... | ... | @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ This tutorial was created using Audacity 2.3.2 for MacOS. |
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## Tutorial
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### Finding Start/End of the Loop
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### Finding the Loop Duration
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The first thing you'll need is a music file that you want to loop. It should contain the intro and two full loops of the song.
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... | ... | @@ -77,12 +77,157 @@ The next step is to add a new blank track by selecting the following from the me |
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Tracks > Add New > Mono Track
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```
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Now you want to select the beginning of the new track. Do this by clicking somewhere in the new (blank) track and dragging as far as you can to the left as shown in Figure 6. If done correctly, then the start of the selection at the bottom of the window should read "000,000,000 samples".
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Next you want to select the beginning of the new track. Do this by clicking somewhere in the new (blank) track and dragging as far as you can to the left as shown in Figure 6. If done correctly, then the start of the selection at the bottom of the window should read "000,000,000 samples".
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![006_new_track](uploads/00420f1c472d84dd5edfdfaf509ecbef/006_new_track.png)
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**Figure 6. Selecting the beginning of the new track**
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Now insert an amount of silence in the second track equal to the duration of the loop. From the menu select:
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```
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Generate > Silence...
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```
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Change the dropdown to "samples" and enter the loop duration that you found earlier as shown in Figure 7. In this example the loop selection was 3,552,726 samples.
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![007_generate_silence](uploads/92576bf53dac90e0d7fda781b9294061/007_generate_silence.png)
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**Figure 7. Inserting silence in track 2**
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And track 2 with the silence now added is shown in Figure 8.
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![008_silence_added](uploads/978d36070ccb58e378003fa93e89b3b4/008_silence_added.png)
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**Figure 8. Silence added to track 2**
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Now we want to duplicate track 1, inserting it into track 2 at the end of the silence. First of all, click somewhere in track 1 then from the menu select:
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```
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Select > Region > Track Start to End
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```
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This will select all of track 1. Track 2 should not be included in the selection. Now copy track 1 by selecting the following from the menu:
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```
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Edit > Copy
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```
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Next you want to select the very end of the silence in track 2 in order to insert the contents of track 1 there. Start by clicking in the blank region of track 2 and drag left until reaching the end of the silence. Make sure that when you release the mouse button you see a yellow vertical bar where the silence ends, indicating that your selection is at the correct location as shown in Figure 9. You can also verify you did it correctly by checking that the start of the selection (as shown at the bottom of the window) reads the number of samples that you found for the loop duration.
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![009_select_start](uploads/d9f2df2e088c38680f5350f9b7823825/009_select_start.png)
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**Figure 9. Making a selection at the end of the silence in track 2**
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Now from the menu select:
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```
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Edit > Paste
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```
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Track 1 is now duplicated in track 2 with an initial delay equal to the loop duration as shown in Figure 10.
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![010_paste_track](uploads/ea4791a06b59f6de0f86fdd112100810/010_paste_track.png)
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**Figure 10. Track 1 duplicated in track 2
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Notice that the second instance of the distinctive part of the waveform in track 1 that we found earlier lines up with the first instance of that distinctive part in track 2.
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If the markers placed earlier weren't in the exact same spot in each loop, then track 1 and track 2 may not be aligned perfectly. If that is the case, then we'll make an adjustment to fix it. Zoom in to somewhere during the first loop in track 2 (which will be during the second loop of track 1).
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Check to see if track 1 lines up with track 2. If they are lined up, then skip this next step. Figure 11 shows an example of track 1 not lining up with track 2 as indicated by the red arrow.
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![011_misalignment](uploads/a5b85d80c18706a177e66d5467ee93cf/011_misalignment.png)
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**Figure 11. Misalignment of tracks 1 and 2
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Find a distinctive part of the waveform and zoom in as much as you can such that the distinctive part is still visible in both tracks 1 and 2. Make a selection that starts from the distinctive part in track 1 and ends at the distinctive part of track 2 as shown in Figure 12.
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![012_select_adjustment](uploads/493006b40b4e6aeb04580f500a02151b/012_select_adjustment.png)
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**Figure 12. Finding the offset between tracks 1 and 2
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Look at the length of the selection as shown at the bottom of the window (in this example it is 373 samples). Write this number down, as we are going to adjust the amount of silence at the beginning of track 2 by this amount. It is important to note whether track 1 is delayed relative to track 2 (in which case we need to add to the beginning silence in track 2) or whether track 2 is delayed relative to track 1 (in which case we need to subtract from the silence in track 2). In this example track 1 is delayed, so we will be adding 373 samples of silence to track 2.
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####To add samples (track 1 is delayed)
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Do the following only if track 1 is delayed (see below if track 2 is delayed).
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Zoom out and place the cursor in the silence of track 2 (make sure the selection length is 0 samples!). From the menu select:
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```
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Generate > Silence...
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```
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Change the dropdown to "samples" and enter the offset you found earlier (373 samples in this example) as shown in Figure 13.
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![013_add_samples](uploads/7dd07daf0f59223cae1f6515c2587f6b/013_add_samples.png)
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**Figure 13. Inserting additional silence**
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Now write down the corrected value for the loop duration by adding the offset value to the loop duration found earlier:
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```
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LOOP_DURATION = 3,552,726 + 373 = 3,553,099 samples
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```
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Skip to Finding the Loop Start below
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####To subtract samples (track 2 is delayed)
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Only if track 2 is delayed do the following instead.
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Zoom out to find the silence of track 2 and zoom in again. Make a selection of the track 2 silence that is equal to the offset found earlier (373 samples in this example). You can confirm the length of the current selection at the bottom of the window.
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Now press the backspace key to remove the current selection from track 2.
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**Now tracks 1 and 2 are in alignment**
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You should now be able to zoom in to where you were before and see that tracks 1 and 2 are now in alignment as shown in Figure 14.
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![014_alignment_fixed](uploads/f7bb503b473093e907fa552f7dd55ab8/014_alignment_fixed.png)
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**Figure 14. Corrected alignment of tracks 1 and 2
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### Finding the Loop Start
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Now we need to find where the song intro ends and the first loop begins. The easy way to do this is to play both tracks starting from the end of the silence in track 2. During the intro track 2 will sound different from track 1. Once you no longer hear a difference between the two track, you've found the point where the loop begins.
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Simply click in track 2 where the silence ends then click the play button at the top of the window. Once you've found the spot where the two tracks sound the same, you may want to place a marker as a reminder.
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If the song intro sounds similar to the loop then it may be difficult to identify the point where the tracks first sound the same. In that case you can compare the waveforms of tracks 1 and 2 visually to find the point where they are no longer different. It may also be useful to mute track 1 or 2 so you can listen to just one track at a time. There is a mute button at the very top left of the pane for each track.
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It isn't necessary to identify the exact moment where the intro ends. Moving the loop start farther to the right makes no difference in creating a seamless loop, but it will increase the file size slightly by adding more redundant samples to the intro section. However, delaying the loop start by a little bit can be useful if there is still some reverb present from the intro to ensure a more seamless transition.
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Look for a good spot to place the loop start. You'll want to select somewhere slightly after the point where the intro ends (but not too far after in order to keep the file size small). Ideally you'll want a point that is nearly silent for a bit then abruptly changes to something distinctive so you'll know exactly where to put the marker. For this example, the spot chosen is shown by the red arrow in Figure 15.
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![015_end_intro](uploads/26ba7f91127398154c3254c8ad4d0633/015_end_intro.png)
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**Figure 15. Loop starting point**
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One final adjustment may be needed because we want tracks 1 & 2 to be in perfect alignment at this spot. Zoom in on this region, ensuring that a visually distinctive segment is visible in both tracks 1 and 2. Then make a selection to determine the offset between tracks 1 and 2 as shown in Figure 16.
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![016_intro_misalignment](uploads/e0c2ef202e6bb32b63c986acafbe4b06/016_intro_misalignment.png)
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**Figure 16. Misalignment at loop start**
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Like before you'll want to write down the length of the selection (45 samples in this example). This is the amount to add or subtract from the silence of track 1 depending on whether it is track 1 or 2 that is delayed.
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But first add a marker here so you can easily find it again as shown in Figure 17. It doesn't matter what you call it as it is only temporary.
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![017_add_temp_marker](uploads/6be9c8ad588588df53a122d1ca854090/017_add_temp_marker.png)
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**Figure 17. Adding a temporary marker**
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Since in this example track 2 is delayed, we will be removing 45 samples from the silence at the beginning of track 2. If in your case track 1 is delayed, then you will want to add samples to the silence instead (as described above).
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While zoomed in to the silence of track 2, 45 samples are selected (as shown in Figure 18) and then removed by pressing the backspace key.
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![018_remove_samples](uploads/0f21819a30739d37c6336e54e4226527/018_remove_samples.png)
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**Figure 18. Removing samples from track 2 silence**
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Now returning to the temporary marker at the loop start location, track 1 & 2 should now be in alignment as shown in Figure 19.
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![019_intro_realignment](uploads/8bf93278979838b7af2db78228350b71/019_intro_realignment.png)
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**Figure 19. Tracks 1 & 2 in alignment at loop start**
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Now we want to choose the exact point to place the loop start marker. To aid in selecting a good spot, right-click on the vertical axis of each track and choose "Zoom In" a few times as shown in Figure 20.
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![020_vertical_zoom](uploads/6f74a6b0eefc4f000f35361155d02e7e/020_vertical_zoom.png)
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**Figure 20. How to zoom in vertically on a track**
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Look for a point (preferably near zero) that would result in a seamless transition for the loop. One such location is identified in Figure 21 by the marker labeled "LOOPEND".
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![021_find_loop_end](uploads/cdc62dbdf320024f9ae37ac62f2c6b7f/021_find_loop_end.png)
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**Figure 21. Placing the loop marker**
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