Struggling with a 30 second cutdown

[RealPickle]

Hi all,

I have a track I'm making alt mixes of for a library, and I'm really struggling with the 30 second cutdown. Reason being, it's a house/edm track and one time through the progression is exactly 16 seconds. So there's no way I can fit two times into a mix, but even if I include a two note pickup, and leave a full reverb tail, one time through only gets me to about 23-24 seconds (and that's kinda cheating since the reverb tail is a good 3-4 seconds of that)

Any tips for how to hack this?

This is the track, if that helps:
https://www.taxi.com/members/AtDl-WGNQ2 ... e-yourself

[crs7string]

Geoff,

With this track having drums it creates some potential to find the few seconds you need.

(this is a technique we use all the time when creating cutdowns for our library)

Using just the drum track, cut a section that gets close to the time needed. Paste it on the beginning of the track. It is usually a good idea to have a duration larger than the amount you need.

. You can always trim it after it is attached to the close to 30 Sec version that your have.

[RealPickle]

Geoff,

With this track having drums it creates some potential to find the few seconds you need.

(this is a technique we use all the time when creating cutdowns for our library)

Using just the drum track, cut a section that gets close to the time needed. Paste it on the beginning of the track. It is usually a good idea to have a duration larger than the amount you need.

. You can always trim it after it is attached to the close to 30 Sec version that your have.

That's a good tip, and I'm glad to know it's a time-tested technique

Thanks!

[telefunkin]

There's always a way, but you might have to get creative. Ideas...
- repeat phrases or parts of phrases (eg last bar or 2 bars).
- use a drum pickup or a reduced phrase to get you in (or maybe out).
- use delay repeat if a long reverb tail sounds lame on its own.
- pad the entry with a riser/reverse cymbal or snare.
- be willing to shorten or lengthen an 8-bar (or whatever length it is) loop.
- separate those loops and use a pick-up between them.
.....etc

[Casey H]

Wash the 32 second version in hot water and dry on high heat in the dryer.

Sounds like lots of good advice here already. I always found that a few drum beats can help. For example, take a 32 sec section and reduce the front by substituting a few beats or other percussion as lead in.

I listened to the very first section of your track and it's already very close in the 31-32 second range. How much delay do you have before the music starts? It might be the player, but it sounds like you have 0.5-1 sec there. 200-250 ms is enough. I think you can just go percussion only at the very start and trim a tiny bit. You may not want to use the part at the beginning because it's less intense, but it would be easy to use that as a template to overlay from a later part of the track.

Good luck!
Casey

[RealPickle]

Wash the 32 second version in hot water and dry in high heat in the dryer.

I tried this, but now it's only 18 seconds. Damn industrial strength dryers

Thanks Casey and Telefunkin for the tips. I ended up using a bit of the bridge leading into the final big section and it worked when I took out some of the parts.