Crossfades on Audio CDs in iTunes

andrew xt

Someone I know is using iTunes 3 to make compilation CDs.



Becuase the Tracks were crossfaded on the original disks ,but now they're in a different order, they need to set the "Crossfade during playback" up to the highest setting.



This works fine when listening to the playlist from iTunes, but the tracks do not fade on their iPod or when they burn an Audio CD, Is it possible to burn these effects to CD or on to the iPod, and if so how?



Andrew

overhope

Crossfade only works in iTunes because it's able to load two MP3s at once and change the volume of each track on the fly. iPods don't have any crossfade capability (at the moment!), so can't duplicate the effect. When burning a CD, crossfades are ignored, since it's just burning each track from the playlist in full.



To get the crossfades intact, you'd need to record the audio output from iTunes, then rip that single file. For an hour-long mix, you're looking at something like 600-700MB for an AIFF audio recording, which should rip down to around 80MB at 192kbps.



This single track can then be burned to Audio CD, or the MP3 loaded into an iPod.



For further entertainment, you can actually mix audio from MP3s in iMovie (there are two audio tracks and fading available for each, but it's not very precise), then save it out as audio through Quicktime. Very, very ugly...



Without buying some more software, there isn't really a way to do it that isn't either a pain in the ass, or terribly inelegant...

ghost_user_name

The audio controls in iTunes (equalizer, enhancer, fader) only apply to playback. They do not affect imports or burns to CD. You will need to use a separate tool to actually adjust the audio in the files themselves.



edit: bah, Overhope beat me to it.



[ 01-29-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>

overhope

Time to give up on the Dvorak experiment, Brad? <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

gordy

I don't think that this is an iTunes issue. CD Player manufacturers would have to design CD Players that had a cross-fading feature. That feature can't be burned to a CD.

vandewaals

One way you could capture the fades is to simply play the songs in iTunes via the play list you have, and capture the output using <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/"; target="_blank">Audio Hijack</a>. Its a cheap little app ($16) and you can add effects to the output too. Basically it "hijacks" the iTunes output signal before it reaches the audio out and allows you to tweak and/or record it to AIFF format. You'll have one giant track, but the fades should be preserved. I bought this to record streaming radio off the web. I like it a lot.

scottib

Not cheap, but you could purchase Roxio's Jam to do it. I use it to do some rough mastering for my band. Works great.

someone please help me

Sorry about the screen name.



Thanks for your help, shame about the iPod, does it really have a two second gap between each each song?



However, she has Logic now, which will be able to do anything and a lot more than Jam, so I'm sure there's a way to get a good result.



Andrew

overhope

I wouldn't say 2 seconds, but there's a distinct pause between one track and the next.