crossfade

IPA/kɹˈɒsfeɪd/
IPA/kɹˈɔsfeɪd/

crossfade — verb

1. to gradually lower the volume or brightness of one sound or image at the same ti

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to gradually lower the volume or brightness of one sound or image at the same time as raising another, so that the two blend smoothly during the transition.

Example

Gabriel crossfaded the two songs so the party music never stopped.

transitive: crossfade + [two tracks]

The editor crossfaded the wedding footage into a slow shot of the empty hall.

crossfade + clip + into + clip (video pattern)

Common collocations
  • crossfade between tracks
  • crossfade into the chorus
  • crossfade smoothly
Synonyms
  • fade

    general — covers a single track going up or down; crossfade specifically pairs two.

  • mix

    broader DJ term — can mean beat-match plus EQ work, not just the volume curve.

  • dissolve

    video-only counterpart — visual blend rather than audio.

Antonyms
  • cut

    abrupt change with no overlap between the two clips.

Grammar Patterns

crossfade + [track/clip] + into + [track/clip]

Usage Note

Object is usually a pair of audio tracks or video clips; in podcasts and DJ sets, the subject is often a person, while on phones and streaming apps the subject is the software itself.

Common Mistakes

I crossfaded the song to quiet.
I crossfaded the song into the next track.
crossfade needs a second clip or track as the destination, not an end state.

crossfade — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five describe how editors move between two pieces of audio or video, but each owns a different shape of transition. 'Crossfade' is the most specific: it always involves two clips overlapping, with one going down while the other comes up. 'Fade' on its own only describes one clip — fade in or fade out, no partner — so an audio engineer talking about 'a fade' usually means the end of a track, not a transition between tracks. 'Dissolve' is the video-only twin of crossfade — the same overlap idea, applied to images. 'Mix' is the broadest term, used mostly in DJ work, and it can include crossfading plus EQ shaping plus level matching. 'Cut' is the opposite philosophy: an instant switch with zero overlap, often chosen when a smooth blend would soften the rhythm too much.

crossfade ↗fade ↗dissolve ↗mix ↗cut ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • a two-second crossfade
  • a smooth crossfade
  • enable crossfade

Prepositions

Etymology

English

Formed in English in the mid-20th century by joining 'cross' (showing two things passing through each other) with 'fade' (the existing audio and film verb for a gradual rise or drop in level). The compound spread through radio and film production manuals as engineers needed a word for the paired fade-in / fade-out that earlier dictionaries had described in two separate steps.