OneTrueDabe wrote:zipthebird wrote:I think if I were concerned about the length of that song, I would just fade out somewhere in the last 45 seconds, rather than worry about cutting a single phrase in the middle of the song.
FWIW, as a dancer, I *HATE* when songs fade out... It's like, somewhere in the last 10 seconds my follow and I have to sort of come to this awkward mutual agreement on when to stop -- "So, like, uhm, are you done?" "I guess so... If you are..."
****
In that case, cutting off an Ending and simply fading out early would be an example of a Bad Edit, IMHO.
Thus the reason to edit and not just shorten the song.
I have shortened and faded out songs due to necessity when my software didn't allow me to cut a middle section out, and I agree it is not the ideal; but when I do so, I always try to fade at the end of a musical chorus so that the dancers (who should be dancing musically, which will usually be the only ones who care) will have come to a natural pause, already, by the time the fade begins, allowing them to transition into an ending (Dip, stop, jump, ball-scratch, whatever....). But that is the very reason why I prefer editing instead of fading out: you keep the natural ending, which is impossible to replicate unless the band does a full false ending and not just a slight fake-out.
Also, not as a defense but as a footnote, many recordings, themselves, fade out at the end, whether by decision of the band or the producers. WE didn't do it; it came that way. It is more common in Rock than in Blues or Jazz, but it happens even to the best of songs.