[Markofcain]

What I will do when I need to pull a selection and make sure that I have the preroll and postroll matched perfectly is this:

(Assuming PC here)
Right click the play button on the bottom left
From the context sensitive menu select “Play preroll and postroll and skip selection”
Click play to see what the files sounds like without the selection.
Adjust the selection as needed.

One caveat is that I don’t think it works with the “Play Looped” button.

HTH

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

In AE 6.5 you will find it here on a PC

C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name here]\Application Data\Adobe\After Effects\Prefs

open the file “Adobe After Effects 6.5 Prefs.txt” and you will find it under a heading labeled “Workspace Palette Settings”

HTH,

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

I’ll try to move the order around in a future project to see if I can get better sound.

My primary presentation is done in a church where I can’t control the soundboard and the video is played through any one of a couple of different laptops. Seems as though there is always a unique twist to each performance. The sound system there is occasionally plagued by gremlins.

Additionally, the video is rendered for the web and is placed on the church’s web site.

Have a listen if you get the chance. I’d love to have your feedback. Here is my latest:

https://www.southshorechurch.com/media/bob_elliott2.ram

Thanks,

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

Most of my work involves voiceovers on a musicbed so here’s what I do:

VO:
Multiband compressor — (focused in the vocal range)
normalize to -1 db
noise reduction — (slight — only if needed)
dynamics processing — effects –> amplitude –> dynamic processing (usually set to drop anything below -27 db — depends)
eq

Music bed:
Multiband compressor — (broad musical range — may skip depands on music)
normalize to -27 db

Then mix in multitrack

This seems like a lot of work — but I have produced great video content and then have had complaints re: audio and the impression is left that the whole job is sub par even though the content of the video is great. For me sound is like lighting — it’s great when no one notices it and it lets them focus on the content of the video. But there are times where the lighting makes the shot or the sound makes the point.

Regarding your question about eq vs multiband compressor:
There is a sense that the compressor does the same thing as the eq — but generally the Q is too broad in a multiband compressor to give you the best results. But maybe someone here with more experience will beg to differ.

HTH

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

What you need is a compressor.

Check effects –> VST –> multiband compressor

You might want to check out this as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

What you are looking for is an image with an alpha channel. Search on alpha channel or take a look at this tutorial — it should get you where you need to go.

https://www.axialis.com/tutorials/tutorial-misc001.html

HTH

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

Set up the comp by:

1) Convert the Audio to key frames
2) select the layer you want to toggle on and off
3) open the opacity — “T” Key
4) Alt click the stopwatch (PC assumed here)
5) drag the pick whip to the audio slider

AE will generate an expression for you like:
thisComp.layer(“Audio Amplitude”).effect(“Both Channels”)(“Slider”)

We want to change this so that we can modify the value before it gets passed to the opacity. What we need to do is:
1) assign a variable to the audio levels
2) assign a variable to the opacity level
3) set a lower limit value below which the opacity is zero and above which the opacity is set to 100.

So now the expression looks like this:

signal_value = thisComp.layer(“Audio Amplitude”).effect(“Both Channels”)(“Slider”);
if (signal_value < 25 ) { opacity_value = 0; } else { opacity_value = 100; }; opacity_value; The logic is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer -- but I will walk you through just in case: The conditional statement of the expression constantly checks the value of the variable "signal_value." If the value of variable "signal_value" is less than 25, then the expression path flows to the statement immediately below where the variable opacity_value is set to zero. If, however, the value of the variable "signal_value" is 25 or greater, then the expression path jumps to the statement immediately below the "else" where the variable opacity_value is set to 100. Finally, the last line "returns" or announces the opacity_value to the layer. HTH Mark Cain Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

From the looks of this I’m sure that your church will want to keep you busy.

Here’s a tip for the outer space zoom or goggle earth if that’s what it is. Get in tight on the building, then record the process pulling out up into space. Then reverse the footage for the actual piece — you should have far less pixelation with this method.

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

Does this need to have lip sync? Since you mention graphics, I will assume not. So, then I understand your request as “how to I add a half second of silence into a clip but keep the video as it is since I don’t want a half second of black screen displayed.?”

unlink the audio and video (Right Click over the tracks on a PC)

cut the audio track at the point where you want the silence to begin (“C” key on a PC)

use the selector to drag the audio clip to the right (further down the time-line about 1/2 second) (“V” Key on a PC)

Is this what you want?

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA

[Markofcain]

Looks like you may have run into an OS file size limit. I am going to assume here that you are using a PC (but that is an assumption since you didn’t say). Tell me are you using FAT32 or even FAT32 on an XP installation?

From the MS support site:

“You cannot create a file larger than (2^32)-1 bytes (this is one byte less than 4 GB) on a FAT32 partition”

While it says 1 byte less than 4 Gigs, that actually translates into: 2^32 = 4 294 967 296 — There you go — 4.2 Gigs.

You might want to read:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463/EN-US/

Mark Cain
Sarasota, FL USA