I'm trying to master with an assortment of plugins. The preset management area on the top of every FX window within the DAW has four options:

1. Truncate Tails
2. Merge Tails
3. Insert Tails
4. Loop Tails

I understand what each prefix means in a literal sense, but what exactly do these four do to the sound? These options are on every FX within my chain. I don't know which to choose. I'd like to leave the tails alone or have them naturally/gently fade.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2018

I found the answer via research:

• Truncate tail. With this option, the plugin will stop processing once it has reached the end of the selection, and the tail will be discarded.
• Insert tail. The tail will be inserted in the document, at the end of the selection.
• Merge tail. The tail will be mixed with the contents of the document after the selection. Note that this option will alter a part of the sound that is not selected by mixing the tail of the effect to it.

 

Thanks so much for this, my research left me a bit confused. Is the tail some sort of decay that is created by the mastering process? Do you know if this is referring more to compression? Sorry to bombard but have been pondering this since yesterday..

 

Hi!! I think all of the above refers to the effect added by way of processing, regardless if it's compression, delay, reverb, etc. This gives users an option to decide what to do with the added audio beyond the original.