IT World

Crossfading is a phenomenon through which a smooth transition is created between two sounds. This audio effect often finds its applications in audio engineering wherein crossfading is used to blend two or more sounds in the same song smoothly, without doing it abruptly. Crossfading is often utilized by DJs who blend various tracks into a single song in order to enhance the music performance. This technique is majorly used to avoid any sudden silent gaps between two tracks, which could prove to be annoying for audiences.

Crossfading was rather cumbersome during the analog days, when this simple phenomenon required the dubbing of sounds from two sources onto a new tape. This was done by manually lowering the volume of one source while raising the volume of another source. Crossfading became a simple process with the emergence of digital audio editors. A digital editor is a tool used to crossfade; it fades out one source file while fading in the other source file. As a result, a smooth transition is created instead of an abrupt one. This is because, for a short period, the listener hears both the sounds simultaneously.

There are many software applications or digital editors available today which help in crossfading. A few of them are:

• DJ mixing software
• Software media players like Windows Media Player and iTunes
• CD burning software