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Arrange and edit multitrack clips with Audition

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  1. Audition User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's new in Adobe Audition
    2. Audition system requirements
    3. Finding and customizing shortcuts
    4. Applying effects in the Multitrack Editor
  3. Workspace and setup
    1. Control surface support
    2. Viewing, zooming, and navigating audio
    3. Customizing workspaces
    4. Connecting to audio hardware in Audition
    5. Customizing and saving application settings
  4. Digital audio fundamentals
    1. Understanding sound
    2. Digitizing audio
  5. Importing, recording, and playing
    1. Multichannel audio workflow
    2. Create, open, or import files in Adobe Audition
    3. Importing with the Files panel
    4. Extracting audio from CDs
    5. Supported import formats
    6. Navigate time and playing audio in Adobe Audition
    7. Recording audio
    8. Monitoring recording and playback levels
    9. Remove silences from your audio recordings
  6. Editing audio files
    1. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
    2. Generating text-to-speech
    3. Matching loudness across multiple audio files
    4. Displaying audio in the Waveform Editor
    5. Selecting audio
    6. How to copy, cut, paste, and delete audio in Audition
    7. Visually fading and changing amplitude
    8. Working with markers
    9. Inverting, reversing, and silencing audio
    10. How to automate common tasks in Audition
    11. Analyze phase, frequency, and amplitude with Audition
    12. Frequency Band Splitter
    13. Undo, redo, and history
    14. Converting sample types
    15. Creating podcasts using Audition
  7. Applying effects
    1. Enabling CEP extensions
    2. Effects controls
    3. Applying effects in the Waveform Editor
    4. Applying effects in the Multitrack Editor
    5. Adding third party plugins
    6. Notch Filter effect
    7. Fade and Gain Envelope effects (Waveform Editor only)
    8. Manual Pitch Correction effect (Waveform Editor only)
    9. Graphic Phase Shifter effect
    10. Doppler Shifter effect (Waveform Editor only)
  8. Effects reference
    1. Apply amplitude and compression effects to audio
    2. Delay and echo effects
    3. Diagnostics effects (Waveform Editor only) for Audition
    4. Filter and equalizer effects
    5. Modulation effects
    6. Reduce noise and restore audio
    7. Reverb effects
    8. How to use special effects with Audition
    9. Stereo imagery effects
    10. Time and pitch manipulation effects
    11. Generate tones and noise
  9. Mixing multitrack sessions
    1. Creating remix
    2. Multitrack Editor overview
    3. Basic multitrack controls
    4. Multitrack routing and EQ controls
    5. Arrange and edit multitrack clips with Audition
    6. Looping clips
    7. How to match, fade, and mix clip volume with Audition
    8. Automating mixes with envelopes
    9. Multitrack clip stretching
  10. Video and surround sound
    1. Working with video applications
    2. Importing video and working with video clips
    3. 5.1 surround sound
  11. Keyboard shortcuts
    1. Finding and customizing shortcuts
    2. Default keyboard shortcuts
  12. Saving and exporting
    1. Save and export audio files
    2. Viewing and editing XMP metadata

When you insert an audio file in the Multitrack Editor, the file becomes a clip on the selected track. You can easily move clips to different tracks or timeline positions. You can also edit clips nondestructively, trimming their start and end points, crossfading them with other clips, and more.

To arrange clips in the Editor panel, you use the Move  or Time Selection  tools.

Select and move clips

  1. Do any of the following:
    • To select an individual clip, click it in the Editor panel.
    • To select all clips in selected tracks, choose Edit > Select > All Clips In Selected Track.
    • To select all clips in a session, choose Edit >Select > Select All.
    • To move selected clips, select the Move tool  in the toolbar, and then drag the clips. Or choose Clip > Nudge Right or Nudge Left to move clips one pixel at a time. (If you zoom in to see individual samples, nudging moves clips one sample at a time.)
    Note:

    To move clips with the Time Selection tool , right‑click and drag (similar to the Hybrid tool technique in previous versions). You can also drag the clip header with any tool.

Snap to clip endpoints

Snapping lets you quickly align clips with other clips. If snapping is enabled, both dragged clips and the current‑time indicator snap to selected items. While you drag a clip, a white line appears in the Editor panel when snapping points meet.

  1. To enable snapping for selected items, click the Toggle Snapping icon  at the top of the Editor panel.
  2. Choose Edit > Snapping > Snap To Clips.

    For more information, see Snap to loop beats and Snap to markers, rulers, frames, and zero crossings.

Overlapping Clips

When clips overlap each other without crossfading, only the top-most clip plays.

You can change the order of the clips using any one of the following method :

• Select the Bring Clip to Front or Send Clip to Back command from the clip section of the main menu to rearrange the selected clip.
• Select the Bring Clip to Front or Send Clip to Back command from the clip context menu to rearrange the clip. In case a clip overlaps other clips, the clips are listed in the Bring Clip to Front sub-menu where they are sorted by their start time to bring the hidden clips to the front.

Clip context menu
Clip context menu

Copy a clip

You can create two types of copied audio clips: reference copies that share source files and unique copies that have independent source files. The type of copy you choose depends upon the amount of available disk space and the nature of destructive editing you plan to perform in the Waveform Editor.

Reference copies consume no additional disk space, letting you simultaneously edit all instances by editing the original source file. (For example, you can add the Flanger effect to a source file in the Waveform Editor and automatically apply the effect to all 30 referenced copies in a session.)

Unique copies have a separate audio file on disk, allowing for separate editing of each version in the Waveform Editor. (For example, you can add destructive effects to the version in an introduction while leaving the version in a verse dry.)

Note:

To quickly copy a reference, press Ctrl + C (Windows) or Cmd + C (Mac OS). Alternatively, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the clip header.

  1. Click the Move tool  in the toolbar. Then right‑click and drag the clip.
    Note:

    To copy with the Time Selection tool , right‑click and drag the clip header (similar to the Hybrid tool technique in previous versions).

  2. Release the mouse button, and choose one of the following from the pop‑up menu:
    • Copy Here (to copy a reference)
    • Copy Unique Here

Trimming and extending clips

You can trim or extend audio clips to suit the needs of a mix. Because the Multitrack Editor is nondestructive, clip edits are impermanent; you can return to the original, unedited clip at any time. If you want to permanently edit an audio clip, however, you can quickly open the source file in the Waveform Editor. (See Comparing the Waveform and Multitrack editors.)

Remove a selected range from clips

  1. In the toolbar, click the Time Selection tool  .
  2. Drag across one or more clips to select them and a range.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • To remove the range from clips and leave a gap in the timeline, choose Edit > Delete.
    • To remove the range and collapse the gap in the timeline, choose Edit > Ripple Delete, and select one of the following options:

      Selected Clips

      Removes selected clips, shifting remaining clips on the same tracks.

      Time Selection in Selected Clips

      Removes the range from selected clips, splitting them if necessary.

      Time Selection in All Tracks

      Removes the range from all clips in the session.

      Time Selection in Selected Track

      Removes the range only from the currently highlighted track in the Editor panel.

Collapse a gap between clips on a track

  1. Right-click the empty area between the clips, and choose Ripple Delete > Gap.

Trim or extend clips

  1. If you want to repeat a clip, right-click it and select Loop. (See Looping clips.)

  2. In the Editor panel, position the cursor over the left or right edge of the clip. The edge‑dragging icon  appears.
  3. Drag clip edges.

The Clip > Trim option has three parameters.

Trim to time selection

If you want to use a portion of the clip, select the portion and choose Trim to time selection.

Trim start to playhead

Place the playhead where you want your clip to start and choose this option to trim the clip.

Trim end to playhead

Place the playhead at the position where you want the clip to end and choose this option to trim out the clip.

Shift the contents of a trimmed or looped clip

You can slip edit a trimmed or looped clip to shift its contents within clip edges.

Shift clip contents within clip edges

  1. In the toolbar, click the Slip tool  .
  2. Drag across the clip.

Permanently edit a clip’s source file in the Waveform Editor

  1. Double‑click the clip header.

Split clips

Split audio clips to break them into separate clips that you can independently move or edit.

Split clips with the Razor tool

  1. In the toolbar, hold down the Razor tool , and choose one of the following from the pop-up menu:

    Razor Selected Clips

    Splits only clips you click.

    Razor All Clips

    Splits all clips at the time point you click.

     Tip: to switch between these modes in the Editor panel, press Shift.

  2. In the Editor panel, click where you want the split to occur.

Split all clips at the current-time indicator

  1. Position the current-time indicator where one or more audio clips exist.

  2. Choose Clip > Split.

Set audio clip properties

In the Properties panel, you can quickly change multiple settings for selected audio clips. Clip settings for gain and mute are independent from similar track controls.

  1. Select an audio clip, and choose Window > Properties.
    Note:

    You can access individual properties from the Clip menu.

  2. Set the following options:
    Note:

    To change the clip name, type in the text box at the top of the panel.

    Clip Color

    Click the swatch to customize. A swatch with a red slash indicates that the clip is using the default color for the current Appearance preset. (See Change interface colors, brightness, and performance.)

    Clip Gain

    Compensates for a low or high volume clip that is difficult to mix.

    Lock in Time

    Allows only up or down moves to other tracks, with a fixed timeline position. A lock icon  appears on the clip.

    Loop

    Enables clip looping. For more information, see Looping clips.

    Mute

    Silences the clip.

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