Introduction to Music Production: Assignment #2

Perform The Important Editing Tasks In Your DAW Including:Trim, Separate, Crossfade, Merge, Grid, Cycle, Markers, Zoom, Name And Color.

Hi, I'm Lameez from Cape Town South Africa. Today I have opted to teach you how to perform important editing tasks in your DAW. 

I will be using Logic Pro 9 to demonstrate.

When recording, an audio file is created on your hard drive and a region file is created in your DAW. The editing being done will be to the region file, not the actual audio file. This is called non-destructive editing. Your audio file will remain intact, editing regions is editing the audio file's reference data, so changes can always be undone.

Let's begin the editing process.

Trimming or edge editing: 

This feature adjusts the bounds or window size of the region. You can chose the beginning, middle or end, whatever region of the file you need to look at.

Move your pointer to the bottom right or bottom left corner of your file to trim your regions.

Notice I have trimmed the second half of the song off leaving the first half region visible in the DAW (first picture) and trimmed the first half of the song off (second picture) leaving the second half visible.

Play around and see how you are able to trim left or right or left and right to leave a middle region visible in your DAW

Separating: 

This will be used for separating and cutting, you will find this as the scissor tool.

Click wherever you like, big or small, as many times as you like. The file will now be split into chunks you can edit or cut or drag. 

Note, I am resetting the track to its original form between steps to illustrate the editing tools described. This is the beauty of non destructive editing, you can undo anything you have done to manipulate the track at any time.

Crossfading: 

When you cut there may be a pop or a click when playing back. Fading in or out at the edges of the region will hide that click or pop. To do this you will use your fade tool and drag across the region you would like to crossfade.

Notice how the first region dips down and the second comes up. This makes it seem seamless. You can also change the shape of the crossfade by dragging on the crossfade created (shown below).

 

The Grid: 

The grid is useful when moving different regions as it snaps to bar, if you choose. Or if you only want to move it slightly, you can choose that option under the snap menu.

For example, choosing bar will snap to a bar (first image) and choosing division will move the region slightly between bars (second image).

Cycling:

This is another useful tool as it will repeat a certain section over and over so you can really examine that area, edit and move on when you're done. The section can be highlighted choosing the bars where you would like the track to repeat or cycle. 

You can stop and start the cycle using the cycle button on the bottom right of your DAW.

Markers: 

This is another useful tool as it acts as a "bookmark" so you don't have to back and look for certain points on the song, example you could create a marker for where the chorus starts, or where the vocals come in etc. Choose the spot you would like to mark, choose create marker. Marker 1 will be created, you can then rename that to e.g. vocals. This makes it easier to find that region again.

Naming and Coloring: 

The deeper you get into the editing process, the more complex things may become. It could be useful to name and color certain sections of the track to keep track of things. Use your text tool to rename tracks.
  

To edit colour, use the color wheel (located on the top right hand side of your DAW)

Zooming:

This is another useful feature because you can really dig into the region and examine under a microscope, edit and then zoom out when satisfied. Remember to select or choose the region you want to zoom into, or your DAW will zoom into an unspecified area and you will lose your place and have to find your way back to the section you actually wanted to zoom into.

Finally, Merging: 

This is a type of destructive editing. When you have many regions that have been edited and you have to move them all along together without choosing each individual region, merging or consolidating will create a new audit file merging all edited regions together. This can be done by the glue tool. 

Be sure that you are happy with all changes before merging. The new audio file will not have information beyond the bounds of that region.


There you have it, your important editing tasks explained. All of these tools should assist you a great deal when you reach the editing phase of music production. Remember, the better the performance recorded, the less editing you will need to do afterwards. The more messy the performance, the more editing you will have to do to try and fix the errors and create the perfect sound. 

I trust all these features I have taught you today will serve you well in your editing future.


Reflection:

I'm completely new to music production and the DAW. Everything presented, I have learned from the video lectures. I hope I was able to relay what I have learned in this assignment. I had to play around with my DAW, doing it myself for the first time! Then teach what I have learned. If I am missing anything I would like to hear what you may have identified after viewing my assignment. 



Thank you for taking the time to review my assignment. I look forward to your critique.