Best Fades for Various Audio Material

WaveLab
1

For ambient field recordings, I just got done testing various combinations and it seems that the following combinations work very well:

Cross-Fades: Fade-In: “Sinusoid” and Fade-Out: “Logarithmic” (when removing segments or cutting material). Short timings work sometimes, long ones almost always.
Fade in: “Sinus” (1 sec +)
Fade out: “Sinusoid” (1sec +)

I am curious to hear about your experience when working with the different fade curves on various materials (for intros, outros or cross-fades). If you could share your experience, I think we can build a nice goto reference thread.

Which fade curve combinations work best for various audio material? How long do you set your fades (milliseconds / seconds).

2

I work entirely with classical music. My defaults are these:

Fade in - linear, 2s (may change to exponential or exp+ if there is audience noise).
Fade out - sinusoid, typically 3s to 5s if silence required between tracks or 7s to 15s for applause (shorter for item, longer for whole concert).
Cross fades - sinus, 10ms to 50ms typically (for reference, the physical 15ips ¼" tape 45° cut I was taught corresponds to linear 14ms).

Cross fades can be hugely varied according to circumstances. The longest in a published recording made by me was about 1.5s, with the shapes of both fades irregularly constructed manually.