Image taken from page 231 of 'Pawson and Brailsford's Illustrated Guide to Sheffield and neighbourhood, etc' The British Library Edited in Phixr.com
If you are recording e-learning materials, or even lines for an audio drama, you may need to record many hundreds of tiny files. Trimming your recording down into these files can be time-consuming.
Fortunately, Audition does offer some solutions to partly automate this process.
First of all, if you have Audition CC, then please go straight to this video by Timothy McKean, as that version is capable of copying and pasting room tone with a marker, so is a little faster than in Audition 3.0.
If you're still here, then here's a suggestion on how to approach file splitting
Fortunately, Audition does offer some solutions to partly automate this process.
First of all, if you have Audition CC, then please go straight to this video by Timothy McKean, as that version is capable of copying and pasting room tone with a marker, so is a little faster than in Audition 3.0.
If you're still here, then here's a suggestion on how to approach file splitting
Step 1 - Record your audio
Record the full text for all files in one, long file.
For this, I do strongly recommend using a Punch and Roll method of recording. This is a way of setting up your DAW so that, if you make an error, you set the cursor after the last good phrase of audio. Then, with a click of a button or two, your DAW will play aloud your last few seconds of recording before slipping into Record mode. Therefore, you can hear your last phrase and match the tone seamlessly as you continue. It results in one long take with no errors (that you've noticed!), and if you time it well, no extraneous pauses, coughs or passing lorries.
I use Presonus Studio One for recording, as the Punch and Roll is integrated and very user-friendly, but many other DAWs offer it. Steven Jay Cohen has written a script to enable punch and roll in Adobe Audition, if you prefer to use the one program.
So, record the script using punch and roll, but every time you start a new file, click or clap. This will give you a visual spike in the waveform that will speed the process later. So you'll end up with something like this:
For this, I do strongly recommend using a Punch and Roll method of recording. This is a way of setting up your DAW so that, if you make an error, you set the cursor after the last good phrase of audio. Then, with a click of a button or two, your DAW will play aloud your last few seconds of recording before slipping into Record mode. Therefore, you can hear your last phrase and match the tone seamlessly as you continue. It results in one long take with no errors (that you've noticed!), and if you time it well, no extraneous pauses, coughs or passing lorries.
I use Presonus Studio One for recording, as the Punch and Roll is integrated and very user-friendly, but many other DAWs offer it. Steven Jay Cohen has written a script to enable punch and roll in Adobe Audition, if you prefer to use the one program.
So, record the script using punch and roll, but every time you start a new file, click or clap. This will give you a visual spike in the waveform that will speed the process later. So you'll end up with something like this:
You can clearly see the clicks between files in the raw recording.
Step 2 - Set the markers
I do this before any other post-processing. By placing markers first and saving that draft, if anything goes awry in post production, then you still have a neatly divided recording to work from again.
Each file needs a marker at the start to label it. So your first marker will be right at the beginning of file 1.
Now you have two options. If your client is happy with tails of silence on either side of the audio, there is a way of adding that when exporting. In that case, you'll be placing your first marker right up at the start of the first word. And from then on, between the last word of this file and the first of the next with no other space at all.
If your client wants room tone on either side of the audio, then you can follow this process:
In the case of this recording, I need to leave tails of room tone of 0.3 seconds for each file. So I place marker 1 at 0:00, and leave 0.3 seconds after it, before the first word begins. That marker is going to describe the file following it, so label it as the finished file name that your client or producer wants it labelled.
Here I've called it Lesson1page1.
If all of your files have identical prefixes and run in numerical order, you can automate the prefix for each file to save time typing in. Please refer to Step 6 below for further details.
Then, there will be a gap of 0.3 seconds at the tail end of Lesson1page1, and 0.3 seconds at the beginning of the next file, Lesson1page2. So I've found the first click that signifies the beginning of Lesson1page2, selected the entire area up to the edges of the words, and pasted in 0.6 seconds of room tone.
Each file needs a marker at the start to label it. So your first marker will be right at the beginning of file 1.
Now you have two options. If your client is happy with tails of silence on either side of the audio, there is a way of adding that when exporting. In that case, you'll be placing your first marker right up at the start of the first word. And from then on, between the last word of this file and the first of the next with no other space at all.
If your client wants room tone on either side of the audio, then you can follow this process:
In the case of this recording, I need to leave tails of room tone of 0.3 seconds for each file. So I place marker 1 at 0:00, and leave 0.3 seconds after it, before the first word begins. That marker is going to describe the file following it, so label it as the finished file name that your client or producer wants it labelled.
Here I've called it Lesson1page1.
If all of your files have identical prefixes and run in numerical order, you can automate the prefix for each file to save time typing in. Please refer to Step 6 below for further details.
Then, there will be a gap of 0.3 seconds at the tail end of Lesson1page1, and 0.3 seconds at the beginning of the next file, Lesson1page2. So I've found the first click that signifies the beginning of Lesson1page2, selected the entire area up to the edges of the words, and pasted in 0.6 seconds of room tone.
Next, set the marker in the middle of that room tone. Here, I'm leaving 0.3 seconds on either side, as required.
If you have Audition CC, it is possible to copy and paste markers along with the room tone. Sadly, that's not the case in 3.0, so you'll have to do this individually each time.
If you have Audition CC, it is possible to copy and paste markers along with the room tone. Sadly, that's not the case in 3.0, so you'll have to do this individually each time.
Step 3 - Set a Final Marker
Keep on going like this, setting and naming each marker until you have placed your final one.
Then, it is vital to place one last marker (here 0.3 seconds after the last file). You can call this anything: End; Last; Fin; Good Grief it's Over! It doesn't matter because it's simply there to enable the next stage, rather than to label anything.
Once all the markers are set and labelled, you should end up with something like this.
All the markers are visible on the track, and to the left, you have a list of the marker names and their positions at the beginning of each of those files.
It's worth checking now that they're correctly named and all there. Simply select any one in the list by clicking on it, and rename in the 'Label' box on the right.
Then, it is vital to place one last marker (here 0.3 seconds after the last file). You can call this anything: End; Last; Fin; Good Grief it's Over! It doesn't matter because it's simply there to enable the next stage, rather than to label anything.
Once all the markers are set and labelled, you should end up with something like this.
All the markers are visible on the track, and to the left, you have a list of the marker names and their positions at the beginning of each of those files.
It's worth checking now that they're correctly named and all there. Simply select any one in the list by clicking on it, and rename in the 'Label' box on the right.
Step 4 - Do All Your Post-Production
Now save this file as a raw but marked file. Then do all your normal post-production routine as normal to clean up and optimise the sound.
If you are using Izotope RX for the processing, all of your markers will remain intact along the journey.
Save the new file as a processed one, and you're ready to split it up.
If you are using Izotope RX for the processing, all of your markers will remain intact along the journey.
Save the new file as a processed one, and you're ready to split it up.
Step 5 - Merge your Markers
Merging your markers, as above, basically divides them into your final files - each one the audio between two markers, and you'll see that they all now have an 'end' time and 'length' now, too. Again, it's worth checking that they look as you'd expected.
Step 6 - Batch Process your Marker Regions
This is the point where, if your client is happy with you using silence instead of room tone you have the opportunity to set a fixed amount before and after a marker.
If you've added room tone so far, then all you have to do is check 'use marker label as filename' - OR you can automate the prefix for each file, rather than type them in as you go, as suggested above.
Choose your output format and destination folder just as in normal exporting.
If you've added room tone so far, then all you have to do is check 'use marker label as filename' - OR you can automate the prefix for each file, rather than type them in as you go, as suggested above.
Choose your output format and destination folder just as in normal exporting.
And go! Every individual file will light up as it is saved, which is very pleasing. And once all have been batch processed, you are left with your final files to send. You're done!
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