Export Regions: "Title" ID3 tag - how to?

Former user wrote on 2/7/2006, 2:14 PM
All,

Been struggling with this issue for what seems like years - after finally arriving at a good, quick method of creating named regions within Vegas for my radio spot workflow - I am now trying a boatload of scripts to batch render each named region to a standard MP3 file.

One of the client requirements within my deliverables is standard embedded metadata (the ID3 tags) that they require to sort and filter materials as we (the freelance VO guys) send in.

Since my standard format is MP3...I need to fill standard elements like Title, Artist, Album, Copyright etc etc using standard ID3 tags.

I have created my own custom MP3 Template (under File->Render As) that correctly writes all my required ID3 tags EXCEPT for the most important item of all - Title. In all of my deliverables - this title field would be equal to the named region.

As I dig thru every batch render script I can find - even some commercial ones like Capture Cutter in the Veggie Toolkit - I still cannot find one that will write all the ID3 metadata correctly.

Anyone have any tips or scripts I may not have seen yet? Is there some sort of special code or variable I can place in the Title field of the Custom Template - MP3 Audio dialog box that will automagically make the ID3 "Title" tag equal to the name of the region?

I guess my other option is to use my new found time selection/region creation and simply export all the regions to standard .wavs using that snazzy new Trackalizer from JohnnyRoy and then Batch render the resultant wavs using my Wavelab 4.0 templates but I would love to find a way to stay in Vegas from start to finish without opening up other apps.

I also snagged JohnnyRoy's CopyWriter from the VASST site and noticed it has exactly what I need - a "Use FileName as Title" checkbox.

If we only had a "Use Region Name for Title" option in the Custom Template - MP3 Audio dialog box , I would be all set.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

VP

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/7/2006, 3:08 PM
I’m going to add the render regions option to Trackalizer this week so you won’t have to use WaveLab anymore. I’m not sure if the MP3 template with pick up the “file as title” thing, but I can certainly add that as well if it works. I’ll have to do some testing and see.

~jr
Sol M. wrote on 2/8/2006, 4:40 AM
I find Vegas' ability to work with id3 tags very basic, so I don't know much about Vegas' ability to work with id3 tags, but I do have a fair amount of experience working with id3 tags via other programs. My last project involved bulk tagging of about 1200 individual mp3 tracks.

I would highly recommend using a dedicated mp3 tagging application such as Tagscanner (freeware).

The good thing about most of these id3 tagging apps is that they can take a filename, break it up using user-defined delimeters in the filename and use the values for the different tags.

For example:
An MP3 file name "01-Artist-Album-Title.mp3" can be split up by setting "-" as the delimeter. In order to use the different values for the different id3 tags in Tagscanner, you would reference them like so:

%1 = "01"
%2 = "Artist"
%3 = "Album"
%4 = "Title"

You can bulk tag massive amounts of mp3 files in seconds as long as they use the same naming scheme. So as long as you can output the regions with a user-defined filename, all you have to do is run Tagscanner (or similar app) and add the tags.

I would love to do it all in Vegas, but I currently find it much simpler to render the mp3s in Vegas and handle the tagging in an app like Tagscanner. This way, I don't have to create a custom render templates just to fill in most of the id3 tags, nor do I have to spend time modifying the render templates whenever I have different tracks/artists/albums/etc.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/8/2006, 7:50 AM
VP,

Try Trackalizer 1.5.0. It will render named regions and optionally include the title for ID3 tagging.

If you only have one track, then just the region names will be used in the filename. If you have multiple tracks, the region names will be prefixed with the track name (in parens) so that each name is still unique. Use can use this in conjunction with the Render Loop Selection Only to only render a subset of regions.

Enjoy,

~jr
Former user wrote on 2/8/2006, 8:10 AM
JR,

Holy crap! Thank you! Thank you!

This is a beautiful thing! Works like a charm.

VP