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iPod Here's a simple fix for Song Tracks with long silences (Secret tracks)

GimmeSlack12

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 29, 2005
5,406
14
San Francisco
I was just listening to In Utero (Nirvana) and the final track on the album "All Apologies" is 31 minutes long with about 25 minutes of pure silence. I hate this! And I never get the track listened to because of it. And then I thought about fixing it.

I am not dropping BIG knowledge here, but in case you wonder about this the fix is in iTunes. Get info on the track and in the Options tab you can set the ending time of the track. Set the time the actual song ends and where the extended silence begins and voila you'll move along without the dumb secret material at the end of long silence.
 
what is the secret material anyway? I have a AFi song that is like.. 20 minutes long, I know how to shorten it, but what is all that blank noise for anyway?
 
redAPPLE said:
i don't know what is wrong with me, but i don't get your instructions. :confused:
Click to expand...

Select a song, get info on that song (right-click, or File menu>Get Info). Go to the Options Tab and you'll see a box that says end stop time. Put in the stop time for the song. For songs that have a long silence in them (secret tracks) then put in the time where the initial song stops.

Maybe this is just something that bothers me :confused:
 
Abstract said:
What if you want to listen to the "hidden" track? :confused:
Click to expand...

Then make a second copy of the track and use the time splitter thingy to make them both two seperate tracks. one using the first copy and the hidden song using the second copy. I do this all the time :D
 
Zedsdead185 said:
Then make a second copy of the track and use the time splitter thingy to make them both two seperate tracks. one using the first copy and the hidden song using the second copy. I do this all the time :D
Click to expand...

the problem with this is that you'll end up having the same song in your library twice at the same file size, just different starting and ending points. this isn't the most elegant solution. it would be better to be able to create seperate tracks for each with only the data for each present.
 
PlaceofDis said:
the problem with this is that you'll end up having the same song in your library twice at the same file size, just different starting and ending points. this isn't the most elegant solution. it would be better to be able to create seperate tracks for each with only the data for each present.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. But i don't see it as too much of a problem. As long as you have enough memory (Everyones got enough to squeeze in a few extra Mb), well then it works. But if someone does find a quick and easy way of doing it properly, then please post here, cos we'd all like to know!
 
Zedsdead185 said:
Yeah, I know. But i don't see it as too much of a problem. As long as you have enough memory (Everyones got enough to squeeze in a few extra Mb), well then it works. But if someone does find a quick and easy way of doing it properly, then please post here, cos we'd all like to know!
Click to expand...

well its easy enough with an MP3 editor like Audacity. the problem comes in when you want it coded in AAC format instead, which i prefer because of its size/quality ratio. and not everyone has a lot of room to juggle around with on their harddrives/ipods for dups. a 2x20min songs isn't the smallest amount of space in the world. its as if you have eight songs at five minutes each (five minutes being the average length that apple uses, no?)
 
The secret track is because the artist has a few minutes left on the album, but they can't be stuffed putting a new song in there, so they put a "secret bonus track" in. You can cut it up in GarageBand as well.

lozanoj83 said:
what is the secret material anyway? I have a AFi song that is like.. 20 minutes long, I know how to shorten it, but what is all that blank noise for anyway?
Click to expand...
another fan of afi! :D:D:D

What song/album is it?
 
The point of my thread was to avoid listening to the secret track as it is usually pretty pointless. If you want to listen to the track then don't use my editing tip and listen to 20 minutes of silence.
 
dops7107 said:
RE argument about space taken up by having duplicate tracks. How much space does it take to encode 20 minutes of silence? :confused:
Click to expand...

Heh, good point. Less than 5 bytes? Gotta encode "0" signal x 1200 seconds. I'm sure there's overhead, too... (sorry, way too analytical of an answers to a largely rhetorical question)

I've used GimmeSlack's method to trim down long silences and "noise" attached to the end of tracks (e.g. the alarm sound at the end of U2's Zooropa) and it's simple and effective.
 
PlaceofDis said:
the problem with this is that you'll end up having the same song in your library twice at the same file size, just different starting and ending points. this isn't the most elegant solution. it would be better to be able to create seperate tracks for each with only the data for each present.
Click to expand...

1-a) In iTunes, select the song, right-click, Get Info, set the end time to where the first songs ends, right before the long silence starts. Hit "OK".
b) Right-click on the song, pick "Convert selection to AAC" (or whatever defaut format you use for importing". You'll get a shorter track for your first part.

2- a) Set the start time to where the hidden song starts and the end time to where it ends.
b) Same as 1-a to get end up the second song without the silence preceding it.

Now you can delete the original if you want. No need for a full fledged editing program.
 
Scarlet Fever said:
The secret track is because the artist has a few minutes left on the album, but they can't be stuffed putting a new song in there, so they put a "secret bonus track" in. You can cut it up in GarageBand as well.


another fan of afi! :D:D:D

What song/album is it?
Click to expand...

Umm the song name is "...But Home in Nowhere" in the album Sing the Sorrow
I'ts like 15 minutes long! They have second song in there, but theres like 5 minutes of pure silence.. its like.. ok..

the other song is God Called in Sick today on the Black Sails in the Sunset Album.. that song is like 13 minutes long.. but o well.. AFI rocks.. :D
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
The point of my thread was to avoid listening to the secret track as it is usually pretty pointless. If you want to listen to the track then don't use my editing tip and listen to 20 minutes of silence.
Click to expand...

The secret track isn't always pointless. Like in the AFI album Sing The Sorrow, people say its about a persons life, and the secret track has some sort of significance to the story (I don't like the album though, so i never really too interest). Cutting it into two seperate tracks gets rid of the silence and you get to keep the bonus track as well :)

lozanoj83 said:
Umm the song name is "...But Home in Nowhere" in the album Sing the Sorrow
I'ts like 15 minutes long! They have second song in there, but theres like 5 minutes of pure silence.. its like.. ok..

the other song is God Called in Sick today on the Black Sails in the Sunset Album.. that song is like 13 minutes long.. but o well.. AFI rocks.. :D
Click to expand...
The one from STS is called This Time Is Imperfect and the one from Black Sails is called Midnight Sun :)
 
Thanks for sharing a really useful technique. I stumbled upon it accidently just last week. I use to edit with CD Spin Dr, an extra editing application that comes on Toast 7. It's a whole lot easier to use the iTunes start stop/time adjust setting.

It just makes me wonder how many other really useful nuggets are still left undiscovered?

I don't know if this falls into the useful tip class, but anybody notice the last itunes Uprade appears to have reset purchases to "One Click" purchasing instead of a "Shopping Cart"? At least I think Shoping Cart use to be the default?
An unpleasant surprise, as I was entering tracks in the shopping cart as a reminder to buy or explore, often purchasing a disc elsewhere.

-
greeneens
 
I have a related yet opposite question.

Is there a way to ALWAYS play B after song A, other than "merging" the songs together?

I'm thinking no, but thought I would ask anyway. :D
 
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