Transitioning smoothing with music

[Russell Lasson]

I like using audio dissolves that don’t turn up the audio by +3db (the audio dissolve that says +0db).

It is also important to place the dissolve at a good place in the song (at the end of a chorus instead of in the middle).

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
Provo, UT

[David Roth weiss]

Rob,

Music has “phrases” much like dialogue. When cutting dialogue, if you don’t allow the speaker to begin at a beginning of a phrase and then complete at least one phrase, the result can be quite distracting to the listener. The same is often true of music.

Musically speaking, each phrase of music has an “attack” and a “decay,” with the attack building and the decay essentially tailing off.

Whether cutting or dissolving, in general, a transition works easiest and best if one locates the end of a phrase on the A-side as the music is decaying, and before the next attack begins, before transisioning to the beginning of a phrase on the B-side as an attack begins.

Does this make sense?

David

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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[Gary Morris mcbeath]

Makes a lot of sense David,

I play a bit of music for fun; we also call the two parts of a phrase the question and answer, or sometimes the piano and forte. In 4/4 time, the phrase is often 2 bars or measures long, each part a measure. In 2/4 time, often a phrase takes up 4 bars, 2 for the question, 2 for the answer. But of course, not always, depends on the tune.

I’ve likely completely confused the issue.

Cheers,

Gary

Gary Morris McBeath
SaltAire Cinema Productions

[Rob Grauert]

Hey Dave,

I think I kind of understand what you’re saying. I’ve never heard any of that terminology before, but I did play the viola in 4th grade, and then the baritone 5-8 grade. So I know how to get a feel for the music. And I’m assuming you mean, in simple terms, the editor has to get a feel for the music, tempo, and beat before he or she can make a cut or dissolve at an appropriate location of the music.

Am I right?

Thanks Dave.

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.

[David Roth weiss]

[Rob Grauert] “I’m assuming you mean, in simple terms, the editor has to get a feel for the music, tempo, and beat before he or she can make a cut or dissolve at an appropriate location of the music.

Am I right?”

While much of it is about feel, it becomes easier if you’re more scientific about it and know more precisely what you’re looking for. So, very simply:

1. The outgoing piece (the A-side) should be “tailing-out” musically.

2. The incoming piece (the B-side) should be starting-in musically.

These don’t need to be at the head or tail of the song, just at the head or tail of a part of the music that feels like its ending or feels like its beginning.

Every phrase of the music has a beginning, middle and end, exactly like human speech, and once you know this, all you have to do is look for the beginnings and the ends and transition between them. Transitioning between “two middles” is more difficult and causes music edits that are often less pleasing to the ear.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[John Fitzgerald]

I think everything that’s been said here is dead-on. One trick I like to use is to start off by placing the end of the song at the end of the clip. That way, you have the ending of the song matching the ending of the clip – not a bad way to begin your work. Then I will drag the clip left as needed. If the length of the song and clip don’t match, I’ll fade in on the beginning of the song and place a quick drum loop or guitar riff at the beginning of the clip to clean it up a bit. Sometimes it works great… Other times, it needs more work. But the key is that you get the music ending at the right time. To me, that can be just as important as having the sequence starting when the song starts.

You can also start with the ending of the song, drag left and do the same from the beginning of the clip (dragging right). When the two clips meet, use a cross fade. Season to taste … you should now have a solid beginning and ending of your sequence. Cross fades don’t sound nearly as abrupt if they occur mid-sequence. But a badly timed cross-fade near the end of the sequence can sound terrible.

Hope that makes sense. It’s not easy to explain…

John

John

[Rennie Klymyk]

I’ll often “re-mix” the song so to speak. For example if a song is 3 minutes long it usually has several verses. The last verse usually drags out a bit to the end. Likewise the beginning of the 1st verse often has a unique beginning compared to the middle verses which blend better. I’ll cut out a middle verse and copy/paste it to itself thereby adding a new repeated verse. You can use the 1st or last verse if you cut off the unique beginning or ending. Thus I can end up with a 3 minute 45 second song instead of the original 3 minute song. This technique also works where the chorus repeats the same line several times. You can copy and paste just a line or 2 if that’s all you need to “stretch” it. This works easier with instrumental music but it will work with vocals too.

“everything is broken” ……Bob Dylan

[Jeff Pierce]

Mask the transition with a sound effect. My favorite: a cymbal sweep. Take several seconds of a cymbal sweep, and position it directly below your transition in the timeline. Trim and add dissolves to make it the appropriate length for your transition.

I learned this trick by reviewing/dissecting radio promo spots for TV broadcast network lineups. They change gears from comedy, to high drama/death, back to comedy all in about 15 seconds… their production technique is truly remarkable. If they’re transitioning between comedy cuts of music, they’ll use a laugh-track SFX. If it’s a drama, it might be a sweep, woosh or hit.

As others have noted, you have to get the edit in the right spot in the cut of music. But masking the edit with a SFX (You can also use a natural sound hit) will get you out of a lot of sticky situations — and will make a good transition into an absolutely elegant one.

Good luck.