The six laws of overlap
ControlReady can overlap and segue via a multitude of ways. Cross fading (or overlapping for short), at it's heart, is controlled by what we call INTRO and OUTRO times, and INTRO and OUTRO types that all audio WAV files can be labelled with.
Every audio file has:
INTRO TIME
INTRO TYPE
OUTRO TIME
OUTRO TYPE
When the first item is playing we compare it's OUTRO type and time, to the INTRO type and time of the cut that is following it. Many permutations are possible.
One of the simplest is EOM - end of message back from the old cart machine days.
If an audio file's outro type is EOM, it overrides whatever may be the intro time and type of the cut that follows it. If the outro time is 5 seconds, with an EOM outro type, then the first cut will "start" the cut that follows it 5 seconds before it's end.
There is no volume change with this type of overlap.
If the OUTRO TYPE is FADE DOWN, then we will fade it for you (although most music and other produced material is already pre-faded). However, a FADE DOWN TYPE will compare the OUTRO time of what's playing and with the INTRO time of the cut that follows and use the minimum of the two times to act like the EOM. In this fashion, if the cut has a 10 second outro, but the cut that follows it has a 5 second intro (where the vocal starts) the computer will use 5 seconds. The first cut will fade 10 seconds prior - but the 2nd cut doesn't start until 5 seconds before end.
Cuts can also have INTRO fade ups. The outro and intro time will still be compared and the minimum used, but here the volume of the cut will fade up too. Again most folks pre-produce volume changes in their files, and FADE UP is rarely used.
TALKOVER types are the most complicated - and they are used extensively with VOICE TRACKING.
Remember rock scissors paper? Well EOM is the ROCK that trumps everything, Talkover is Scissors, and FADE UP, FADE DOWN and NONE (No fade) are paper.
NONE/NO FADE confuses people. While it means we won't mess with the volume - NONE/NO FADE still means we will overlap because it is the OUTRO time of what's playing and the INTRO time of the next cut which determines overlap, and as mentioned unless EOM or Talkover is one of the types - we use the minimum of the two values to determine when the next cut plays.
TALKOVER also does a nice shift in volume.
If the outro is a talkover (i.e. it's talking over the next cut) - it will fade the next cut up from 0 over 10% of the overlap time - then run it at 50% (default) and then ramp it to full volume for the last 10% of the outro. The middle point is actually a value you can control in our INI. Some stations adjust this based on how they're audio processing after the computer is handled.
If the intro of the "next" cut is a talkover - then this is like a jock coming in on the air and "talking over" the cut that is finishing on the air. It does the volume in the reverse - it fades what's playing down to 50% (over 10% of the time of the overlap) leaves it at 50% while it's talking over - and then ramps it down to 0% as it ends.
As you can tell TALKOVER is the closest thing you can think of like a cross fade and it's used with voice tracking.
The amount of time the overlap occurs is actually based on the outro and
intro times.
If the Talkover is an OUTRO - and the outro time is non zero - this will start the next cut that many seconds before the first item ends. However, if the Talkover outro's time is 0 - then it will FOLLOW whatever the intro time of the next cut happens to be.
If the Talkover is an INTRO (something talking over the item that precedes it) and it's intro time is 0 - then it follows the outro time of the cut that precedes it. IF it's non-zero than IT will cut in that many seconds prior to the end of the first cut.
By the way, times do not have to be in full seconds, they can be seconds and tenths of seconds.
Sound confusing...
Well an easy way to memorize overlap times is to have the
SIX LAWS OF OVERLAPPING HANDY:
THE SIX LAWS OF OVERLAP
1. (EOM, x) (x, x) = Outro time
(i.e If the first cut's outro is EOM and it's outro time is X - then we use the outro time to start the next.)
2. (TalkOver, >0) (x, x) = Outro time
(i.e. If the first cuts outro is Talkover and it's non zero - we use it's outro time to start the next cut.)
3. (TalkOver, 0) (x, x) = Intro time
4. (x, x) (TalkOver, >0) = Intro time
5. (x, x) (TalkOver, 0) = Outro time
6. Else make it the lesser of the 2 times
The order of rules is important - as if the first rule that matches the condition rules, then we don't even look at the later rules.
ADVANCE RULES:
Ever want to throw an old fashioned relay or switch a switcher BEFORE something is done playing?
Outro times also control this behavior. The term Overlapping as we use it applies when playing two or more back to back things off the hard-drive.
When a switcher command or relay pulse (or some other non play action) follows something playing on the air - but you want that event to occur BEFORE the playing item finishes - just use a non zero outro time. We will advance early and begin the next event before the end of what's playing by that much time. The OUTRO type won't matter.
If you EVER DO NOT WANT A PLAY COMMAND TO GO TO THE NEXT NON-PLAY COMMAND EARLY - either make sure it's outro time is 0 - or just make sure you have a LABEL command or SKIP command after it. LABEL AND SKIP act like a break and force us to reach the end of the audio file before doing anything else.
LIVE-ASSIST - MANUAL VS AUTO MODES
In LIVE-ASSIST (or if you are watching the run cursor (highlight bar) move in the automate deck.
IN AUTO MODE, we will advance to the next event at the overlap point.
In MANUAL MODE - since we are going to stop after we finish what we are doing, you will see the current event remain the running event until it counts down to zero. THEN it will move down to the next line so it's ready and cued for when you hit start again (this behavior may be different in versions prior to 5.580).
You will notice that we advance to the next event at the outro time. If the outro is before the actual overlap point, you may see us "start" the next item - but if it's an audio cut you won't hear it start playing until the overlap point is reached. 99% of the time this occurs at the same time - but if you're a MENSA dude you may think of a couple scenarios where you can cause us to advance to the next play command but not start playing it (generally it has no real world application in radio but it's there). If you see this, you'll see the play command start counting down, but then reset when it actually starts to play.
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