[linux-audio-user] Re: linux-audio-user Digest, Vol 29, Issue 64 - Linux-audio-user

13 Feb 2006

...
  Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:04:19 -0700
 From: Steve D &lt;groups(a)xscd.com&gt;
 Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] More music 
...
  On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 11:32:42AM -0800, R Parker
wrote:
  Punchins aren't illegal and anyone can
engineer for
 you in a non-destructive DAW like Ardour. If you don't
 tell anyone about the punchin then you can move on to
 composing and producing another song which makes
 everybody happy. :)

 ron  --- ---

 I guess my (irrational) fear is that a punchin/punchout will somehow be
 obvious to the listener--that either there will be an abrupt momentary
 change in ambience, an abrupt cutting off of pre-punchin sound as the
 punchin occurs, or I'll be in a slightly different mood and the volume
 or performance won't match, etc. I have been able (I think) to hear
 punchins in old analog tape recordings, of Van Cliburn playing the
 Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov piano concertos, of an obscure (but good)
 eastern European orchestra playing Stravinsky's Firebird (there were
 *lots* of punchins, some of them very obvious and awkward, in that
 recording), and so my listening experience has made me wary of punchins.
 But, like I mentioned, I'm sure it is an irrational fear. ;-)

 During this recording (for Arabesque 1), I made a strong note to myself
 after recording take after take (dozens of them) to learn about and
 begin to try punchin techniques. I'm especially interested to learn
 whether Ardour automatically creates (or can be configured to do so)
 brief overlapping fadeouts/fadeins at punch points. I'm sure that this
 information is in the (as yet not fully read) Ardour online manual. ;-)
 In fact, I think I'll check that out right now--  
I don't ever think of punch ins.
If I want to replace something I'll start recording 30 seconds before,
and play along until ten seconds or so after. It's really important to
give yourself a long run in and play along, and not stop straight after
the bit you want to replace. The mood is much more consistant than if
you are worrying about hitting a switch at a particular time to drop in,
and stop right after.

I'll also record to a new track, so I can easily see the waveforms of
both recordings, and try a few different places to do the edit.
Sometimes it's better to crossfade between the takes over the sustain of
a held chord, rather than the obvious places of a silent gap or just
before a new note.
With vocals I like to keep the intake of breath before they sing a note.
If I get rid of it, and it's been audible previously in the track, the
edit sounds unnatural in a subliminal way.

Anyway, If I could play as well as you I would bother less with
editing. :)

I only learnt what the point of playlists are in Ardour recently, and I
think they are going to be handy for this. At least for the pop stuff I
do which is quite heavily edited.