newbie to soundforge -Sound Forge - PC - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:newbie to soundforge Posted by: benefzigi Date:4/5/2006 7:34:52 PM I am just learning to use this software and basically want to be able to take multiple portions of different songs and meld them into a single other song. I am a belly dancer and need to be able to put together music for performance use and I am not sure even how to start after reading through the manuals. Any advice/help? Thanks
Subject:RE: newbie to soundforge Reply by: Chienworks Date:4/6/2006 4:18:12 AM To begin with, you can have multiple song files open on the screen at once. Open all the files you need and use the Window / Tile function to arrange them on the screen. Also add a new blank file for creating your final mixed version. If you have a large number of songs you may want to open only the first few to begin with, then close those when you are done with them and open additional ones later. Find the first segment you wish to use and highlight it by dragging the mouse over that section. You can adjust the beginning and ending points by moving them left or right until you have exactly what you want. Ctrl-C to copy this piece, then click on the new blank window and Ctrl-P to paste it. You can continue copying and pasting pieces until you have everything you want in the new file. Ctrl-P will cause hard edits; the sound will instantly change from part of one song to part of the next. This may be a big harsh. Alternatively you can get smoother transitions by crossfading. It may sound better to have the last 8 beats or so of one section smoothly fade into the first 8 beats of the next. After copying, move to the new song window and find an appropriate spot near the end to start the crossfade. Leave the cursor at that spot when you find it and use Ctrl-F instead of Ctrl-P to paste. This will overlay the new segment over the last part of the previous one and create a gentle crossfade between them. If it doesn't sound quite right, use Edit / Undo to undo the crossfade and try again. Crossfading works best when the tempos of the segments match. Sound Forge can adjust tempo with various Pitch and Speed functions, but this is much more advanced. We can get into that if you need it after you've gotten some practice with pasting and crossfades.

To begin with, you can have multiple song files open on the screen at once. Open all the files you need and use the Window / Tile function to arrange them on the screen. Also add a new blank file for creating your final mixed version. If you have a large number of songs you may want to open only the first few to begin with, then close those when you are done with them and open additional ones later.

Find the first segment you wish to use and highlight it by dragging the mouse over that section. You can adjust the beginning and ending points by moving them left or right until you have exactly what you want. Ctrl-C to copy this piece, then click on the new blank window and Ctrl-P to paste it. You can continue copying and pasting pieces until you have everything you want in the new file.

Ctrl-P will cause hard edits; the sound will instantly change from part of one song to part of the next. This may be a big harsh. Alternatively you can get smoother transitions by crossfading. It may sound better to have the last 8 beats or so of one section smoothly fade into the first 8 beats of the next. After copying, move to the new song window and find an appropriate spot near the end to start the crossfade. Leave the cursor at that spot when you find it and use Ctrl-F instead of Ctrl-P to paste. This will overlay the new segment over the last part of the previous one and create a gentle crossfade between them. If it doesn't sound quite right, use Edit / Undo to undo the crossfade and try again.

Crossfading works best when the tempos of the segments match. Sound Forge can adjust tempo with various Pitch and Speed functions, but this is much more advanced. We can get into that if you need it after you've gotten some practice with pasting and crossfades.