Fade Out

I'm trying to fade out tracks at the end of a song. I've selected and highlighted four measures on one single track. I then choose Process - Apply Effect - Fade/Envelope. Problem is when I go to the Fade/Envelope step the option is not highlighted for me to click. That's where I'm stumped and the project's on hold.  I know it's something I'm overlooking because yesterday I was able to go beyond that point and get to the graph that allows the options of different fades. Just not sure what I'm overlooking today. Suggestions pls.

Yes, volume envelops on tracks and buses are a more flexible, nondestructive way to perform the fade out.

Because it affects how buss comps & limiting responds I use a fade curve during the mastering stage, not pre-mixdown for song fade out.
If various track fades are desired I'll use any of the others types mentioned, depending on what type of fx's are used.
I.E. sometimes I'll want to fade the dry but have reverb remain by using a fade out curve on the audio clip itself, (switching the reverb send to pre..)
 

One other item. My project ends at measure 107 (3:21) and yet the marker continues to about measure 115 (3:38). How do I delete these measures and dead air so that it stops at 107 (3:21)? I tried highlighting and deleting at the end but it won't let me....

Steve, I tried that suggestion, when I highlight the measures and go to Edit, the delete special and delete option won't highlite for me to click. I'll keep at it... thanks

It is really not more that a small annoyance. Specify time range, after selecting tracks, before exporting and the exported file will start and stop exactly where you want.

I just Write Enable Master and pull the fader down.  You can always turn Read off.

I set the fade clips to a key stroke...

• I bounce my master bust to a track so I can see the wave form before exporting.
• I solo the new track and ensure it is routed directly to my interface (not the master bus with fx on it).
• I select the clip and hit ctrl+shift+e (you can find fade clips under the clips menu) and it brings up the fade clips window.
• I usually just set it to 500 ms or something. It doesn't matter at this point, it just makes it easier to grab the hotspots for me.
• Then I turn on snap and drag the start of the track to a zero crossing and then switch snap off and move the fade in hot spot to where I want it, auditioning the track.
• Then I go to the end of the clip and drag it to a 0 crossing too, using snap to as well. I hit N to turn off snap move the fade out start hotspot to where I want it and audition.
• Then, I hit shift+g to go to the beginning selected clip and listen to it.

 
:-)

Donny... haha... I presume you know how to bounce to tracks... so you must be asking about how to set fade clips to a key stroke...
 
This is actually in preferences ... I'm at the beach with my linux computer, so I can't look it up in Sonar, but there is a section for assigning hot keys. You click in the box and hit the key chord you want -- like ctrl+shift+e then to the right, you select the category (like clip functions) and the type in the search box and it shows up. then you click the bind button and it binds the shortcut to the key stroke.
 
is that what you wanted to know? :-)

gswitz
Donny... haha... I presume you know how to bounce to tracks... so you must be asking about how to set fade clips to a key stroke...

I've had Cakewalk since Cakewalk Pro Audio around 1999 or so and I actually I had to look up bouncing...I've never done that before.  LOL!  It did work though and I'll try the other suggestions as well.  

Steve Strummer, that was an awesome and generous post. I really appreciate the effort you put into it.
 
Bus Master and PreMaster Wave forms
I am aware of the wave preview and have used it for years to watch for clips in the master during mix. I actually send to a 'Pre-Master' bus so I can get a wave form before the master bus FX and then also the wave form after the master bus FX so I can watch for clipping pre-master. The wave form image before master fx helps me keep the levels from my tracks reasonably hot -- safely hot.
 
Pro Channel Clip Lights Wish
Since the Pro Channel has a clip indicator, I wish we could get a mark in our bus wave form preview when we lit this indicator. I find I sometimes have to re-listen to tracks watching console view or put console view on a second monitor to watch for PC Clip lights to blink. That's a tedious thing to have to do.
 
Bus Wave Forms write over previous versions and change on zooming
There are a couple of truths about the wave forms that get drawn in the buses that make bouncing a more useful tool for me. First, the graphics seem to over-write previous versions of the same wave form strangely if you listen repeatedly. And when zooming I'm never positive if I get the latest wave form or a wave form from before the last automation change. If you re-play the same section repeatedly at different zoom levels, it seems to fix the wave form to the current version, but this is more work than bounce to tracks to see the perfect and for-sure wave form. Second, any area of the track you haven't played through in this session will not have the wave form drawn in.
 
Volume Automation and House Noise
I also use the volume automation to control fades at the end of tracks. I mix a lot of live recordings made in small bars or living rooms where there is audience noise, so I often fade out the instruments and then boost the already faded vocal mics to get some audience noise like clapping and cheering. Then I fade out the audience. It isn't so important how I fade out the audience. I just try to make sure I don't get any audience stuff that would embarrass anyone if their boss heard it (the danger of recording people who aren't aware of how hard you can boost those stage mics later :-)) -- like my double chin smiley?
 
I notice you have volume automation on Buses. This I don't do that often. Sometimes I do it in post processing (usually because I want to boost some trivial thing in the crowd noise where the level in the track envelop itself is already at the top). For what it's worth, you can change the fade type in the fade clips using slow or fast too (although I almost leave it at linear).
 
I do sometimes include master bus automation for FX, like changing the limiter settings, but to tell the truth, if I make any changes to the tracks themselves, I will re-visit the Master compression and limiting anyway, so knowing what it was at the time of the last bounce is only vaguely helpful. Again, I don't usually have bus automation.
 
Navigator View
I'm usually bouncing 1.5 - 3 hour long recordings ... song after song. Bouncing to tracks provides the addition of the visible tracks in the Navigator View. That way, I can easily find song number 17 by just counting my way along (I often put in markers with names if I have 40 songs, which my last project did). But I find that I often keep Navigator view in a regularly hit screen-set for exactly this purpose.
 
I don't ALWAYS record 40 songs in a single project and bounce them out that way. For example, I have been taking the time in a recent 16 track bar recording to copy the tracks to other projects to split them up. I've been moving them 2 songs at a time for economy of scale. I find that having different projects every 2 songs is enough. :-) Then, if the project gets corrupted, I don't lose all the work for bouncing 4 hours of a 16 track project... I lose the last 2 songs. Before anyone jumps on the 'gets corrupted' line... the corruption comes from my by accidentally turning on OFFSET or playing with Audio Snap when I shouldn't. :-)
 
AB Different versions of a take
After bouncing out the 40 tracks of my most recent project, I gave a copy to the artist (like that term, Susan?) and she asked what it might sound like if I re-bounced the project after a few tweaks to her EQ. So, I made the requested tweaks and bounced to another track BESIDE the original. Then I grouped the Solo buttons on the different versions of the mixed tracks so we could A/B the tracks after complete processing where the only appreciable difference was the EQ Change. This helped us know that the EQ Change was an improvement. I suppose I could have done this on the Master Bus and the Previously Bounced Track, but I would have to have the previously bounced track to do it, one way or another.
 
Summary
It's VERY interesting to me that senior folks here NEVER use Bounce to Tracks. It's a testament to the hardware and software of the day. This has been part of my workflow since the 90s when it frankly just made sense for any number of reasons (including processing power limitations and hardware re-use) and I've never stopped doing it.
 
Edit: I didn't use Cakewalk in the 90s. I wasn't trying to claim that. The first Cakewalk version I installed was registered on 5/20/2006 - Home Studio 2002 version, and I wasn't really using Cakewalk until version 6. I used my first install just enough to know I wanted to investigate further. My workflow didn't originate in a modern DAW. Old habits tend to leak forward. Anyone still use the command line? :-) My methods may not really make sense in their original context anymore.
 
Normalization - an example of something I can't give up
There are things I've tried to let go of and not been willing. Normalization is a great example. On my most recent project I used normalization to gain-stage the tracks for each song. During the live show, of course, the levels changed appreciably between the songs. For feeding the levels into the Pro Channels, I wanted them roughly hot, so I normalized to -3 DB before starting the mix. I kept instances of RMEs DigiCheck to monitor RMS and Spectral Analysis for the 4 tracks I was mixing. This helped me to adjust levels and compression appropriately on the different tracks. Then as I moved to next song, I just normalized it to -3 again and I didn't have too much adjusting to do to my various track FX.
 
Speed of Bounce
I wanted to mention that I do it this way because it is how I can bounce out the mix the fastest. I have a full time job and a family, and I was able to bounce down 3 hours of music (3 CDs 1 hour each) in two weeks. I recorded it on 7/12/2013 and I delivered the final mix on Last Friday, 7/26/2013. That's fast IMHO. And I want to be fast, so I can do it again for someone else - or me! haha.

 
Great post Geoff, that's some very interesting stuff you do there.
 
And it looks like I was trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs

Thanks everyone for their input. Very helpful and interesting to discover different options available in Sonar.