Best workflow for adding sound effects to multitrack session?

[donh9316555]

I'm working on a project that requires adding a few hundred sound effects to a feature length doc.  I'm fairly new to Audition so am curious what the best workflow is as the one I'm trying to use seems cumbersome and I realize that could just be related to my inexperience with the software.

From what I can tell, there are no bins in Audition.  That's not ideal, but I can organize at the Finder level (on a Mac) and drag and drop in from there.  My biggest issue is that there doesn't seem to be any good and fast way to mark an in and out on an audio file before adding it to the multitrack.  Is that accurate?  At the moment I've created a scratch track in my multitrack and am draggin each effect there, then trim it down, then drag it to the track its supposed to actually live on.  That's really slow.  I tried loading the file into the waveform editor, trimming it down there, and then adding it to the multitrack, but that seems to be destructive so if I decide later that I need an extra second or two of chirping birds, I can't just drag the end out in the multitrack session. (At least that I've figured out at this point.)

Any suggestions for improving my workflow?  Am I missing some big features that would help? 

Thank you.

Don

[ryclark]

You don't have to trim the audio clips before inserting into a track in the Multitrack view. When you have inserted the clip you can drag it to where you want it and trim it non destructively by clicking on the edges of the clip (icon changes to red square bracket) and dragging backwards and forwards to get the In/Out point that you require. You can also Slip the contents of the Clip using the Slip tool. Also clicking on the black/grey square icon at the top corners of the clips allows Fading In/Out of the clip. Dragging L/R changes the length of the Fade, whilst Up/Down movements change the shape.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Accepted solution]

donh9316555  wrote

My biggest issue is that there doesn't seem to be any good and fast way to mark an in and out on an audio file before adding it to the multitrack.  Is that accurate?  At the moment I've created a scratch track in my multitrack and am draggin each effect there, then trim it down, then drag it to the track its supposed to actually live on.  That's really slow.  I tried loading the file into the waveform editor, trimming it down there, and then adding it to the multitrack, but that seems to be destructive so if I decide later that I need an extra second or two of chirping birds, I can't just drag the end out in the multitrack session. (At least that I've figured out at this point.)

ryclark's answer (posted whilst I was creating this one) notwithstanding, the systemic answer to your problem here is to use the Marker system. If you open a file in Waveform view, you can place markers at the start and end of the bit you want to use (F8). You need to turn these into marker ranges - either using the tool in the marker list, or by making a selection using the mouse; still using F8 this will automatically be marked as a range. You can name each range, so you know exactly which one you've got.

Now, if you highlight one of these ranges in the Marker list, and right-click on it, you'll get an option to insert it into your multitrack session, and it's not too difficult to get it to insert where you previously left the pointer (although depending upon your session, and how you want to place the tracks, this might be slightly hit and miss - well it is for me, anyway!

The thing is, though, that if you want to extend or shrink the clip, you can, as it's only marker information that you've put in. Even though only one section appears in the track, the whole file is actually available. You might think that this would get unwieldy in terms of the number of files you have open, but actually it doesn't; if you use several bits of the same file in different places, it still only accesses them from the single working file.

This is actually the designed intention of the software when it comes to editing, and it works pretty well when you've got used to it. And it's universal; I use the same system for editing recorded music takes. The only thing you really have to watch out for is that it's not a good idea to make any destructive changes to your original file at all, if you're going to use it in a session like this - especially not anything to do with deleting time from it, as this will screw up every previously inserted instance of the clip in your session. Other than needing to watch out for that, it's good. With sound effects, obviously you don't want to mess with the originals anyway, and this system sort-of encourages you not to - which has to be a good thing!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

To Don; just in case you're confused, we are actually outlining the same principle when it comes to the multitrack session itself. The difference is how we're getting to it - your choice!

[donh9316555]

Thanks to you both for the advice.  The marker workflow sounds like a great solution for what I was after.  I'll give it a shot today!