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Adding Static Audio Spectrum/Waveform
Hello, first post here and just want to say this place has been a great help to me for a long time. So thanks in advance.
Just to put this out there, I am quite the amateur when it comes to AfterEffects however I understand the basics and get by just fine most of the time.
So what am I trying to do? I want to insert an audio spectrum that is not animated to the audio’s frequency. In other words I just want a static waveform as seen in the dropdown properties. Or, as seen on Soundcloud.
This has proven difficult to search for as just about every tut is based on animating it to the frequency.
I hope I explained that correct. Any questions, just ask. Any answers, thanks kindly in advance!
-RK
edit: To elaborate, I would like the waveform to progress to a darker shade as the audio track progresses. The way I was going to do it was duplicate the layer and use a linear wipe. Correct way to do it or..? Suggestions on this method are welcome too.
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6 Replies
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Sounds like you’re on the right track re: linear wipe for your animation. To get a waveform image, simply do a Google image search for “audio waveform”. Hundreds of examples pop up.
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Hey thanks very much for the response, glad I’m doing it right with the progression effect.
I attempted to take on Google again to see what I come up with and I’m finding the same old stuff, waveforms that are animated to an audiotrack. That’s not what I’m going for.
I’m looking to create a static, inanimate, drawn out waveform of an entire audiotrack. The more I think about this the more I feel like it’s something that’s pretty simple and I must just be missing the obvious. But for the life of me I think I’m the only one on the interweb to ever ask this question.
Is it done with expressions? Mass keyframing? Custom plugin maybe? This one effect has held up my entire project for more then a day. Thanks though the help is appreciated. =]
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You could visit soundcloud.com and lo
ok at some artist pages and just screen-capture the waveforms.
Or open a song in your audio editor, i.e. Adobe Audition and screen capture the waveform there.
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Surprised there isn’t a more obvious by-the-book method, but your suggestion may just do the trick. I’ll try it out for now but if you can think of a better method, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’ll be doing this effect for several vids so would like to do it properly and with the option to manipulate it more then a screencap could offer.
Thank you though this should get me moving in the right direction. =]
edit: Your website is very impressive, btw.
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There is another way to create a waveform, but again, you’d basically have to save a frame in After Effects to keep a static copy. The benefit to this method being that you can customise the look to a large extent and save it with an alpha channel.
Create a solid in AE and apply the effect “Audio Waveform”.
Import a music track to your project, and point the Audio Waveform effect to the music layer. Play with the settings and scrub through the timeline until you get a frame you like, then go to “Composition, Save Frame As…” in the menu bar to save the image.
Here’s an example attached:
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Here’s another look using the same music track, just different colours, waveform density, height, etc.
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