Prewaits and Postwaits
Prewaits and postwaits help you finesse cue sequences by delaying the trigger of the current or subsequent cue.
A prewait is an amount of time that counts down before the current cue’s actually start. For example, if we wanted a piece of music to fade in, establish itself, then fade back down after a couple of seconds we would create these cues. To make it a cue sequence we would use the auto-continue mode so that they happen all together. However, the third cue that causes the music to fade back down to a quieter level would happen right away. So if we apply a prewait to this cue (maybe 3 seconds, the time of the first fade, plus 3 more seconds, some time to establish, so 6 seconds total) then we would have a slick little cue sequence.
Conversely A postwait is an amount of time that counts down before the next cue is automatically triggered. So for example, if we wanted to transition from one piece of music to the next with a little bit of cross fade in between, we might set the audio cue’s continue mode to auto-continue, then set a post-wait time of a few seconds less than the duration of the song itself. Once the song finishes, the next one will automatically start.
Another way, and maybe the better way, to accomplish this same task is to once again set the continue mode to auto-continue. But this time, instead of doing the calculations in your head, simply enter a negative number for the postwait . This will automatically subtract that many seconds from the duration of the audio file or the duration of the fade.
Assignment
Create a cue sequence that fades in an audio file, lets it establish, then fades it down to a quiet volume.
Were You Listening?
What are the benefits of using a prewait or postwait?
Answer
They can help you finesse cue sequences.