Making Music
  Computer Music Software and Hardware

Quick Guide To Fades

Fades and crossfades are an essential part of audio editing. We explain how to cross your fades when you come to them...

There's more to a good fade than meets the eye. Or ear. Fades are used at both the macro (recording) and micro (sample) level and we'll look at the considerations involved when working at both these levels in this feature.

First let's get some terminology out of the way. A 'fade' is a gradual increase or decrease in volume. In recording it is most commonly used to fade out a song. In fact, fade-out endings for songs have become almost de rigour giving rise to the premise that songwriters are no longer able to write endings.

Tech terms Butt Splice This is the alternative to a crossfade where two pieces of audio are simply stuck next to each other. This was a typical join in the days of tape recording but with modern software there's no excuse for sloppy butting. Transition The movement from one state to another, typically used to describe a crossfade and sometimes used as a verb by nerds who know no better - crossfades make one song transition into another. Glitch A click or some other disruption in the playback. Audio edits such as loop-making can easily create a glitch if there's a difference between the amplitudes of two sections of audio that are joined together.

The fade out has not always been a song-writing device. Paul Anka's chart-topping Diana back in 1957 was widely claimed to be the first pop song to use a fade but we reckon it wasn't and there are several earlier fade-outs including The Charms' Hearts of Stone from 1954.

Fade away

Anyway, if you want to do a fade, do it right. Decide if you want a short fade or a long fade and make sure there is enough material for the fade. With modern sequencers it's easy to copy the chorus or the last few phrases to the end of the song, giving you plenty of material to work with.

The most intuitive way to fade is to use the faders on a mixer, either of the hardware or software variety. All modern software sequencers will record your movements so you can fade, tweak and edit until you get it just right.

There is usually an optimum point for the fade to actually fade to nothing. You'll hear this instinctively if you listen to fade outs. In most cases it's at the end of the chorus or phrase. In other words the song ends at a natural end point. This isn't always the case but it's a good place to start - or end! - when creating your own fades.

Curvy wurvy

The alternative to performing a manual mix is to create a master audio file of the song and either apply an editor's fade function or draw a fade onto it with a volume envelope, again both standard fare in modern sequencers and audio editors.

Fade functions often give you a choice of fade curves. The two most common types are linear and logarithmic. Linear fades are simply straight lines whereas logarithmic fades are curved. Our ears respond to volume in a logarithmic way so log fades may seem to be the most natural. In many cases they are but don't dismiss a linear curve until you've tried it. Sound, music and mixing are still as much art as science.

Drawing in a curve gives you more control although it can be easy to get carried away if you stray too far from a linear fade, and log fades are not easy to draw by hand. But drawing is useful if you don't want to fade in a regular manner.

The reason why manual mixing often produces the best fades is that we mix what we hear so considerations about linear and log curves don't come into the equation. Also, you might not fade in a regular way. For example, on each repeat you may decide not to fade the start of the chorus very much but then fade faster half way through. This may be easier to do manually than by drawing. Whatever method you decide to use, some experimentation will undoubtedly be necessary.

<< Previous    [1]  2  3    Next >>