New user with some basic sound questions

[TheAnt317]

Hello all! I'm a refugee from Sony Vegas Pro. I make videos on YouTube frequently and, ever since upgrading my GPU, Vegas is unable to render using my graphics card, making rendering extremely slow using 100% of my CPU. So after looking for alternatives, I'm trying out VideoStudio Pro X7 (64 bit). After a test render with a small video, the rendering speed is phenomenal. However, I'm having some issues trying to get the same kind of functionality out of this program as I got with Vegas.


[*]In Vegas, audio tracks automatically have a volume slider on the side which makes it very easy for me to adjust the volume of my videos and my overlaying voice commentary. VideoStudio doesn't seem to have that same function and appears to have only a strange volume gain line over the audio track which I have to push down manually from both sides of the track. However, I notice I have to be extremely precise in where I push it down, as sometimes there's a small fraction of a second in the beginning that's at the original volume, then suddenly dips to my preferred volume. I'm looking for a way to be able to 'push down' this volume gain throughout the entire track without having to push both sides down.

[*]Additionally to the above, I seem to be unable to push the line down on multiple clips. Shift-clicking does nothing and I have to manually adjust the volume of every single clip, which may get tedious in the future.

[*]Lastly, when editing the render profile settings, the maximum video data rate appears to be 20000 kbps. I'd really like to be able to increase that with a 1080p output, but I'm unaware of how.


Thank you very much in advance for any help!

[Terfyn]

Welcome to the Forum

VideoStudio X8 has Audio Ducking. This feature automatically reduces the volume of the track where AD has been applied when it comes across audio on another track. So, for example, apply AD to a music track and every time it comes across a section of voiceover, the music volume is reduced. When the section of voiceover is finished, the music volume is restored. It will do this for the whole track.
It is not perfect but a great improvement on the method in X7. The volume "nodes" can be adjusted afterwards but, again, detailed adjustment, if needed, has to be carried out on each "ducking" sequence.

See the X8 adverts to get Audio Ducking explained.

[alanball]

Hi, you can change the volume of the whole video sequence as a percentage which is what I think you are looking for, but right now I am away from my computer so can't explain how, but sure one of the board administraters will be able to tell you.

[Ken Berry]

What you are in effect seeing is one of the many differences between a high end semi-professional or fully professional program like Vegas, with a lower end consumer package like Video Studio. The difference in cost speaks volumes alone.

One other way of varying the volume of an entire clip in VS X7, however, is to set a level using the volume control under the Video tab in Editing mode. A picture speaks a thousand words, so here is what you should be looking for -- see the red arrow.

Note that the volume can be increased above 100 to 500, as well as reduced down to zero. As I have already said, though, this control only applies to a whole clip. Otherwise you have to use the rubber band effect you have already found.

If you can't immediately find that Video tab, by the way, then look over to the far right of the X7 screen, half way down there is a blue Options tab which you should click on.

[asik1]

Ant, why don't you use the rubber band to adjust sound? I'm sure Vegas had that too.

[TheAnt317]

What you are in effect seeing is one of the many differences between a high end semi-professional or fully professional program like Vegas, with a lower end consumer package like Video Studio. The difference in cost speaks volumes alone.

One other way of varying the volume of an entire clip in VS X7, however, is to set a level using the volume control under the Video tab in Editing mode. A picture speaks a thousand words, so here is what you should be looking for -- see the red arrow.

VS X7 Audio control.jpg

Note that the volume can be increased above 100 to 500, as well as reduced down to zero. As I have already said, though, this control only applies to a whole clip. Otherwise you have to use the rubber band effect you have already found.

If you can't immediately find that Video tab, by the way, then look over to the far right of the X7 screen, half way down there is a blue Options tab which you should click on.

Thank you very much for the in-depth reply! I've found this control and it is working for my needs.

But as for the video render profile settings, am I simply out of luck when trying to push it to above 20000 kbps at 1920x1080?

[Ken Berry]

But as for the video render profile settings, am I simply out of luck when trying to push it to above 20000 kbps at 1920x1080?

There are a couple of ways around this, though it really depends on what output you are after. If your original video is, say, AVCHD mpeg-4 at 1920 x 1080 and with a bitrate of, say, 28,000 kbps (28 Mbps), and you want to produce a new video with exactly the same properties, the simplest way of doing so is to first go to Preferences > General and tick the box beside "Show message when inserting first video clip". Then, when you start a new project and insert your first clip (with those properties), you should get a message asking if you want the Project Properties to match those of the clip. Say OK and do your editing. Then when satisfied, you simply go to Share > Same As Project Properties or even Same As First Clip. You will then get a new file with a bitrate of 28 Mbps.

If you are going to do this on a regular basis and want video output with a 28 Mbps bitrate regardless of whatever bitrate the video in the project might have had, you can also make a Template with these properties. To do this, go to Settings > Movie Profile Manager in X8 (Make Movie Template Manager in previous versions) and click on Add (not New). This brings up a dialogue box with two windows. The top one is Path with a mysterious button to its right merely labelled as '...'. Click that then navigate to a clip with the properties you are after e.g. like the first clip you inserted in your project. Select it and its path will now appear in that window. In the window below that, give the new Template a name and OK out. Next time you are editing a project and want output with those properties, you go to Share and select the format you want -- in this case it would be AVC/H.264, though it could also be MPEG-4. When you select that and click the downward pointing arrow to its right, all the available templates using that format will be listed, and among them should be your new template. One note in this regard, however: once the new template is made, do not attempt to edit it further. If you do, it will revert to standard definition DVD properties! And you would have to make a new template with your desired properties all over again...

If, on the other hand, you want to create a video in a new format with a higher bitrate, then if you select Blu-Ray mpeg-2, you can get a bitrate of up to 35 Mbps, and make a Custom template to go even higher if you want. HDV also has a fixed bitrate of 25 Mbps. And other formats can also be customised in a similar way.