During post-processing of vocal recording sessions, the first part of my workflow is to get rid of the beginning and end of audio events where nothing was being recorded (“top and tail” the lead-in/lead-out).
I then also do the same thing in the middle of long takes, for example, when a vocalist doesn’t sing during an instrumental transition that goes on for a while but during which the recording was running. In that case, I cut out that empty space of the audio event.
This seems like a real no-brainer to automate, and should be easy to implement by automatically cutting the beginning and end of audio events until the recorded signal is above some threshold (and be smart enough about that to not be thrown off by clicks, pops, mic stand rumble, etc). Same thing for getting rid of empty middle parts.
Ideally respect grid/snap settings, so that the automated cutting happens at predictable (on-grid) points in time, and don’t forget to do this for each take in a multi-lane track.
Not sure if this is possible using PLE, if so, does anybody have a macro that already does this?
Hi,
there’s already a feature implemented in Cubase which does what you are asking for:
Audio> Advanced > Detect Silence
I’ve implemented 3 Macros which delete audio events to the left, to the right, or both and apply a fade. I’m not in the studio right now but I can post them another day if you are interested.
HTH
EDIT: Here’s how Dom Sigalas implemented macros which do the same like mine ( 11:55 min):
There are also a couple of additional things in his tutorial that you might find helpful.
Detect silence it´s an interesting feature but you have to adjust the threshold depending on the source otherwise you may cut a tail in the middle. At least I couldnt find a setting for every vocal clip.
To me it´s more handy this:
For cutting head and tail:
1- Select the range with range tool
2- Apply a macro which includes cut head and cut tail commands
For cutting inside a clip:
1- Select the range with range tool
2- ctrl +x to cut
Thank you. This is similar to what I’m currently doing, but I was hoping that this Detect Silence feature (maybe combined with a bit of macros) can automate this process completely.
