speed up narration?

[thereallaralou]

Hi!  The narrator I'm working with recorded a chapter slower than all the others.  Not by much, but it is noticeable to me.  Is there a way I can speed the whole thing, or just part of it by selecting it, to play a little faster? 

Thanks! 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

The easiest way to do this is to open the chapter in Multitrack view and go to the Properties panel for it. You'll find a section called 'Stretch' and you have to twirl down into this. The settings to use are most likely to be Rendered mode, Monophonic type, and then you have to choose the new duration you'd like.  Leave the pitch and all the other settings alone. The file will then render, and all you have to do at this point is either a mixdown or an export of the shrunk file. For small shifts this works pretty well. In other words, you won't be able to tell... 😉

If you only want to do it to part of the chapter, then you'll have to put a split in the clip in multitrack, effectively turning it into more than one clip, and treat each one the way you want. If you do this though, you'll have to rejoin the ends of each one to make the track contiguous again. But that's easy - just slide the clips together before exporting or mixing.

[thereallaralou]

Thanks for your quick reply!!  

Hmmmm, there's a lot going on in that paragraph for a newbie like me.  

What is a mixdown?  

And, "export of the shrunken file" means exactly what?  

If I do this to only this chapter, will the other chapters sound differently?  I was thinking there must be a process (sounds like there is) that I can do, but then I was thinking I'd just be able to save it the same way I've saved the other chapters and no one would be the wiser.  

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I think that you would be well advised to have a look at some of the basic Audition tutorials, certainly the ones about Multitrack view. The thing you won't find an answer for is what a shrunken file is, but that's simple; if you reduce the length of time it takes to play a file, then the size of it shrinks - that's inevitable. If you reduce the playing time of a file in Multitrack view then actually, you haven't done anything to it at all, as Multitrack view is non-destructive. So you have to mix down the result of your time shrinking, and that's now your new file - the original file hasn't actually been touched at all. But like I said, have a look at the Multitrack tutorials - this will all become a little clearer if you do.

As for whether it sounds different - it won't. Not for the amount you'd be wanting to speed it up, anyway. It'll just sound slightly faster - but with no pitch shift.