Slow-Mo.. with sound at DVinfo.net

Law Tyler · January 26th, 2004, 01:55 AM

I figured out how to do slow-mo, but the sound does not track it.

Is there a way to get the audio to sync with the video on slow-mo or speedup? Of course, it will sound funny slowing down or speeding up.

Also, can cookie cutter move up/down left/right instead of staying in the center of the frame? I tried it and don't seems to find a way to move it.

Thanks.

Don Bloom · January 26th, 2004, 06:25 AM

You can't (to the best of my knowledge) do anything to the audio to slow it down, Sorry :-(
The PIP however is another story. :-)
In the PIP work space (where you set color,size,border,ETC) there is a little square icon (in the left area) and you can move it around to whereever you want there. You can set keyframes below to make it follow. You might also want to look at TRACK MOTION for PIP sometimes it's easier to do that. Check out vegastoolsandtraining issues # 2,3,and 4. It's all about doing PIP with track motion.
Don

Glenn Chan · January 26th, 2004, 06:55 AM

You can slow down sound, but only to a set speed unfortunately. You trim the end of the clip to make it longer except you hit crtl before that, so your mouse cursor turns into the speed-changing tool and then you trim the clip. Sorry for the bad description, but it's crtl + drag.

You can speed things up and slow things down on vinyl... maybe there is a computer equivalent. The problem is that the pitch changes, so you have to use certain tricks to bump the pitch back up. They're built into Vegas. Right click --> Properties your clips and you see pitch shift.

Another thing you can try is to have a special effects sound when you're ramping sound slower or something like that. You can watch something like the Matrix or the computer game Max Payne and hear how they handle it.

Edward Troxel · January 26th, 2004, 08:09 AM

A later issue also deals with using the cookie cutter to blur faces and illustrates how the cookie cutter can be moved to a new location.

If the audio speed MUST match the video speed, the main option is to resize the clip using CTRL-drag. However, this will limit you to a single speed for the entire area. There is no velocity envelope for the audio track.

Law Tyler · January 26th, 2004, 08:16 AM

THANK YOU.

Finally figured out the CTRL-drag.

The pitch of the sound did not go higher or lower freq, although the slow-mo sounds a bit funny with the echo.

Ian Stark · January 26th, 2004, 04:57 PM

I'm not sure whether this comes with Vegas (I also own Sound Forge so that may be where I got it) but there is a plugin called Time Stretch which allows you to enter a %age stretch or shrink over the original audio material without affecting pitch.

There are a good number of modes for solo instruments, speech, music etc that may help to reduce the echo/flanging artefacts that are introduced.

I've never tried it against changed velocity clips but you would have thought that a 10% velocity increase in video would be the same as a 10% increase in audio etc.

Worth a try (although I sincerely apologise if Time Stretch isn't included in Vegas!!).

Edward Troxel · January 26th, 2004, 06:06 PM

"Time Stretch" appears to be a stock part of Vegas (checked on a machine that does not have Sound Forge installed). However, the next question becomes: How is it different from CTRL-Drag to resize the clip?

Glenn Chan · January 26th, 2004, 06:08 PM

Ian, I believe that exact same feature is in Vegas :)

Time stretching will affect the pitch (chipmunk or deep bass effect), and pitch shifting will fix it but can introduce echo/flange/other stuff. Which is why there are various settings.

Law Tyler · January 26th, 2004, 10:19 PM

Well, the time-shifting w/o pitch change is done via the CTRL-drag.

Stretching it makes the speech sound funny because it get filled with echoes.

On the other hand, shrinking result is excellent. The people talk really fast, but retain the pitch.

Tor Salomonsen · January 27th, 2004, 01:49 AM

<<There is no velocity envelope for the audio track.>>

True. But if you do want the audio to sound like it is being slowed down or sped up, that is such a dramatic effect that quite possibly it will overshadow the fact that it isn't altered to the same degree as the video.

I realize this is not what you wanted (although I thought so, reading the first sentence of your first post).
Anyway, if you did, I think it would work. Do your velocity stunts with the video and then alter the speed of the audio linearly - looking out for obvious sync points etc. Unless your changes are totally wicked I think you'll get away with having the audio altered differently.

Ian Stark · January 27th, 2004, 03:12 AM

<<<-"Time Stretch" How is it different from CTRL-Drag to resize the clip? -->>>

I think (stress "think") the mechanics are basically the same but I believe the results are somewhat cleaner using the Time Stretch plugin (I did a really quick test). CTRL-Drag, on the other hand, let's you see the new stretched waveform.

<<<-Time stretching will affect the pitch->>>

Shouldn't do - I believe what Time Stretch does is the same as CTRL-Drag in that it basically puts in (to increase duration) or removes (to decrease it) silence.

Cakewalks's Time/Pitch Stretch plugin (I got it with Sonar 1; I guess it's still bundled with Sonar 3) seems to offer reasonable results as well. I expect there are one or two other dedicated plugins for this sort of thing. Take a look at www.kvr-vst.com which, for those that haven't yet discovered it, is a great source of DX and VST audio plugins, free or otherwise.

All in all, I think that using these time stretching/shrinking plugins is only really going to be of any practical use when the %age change is very small. Plus or minus 10% seems to be about the max before artefacts creep in. Pitch shifting plugins, on the other hand, are much better - assuming you want Huey, Dewey and Louie (I checked spelling at disney.com) for your v/o.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · January 27th, 2004, 07:00 PM

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but you can always slow down the audio with the playback speed control, and use Windows Media Recorder to record Vegas' playback. This is where a Shuttle Pro comes in really handy.

Ian Stark · January 29th, 2004, 06:26 AM

Just saw this. It's apparently a very good piece of software for slowing down music, eg for a guitarist to practice a lead break against a CD etc.

I haven't tried it so I don't know whether it will work well with spoken audio but they have a trial version so you can test it out.

www.ronimusic.com

January 26th, 2004, 01:55 AM	#1
Law Tyler Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 204	Slow-Mo.. with sound I figured out how to do slow-mo, but the sound does not track it. Is there a way to get the audio to sync with the video on slow-mo or speedup? Of course, it will sound funny slowing down or speeding up. Also, can cookie cutter move up/down left/right instead of staying in the center of the frame? I tried it and don't seems to find a way to move it. Thanks.

January 27th, 2004, 07:00 PM	#12
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but you can always slow down the audio with the playback speed control, and use Windows Media Recorder to record Vegas' playback. This is where a Shuttle Pro comes in really handy. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

January 29th, 2004, 06:26 AM	#13
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Just saw this. It's apparently a very good piece of software for slowing down music, eg for a guitarist to practice a lead break against a CD etc. I haven't tried it so I don't know whether it will work well with spoken audio but they have a trial version so you can test it out. www.ronimusic.com __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 26th, 2004, 06:25 AM	#2
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	You can't (to the best of my knowledge) do anything to the audio to slow it down, Sorry :-( The PIP however is another story. :-) In the PIP work space (where you set color,size,border,ETC) there is a little square icon (in the left area) and you can move it around to whereever you want there. You can set keyframes below to make it follow. You might also want to look at TRACK MOTION for PIP sometimes it's easier to do that. Check out vegastoolsandtraining issues # 2,3,and 4. It's all about doing PIP with track motion. Don

January 26th, 2004, 06:55 AM	#3
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	You can slow down sound, but only to a set speed unfortunately. You trim the end of the clip to make it longer except you hit crtl before that, so your mouse cursor turns into the speed-changing tool and then you trim the clip. Sorry for the bad description, but it's crtl + drag. You can speed things up and slow things down on vinyl... maybe there is a computer equivalent. The problem is that the pitch changes, so you have to use certain tricks to bump the pitch back up. They're built into Vegas. Right click --> Properties your clips and you see pitch shift. Another thing you can try is to have a special effects sound when you're ramping sound slower or something like that. You can watch something like the Matrix or the computer game Max Payne and hear how they handle it.

January 26th, 2004, 08:09 AM	#4
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	A later issue also deals with using the cookie cutter to blur faces and illustrates how the cookie cutter can be moved to a new location. If the audio speed MUST match the video speed, the main option is to resize the clip using CTRL-drag. However, this will limit you to a single speed for the entire area. There is no velocity envelope for the audio track.

January 26th, 2004, 08:16 AM	#5
Law Tyler Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 204	THANK YOU. Finally figured out the CTRL-drag. The pitch of the sound did not go higher or lower freq, although the slow-mo sounds a bit funny with the echo.

January 26th, 2004, 04:57 PM	#6
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	I'm not sure whether this comes with Vegas (I also own Sound Forge so that may be where I got it) but there is a plugin called Time Stretch which allows you to enter a %age stretch or shrink over the original audio material without affecting pitch. There are a good number of modes for solo instruments, speech, music etc that may help to reduce the echo/flanging artefacts that are introduced. I've never tried it against changed velocity clips but you would have thought that a 10% velocity increase in video would be the same as a 10% increase in audio etc. Worth a try (although I sincerely apologise if Time Stretch isn't included in Vegas!!).

January 26th, 2004, 06:06 PM	#7
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	"Time Stretch" appears to be a stock part of Vegas (checked on a machine that does not have Sound Forge installed). However, the next question becomes: How is it different from CTRL-Drag to resize the clip?

January 26th, 2004, 06:08 PM	#8
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Ian, I believe that exact same feature is in Vegas :) Time stretching will affect the pitch (chipmunk or deep bass effect), and pitch shifting will fix it but can introduce echo/flange/other stuff. Which is why there are various settings.

January 26th, 2004, 10:19 PM	#9
Law Tyler Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 204	Well, the time-shifting w/o pitch change is done via the CTRL-drag. Stretching it makes the speech sound funny because it get filled with echoes. On the other hand, shrinking result is excellent. The people talk really fast, but retain the pitch.

January 27th, 2004, 01:49 AM	#10
Tor Salomonsen Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 265	<<There is no velocity envelope for the audio track.>> True. But if you do want the audio to sound like it is being slowed down or sped up, that is such a dramatic effect that quite possibly it will overshadow the fact that it isn't altered to the same degree as the video. I realize this is not what you wanted (although I thought so, reading the first sentence of your first post). Anyway, if you did, I think it would work. Do your velocity stunts with the video and then alter the speed of the audio linearly - looking out for obvious sync points etc. Unless your changes are totally wicked I think you'll get away with having the audio altered differently.

January 27th, 2004, 03:12 AM	#11
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	<<<-"Time Stretch" How is it different from CTRL-Drag to resize the clip? -->>> I think (stress "think") the mechanics are basically the same but I believe the results are somewhat cleaner using the Time Stretch plugin (I did a really quick test). CTRL-Drag, on the other hand, let's you see the new stretched waveform. <<<-Time stretching will affect the pitch->>> Shouldn't do - I believe what Time Stretch does is the same as CTRL-Drag in that it basically puts in (to increase duration) or removes (to decrease it) silence. Cakewalks's Time/Pitch Stretch plugin (I got it with Sonar 1; I guess it's still bundled with Sonar 3) seems to offer reasonable results as well. I expect there are one or two other dedicated plugins for this sort of thing. Take a look at www.kvr-vst.com which, for those that haven't yet discovered it, is a great source of DX and VST audio plugins, free or otherwise. All in all, I think that using these time stretching/shrinking plugins is only really going to be of any practical use when the %age change is very small. Plus or minus 10% seems to be about the max before artefacts creep in. Pitch shifting plugins, on the other hand, are much better - assuming you want Huey, Dewey and Louie (I checked spelling at disney.com) for your v/o.