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Inserting labels in an audio file

Rob

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Hi all, I'm in need of exporting the audio file of an orchestral piece, with labels (indexes?) corresponding to rehearsal letters, in such a way that the client can skip through the track and go to the needed positions for studying purposes. Is there a way to do that? Or shall I need to cut the audio in actual chunks?
thank you for the help!

PS export from Cubase 9,5
 
How are they going to play it back? Do they have an audio player/DAW that will even respect markers embedded into audio files? Are you willing to provide them instructions/new software for this purpose?

So Cubase, IIRC, can not do this, but a handful of audio editing focused programs like WaveLab, also by Steinberg, can. However, CD players and most consumer apps (and even some pro ones) can't read and use markers.

Without knowing more about the project and client's situation, I'd say splitting up the files would be easier for everyone.
 
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Hello Rob
We had no contact for a long time. Hope you are doing well.

I would treat the whole audio file like a CD (put tracks and label them). Then I would export the "CD" as a DDP file.
If you have the DDP-file, you can use the software "DDP-Player-Maker" (company HOFA). The customer can then play the whole audio file (actually the audio CD), he also can save individual tracks as an audio file (wav, mpr3, ogg, ..) or he can burn an audio CD with the player. The whole DDP file with the integrated player is sent for example on a USB-stick as a zip file to the customer or you can offer download a link.

DDP-Files can be produced by good audio-editor-programs such as Wavelab. HOFA has a tool as well. It is the "CD-Burn.DDP-Master"

This as a first idea...

All the best
Beat
 
for some reasons I didn't get the alert that I had replies to my post...
thank you both for the ideas!
Beat (I'm well, thank you, likewise I hope of you) I will try your solution even if it looks more complicated, I have Wavelab elements, not sure it can make DDP files...
 
Unfortunately you will need the full version of Wavelab to create DDP files. If you'd like another cost-free DDP creation option, then you could look into DDP creation with Reaper. It's not a streamlined process and you'll need to follow a good guide properly, but I've done that in the past before investing in Wavelab Pro.

Good luck!
 
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Is uploading to Soundcloud and adding comments to it out of the question?
thank you, but that I can't do, everything has to remain strictly between me and the person in charge at the theater who commissioned the work.
 
IMO markers are a bad idea since so few programs support them. I also wouldn't recommend DDP just because of the complexity. I'd just cut it up into multiple wavs so that you can skip through on any device.
 
IMO markers are a bad idea since so few programs support them. I also wouldn't recommend DDP just because of the complexity. I'd just cut it up into multiple wavs so that you can skip through on any device.

I'd agree with this when it comes to Rob's end. The DDP option is not the easiest by far, maybe one of the hardest. But if you can deliver it with HOFA's CD-Burn.DDP.Master, clients absolutely love that stuff. Makes it really easy and flexible for them as long as Rob does his part of preparing a DDP file correctly and well.
 
thank you, but that I can't do, everything has to remain strictly between me and the person in charge at the theater who commissioned the work.
I seem to recall that you can mark a SoundCloud item as "private", so the general public cannot access it, yet still provide a link to someone in order that they can access.
 
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I seem to recall that you can mark a SoundCloud item as "private", so the general public cannot access it, yet still provide a link to someone in order that they can access.
Yep - easy to do. I made a private playlist for similar reasons a few weeks ago.
 
thanks all for the insights, still I don't feel like Soundcloud is a pro solution. I asked the client, shall see...
 
Have you considered FLAC + cue sheets? I found a very old video explaining the process (there's probably a simpler way to do it now), it should give you an idea of how much work is involved and what your client would need for playback:

(EDIT: you don't even need FLAC, .WAV files will also work with cue sheets)



HTH!
 
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How long is the piece, and is the delivery format virtual or a CD?

If it’s not too long, or if it is a virtual delivery and fitting it on a CD is not an issue, you could make tracks as follows:

Whole track
Letter A to the end
Letter B to the end
Etc.

That way, they could start at any rehearsal letter and play as much as they want. If it were, say, a ten minute piece with nine rehearsal letters, it would easily fit on a CD.

If it is a virtual delivery to be played from a phone or whatever, any length with any number of rehearsal letters would work (but might get tedious to create).
 
I was going to suggest keeping the piece as a single wav file and creating a cue sheet, but Joe Maron beat me to it.

I can't think of a quicker, easier, more universally-accepted method.....
 
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