soundtrack pro

By Paul Grabowicz, Robin Wise, Alexandra Woodruff   ·   Updated Feb 16, 2011   ·   Print Print

Using automatic fades

The new version of Sountrack Pro 2 includes some new features for doing automatic fades which are easy and quick.

Automatic fades are only possible in the multitrack mode.

While working in the multitrack mode with an audio track open, move the selector cursor arrow to the upper left corner of the track. (You might notice a small envelope icon appear below the arrow). Click down and drag the arrow to reveal a fade function.

Drag a fade in soundtrack pro 2

Once you drag the fade, you can double-click the fade portion of your audio track to reveal a fade HUD, which allows you to chose among several simple fade types.

Fade HUD in soundtrack pro 2

This will allow you to select among four simple fade types.

Making fades is also possible at the end of audio tracks to fade sound out. These are quick-and-easy ways to make fades without having to adjust a sound envelope, which has several benefits over this method, but is more complicated and is more time intensive.

You can also cross-fade two separate audio tracks so that the sound fades in on one track while the the sound fades out on the other. To do this, you must set the Cross-Fade for Overlapping Tracks setting.

If you don't set this, then by overlapping track, you will be essentially overwriting tracks. This is called truncating the tracks.

Crossfade setting

Once you are sure that you have the cross-fade setting turned on (it's on by default), then you can drag one track on top of another. At the part where they overlap, Soundtrack Pro will automatically create a crossfade.

Likewise, you can double-click on the crossfade to bring up a dialog box that will allow you to choose the type of fade for each side of the audio.

 Crossfade HUD in soundtrack pro 2

How does this method differ from setting the sound envelope method?

Using automatic faders built into the new version of Soundtrack Pro 2:

  • Easy
  • Quick
  • Neat-looking HUD
  • Not much control of the curve other than presets.
  • Can only fade in-or-out on the ends of tracks, not in the middle of a track.

Using the sound envelope method to control the sound across an audio track:

  • Slightly more difficult (several steps involved)
  • More time consuming, you have to listen to the changes each time.
  • Much more control over the way the sound fades in-and-out.
  • You can adjust the sound across the entire track, not just at the ends.
  • You can fade the sound to low without turning it off.
  • You can make changes in the middle of the track.

Filed under: Audio