sync video to song

skytime wrote on 10/17/2003, 3:37 PM
What up Vu's.......I am still wet behind the ears using some of the Vegas features. Getting more each time I use it. I know enough to suit my purpose though. This software is awesome. This forum is great.

I want to sync a song (songs) to a bunch of small action clips.
I found that excalibur would be great for doing that.

I am using VV3 and excalibur seems to only run on VV4.
Is there a way to sync my video and audio together using VV3, like (beats per measure/minute or something along those lines?) I know it would take longer than using Excalibur. I can't seem to figure it out on VV3. Can I even do that just using vegas?

I want progress through 3 first. So would rather work through this than buy 4 now. Which I would still need Excalibur if I did. That is if I can do it on 3.

Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 10/17/2003, 4:20 PM
The easiest way is to look at the audio track, you can actually see in the waveforms where the beats take place, use that in combination with actually listening to the track you can add markers on the beat, then you will know where the beats land and where to put your video.

Put cursor on the timeline where you want to and hit the M key to make a marker.
Jimmy_W wrote on 10/17/2003, 4:26 PM
Do you have Acid. This may serve your purpose better.
If not you can line your events up on the time line with your audio waveform and line them up with the down beats. I didn't fully understand what your trying to achieve. hope this helped. JW
Jimmy_W wrote on 10/17/2003, 4:42 PM
Hey (Jsnkc)Jason, Seems we kill time at the same time of day. Caught ya postin at the same time yesterday.
have a good one. JW
Jsnkc wrote on 10/17/2003, 4:46 PM
Yup usually at work, things get kinda slow sometimes so I hop in here to see what's happening.
skytime wrote on 10/17/2003, 5:14 PM
I have Acid express 3

Basicly I want to mix a bunch of smaller skydiving clips together and have the seens change on beat with whatever song I am using at the time.

I have heard of noticing the waveform and working off that. But seem to think it could be quicker.
I usually have the ruler set to time. I've changed the ruler to measures and beats, if I am building off the wave form then what difference does the setting on the ruler have. Do I have to look and calculate the beats per minute. I think that helps with the length of the video clips I am inserting. Many clips would be under a minute but once you know a minutes worth, video clip lengths can be adjusted via length and speed. I wish VV let me adjust the speed numericaly instead of control click and drag the events edge. I will probly keep working it like that, off the waveform.

Looking through older posting I found out how software (excalibur) makes this task a lot easier. I wonder if there is syncing software that runs on VV3 like excalibur does on VV4.

Thankx for the pointers.......

S-
TorS wrote on 10/17/2003, 5:23 PM
Well, Skytime, the forum is even greater when people are not jerking off on your threads.

There are two approaches for you: One is to line up events so their action points coincides with beats or special "bursts" in the music. For that it is good to mark those point on the audio track by - if you are a musical person - play the track from the timeline and hit "m" at the appropriate points. If you are not a musical person (meaning someone who can be trusted to hit the right spots in a beat while it's playing) you can look for the peaks in the waveform - as was suggested above, and mark them the same way - in step time. You can then slide the action back and forth so your points coincide.

The other approach is to adjust the tempo so that the action in your video keeps in rhythm with the beats of the music. Like, if someone is running, all their steps will seem to be in tempo with what's happening in the audio track. To do this you must speed up or slow down your video, using velocity envelopes (I do think they were a feature in 3). You can speed up or slow down the music too, but if you are using prerecorded music that may not be a good idea.
It's a lot of work if you want to do many cuts, but quite rewarding when you get it right.
Tor
skytime wrote on 10/17/2003, 5:40 PM
I know ay......

I have not played with velocity encolopes yet. I will dable in that for a while. The other way sounded nice by using markers (on audio) where I want my changes in video to be.

Thanx for the help Tor

S-
craftech wrote on 10/17/2003, 6:45 PM
Spot did a great article awhile back on using Vegas to make a music video.
http://production.digitalmedianet.com/2003/03_mar/tutorials/vegas_musvid.htm

John
skytime wrote on 10/20/2003, 4:53 PM
thanx crafttech I'll check it.