Quantize

I read all of the lengthy posts on the board about this issue, but I still have a question regarding the quantize feature within DC6. I understand completely it's role in between tracks so you get no glitches for continuous music files, but what about the beginning and ending of the whole music file?

I have been just putting markers at the song breaks before I quantize, but once in a great while I hear a very slight little glitch at the beginning of the first track and at the end of the last track after the "chop file into pieces" procedure.

Should I be placing markers at the beginning and ending of the complete file before I perform the chop to eliminate the potential sector errors at the start and end of the file?

I know in theory the recording software should pad this area, but I don't think it works properly all of the time.

GB..

[Dan McDonald]

Hi GB -

That's what I do. Because every time you cut a piece out, you're altering the file, so if you trim the beginnings or ends, you're going to sometimes get glitches. The easiest way is just to put markers at the beginning and end, quantize, chop, and discard the beginnings and ends.

Dan

[Geebster]

Dan...

That's what I thought... at least it sounded good in theory!

Thanks for the info.

GB..

[Dan McDonald]

I think it should really only matter if you cut a piece out of the file, but it seems like I always do some trimming, and once you do that, you've changed the file. What I hate is getting it all ready, chopping into pieces and then finding a problem of some kind in one of the tracks that needs to be corrected.

The beginning of a file shouldn't matter, if I understand it correctly, so I just take the file, fix whatever it is, and then put in a marker at the end, quantize and chop, then discard. The bad part of that is if it's a live tape or something - then you basically have to recut the whole file, cut out a slight chunk of music, or take a chance on a glitch. That's why I always keep my original files when I chop into pieces.

[sus4chord]

I always cut a little off the beginning and a little of the end by putting markers there. So when I quantize, those markers get properly positioned and I've never had glitch problems on my CDs. The beginning is generally the sound of the needle hitting the groove (or the transition from leader tape to the the recording tape), and the ending is generally the sound of the needle leaving the groove (or the transition from the recording tape to the leader tape), so cutting this out and quantizing is no big deal anyway. I always try to give myself some wiggle room at the beginning and end of the file, anyway. Sometimes, I use the space to store a cut or copied part of the song when I'm working on a particularly troublesome part (usually skips, which I have successfully fixed by using a snippet from another chorus - doesn't usually work so well on the verses, though). But to get it to sound right, I've found I've had to cut/paste several times, so having a parking lot for the part I need helps.

Anyway, I'm straying from topic now.

[Geebster]

I never gave it too much thought before (small glitches at the beginning and end of files) Craig brought up the topic about getting "professional quality" results from restorations. I've now redone my last 4 projects with placing markers at the start, between tracks and at the end and to my ears it does make an improvement.

I've got the ear (one ear's practically deaf) of a 9 year old girl, so I often hear things that others can't, and with the above mentioned approach, I hear no glitches whatsoever. And before, when I didn't always remember to mark and quantize the beginning and ending of the whole file before chopping, I could sometimes make out a very faint glitch.

Most people probably couldn't hear this glitch, but it always drove me crazy, so it's nice to know a way to prevent it.

GB..