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

[trumaestro]

Why should I add silence to my FFR Submission?
The converter that converts your Stepmania file into a FFR file "removes" the first few seconds from the start of the music file. If you do not allow room for this, then your file will be missing the first few arrows when it is played in FFR, making it feel awkward in the first few seconds. (see Infernoplex, Lunar Saturation, .....)
More technical details here

Do I really need to add silence?
Usually, yes. But..
If your song already has at least 2 seconds of silence at the beginning then you don't need to add additional silence.
If you are stepping a song that has an intro of 2 seconds or more before you plan to begin stepping, then you don't need to add silence, although the intro will be cut.
Otherwise, you will need to add silence.

You will need:
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
LAME mp3 Encoder for Audacity: http://lame1.buanzo.com.ar/

Both of these are free! And available on Windows, Mac, and Linux! Yay! Install them according to their respective instructions, then open up Audacity.

Adding the Silence
Go to File -> Open and browse for your song. You should now have the waveform in Audacity! Cool!


Now all we have to do is go to Generate -> Silence


And put in 2 seconds. (You can put in a bit more if you like, but stick with between 2-3 seconds)

And click Generate Silence!

You should get something that looks like this


That's all we need! Hit File -> Export as MP3 to save your handiwork!
Save to the same location and overwrite the old mp3 for extra easiness!
And we're done with Audacity! Woohoo!

Are we completely done yet?
That depends. If you haven't started stepping your song yet, then we are done! Yay! We can now step our song normally.

If you have started stepping your song then no, but almost! Because we added silence to the beginning, we have to adjust the beat 0 offset either in Stepmania or in DDReam Studio.
Make sure to reload songs (Options -> Reload Songs/Courses) in Stepmania after you save your mp3 from Audacity. Then you can adjust the offset from there.

In either case, subtracting the amount of silence that you added can be used as a baseline for determining the beat 0 offset. It is not exact due to the nature of audio editors, as well as any possible silence that was at the beginning of the song before we edited it. You will still have to dial in the correct offset by ear or using DDReam.

Refer to any one of these guides for how to set the beat 0 offset:
http://www.keybeatonline.com/forums/...read.php?t=868
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...ad.php?t=72047
..other guides?

Other Audacity Tricks

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.

Update History:
21/12/10 - First posted guide
21/12/10 - Made easier thanks to Halogen
21/12/10 - T. Hanks dore
22/12/10 - Added technical details courtesy jimerax
04/01/11 - Added Cuts and Fades
04/01/11 - Stuck
04/01/13 - Ninja edit - updated dead link for LAME encoder.
09/08/13 - Ninja edit - spoil tag