recording start and ends (the space you create when you erase part you want to record over), puchin, do as much take as you want, then, voila! As the video show how to do it.

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Answer 10

Nov 2, 2007 2:45 AM in response to Mr Sween

Hmmm... Seems you have no idea what is a punch in out...

Hmmm... Seems you have no idea what is a punch in out... "punch in" is when you play back a track and manually hit the "Record" button to start recording (and hit it again to "punch out"). You can do that in other programs, like Logic. You can do it in GB too, but the program will stutter which makes it worthless.

Then there's "auto punch in/out", where you set the in/out positions beforehand, and the program changes from playback to record mode when it reaches the punch in point. That's not possible in GB either. GB only offers the count-in of one measure which you can't even change.

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Answer 11

Mr Sween

Level 1

80 points

Nov 2, 2007 5:53 AM in response to Scott F.

Isn't Punch in/out technique the ability to specifically record between a start and ending point? Till GB does it automatically, you don't have to press "Record", when the "Head" reach the point you want to start your recording, and so for the end of the same recording, isn't this "Punch In/Out"? Does the video link I give show how to set GB in way to record between a start and ending point? Do you need today to listen to 30 measures before recording only 4 bars, a little chords changes, when you can record as much as you want these chords in subsequent takes using the technique showed in the video?

Maybe this don't fit the "old" Punch In/Out definition you know, but for me, this is totally Punch In/Out. And I use this "technique" every time I record a new tune.

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Answer 12

Nov 2, 2007 5:59 AM in response to Mr Sween

The nice thing about punching in (manually or automatically) is that you can play or sing along to the stuff that comes immediately before your recording - so you can pick up a vocal line or a guitar solo seamlessly at an arbitrary point (and it certainly doesn't have to start 30 measures before you record - a couple will do). Too bad that's not possible in GB. The one-bar count in is very short, and the track you're recording on is muted (in audio tracks).

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Answer 13

Scott F. Author

Level 2

202 points

Nov 2, 2007 6:27 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

I still haven't exhausted all the possibilities, but to add to these comments ... if you can't play along with the original track to "get ready" for the punch-in .... then I wouldn't really call it a punch in, and it's not the ideal solution, at least musically.

What was suggested to me elsewhere is to split the track where you'd like the punch in to be (which isn't ideal if it's in the middle of a phrase) and then delete what you'd like replaced. Then duplicate the track. Then you can record on the duplicated track, playing along with the original, without erasing it.

The part that I'm still not 100% clear on is how to combine the two tracks SEEMLESSLY (meaning with NO evidence of the edit). The first reply I got to this post talked about "curves", but I still haven't figured out if there's a simple way to do this.

There's got to be a decent way to do this ... if not, I'm going to have to learn ProTools LE.

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Answer 14

Nov 2, 2007 6:42 AM in response to Scott F.

The thing is that GB edits non-destructively, and it pre-records if you count in. So if you record on a second track, you can afterwards pull out the regions of the old and the new track so they overlap. Then you can find a transition point for a clean cut (which certainly is the best solution) or use the two volume curves for a cross-fade: fade outh the old track and fade in the new one over the same time interval.

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Answer 15

Scott F. Author

Level 2

202 points

Nov 2, 2007 7:32 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
or use the two volume curves for a cross-fade: fade out the old track and fade in the new one over the same time interval.

Thanks Christoph. I guess this part is the "art" that I need to learn. Any tips?

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