Creating a Dynamic Product

Creating a Dynamic Product

How to add audio in MoviePlus X3
NOTE: Record a narration for your documentary or a voiceover for your advert AFTER you have finished editing to get the timing exactly right; but for a music video add the music track FIRST and cut the clips on the beat when editing. Dialogue should be recorded in sync’ with the action. Sound effects and background music can be added later from pre-recorded sources, but check for copyright restrictions.
/ Natural sound
Natural sound (also called sync’ sound) that was recorded at the same time as your video footage is linked to its associated video clip by default and is added automatically in both Storyboard and Timeline modes. However, it can only be edited in Timeline mode, where it sits on Audio Track 1. Right-click on the sound clip you want to edit to bring up a menu of choices, including the option to delete it or mute it.

/ Add music track from CD
To capture audio directly from a CD, insert the CD and click on the Add Media button on the Media Pane. Choose Rip CD. Select the drive with your CD device; choose the track you want; and browse to the drive and folder where you want to save it. The track will also show in your Media Pane after ripping. By default the track is saved in compressed WMA format. Click Rip CD. When capture finishes, click the Close button to return to MoviePlus.
Drag the track from the Media Pane and drop it onto the background music strip in Storyboard mode, or onto a new audio track in Timeline mode (from the Insert menu, select Audio Track).
/ Narration

MoviePlus lets you add a narration (i.e. a voiceover commentary) to your project in real time. It’s essential that you are well prepared for this and that all other editing for the project is complete. Before you start you should write down the text and identify the start and end points of the narration, as well as its duration. For the purpose of Unit 23, these audio elements should appear on the storyboard that you created for Assessment Objective 2. Set up your microphone, speak into it to test the levels and, in either editing mode, click on the Record Narration button. Select Close to finish. The narration file is automatically added to the Media Pane and to the Storyboard and Timeline (see below).

/ Edit sound
You can easily edit the soundtrack to your project in MoviePlus. For music videos you can also edit your clips so that they cut from one to another on the beat. All types of audio can be edited in both modes, except for the sync’ sound associated with your video clips, for which you need to switch to Timeline mode.
In Storyboard mode, click on the track you want to edit and on the Properties pane make adjustments to its play speed, its pan qualities, its volume (drag the Gain slider up or down) or mute the sound completely. This sets the properties for the whole track. You can also adjust the bass and treble and apply reverb’ and other music effects from the Effects tab.

To adjust the volume level of a particular audio source at a specific point and for part of a track only e.g. for fading in and out, switch to Timeline mode. Select the sound object on the Timeline, and then display the envelope for the track by clicking on the grey Attributes button, which changes to yellow/red. Choose Volume. Click on the blue horizontal line in the envelope to create a key frame, shown by a red button. Then add another key frame by clicking again further on. Drag the first button down to decrease the volume for a fade in of that track. You can also cut and trim audio clips in the same way as video clips.

The example shows three frames from a video of the Carsten Höller installation “Test Site”, five giant slides sited in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, London. The movie has two audio tracks: the first is a music track and the other is the sound recorded in sync’ with the video. The screenshot shows how the sync’ sound on Audio Track 1has been faded between two markers to allow the music lyrics to dominate at that point.