Audio Manipulation, Editing

THIS Is The Easiest Way to Cut Audio in FL Studio

Written By : Andrew Siemon

It took me a moment to figure out how to cut audio in FL Studio, mostly because I’m used to using GarageBand and Logic. Thankfully, it’s just as easy as I assumed.

To cut audio in FL Studio
1) Hold Command/Control and then Scroll to zoom in
2) Press “C” on your keyboard or select the razor icon in the Tool Bar
3)
Select the area to cut out along a grid line
4) Do it one more time, then press “B” to exit the Slice tool
5) Right-click to delete the region

A GIF showing how to cut audio in FL Studio
This is the easiest and most common way of cutting audio in FL Studio.
(Turn the phone sideways for a closer look if you’re using a mobile device)

How to Cut Audio in FL Studio Using the Playlist

Cutting and editing audio in FL Studio isn’t rocket science once you’ve figured it out. The GIF and brief summary I’ve shared with you above should be enough for most people.

However, I’m going to show you the step-by-step process in more detail down here that way I can share some other tips and other things I’d like to tell you about the process. So let’s start with the first step.

1) Drag the Pointer to the Area Where You Want to Cut

Drag the Pointer Where You Want to Cut

I like to drag the pointer to the area I want to cut first because then when you zoom in on the region, it’ll zoom right to the area where you need to be. If you don’t select the area first, the zoom effect will take you to some other part of the grid.

2) Use Command/Control + Scroll to Zoom In and Out on the Area

Zoom In On the Area

The Zoom tool is obviously super useful because you want to be as hyper-specific for editing purposes as you can possibly be. You can probably guess that the closer you’re zoomed in, the easier it is to get the part of the recording that you’d like to delete.

3) Hit “C” or Select the Razor Icon to Enable the Slice Tool

Command/Control + Scroll to Zoom in in FL studio

Personally, I’d much rather use the keyboard shortcuts available to us than the buttons in the toolbar. The reason is they’re just way faster and easier to use. One of these days, I’ll definitely share a keyboard shortcut guide.

4) Snap A Cutting Line Along the Grid Around the Problem Area

Cut out the Region

This part is tricky because you can cut along the grid on an angle, rather than right down the center.

Additionally, it’s important to note that you don’t have to have the snap-to-grid function on (which I’ve written about in more detail here). In other words, you can disable it and then make your cuts more manual, or in between grid lines.

5) Press “B” to Exit the Slice Tool, then Right-Click the Area to Delete It

Disengage the Slice Tool
You don’t have to use “B” specifically, but it’s what I do and it works.

One of the annoying things about learning software is there are often navigational roadblocks that come as a consequence of just how the interface works.

For instance, after you’ve engaged the slice tool, you’ll have to disengage it in order for the right-click delete function – for lack of a better term – to work.

Right click to delete the region
After you’ve done that, you can go ahead and right-click as shown here to delete the region.

6) Repeat the Process as Often As You Need

Continue cutting and editing until you’re all finished. But there are other ways of doing this too, including with samplers like the Edison.

How to Cut Audio in the FL Studio Edison Sampler

How to Cut Audio in the Edison Sampler in FL Studio - GIF

This is a suitable method because while you’re editing, you can normalize it, remove background noise, time stretch, fade in/out, add reverb, slow it down, speed it up, and many other things too.

However, one thing I’ve noticed about cutting audio in the Edison is that it doesn’t create a space where the audio used to be.

Instead, it eliminates the space where the old audio used to be entirely, essentially merging the remaining two sides of the audio clip. I’m sure there is a way to change this, but at the moment, it isn’t clear to me.

1) Click the Top Left Side of the Audio Clip to Open the Edison > Choose “Edit sample”

Edit Sample

As I explained in this article about removing background noise, you can bring up the sampler of any audio clip in the playlist by clicking on it, and then choosing the option, “Edit sample.”

(You can also drag and drop your audio file into Edison or record directly into it).

2) Zoom In On the Region By Scrolling On Your Mouse

Zoom In On the Region

I scroll forward with my finger to zoom in on the grid, and then zoom out by scrolling backward. Use the orange playhead arrow to designate where exactly you’d like to zoom in and out.

Additionally, if you want to move around on the sample, you can pull the bar on the bottom to the left and right.

It’s barely visible in the image above because I’ve zoomed in so much. If you zoom out, it’s much larger because there is less room to move from side to side on the audio clip.

3) Highlight the Section You’d Like to Cut or Alter

Highlight the Region
Double-click if you want to get out of it and navigate to another part of the sampler.

4) Click the Scissors Icon or Use Command/Control + X to Cut the Clip

Cut Out the Region
Command/Control + X is the quickest way to do it.

(You can then paste this section to another location using Command/Control + V).

5) Drag the New Altered Sample Into the Playlist

Drag the Sample Into the Playlist
By clicking on this button, you can drag the newly edited sample into your Playlist.
2nd Part of Dragging It Into the Playlist
And this is what it looks like when you’re in the process of dragging it in.

And that’s pretty much it for editing samples. Again, the Edison isn’t as good as the traditional cutting tool for the reason I mentioned earlier, but it’s useful for many other purposes.

If you have any questions, you can contact me on my contact page, reach out to me on social media, or sign up for the forum to talk shop with other like-minded people.

I just built the forum the other day, so it’s not quite ready yet, but it will be before the end of 2023. Enjoy 🙂

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Andrew Siemon is the principal creator of ProducerSociety.com, a website dedicated to all things music, including music production, music theory, recording, and how to use the most popular DAWs. Starting out as a metal guitarist, Andrew has since moved into other areas of music production including hip-hop and fusion
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