Audio Clip Question

OpChiasm wrote on 11/12/2007, 8:21 AM

Thanks very much in advance for any suggestions.

I'm working with a project that has an audio track of background music. In one short section, I want to add a sound effect (clapping). If I just put the sound effect into an audio track above the background audio, it doesn't work very well - it gets drowned out by the background. Should I just make the background audio in that section a lower volume?

Thanks again for any advice.

Comments

Mark Seibert wrote on 11/12/2007, 10:27 AM

Sure - just put an envelope on that track and drop it as the clapping starts. Then do the reverse to smooth out of it. Should work just fine :)

Kennymusicman wrote on 11/12/2007, 10:45 AM

(Only to complicate things.)

You could end up having it sound like the background suddenly "ducks" down in volume if you do a sudden volume drop to make room for the clapping. It could be worth your while having a fade from 100% to 80%(for example) over a short time to hide this.

OpChiasm wrote on 11/12/2007, 12:09 PM

Thanks very much.

Chienworks wrote on 11/12/2007, 1:59 PM

Or, perhaps better yet, make the volume of the clapping louder. As long as you don't drive the overall signal into clipping this seems like it would be a much more natural option. In a real life situation the clapping would add to the overall volume.

Tim Stannard wrote on 11/12/2007, 2:36 PM

Or, to complicate things further, try using EQ for the period where the clapping occurs. Establish the frequencies that the clapping is most dominant and reduce those frequencies in the background music track.
Compress the clapping a bit to boost it's apparent loudness?
Just some things to play with.

Kennymusicman wrote on 11/12/2007, 4:06 PM

lol. Or we could sidechain the 2 together, using the clap to trigger the compressor and duck out the main track. That'd be fun. teehee.