Mute words in a video

[mlacek]

What is the best way to mute words in a video/movie? I am trying to remove the profanity so my kids can watch it. Thanks!

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

There are several possible ways, but are a bit phaffy.

One simple way is as follows....

Load the clip/movie to the media list and then place it on the sequence line.

Switch into timeline mode.

 

Left click the sound track without unlinking it and then playing the soundtrack in the left hand preview pane. (you can drag the red line along if required)

Stop at the point the offending sound starts and then left click the yellow sound level line at the point where the red cursor line intersects it.

This will place a red dot at this point and fix the volume line.

Grab the yellow line just to the right of this point and then drag it down to the bottom of the window directly under the red dot. (Dont go past it to the left or the line will jump down from the start of the clip)

Aim to get the yellow line to drop straight down to the bottom of the screen under the first red dot.

When you release it there will be a second fixed point.

Now grab the yellow line to the right of the second marker and drag it back up to the cenre line again.

This fixes the level.with another third red dot.

The sound level line will now be slanting upwards from the second dot to the third dot.

 

Now grab the slanting sound lineto the left of the third dot and drag it along vertically below the third dot

 

What you should have now is a yellow line (sound level) that drops to the bottom of the screen at the start of your offending sound, runs along horizontally until the end of the offending sound and then rises straight up again to the original level. In effect reducing the volume for the extent of the unwanted sound.

 

You can easily adjust the volume line by dragging the red dots until the effect you want is obtained.

In some cases this may not entirely mute the sound however.........

 

 

Another way risks de-synching the sound if you are not careful but is possible to completely mute small sections of the soundtrack as follows:-

 

Put the clip/film on the sequence lineand switch to timeline mode

Unlink the sound track. (but dont move it). It will drop to a lower track.

Enlarge the sequence line (+soundtrack) using the + button at the bottom right, until all the sound peaks are easily visible.

Play the film and stop the red cursor where the offending sound is about to start. (you can drag the cursor L/R and pinpoint the sound peak.)

Now split the soundtrack at that point.

Play to the end of the offending sound and in the same way split the soundtrack again.

Right click the sound section you have isolated and either..

1) Delete it

2) Adjust the clip volume and mute it.

 

If you have a bleep soundbite, you could add it to the space or to a separate track.

 

You will need to be careful to check the soundtrack does not move once it is unlinked.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Nat

[mlacek]

Thanks for your help, Nat! The problem is, when I zoom in all the way, the audio is no longer visible, and when I back out once it is not zoomed-in enough to be precise.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

If you feel that one click back from max zoom it is still too squashed up for precise sound editing then what you can do is.........

 

Slide the zoom to the left then click the minus button once.

Now you can zoom in towards maximum again in smaller increments using the mouse roller.

The individual sounds that make up speech should now easily be visible.

 

As previously mentioned, unlink the sound so it drops down to a lower track.

Right click it so it is activated. (It will turn blue)

If you play the clip a few times using the preview button of the right hand preview screen to start and stop the cursor bar,(which will move quite rapidly) you should easily be able to stop the red line exactly where you want. If you miss it then simply drag the cursor line to the left a little and try again.You will quickly get used to matching the sound line appearance to the sounds you are hearing. Unfortunately the soundtrack doesn't play when the drag the cursor line along the sequence which would make it easier.

 

Now.....This method is probably easier than splitting the soundtrack twice and removing a section...

 

Split the track just after the offending word/s.

Now activate the left hand sound clip by left clicking on it. (It will turn blue).

Now move the mouse cursor to theright hand end of the activated clip. It will change to two vertical black lines when placed over the end of the clip. Now grab and drag the clip end to the left. The soundtrack will shorten (but will not move) and eliminate the offensive bit.

Note don't move the track.This will happen if you only grab the track. The mouse cursor will change to two short vertical lines when placed precisely over the end of the soundtrack.

You can slide it back again if you eliminate too much. The soundtrack section to the right will stay in place.

You can now move along to the next offensive sound and repeat the procedure.

Note that you will be chopping up the soundtrack into sections that are not linked to the video track any longer, so dont move them.

 

Nat

[mlacek]

If you feel that one click back from max zoom it is still too squashed up for precise sound editing then what you can do is.........

 

Slide the zoom to the left then click the minus button once.

Now you can zoom in towards maximum again in smaller increments using the mouse roller.

 

Unfortunately this did not work. I zoomed all the way in, and then clicked the minus button to zoom out one click. That placed the clip in one-minute increments. The mouse roller does not zoom in smaller increments as I would like it to do. What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks for your help,

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

Hmmm. Not sure, One minute increments at maximum zoom seem rather large though. Generally I find I get seconds or less. Are we talking about a shortish clip here or a full blown epic of long duration?

 

I think you might need to "focus" the mouse roller on the action required by previously clicking on the screen control for that action. e.g. the slider or + button. (Although I feel you must already have done this.)

 

I'm just guessing here as I have noticed (with other programs as well) that the roller on my mouse at least, has no effect until I do this. e.g. some web pages like Bing images won't scroll until I click the window background or the side scroll bar.

 

What should happen is that once the clip is on the sequence you can use the mouse wheel to scroll the video zoom slider either left or right, but, and providing it is working ...you should see the time markers moving apart or together as you scroll. Once the slider reaches the + end of its block (by rolling the wheel forward) you can still zoom beyond the left end point.

The sequence line may in fact, when zoomed right in this way seem to disappear as the single images that make it up spread out wider than the screen. Similarly the sound track can expand into a single line.

 

Does your mouse roller actually have any effect at all???

 

 

Nat