Inserting Silence as a favorite

[UlfLaursen]

Hallo

I have a problem. I have recorded a favourite, that should insert a silent part of x seconds, and assigned it to a keyboard shortcut.

I want the silence to be inserted at the current position of my play head, but it always goes to the place, where I at the recording of the favourite had inserted the silence when I run it. How can I achieve this.

Thanks.

/Ulf

[ryclark]

You basically need to change the Absolute From Start to Relative from the drop down menu for each action. By default Favorite Recording always uses the Absolute From Start setting.

[UlfLaursen]

Thanks - will give it a try

/Ulf

[UlfLaursen]

Well I am sorry to say, but it did not work either. I tried to record the favourite at the start of the clip, but then it just adds the silence to the very start very time, no matter if I chose "relative" or not.

Anybody have other suggestions?

Thanks

Ulf

[ryclark]

It can be made to work but it is not straight forward since how Favorite recording and editing works has never been fully documented. One thing to try which may make it work, but isn't exactly intuitive, is to select the whole of your file when recording the new Favorite ie. don't just select the bit you would want to work on if you were actually trying to do the favorite action manually.

If I get time over the weekend I will try and work out how to do it if you don't have any luck with your experiments.

[UlfLaursen]

Thanks, but it does not work here.

/Ulf

[ryclark · Accepted solution]

After a bit more experimentation unfortunately as you have discovered it doesn't work as one would have hoped. The problem appears to be that the Relative function doesn't work properly when you just position the Playhead where you want to insert the silence. Audion's Favorite just adds it to the front of the audio. However, although not very convenient, there is a work around. If you select a small amount of audio at the point where you want to insert the silence it does work. So Relative is relative to a selection not, I'm afraid, to the Play cursor position. You don't have to select much audio for it to work, a single sample will do.

[UlfLaursen]

Thanks for taking the time, maybe it could be a feature request some time.

/Ulf

[will_in_KC]

I wrote up how I was able to accomplish this in this public Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/will-findlay/improving-slide-transition-audio/10157349715026523/

I'll copy and paste it here as well:

Improving Slide Transition Audio

This is a tip for people who edit audio files of slide presentations. E.g. when you need to recreate presentations by syncing audio with slides in post-production.

Procedure: Select noise at the end of each slide's audio and use an Adobe Audition favorite to replace it with 1.5 seconds silence. Use Alt+S to trigger the favorite.

When I record someone giving a PowerPoint presentation in Audition, I add a marker each time the presenter starts a new slide. I then line up each marker right up to when they start talking about each slide. I then go through the audio file and replace the noises at the end of each slide (and before the next marker) with 1.5 seconds silence. Speakers tend to pause before moving to the next slide and often make noise, such as clicking a mouse button or adjusting their chair, etc. There is also the ambient noise of the room. The length of the transition also varies too much. I think it's best to have a regular cadence after each slide and before the next (1.5 seconds). These instructions help make this transition editing less tedious.

Here's how to set up the Favorite I like to call "Replace Selection with 1.5s Silence:"

GENERATE A DUMMY FILE

1. File > New > Audio File.. [Ctrl+Shift+N]
2. Accept the defaults and click OK [or press Enter]
3. Effects > Generate > Tones
4. Accept the defaults and click OK (the file needs to have duration > 0)

RECORD THE FAVORITE

1. Edit > Select > Select All [Ctrl+A]
2. Favorites > Start Recording Favorite...
3. Click OK if message box appears
4. Edit > Delete [Delete]
5. Edit > Insert > Silence...
6. Change duration to 0:01.500 and click OK
7. Edit > Deselect All [Ctrl+Shift+A]
8. Favorites > Stop Recording Favorite...
9. Choose a name like "Replace Selection with 1.5s Silence" or "1.5s silent transition" and click OK

FINISH THE FAVORITE

1. Window > Favorites
2. Right-click on "Replace Selection with 1.5s Silence" or "1.5s silent transition" (or whatever you named it)
3. Click "Show Actions" (you might want to widen the Favorites panel)
4. Make sure Selection on first step (Delete) is "Relative"
5. Change Selection on second step (Insert Silence) from "Relative" to "Absolute from Start"
6. Change Selection on third step () from "Absolute from Start" to "Relative"
   
   

The list of Actions for your favorite should look like this when done.

SET UP THE SHORTCUT KEY (Alt+S)

1. Right-click on "Replace Selection with 1.5s Silence" or "1.5s silent transition" (or whatever you named it)
2. Choose Edit Keyboard Shortcuts...
3. Scroll down in the command window until you see Favorites. Click the > next to Favorites to expand it. Find your new favorite.
4. Click the "s" on the keyboard map
5. Drag the name of your favorite in the left column to the word "Alt" in the right column.
6. Click OK

Now you have a shortcut that replaces whatever is selected with 1.5 seconds of silence. Example of use: Go to the point where a presenter finishes his/her narration on Slide 1. Click and hold the mouse button to start the selection. Drag the mouse to the point right before the presenter starts speaking about Slide 2. Press Alt+S. The noise after Slide 1 will be deleted and replaced with 1.5 seconds of silence. E.g. If the speaker took 5 seconds between slides, this will be replaced with 1.5 seconds of silence.

Some tips:

1. When making your selection, make sure not to reach all the way to the marker at the start of the next slide or it will be deleted.
2. When Audition inserts Silence, it actually "feathers" the start and end of the silence. It's like it starts and ends the silence with a very brief fade in and out. This means that you may have to drag the marker from the next slide slightly to the left so that it starts before the feathered audio

[kevinxw]

This is perfect! Thank you!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

As far as inserting silence is concerned, it's just like any other edit you might perform. In Edit>Preferences>Data you'll find the settings that can alter the transition times - they're defaulted to a few milliseconds, and their purpose is to prevent clicks at edit points, which are pretty inevitable if you don't have a managed transition.

[CalgonMoment]

Winner, winner! this works like a charm! thank you