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Punch in/out - problem replacing part of an audio track

I have experimented with Punch In/Out on an audio track. I soon discovered that if I re-record a short section of an already recorded track, the new version is superimposed on the original. It does not, as I expected, replace it.

I found this thread: https://www.rncbc.org/drupal/node/2081 from somebody who had a similar problem. This explains that I need to listen to the original track whilst recording the relevant passage on a new track. OK, fine.

But how do I then integrate this new material with the original recording? Is there a way of deleting the original section of the clip and replacing it with the new one? Or do I have to do something a bit more complicated - perhaps using automation to mute the original at the relevant point, and then recording both tracks on to a third one?

Section 4.6.7. Punch In/Out of the Qtractor Manual is rather misleading here. The screen shot shows the section of track to be recorded as currently empty, but I haven't yet discovered a way of removing the previously recorded material from the track whilst leaving everything else after it "horizontally" in its correct place.

I'd be very grateful for an explanation of what I should be doing.

David

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rncbc's picture

yes, all recorded clips will overlap the previous and existing clip material; there's no current straight-forward way to replace the existing material, sorry.

you'll probably need to cut and paste the new clip over the range of the old clip that you may delete; then merge the clips together.

hth.
cheers

That's what I thought, but I haven't yet discovered how to do this. After doing Punch In/Out, I have the purple markers still showing the extent of the new clip. What I feel I should do (but I don't know how, or even if it's possible) is to split the original clip at the markers (making 3 clips), delete the middle clip, and then cut and paste the new clip, moving it vertically from its original track into the gap. So far I haven't discovered the correct combination of mouse clicks, keys, and/or menu options to achieve any of this.

rncbc's picture

you can:
0. for better results ahead, trim the edges of new recorded clip to snap-to-beat boundaries, if not already due to punch-in/out locations;
1. select the recorded clip as whole; then Clip > Range Set; the blue markers are placed at the clip boundaries;
2. now, Edit > Cut the selected clip;
3. make the old track current; hit Edit > Select > Track Range; the old material in the desired range is now selected;
4. you may now remove the old material and only by hitting Edit > Delete;
5. now, Edit > Paste the new material over the the just deleted hole; you should now have 3 clips concatenated head to tail;
6. (optional) select the 3 clips; hit Clip > Merge...

hth.
cheers

Thank you so much for the step-by-step instructions. Qtractor is such a complex piece of software that is isn't always obvious to this beginner how to achieve something apparently simple, e.g. the Clip > Range Set operation.

As I don't use the snap-to-beat facility for the sort of thing I am doing, I didn't bother with step 0. However, when I got to step 5, I realised that there is a real disadvantage in not using it. When I pasted the new clip into the old track I naïvely expected it to be placed between the markers, but of course it isn't, and trying to position it manually was not entirely successful. Then I found that using maximum zoom made it easy.

In the mean time, I had also figured out how to export both tracks to a new track, so I'm slowly learning...

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