Adjusting sound questions

flicktease wrote on 3/23/2003, 4:40 AM
I have been working on a project & had made many cuts to delete unwanted portions of video & sound. Since the project had been cut up into many events I took advantage of this fact & was able to reduce the volume for several of these clips. Since I wished more control over the volume I added an audio volume envelope. Had I been thinking I might not have tried this since I would have expected you to be able to use either one method or the other to control the sound levels but not both. I found that you could have both. What are the rules when you do this? Which method takes priority over the other? Should I have done this at all or is it better just to make a copy of the entire audio track & put it beneath the original?

I usually find that not very much of the original audio ever survives to the final outputted video. Often though I find that if you are making a travel video you can hear the tour guide make usable comments, although this isn't usually where you want them. What is the best way to just get the little bits that you want by using the trimmer & then drag just the audio? Or is it better to make lots of cuts on the copy of the audio track & drag them about? What is the best way to handle audio that you want to run the audio over a certain clip & over the next clip as well?

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 3/23/2003, 6:15 AM
In response to your first question, there isn't any priority, the effects are combined. If you use the gain control on a clip to reduce the volume 4dB and the envelope to reduce it 2dB, then the clip will be reduced 6dB. Generally the gain control is used when an entire clip is too loud compared to other clips and needs to be reduced to match. The envelope is used to allow continuous changes in volume throughout the track.

For your second question, probably whatever works well for you is the best method. If you want to have the audio from a clip continue underneath a different video clip, you can ungroup the audio which will let you trim it separately from the video. This is probably the simplest thing to do. However, i often find myself dragging another copy of the clip to the timeline, deleting the video section, and using the remaining audio as a separate clip. This is more steps, but for me it seems easier to think of doing this. I complete this task before even remembering that i could have ungrouped. Whatever makes the most sense to you is probably the most efficient method.
craftech wrote on 3/23/2003, 9:10 AM
If you want to adjust the volume along portions of the audio timeline, break it up by using the S(Split)key first. That helps with the normalize function(allowing you to normalize only portions). You may also adjust volume by setting two points on either side of the section you want to adjust, then lifting or lowering the section (line) between the points. That works.
Stretch the timeline out so you can see it better.

John