Extra sound in Menu

[Doug2006]

I have made my videos in VS 10 and I am very happy with the results. There is one thing that I have noticed. I burn these things my self and test them all. What I am using is the standard default vs 10 menu with the standard default piano music. I am always in last minute rush when I finally get to this point so I just take what is there. I notice when I test them that the disk loads and the music plays. If you leave it for long enough I guess it loops back around to the beginning. So what happens is as the music is playing I click play video, the first chapter comes up and then I start talking. But all of them have a little extra burp, it sounds like the piano music is going to start again and then decides not to. It is a very small thing but I see and hear it everytime I test them. I made the video using individual clips and then made it into a mpg file and then I load that file into the create disk page. There is no problem what so ever with the audio in the mpg file. It must come from the menu music. The only thing that I can describe it by is it sounds like the piano music is going to cycle through but then gets cut off because you are going to play the video. Thanks Doug

[Ken Berry]

Audio backing for a menu can only play for a maximum of 30 seconds, and then it cuts off 'with a burp' and starts all over again. To give it a somewhat more 'professional' sound, I either tailor a SmartSound track to play no more than 25 seconds, or else edit other music to no more than 25 seconds and add a fade-out towards the end of that. That way at least you don't get the 'burp' and the whole thing sounds much smoother.

[Doug2006]

Thanks Ken you have always been a big help. Now that you mention it - What is a smart sound track? I got the program sent to me on cds and I installed it but I was in such a hurry to do other things I don't remember really studying the other extras. Is smart sound trax on there? And why are they called smart? Are they just music loops? Doug

[Ken Berry]

SmartSound should certainly be on the CDs -- it is an integral part of the main program after all, and should have been automatically installed as part of the main installation -- though I suspect that the actual sample music tracks (called QuickTracks, and numbering around 26 or 27 if I recall correctly) may be in the Extra Content which is perhaps on CD2 and thus may need to be installed separately.

They are not really 'just' music loops either, though they can be used for that purpose. In fact, I believe they really live up to their name of being SmartSound. They are proprietary music tracks essentially made up of brief modules of music which when put together make a coherent tune. But being in short modules, they can be mixed and matched to play for whatever length you need. So say, for example, you need a particular piece of music to play for exactly 1 minute 23 seconds, you can choose the QuickTrack you like the music of, and basically tell the SmartSound panel that you want a 1 minute 23 second piece of that music with a proper beginning and, importantly, a proper ending. And it tailors the music accordingly and you place the resulting track into the audio music track in the relevant part of the timeline.

Unfortunately, it can only operate on the proprietary music developed by SmartSound, and the 27 sample files soon grow a bit boring and repetitive. SmartSound of course sell a large variety of their own discs, but they are hellishly expensive (in my view) at US$99 each for usually about 10 or 12 tracks. However, they do have lesser quality ones bundled for a more 'reasonable' price (see smartsound.com ). And for home videos, their quality is still very good.

One other advantage of SmartSound is that the music is specifically designed as backing for video, so you get a wide variety of music you can choose from for different types of film: action, adventure, spooky, ethereal, placid, party, dramatic, comedy etc -- you get the idea?

The professional software for SmartSound is called SonicFire Pro, by the way. It takes matters one step further by allowing you to enter you video and play it back within the program and tailor the music even more exactly. And the latest variant of the music even allows you to add or subtract particular instrument groups, so that the same piece of music can have a totally different sound depending on the mood you want to convey or the contrast you want to emphasise in the video. Thus, you could have one piece of music behind, say, a dramatic episode, and use the whole band effect, but then the scene changes dramatically to one focused on only part of the action, so you subtract the strings and woodwind, and only have the drums and percussions for that part, though it is still recognisably the same music and rhythm... Very neat. Just expensive!

[Ron P.]

You might be interested in this, SmartSound is having a sale on some of the discs..

5 day, 5 discs, 50% off Sale

[Doug2006]

Not that I want to sound ignorant or anything, but where is smart sound panel? I found a smart proxy in VS under tools but I don't think that is it, and I looked at my windows start program list and there is no smart sound there. How do I access it? Doug

[Ron P.]

In VS go to the Audio step, then click on the Auto Music tab.

[Doug2006]

Wow! Those things are great. I found the right place and I had only two hot and spicy and Island party. I don't know if more free ones came on the discs I will have to find them and check. I did how ever with a little clicking around come across the pay ones. There are some real fun ones on there and I could see getting the kids out there to make some fun videos. Of course each one is 6.95 but like you were indicating you could get a package deal or sale. Neat way to spruce up a video. Thanks for the help. Doug

[Ken Berry]

Something like 26 or 27 tunes should have come with Video Studio. And as I already said they should be in the 'Extra Content' part of your installation package, either the file labelled that, or possibly Disc 2 if you have the boxed version.