Audio completely screwed up

[Jeff Harper]

OK, guys, riddle me this...I made a "music video" in Vegas 9.0c at the tail end of a wedding video using a song that DID NOT come from the original audio of the wedding.

Now when I open the video, instead of the song playing, the introduction of the bridal party from the BEGINNING of the video is what plays for audio. This is absolutely bizzare.

The soundtrack is supposed to be an .wma not the audio from the wedding. Any thoughts?

[Jeff Harper]

As you can see from the below images, something is seriously amiss.

The Wanna be starting something is pointing at a video tape clip, which is very wrong. Note that the "14 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" does not even exist any more (I deleted it and replaced it with a .wav file under a new name) but is referred to in the properties window as the active take name, and even stranger when you move over to the Media tab the file name refers to a video clip. And yes I cleaned out project media. 14Wanna be Startin' Somethin' does not even appear in project media window, which makes it even weirder.

[Jeff Harper]

OK, I see what the problem is. It's Vegas 9 sucks. I replaced the audio, but am now discovering that many of the video clips are also wrong...Vegas 9 has got to be the worst $150 I've ever spent.

I worked 8 hours on a three minute clip and now it is completely screwed up. It included a complex 9 track remix of the song, and a very fast paced video edit where clips from one part of the video are now showing up in another where they don't belong. It all has to be redone, but guess what? It can't be because there is no time, I have to trash the whole thing.

I'm sure there is no solution for this issue, short of going back to 8, which I will do at the end of this project.

I am already used to the text issue. When I create text it is messed up in the preview window, but then I copy and paste a new instance of it and the new one is fine. But this new issue is just a tad too much.

Version 7 was my favorite version of Vegas, and it seems to have gone downhill from there. I edit up to three or four projects a week and pay my bills with my video work, and it is a terrible feeling to have my primary editing tool to be so screwed up.

[Larry Reavis]

Many people have had trouble editing in 9, including myself. For that reason, I always edit in 8c - it's rock solid - except for limited ability to handle large stills, and some codecs can't be used.

But then I take the edited .VEG and open it in 9c-64 bit for rendering. This two-step process always works for me with never a problem - so far.

To get around the limited pan/crop of large stills & codec problems in 8c, I make little .VEGs in 9c and render them out using Cineform or PicVid codecs. Then put the .AVIs on the timeline in 8c instead of the original files.

[Mike Calla]

hehe, Oh Jeff,

i don't mean to laugh but i've been reading these boards for years, and i must say you have lots of patience with Vegas man!!

Some of your problems with Vegas are the most awkward - and bizarre on DVInfo!

My Vegas installs have been flawless (i'm knocking on wood like there's tomorrow now) and when i read your problems, wow, i don't have a clue!!!

sorry i didn't add anything to this thread:)

Wait, that's not true! (i was just about to press submit)
A long time ago, when was i learning on really buggy AVID system our professor told us to religiously save projects under multiple names/date/time, every hour or so! I've been doing this with Vegas (and all creative apps) since day one.

A few months ago, I kept getting a corrupt audio file in Vegas at a particular point on the timeline. The original hdv clip was fine, so was the original cineform intermediate, but in Vegas, it would have multiple dropouts over a five second period. Nothing I did would solve the problem - swap it, recapture it, render the audio separately - nothing would work. Any audio on that track, at that point, had drop outs!?!

Instead of solving the problem, I just went around it! Created another audio track just for that moment on the timeline...easy!

However, i was still determined to find out why that happened! Well after back tracking a dozen or so veg files, I found that Vegas had inserted a bus, had done automation tracking on a volume envelope for that track at that point!!!

Now i understand that sometimes we forget to check or check the ripple edit button, etc... But how in the world do I mistakenly add a bus, and write an automated volume envelope? ...must have been veges!

- How do my socks go missing in the wash! And where do the pens I keep buying go?
- Sh*t happens - especially with computers!
- Sometimes instead of solving the problem, we just need a workaround!

[Jeff Harper]

Larry, it is a good idea to create in 8 and render in 9, that is what I'll do, thanks for the suggestion.

Mike it is true I have had some very peculiar issue with Vegas, but luckily very few were isolated to me.

I edit a lot. Over the last seven days I will have edited three individual multi-camera projects, each of which began with about 10 hours of footage, close to a thousand wedding photos, and separately recorded audio tracks. I also did rough work with with several other projects that are in the beginning stages.

With the amount of work I do, the odds are good that if there is an issue to be experienced in the everyday use of Vegas I will likely encounter it if involves text, photos, audio files, or just plain video footage.

About 75% of the time when I create text in Vegas 9.0c it appears screwy and I have to copy it and paste a new instance of it. The pasted instance is fine, which I don't get, but it works. Text issues with the previous versions are well documented, but they followed me to 9.0c, even on a cleanly installed PC with no previous version of 9 on my machine. Go figure.

I love Vegas, but I have to learn to use it and work around the very few bugs I have with it. In my case the only issues I have are the text thing, and now this other issue in my original post above.

If I have to begin projects in 8, so be it, it's just a shame. It was nice to not have three versions of Vegas on my machine as I did in previous installations, but I guess I'll have to go back to that.

[Jeff Harper]

OK, Vegas 9 has done it again. I went ahead, but the bullet redid the project AGAIN and it is now referring to the wrong VIDEO clips, another day wasted. Thanks Sony.

[Edward Troxel]

I can honestly say that I've never seen it do that.

[Jeff Harper]

Well Edward, first I must say I really HATE trashing Vegas...it works SO well most of the time...part of the issue could be that I have multiple copies of clips speeded up, slowed down, on muliple timelines, reversed, etc in a fast pace (it is a fun video) and maybe it is too much for Vegas too handle, I don't know.

I used to do this style of editing all the time in Vegas 7, never had issues...it's just the kind of thing I don't take the time to do any more, it's so time consuming but the clients love it.

I'm moving the project to a third drive, though I doubt that is the issue. As always, I have full copies of project, including video, stored on different hard drives. As I work I always "save as" every few minutes twice, once to each hard drive. I have tried the bak files but they are the same.

In the few years I've edited with Vegas I've completed hundreds of projects, and I've never seen this either. This crazy style of editing obviously pushes Vegas 9 beyond it's limits. With the text issues this actually seems like the same kind of thing...some bug in Vegas, but I don't know what is causing it.

[Jeff Harper]

I may have found the general cause of the issue...some of the video clips, when I right click on them and look at the info refer to some video "subclips" that do not exist.

I poked around and found that I have some audio clips that are subclips as the result of fine tuning the audio, these subclips are stored in a folder, though separately from the video files.

It appears I have found a legitimate bug...when you create audio subclips it CAN screw up your video...as well as your audio. At least that is my guess.

[Jeff Harper]

I thought it was fixed, I opened project and rendered it out, and the text has been replaced by video clips...but their properties on one tab says its text, and on another it says its a video clip.

[Mike Calla]

Wow, thanks for the heads up on that bug!

I readily, willingly and enthusiastically edit on Version 7e and render in 9 to take advantage of the 32bit float! On my machine, V7 seems faster, no bugs, and i've been using it for so long its become more than intuitive. Lately i've been playing with 9 because i know the 32bit versions have their days numbered!


Text! TEEEEEEXT - CURSE YOU VEGAS AND YOUR TEXT.
I admit, I don’t use text that often, maybe a title here and there but, ever since i can remember and i hated working with text in Vegas, something so simple as adding text to other text causes the whole thing to move and shift.

So trying to keyframe text is nightmare - type a word... keyframe another word in... the first word moves! Up or left??? WTF!!!

[Jeff Harper]

Again, I think I found the issue, though I cannot be sure. I deleted the mistakes, fixed them, then I rendered immediately to be safe. But then I wanted to make some changes, and I opened, edited, saved and closed a few times, no problem.

What's different? With this project, I originally decided to work in 64 bit, then switch to 32 bit next editing session, basically switching back and forth each time I opened project. I did that as a way of testing the responsiveness of the competing programs.

So after sticking with 32 bit for each of about 10 quick openings and closings, things have remained the same.

In other words, I was being "abusive" toward Vegas, in a way. For probably 30 or more sessions, there were no issues, but after awhile, maybe the switching back and forth took a toll and caused a type of corruption. I'm done with this segement for now, and am definitely NOT reopening in 64 bit to be safe if I do have to reopen.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Jeff,

thanks for running this thread with your issues!!! I thought some of my recent probelms have been me!!! Only been on Vegas for coming two years.

the audio problem I have experienced too. I have had to delete the audio tracks and start over on a new track and we got around the problem. How in the devil can one accidently insert a bus!!!! perhaps it is a program glitch, a combination of key strokes actually acting as a short cut. I have seen that in other programs!!

The Text issues have come up for me as well, this I found frustrating to the point I rebuilt in Adobe, rendered it as a wav file and imported it. I have been thinking about getting a stand alone program for text, titles, etc but do not really know where to head for that!! Theoreticly the pro titler should be wonderful.

Your patience with Vegas is astounding.

Bottom line is that ALL programs have their issues (why I moved through four differnt programs over the years). Vegas does some amazing things that others do not and does them well. I still have things that mystify me, but I have become more adept at solving and working around them.

I have been on version 9 sence the c update, both 32 and 64. Both are working farely well. I still have 8.0 c if i have something really important or pressing. I then rename and render it in 64 bit 9.0 c.

SONY!!! We should NOT have to do these things!!!!



Glad to hear you managed to salvage the music video. Any way we could see it?

[Jeff Harper]

I agree with you Dale. Vegas is great (with bugs). You will likely never hear me threaten to switch programs, because I've been down that road and learned I just to stick with it.

I was highly upset over this last issue, but everything is coming together as I work around the problems. I have started a new phase of the same project in 8 and now feel safe and secure. I lost two days of progress which I really didn't need to lose, but that is now water under the bridge.

I believe more and more that the lesson I have learned is DO NOT switch repeatedly back and forth from 32 bit to 64 bit with the same project as eventually things will go haywire.