Video to the Beat

PerryClayton · Post by **PerryClayton** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:56 pm

Hi guys,
Using VS9. Anyone got any tips on how to best get your video to sync up with the beat of the music track. I've seen the tutorial on slideshows, but I'm interested in video.

I'm editing together a lot of American football video, and I need an easier way to synch up events that occur in the video with the music track. (Big hits, kicks, high-fives... make em match the music beat).

I've found that when the video event is in the middle of a video clip, it's really a difficult trial-and-error process to get things in synch.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Perry

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:09 pm

If you upgrade to VS10 you can use the available wave form to sync up to. Other than that it is trial and error.

PerryClayton · Post by **PerryClayton** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:02 am

I can drop audio markers in the narration track to see where I want the "events" in my video clip to sync up. Granted it would be easier to see the wave form, but I still can't figure out how to place my video clip so that some point within it accurately lines up with my marker. I'm not sure how seeing the wave form would make that easier.

I feel that there must be something obvious I'm missing.

Perry

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:10 am

In the wave form you can see the spikes that a drum beat or cymbal crash will produce, and thus is a visual cue where you would place your clip. Works fine for me.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:55 am

What Black Lab is saying can be seen here:

PerryClayton · Post by **PerryClayton** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:47 pm

Let me try again... I know where the symbol crash, or the drum beat is. That's the easy part. I can do that just fine in VS9. It's sliding the VIDEO around that's challenging me.

STARTing video clips on the downbeat is easy enough. But I have an event inside the video clip that I would like to correspond with that symbol crash (That I know exactly where is).

Here are things that I've done so far to get this to happen... problem is, all of them are trial and error.

1). Trim the leading edge of the video clip.
2). Change the playback spead of the video clip.
3). Drop the video clip in the overlay track where it can be slid around. Almost, but not quite. Still have to trial and error it until I get the video slid to just the right spot, and leads to other problems with limitations of
the overlay track. (transitions, etc).

Then there's just doing the math... that works out okay, but tedious and error prone (don't forget to allow for the transition).

Mind you, I'm getting the job done... I'm just looking for an easier way.

Thanks again,
Perry

P.S. Just to clarify.

Imagine you've got your background track locked down... You've got your first 6 video clips in sync with the events in the music track. Now you're working on video clip 7. You know there's an audio event coming up in the music track... you can even see it in your timeline, 'cause you've placed a marker there in the narration track. You know there's a moment in your video clip that you want to correspond with that marker. How would you adjust the VIDEO so that the point your interested in corresponds?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:34 pm

1). Trim the leading edge of the video clip.
2). Change the playback spead of the video clip.
3). Drop the video clip in the overlay track where it can be slid around. Almost, but not quite. Still have to trial and error it until I get the video slid to just the right spot, and leads to other problems with limitations of
the overlay track. (transitions, etc).

That's basically how I do it.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:03 pm

You might find that although this can be done with VideoStudio it may be more appropriate for a project as complex as this one to upgrade to MediaStudio.

One of the major differences between the two products is that MediaStudio will allow you to make cuts and add transitions on it's overlay tracks.

VideoStudio is aimed more towards the casual user and semi-pro who want to get good results but don't wish to spend months on a project to get those results. You can achieve many things in VideoStudio with persistence which may include having to render small chunks at a time or by using a procedure such as Transitions in the overlay track

MediaStudio is designed for the professional or serious hobbyist prepared to spend more time and effort (and a bit more money) but the results are more rewarding. For the task you have in hand this is something I would turn to my copy of MediaStudio to achieve.