I am a newbie with video editing and with VideoStudio 10 Plus.
I want to create a DVD for a friend of mine using short video clips she has taken with her digital camera. The clips are .mpegs but I also have .wmv versions. I want to separate the individual little video clips with black pages with titles stating the title and date of each clip. I would like instrumental background music to be playing while these titles are on the screen, but when the clip starts, I want the sound to be of the video. The music could be playing faintly in the background but I don't want the music to drown out the sound of the video. I would like for the music to play faintly in the background (very faint) in order to help unify the DVD section.
I have read where you can fade in/out the background music. Since the video clips are very short, I would probably like the same song to play through this section of the DVD. I have also seen where you can fade in/out sound in the clips. How do I decrease the volume of the music during each clip?
Basically what I am looking for is this:
instrumental music fading in and out for each title
sound of video clips fading in and out
I want the same music throughout
Possible? Thanks in advance.
Audio question
Moderator: Ken Berry
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Ken Berry
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Have you even looked at the Manual? These are basic operations. See p. 106 for general instructions on fade-in and out and the main volume control. And p.112 for instructions on what is called 'rubber-banding' -- which allows you to vary the volume of respective audio channels throughout a video.
Ken Berry
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cheshirecat1
Audio question
Thanks, Ken, for your reply. Yes I have been reading the manual, but have literally just installed the program today. I did see in the manual where you can fade the volume of the clips in and out and also the song for the dvd. Also read about the "rubber banding". Maybe I missed something, but I was under the impression that that would terminate the music entirely rather than just lower its volume while the clips play. Any advice you can give this newbie is very much appreciated.
As I said earlier, I did want the music to play throughout the DVD -- just to be playing at a lower volume during the clips. I didn't want the music to quit entirely though.
Thanks again.
As I said earlier, I did want the music to play throughout the DVD -- just to be playing at a lower volume during the clips. I didn't want the music to quit entirely though.
Thanks again.
-
cheshirecat1
Audio question
Okay... I had downloaded a .pdf file from the Internet (located through Google) on how to use VideoStudio. Evidently I had confused the little trimmers with rubber bands... Sorry! I see now. Thanks so much for your help!
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Ken Berry
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Glad you found it. In the meantime, I have found a sort of tutorial I wrote for VS9 on adjusting volume levels. I have now slightly adapted it to take in VS10. It is rather long, but may still be of use to you.
VARYING THE VOLUME IN VS9 and VS10
As with most things in VS, there are more than one way of skinning a cat, and this is also the case with varying the audio levels in Video Studio 9 and 10.
Right, you have your clips in the timeline and you are on the Edit page. Select the clip you want to raise the volume of (left click on the clip in the timeline). The first method of raising the volume of the whole clip is simple and is done through the volume control which is up in the top left of the Edit window in VS9 and in the middle right of the VS10 default screen. You will see a tab labelled Video and under that a digital clock which tells you how long your clip is. And under that in VS9 (beside it in VS10) is the volume control -- it is a small window, with 100 in it normally and a speaker icon to the right. (Clicking on the latter will mute or unmute the selected clip.)
Now the 100 represents the current level of your clip's volume. You can insert a new figure, in your case a larger one (e.g. 200 or 300, or parts thereof, and so on up to a limit I think of 500) to increase the volume of the entire selected track. Similarly, you can enter a lower figure than 100 if you think your track is too loud compared, say, to added voiceovers or music backgrounds.
For the sake of completeness, to the right of the speaker icon are upward and downward scales which will fade your audio in and/or out if you click on them, with the time of the fade set in File > Preferences.
Right, so now you have your entire volume raised. But almost inevitably, you will be adding voiceovers and/or music, and may want to vary just a part of the main audio e.g. lowering the volume of the main clip (and probably also added background music) when you are doing a voiceover which your want everyone to be able to hear clearly. That is where rubber-banding comes in.
In your VS9 screen, down at the very bottom left of screen, you have three vertically-placed buttons beside the timeline (slightly above it in VS 10). The first is represented by a film strip icon. If you click on that, you are in storyboard mode. Click on the next one, with a ruler icon, and it is timeline mode. But the one under or beside that is audio mode with a little speaker icon. Choose that one.
Now, in the main video track, instead of your thumbnails, you will see a solid pale blue panel, with a black line running through the middle from end to end, and with a small black box at either end of the line. That line is the so-called 'rubber band', with the line representing the current level of the audio on that clip (think of it again as the 100 mentioned above). Now, to raise the volume of the whole track, you need to raise the line; to lower the volume, you lower the line.
To do this is a little tricky and requires a bit of practice. When you point your mouse at the square at the left hand end of the line, you might see one of two things. The problem is that both are a miniscule distance apart from each other in mouse movement, so it is easy to overshoot. (You might also see a four pointed arrow, but that is for moving the whole clip and should be ignored.) The ones you have to worry about are a little upwards-pointing arrow and a hand with forefinger pointing upwards. As might seem logical, the hand is what moves the line upwards or downwards. So get the cursor converted to that while on the little box and holding down the left mouse button, move the end of the line up or down. And do the same with the box at the other end, pushing it up or down the same distance so the line remains absolutely straight for its whole length.
Now there is no exact science to this and there does not seem to be a meter indicating how many decibels or by what percentage you are increasing or decreasing the volume. So you need to experiment a bit. Needless to say, pushing the line to the very top of the blue box makes it very loud (and is equivalent to 500 in the volume box). Pushing it all the way to the bottom cancels the sound altogether. But eventually you will get to a volume you like, and the process will become quickly easier in terms of mouse control.
But, of course, we cannot forget your voiceovers and background music, which will also have their own pale blue boxes and black central lines in the audio panel mode. And you will inevitably need to adjust, say, the volume of your video clip downwards, and that of background music also, when you come to a voiceover, which in turn you may want to increase in volume. And then, once the voice-over is finished, you will want the background music volume to rise again, and that of the video clip as well.
To do this, you need to insert your own audio control black boxes (exactly the same as the ones at either end of the rubber band!) at relevant spots. To do this, you use the upward-pointing arrow, instead of the little hand icon. Since you don't want, say, the background music or main video volume to drop dramatically just as the voiceover starts, but instead a measured fade out or in, move the arrow back (left) over the rubber band in the music or video clip box, but measuring it against the start of the voiceover box -- say about half an inch/one centimetre or more. Then left click and a new black box should appear at that point. Then move the white arrow to the point on the video or music rubber band just above or below the start of the voiceover and click again, and another black box should appear. Do the same for the point above and below the _end_ of the voiceover, and then again about a half inch/centimetre to the right of that, and you will have a third and fourth black box!
Now go back to the _second_ of the newly created black boxes and hover the mouse till the little hand appears again. (Don't go to the first or the last of the new black boxes since they represent the audio level you want the track to return to after the voiceover adjustment.) Drag the black box downwards. Do the same with the third box, again making sure you keep the intervening line straight. And again, bear in mind there is no science involved and you may have to adjust this more than once when you play the whole thing back.
And this has to be repeated every time you want to vary the sound, either within one audio track, or in various audio tracks to achieve a better balance. It is rather tedious, but, believe me, worth the effort in the end.
VARYING THE VOLUME IN VS9 and VS10
As with most things in VS, there are more than one way of skinning a cat, and this is also the case with varying the audio levels in Video Studio 9 and 10.
Right, you have your clips in the timeline and you are on the Edit page. Select the clip you want to raise the volume of (left click on the clip in the timeline). The first method of raising the volume of the whole clip is simple and is done through the volume control which is up in the top left of the Edit window in VS9 and in the middle right of the VS10 default screen. You will see a tab labelled Video and under that a digital clock which tells you how long your clip is. And under that in VS9 (beside it in VS10) is the volume control -- it is a small window, with 100 in it normally and a speaker icon to the right. (Clicking on the latter will mute or unmute the selected clip.)
Now the 100 represents the current level of your clip's volume. You can insert a new figure, in your case a larger one (e.g. 200 or 300, or parts thereof, and so on up to a limit I think of 500) to increase the volume of the entire selected track. Similarly, you can enter a lower figure than 100 if you think your track is too loud compared, say, to added voiceovers or music backgrounds.
For the sake of completeness, to the right of the speaker icon are upward and downward scales which will fade your audio in and/or out if you click on them, with the time of the fade set in File > Preferences.
Right, so now you have your entire volume raised. But almost inevitably, you will be adding voiceovers and/or music, and may want to vary just a part of the main audio e.g. lowering the volume of the main clip (and probably also added background music) when you are doing a voiceover which your want everyone to be able to hear clearly. That is where rubber-banding comes in.
In your VS9 screen, down at the very bottom left of screen, you have three vertically-placed buttons beside the timeline (slightly above it in VS 10). The first is represented by a film strip icon. If you click on that, you are in storyboard mode. Click on the next one, with a ruler icon, and it is timeline mode. But the one under or beside that is audio mode with a little speaker icon. Choose that one.
Now, in the main video track, instead of your thumbnails, you will see a solid pale blue panel, with a black line running through the middle from end to end, and with a small black box at either end of the line. That line is the so-called 'rubber band', with the line representing the current level of the audio on that clip (think of it again as the 100 mentioned above). Now, to raise the volume of the whole track, you need to raise the line; to lower the volume, you lower the line.
To do this is a little tricky and requires a bit of practice. When you point your mouse at the square at the left hand end of the line, you might see one of two things. The problem is that both are a miniscule distance apart from each other in mouse movement, so it is easy to overshoot. (You might also see a four pointed arrow, but that is for moving the whole clip and should be ignored.) The ones you have to worry about are a little upwards-pointing arrow and a hand with forefinger pointing upwards. As might seem logical, the hand is what moves the line upwards or downwards. So get the cursor converted to that while on the little box and holding down the left mouse button, move the end of the line up or down. And do the same with the box at the other end, pushing it up or down the same distance so the line remains absolutely straight for its whole length.
Now there is no exact science to this and there does not seem to be a meter indicating how many decibels or by what percentage you are increasing or decreasing the volume. So you need to experiment a bit. Needless to say, pushing the line to the very top of the blue box makes it very loud (and is equivalent to 500 in the volume box). Pushing it all the way to the bottom cancels the sound altogether. But eventually you will get to a volume you like, and the process will become quickly easier in terms of mouse control.
But, of course, we cannot forget your voiceovers and background music, which will also have their own pale blue boxes and black central lines in the audio panel mode. And you will inevitably need to adjust, say, the volume of your video clip downwards, and that of background music also, when you come to a voiceover, which in turn you may want to increase in volume. And then, once the voice-over is finished, you will want the background music volume to rise again, and that of the video clip as well.
To do this, you need to insert your own audio control black boxes (exactly the same as the ones at either end of the rubber band!) at relevant spots. To do this, you use the upward-pointing arrow, instead of the little hand icon. Since you don't want, say, the background music or main video volume to drop dramatically just as the voiceover starts, but instead a measured fade out or in, move the arrow back (left) over the rubber band in the music or video clip box, but measuring it against the start of the voiceover box -- say about half an inch/one centimetre or more. Then left click and a new black box should appear at that point. Then move the white arrow to the point on the video or music rubber band just above or below the start of the voiceover and click again, and another black box should appear. Do the same for the point above and below the _end_ of the voiceover, and then again about a half inch/centimetre to the right of that, and you will have a third and fourth black box!
Now go back to the _second_ of the newly created black boxes and hover the mouse till the little hand appears again. (Don't go to the first or the last of the new black boxes since they represent the audio level you want the track to return to after the voiceover adjustment.) Drag the black box downwards. Do the same with the third box, again making sure you keep the intervening line straight. And again, bear in mind there is no science involved and you may have to adjust this more than once when you play the whole thing back.
And this has to be repeated every time you want to vary the sound, either within one audio track, or in various audio tracks to achieve a better balance. It is rather tedious, but, believe me, worth the effort in the end.
Ken Berry
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cheshirecat1
Audio Question - Thanks!
Thanks, Ken, for posting the tutorial on adjusting the volume -- I have saved it to my computer and will work with this next week. Thank you ever again so much!