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How to Analyze Soundtrack for Precise Edits
Hi! Can anyone suggest a good method for analyzing a pre-existing soundtrack, to which images will be cut? I have the full FCP suite including SoundEdit. Since I am animating with stillframes and a morph plug-in, I am using frames instead of timecode, but don’t know how to get precise timings based on the beats in the music.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
-S. Shannon -
2 Replies
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Put the audio on the timeline.
Then play the timeline and keep hitting the “m” key (marker) in time to the music.
Then you’ll have markers on all the important “beats”. -
I use a stopwatch as I count off 32 bars then divide the time by 32. This gives you the time per bar of music. Convert the time to frames and you have a guide. Music is rarely perfectly regular so every so often the beat you’re cutting to will drift. Just find the downbeat (or backbeat) and start again from there. There’s another factor that comes into play. The eye and ear don’t perceive time in the same way. Usually, a visual cut looks best it’s 3 or 4 frames ahead of the audio beat.
John
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