How can I retain the original audio of my edited video?

[Smythey7]

All I am trying to do is cut out small portions of a video just to get rid of the parts I don't want. However, when I use the multi-trim feature, it strips the original audio. I know it does this so you can create your own video and then overlay your own audio. However, all I want to do is just cut out a few portions of the video while retaining the original audio minus the parts I cut out (i.e. I don't want to have to overlay any audio for this project, I just want a simple way to cut a few parts out and be done). Is there a way to do this?

[Ken Berry]

By the sound of it, it is the most basic editing step you are after. Put your mouse cursor into the ruler above the timeline, and it turns into a two-ended arrow with a small mouse icon. Move it along above the timeline to the place you want to make the cut and left click. A solid white downward pointer is inserted in the rule. Then click on the little scissors icon to the bottom right of the preview screen. The video will then be cut. Click on the piece of video you want to delete to select/highlight it. Then click the Delete button on your keyboard. That piece of video will disappear. Move on and do the same with the rest of the video.

[Smythey7]

Ken, I tried what you suggested, but when I insert a video into the timeline and push the play button in the preview screen, it plays the video with no audio (and this is all before I've done any editing). I tried clipping a portion of the video as you suggested and saved it as a new video file. I then opened the file in my media player and the video was all there, but still no audio. As far as I can tell, the only time I can hear any audio on any video I've imported into this program is when I am using the previewer in the multi-trim tool. However, once I'm done using the multi-trim tool and return back to the main console, the audio is gone. This makes no sense. There must be a way to retain the audio from the original video file.

[Ron P.]

Are you wanting to cut the video, AND retain the audio for the section(s) of video clip you are deleting? If so you need to first separate the audio from the video. This is done by right-clicking on the video clip, selecting Split Audio from the menu. Now you should see it in one of the audio tracks. When you select the video in the video track, then the Video Tab, you should see an X through the small speaker icon. This means that the audio is muted.

Until you render your project, VS has not actually done anything. So you could simply click on the muted speaker icon, which would unmute the audio. Notice the bottom part of the video clip. When the audio is muted, it is a gray color, when not muted, it will be blue. Also at the extreme left end it will display a small speaker, which also will reflect the audio being muted or not.

IF that's not what your wanting to do, and you're just simply not getting any audio, then there's another issue. Could you right-click on your video clip in VS (timeline or library), select properties and post them here.

[Smythey7]

Ron, I did what you said and had the same result, but I think I may know part of what the problem might be. I bought this program to edit some of the videos in my movie collection. I was hoping to be able to edit out some of the bad language and inappropriate scenes that I don't want my kids to see. So, up to this point, I hadn't tried any other video files besides these movie files. (By the way, I used a program called dvdshrink and handbrake to get the movies from my dvd to my hard drive. My understanding is that this process should allow me to edit these videos.) Anyway, it finally occurred to me that the problem might be with the movie files. So I put some home videos into VS and I didn't have any issues with the audio. This surprised me since both the videos and the movies on my hard drive are MPEG-4 files. So, I guess the audio issue is related to the movies, but I'm not sure what's going on or if there is a work around that will allow me to edit my movies.

[lata]

Hi

I may have missed this, but what version of video studio are you using.

To import video from a DVD use Video Studio.
Place disc in drive
Right click timeline and select “Insert Digital Media”
Choose the drive
Follow instructions to import files, select Titles or Chapters to import.
Will save files to the working folder.

[Smythey7]

I have VS Pro X4. I did try to import directly from my DVDs, but since they are movies (i.e. Rocky), they have restrictions and CV does not recognize them. That is why I used dvdshrink and handbrake to import them onto my hard drive. Theoretically this process removes the restrictions so I can edit them. But, for some reason, when I import them into CV to edit, the audio doesn't work (unless I am using the multi-trim feature).

[Ron P.]

They have restrictions, as in Copy Protection? Are these commercial DVDs? If so then we can not provide any help that would aid in circumventing the laws. Sorry.

[Smythey7]

I'm sorry, my understanding of the law is that you may edit commercial DVDs for personal use, which is what I want to do. As I have stated, I just want to clean up some of the objectionable material in some of my DVDs. In any event, I discovered a work around yesterday that allows me to edit my DVDs and maintain the audio. I was going to post how I did it, but it sounds like you would probably rather not have me post it here. I also wanted to thank those who so readily offered to help me work through this issue. Thank you!