How (and why) to Add Silence to Your FFR Submission

Cutting a Song

Why to Cut a Song
These are a few basic reasons as to why to cut a song:
1. The song is too long to be stepped in its entirety. Having less of the song to step can sometimes help keep both the stepper and player interested in the simfile.
2. The song repeats a lot. Cutting can help to remove some repetition from the simfile.
3. The song is only steppable in a certain part. Cutting allows you to accentuate that part by removing the other parts of the song.

How to Cut a Song (without vinyl)
Most important: listen to the song and determine where you would like to cut it.

For example: I wish to start stepping this song at the red line here. However, you should leave about 5-10 seconds before that point to allow room to play with later (green shade).


In the upper left corner, make sure you have the selection tool

And click 5-10 seconds before our red line.

Now go to Edit -> Select -> Start to Cursor

And hit delete!

Now we have this:

Note that the wave in the yellow box is the exact same as what we were aiming for, and it's now at the beginning! Yippie!!

..but I want to chop off the end of a song, not the beginning!!
No sweat! Choose where you want to end the song, and follow the exact same steps as above except:
-Click with the selection tool about 5-10 seconds after the point where you want to cut the song.
-Go to Edit -> Select -> Cursor to End, and hit delete

Congratulations! You've cut your song..

But why did we leave 5-10 seconds at the beginning and end?
You might notice that the result of your work is rather abrupt to begin or end. Read on!

Fades
Fades make the music begin and end gradually. They are easy to put in using Audacity as well, however, it may take some trial and error to get a fade that sounds nice. Use your best judgement.

You can begin your trial and error by simply using the selection tool:

and clicking about one second before where you plan to step.

Then choose Edit -> Select -> Start to Cursor (BROTIP: You can also click and drag the selection tool along the waveform to select music.)


And now go to Effect -> Fade In


You'll get something like this:

This is where the trial and error comes in. You will probably notice that the fade in is too much. If that's the case, hit undo (CTRL+Z on Windows or Edit -> Undo). You can do one of two things:
1. You can remove a small amount of music from the beginning and try the same steps as above.
2. You can try a smaller selection, without removing any music.

You will have to fiddle around with it until you get something you like.
Keep in mind this key concept:
The longer the selection, the more gradual the fade.
The shorter the selection, the more sudden the fade.

Fades at the End of a Song
The steps for adding a fade out at the end of a song are exactly the same as above except:
-Make your selection after where you plan to stop stepping by about 1 second
-Once you have your selection go to Effect -> Fade Out

Remember that you have to experiment with fades until you get something that sounds nice.
Also remember that if you are sending this file to FFR you should account for the converter. You can deliberately sacrifice the beginning of the song in place of adding silence to your submission if you cut from the beginning if you so choose.

The final result:

What was once almost 6 minutes is now down to less than 2! Yay!

More Audacity Tricks??
..later..
planned: volume adjustments..? ...

Good luck stepping your manias!

I don't want to do this! Can you do it for me?
Sure, but it'll cost you credits. PM me and we can work something out.