The Audacity!

Having chosen my background track for my level (Bafana - Chasing The Dragon), it required some editing before it was usable in my level.

When it came to editing the music track for my map, I chose the free audio editing software Audacity, available here:

http://www.audacityteam.org/

This task involved learning a new software package and learning how to create a seamless sound sample.

My main aim is to remove the intro and outro sections of the track and create a perfect loop if possible.

First I loaded the audio track into the program.

I read in a tutorial that the best way to create a seamless loop is to split the sample in half and overlap the two ends you want to join. This is actually really similar to how you can create a seamless repeating texture in Photoshop, by offsetting and joining up the outer edges and finding a point where they match closely.

I found a point where the beat and volume were similar enough, then removed the unrequired parts.

This appears relatively simple but it was actually a couple of hours work getting the beat to match and hiding the seam.

The last step was creating a new start/end point in the music (as the intro/outro was removed). I chose a point where the beat lulls and one of the hook melodies plays, and made that the start.

My final result is actually surprisingly good, I feel only the original artist would know where the loop point is!

I've also added a new program I am able to use to my ability set, so that's nice!