Comping audio

In this section we will describe procedures that are specific to audio editing in Comp clips. At the end of this section is a detailed example on how to use the various procedures to create a complete comped audio clip - see “Creating a comped audio clip”. General audio editing procedures are described in “Editing audio in the Comp Editor”.

Adding Cuts

If the clip is in Single Take mode, because a Single Take Mode button is depressed, you will have to click that Single Take Mode button to deselect the Comp Row before you can start adding Cuts!

If the clip only contains one single (not manually selected) Comp Row, and thus is a Single Take clip, adding a Cut on the Silence Row will automatically turn the clip into a Comp clip.

Place the Razor Tool on the Comp Row which contains the recording you want to assign, and click.

A new Cut Handle is added on the Cut Row. The recording to the right of the Cut Line on the Comp Row is assigned to a new Segment:

Assigning the recording on the “Take4” Comp Row to a new Segment.

Click with the Razor Tool on the Silence Row to assign silence to a new Segment to the right of the cursor.

Click with the Razor Tool on the Cut Row to create a new Cut without changing the currently assigned recording.

A new Cut Handle is added on the Cut Row. The previous recording assignment is retained throughout the new segment.

•	If you hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Option](Mac) and click with the Razor tool on a Comp Row, this will first create a duplicate of the Comp Row. Then, the duplicated Comp Row will be assigned to the new Segment.

You can then adjust the timing (Recording Offset) or level of the duplicated Comp Row as needed, without affecting any segments playing the original Comp Row.

Note that Snap is taken into account (if activated).

A quick way to toggle Snap on or off is to press [S].

For a practical example on how to add Cuts, see “Creating a comped audio clip”.

It’s also possible to assign a complete Segment, with a start and end Cut, by swiping with the Cut Tool on the Comp Rows - see “Adding Segments”.

Adding Segments

The Razor Tool can be used for assigning a complete Segment, with a start and end Cut, by clicking and dragging (swiping) the Razor Tool horizontally on the desired Comp Row.

Swipe (click-hold and drag) with the Razor Tool to assign a part of a Comp Row to a new segment.

To insert a new Segment in an existing Segment, swipe with the Razor Tool on a Comp Row or on the Cut Row.

Swiping on a Comp Row will automatically assign the recording on that Comp Row to the new segment. Swiping on the Cut Row will insert a new segment but won’t change the recording assignment. The result after inserting a new segment in an existing segment is three separate segments. Swiping over an existing Cut will remove that Cut.

•	If you hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Option](Mac) and click or swipe with the Razor tool on a Comp Row, this will first create a duplicate of the Comp Row. Then, this duplicated Comp Row will be assigned to the new Segment.

You can then adjust the timing (Recording Offset) or level of the duplicated Comp Row as needed, without affecting any segments playing the original Comp Row.

Note that Snap is taken into account (if activated).

A quick way to toggle Snap on or off is to press [S].

For a practical example on how to add a Segment, see “Creating a comped audio clip”.

Adding Crossfades to Cuts

To add a crossfade zone to a Cut (between two Segments), proceed as follows:

Select a Cut Handle and then drag the Cut Crossfade Handle to the right.

The crossfade slopes are indicated by curves on the assigned Segments. The longer the crossfade time, the flatter the curves.

To remove a crossfade, simply drag the Cut Crossfade Handle all the way to the left.

Deleting Cuts

To delete a Cut, click on the left Cut Handle and press [Backspace] or [Delete], or select “Delete” from the Edit menu or context menu.

The segment to the right of the deleted Cut will be deleted. The segment to the left of the deleted Cut will expand and replace the deleted segment:

Alternatively, select the Eraser Tool and click on the Cut Handle.

Moving Cuts

Moving Cuts has a similar effect to resizing a clip, i.e. you select what part of the recording on the Comp Row should be active for playback. Recordings outside the active segment on the Comp Row will be masked (silent) but not affected in any other way.

To move a Cut, click and hold its right Cut Handle, or Cut Line, and drag it horizontally in either direction.

The segment to the left of the Cut Line will be resized. The segment to the right of the resized segment will now have a new start position:

Recordings in the segments will not be moved back or forth - only masked according to the current positions of the Cut Handles/Lines. Any Cut Crossfades will also move along with the Cut Handles/Lines.

Two Cuts can never exist on the same position. If you drag a Cut to the position of another Cut and release the mouse button, the moved Cut will disappear. If you do this by mistake, you can always use the Undo function.

To move a Cut and have the recording on the Comp Row move along with the Cut, select the Comp Row and the Cut Handle using the standard [Ctrl]-click (Win) or [Shift]-click method. Then, click and drag the Cut to the desired position.

Note that Snap is taken into account (if activated).

•	It’s also possible to use the Inspector to move Cuts numerically - see “Editing recordings and cuts in the Inspector”.

Changing Comp Row assignments

When you have created a comped audio clip, you might later want to change which Comp Rows are assigned to play:

Choose the Selection Tool and double-click on the Comp Row that contains the recording you want to assign to the Segment.

Make sure you double-click in the area between the desired Segment’s Cut Lines.

You can also use keyboard commands to change comp row assignments and segment focus as follows:

Hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Cmd](Mac) and press the up/down arrow keys to select which Comp Row that should be assigned.

To change Segment focus, hold down [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Shift](Win) or [Cmd]+[Option]+[Shift](Mac) and press the left/right arrow keys.

This will move the Segment Focus Indicator between the segments. Note that you can still change comp row assignments using this keyboard command together with the up/down arrow keys.

The Segment Focus Indicator shows which segment has currently focus.

Bounce Clip(s) to New Recording(s)

The function described below is exactly the same as clicking the “Bounce” button to the left in the Clip Overview, see “Bounce button”.

A very nice way to “clean up” among the recordings in a comped audio clip is to bounce the clip to a new recording. Bouncing to a new recording is also a prerequisite to be able to edit the clip in Slice Edit mode and stretch and quantize the audio.

What happens is that the audio recordings in all segments of the comped clip, including any Cut Crossfades and individual Comp Row Levels, are combined into a single recording on an additional Comp Row. After the clip has been bounced to a new recording, you can delete the unused recordings to reduce the file size. Bouncing clips to new recordings can be made for one or several selected audio clips:

Select the clip(s) in the Clip Overview area in the Comp Editor, or select the clip(s) in the Arrange View, and then select “Bounce > Bounce Clip(s) to New Recording(s)” from the Edit menu or context menu.

A new “combined” recording is created on a new Comp Row, which is created above the other Comp Rows on the Edit Pane. The new Comp Row is assigned the suffix “(bounced)”.

As the clip is bounced, the clip automatically switches from a Comp clip to a Single Take clip. If you play back the clip now, you will only hear the bounced recording on the automatically selected (topmost) Comp Row. However, the clip will sound exactly the same as before the bounce.

If you’re happy with the result and don’t plan to edit the clip any further, you can use the “Delete Unused Recordings” function to delete the recordings on the original Comp Rows and reduce the file size (see “Delete Unused Recordings”). If file size is not an issue, you can keep the original takes in the clip. This way you can switch to Comp Mode at any time if you need to edit the comp.

The “Bounce Clip to New Recording” function is very useful if you have imported a large audio file and only want to use a part of it. You can bounce the part of the clip you want use to a new recording and then delete the remaining unused part on the Comp Row to reduce the file size.

It’s also possible to bounce Audio Clips to disk and to a Sample - see “Bouncing Audio Clips” and “Bounce Clip(s) to New Sample(s)”.

Creating a comped audio clip

If you have recorded more than one loop cycle of audio in Loop Mode (see “Recording audio in Loop mode”), or recorded over or into an existing audio clip (see “Recording over or into an existing audio clip”), each recording has been placed on a separate Comp Row. If you like, you can now select the best parts (segments) of the recordings on the various Comp Rows and create a final “comped” audio clip. All editing described below is non-destructive and can be changed at any time:

1.	Open the audio clip in Comp Edit mode.

Each take has generated a separate Comp Row, each with a separate recording on it. The latest take, on the topmost Comp Row, is the one that will play back.

An audio clip (in Single Take Mode) with four separate takes recorded in Loop Mode.

If the clip is in Single Take Mode, because a Single Take Mode button is depressed (as in the picture above), you will have to click that Single Take Mode button to deselect the Comp Row before you can start adding Cuts!

2.	Locate the best parts of the recordings in the different Comp Rows.

Audition the recordings on the Comp Rows to decide which recordings to use at what position in the comped clip. Select the Speaker Tool and click-hold at desired positions on the different Comp Rows (see “Speaker Tool” for details).

If you’re using the Selection Tool, you can temporarily switch to the Speaker Tool by holding down [Alt]+[Shift](Win) or [Cmd]+[Shift](Mac).

3.	Double-click with the Selection Tool on the Comp Row you want to use first in the clip.

In this example, we decide to use the recording on the “Take 2” Comp Row:

Double-click on the “Take 2” Comp Row to assign it to the first segment of the clip.

4.	Select the Razor Tool in the Sequencer Toolbar - or, with the Selection Tool still selected, hold down [Alt](Win) or [Cmd](Mac).

We want the recording on the “Take 2” Comp Row to play until beat 3 of Bar 7. After beat 3 of bar 7 we want the clip to be silent to get rid of some background noise that could be heard when we recorded without playing anything. Therefore, place the Razor Tool on the Silence Row at Beat 3 of bar 7 and click:

Now, you have assigned the recording on the “Take 2” Comp Row from the beginning of the clip to beat 3 of bar 7. At the same time you have assigned the Silence Row to a second segment of the clip.

5.	Use the Audition Tool to find a suitable recording to assign to a new segment in the clip.

We found a good recording that we want to use on the “Take 4” Comp Row between beat 3 and 4 of bar 8 until beat 1 of bar 11.

6.	Assign a complete segment by swiping with the Razor Tool.

Swipe with the Razor Tool on the “Take 4” Comp Row from beat 3 and 4 of bar 8 until beat 1 of bar 11:

Now the recording on the “Take 4” Comp Row is assigned to a third segment in the clip. Two new Cut Handles have been added: one at the beginning of the swiped segment and one at the end.

7.	Assign a recording to the last segment of the clip.

We used the Audition Tool and found that the recording on the “Take 1” Comp Row was just what we were looking for to play through to the end of the clip. Since a fourth segment was already created when you swiped in the previous step, you just need to double-click with the Selection Tool on the “Take 1” Comp Row, to the right of the last Cut Line, to assign the recording to the fourth segment:

Double-click on the “Take 1” Comp Row, to the right of the last Cut Line,
to assign it to the last segment in the clip.

8.	To eliminate any clicks that might occur between the recordings in the different segments of our clip, let’s introduce some crossfades.

Crossfades can be applied by first selecting a Cut Handle and then clicking with the Selection Tool and dragging the Cut Crossfade Handles that appear above the selected Cut Handle:

The crossfade slopes are indicated by curves on the assigned Segments. The longer the crossfade time, the flatter the curves.

Repeat the procedure for the other Cut Crossfade Handles in the clip if needed.

If you want to set the same crossfade time for several Cuts, select the Cut Handles and use the “Match Value” function in the Inspector (see “Matching Cut Crossfades”).

9.	Finally, you might want to trim the audio levels of the different recordings on the Comp Rows in the clip.

Click with the Selection Tool and drag the Comp Row Level Faders on the respective Comp Row to achieve a balanced audio level throughout the clip. The Comp Row level adjustments can be made anytime during the creation of the comped audio clip.

Adjusting the individual Comp Row audio levels.

If you want to set the same level for several Comp Rows, select the Comp Rows and use the “Match Value” function in the Inspector (see “Matching Comp Row Levels”).

When you’re satisfied with your comped clip, you might want to click the “Bounce” button to generate a single recording that plays back your comped audio.

The clip is then also automatically set to Single Take mode, which makes it possible to edit the clip in Slice Edit mode, where you can stretch and quantize the audio etc. (see “Editing audio in Slice Edit mode”), or in Pitch Edit mode, where you can correct and edit the pitches of monophonic audio recordings (see “Editing audio in Pitch Edit mode”).

Bouncing also helps you keep things organized and can be a way to create a “snapshot” of your current comp, for comparison while you continue to fine-tune the edits.

If you're finished with a comp and want to keep the file size down, you can use the “Bounce” function together with the “Delete Unused Recordings” function to permanently remove all original takes (see “Delete Unused Recordings”).