Editing music in 2.41?

[Dougie]

In version 2.41, when dropping music (or sounds or dialog or whatever) into an unused soundtrack on the timeline, I find that it cannot be split or moved (if it's slightly too long or slightly in the wrong place). It simply won't split or it snaps back when moved. It can be pre-cut in the preview window, but still can't be repositioned once on the timeline if it's not quite in the right place. Is this normal 2.41 behavior? Thanks!

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

Version 2.41..... You should be able easily to cut sound clips as follows...

Go into timeline mode.

Put your video onto the sequence line. Its audio will appear immediately underneath on the Audio track.(as you know ) but it will have no effect on how other Sound tracks behave.(It will play of course but you can mute it if required)

 

Now Drag/drop your music/sounds/dialogue onto Soundtrack 1.

 

If this is a single sound clip you are adding and the track was empty beforehand, you can drag it left or right along the track and place it where you want. To cut it....Move the cursor (or play the sequence) to the point where you want the sound track split.

You can now cut it at the cursor position using the split button (looks like a railway signal) in the soundtrack1 box on the extreme left. (I seldom use the IN/OUT option)

If the clip was activated (blue) then the right hand part of the sound clip will now go white.

You should now be able to move (drag) the right hand section of the clip to the right, leaving a space, or if required, you can split it further along in the same way by moving the cursor along and repeating the steps above.

 

You can remove any part of the sound clip by activating it (right clicking it--it goes blue) and selecting to "Remove selected audio" You won't be able to move the middle section along however until you move the right hand section along but you can drag it up or down to another empty Soundtrack from where you can move it along over the bits you have left

 

Now, if you try to drop a sound clip into a space too small for it, it will push anything to the right along the sequence but will butt up against the portions to the left.(There is an option under "Other" to alter this behaviour however) The problem here is that it simply pushes along all the clips to the right and in doing so obliterates any gaps between clips you have already there (possiblr carefully placed in synch .)

Its better to add any new sound to an empty Soundtrack where you can better position it and cut it

If a sound clip is too long then you don't need to cut it. Just grab the end of the clip and drag this back into the clip (or along into the clip if you are working from the left) . The clip will shorten but will remain in position, while a gap will be created between it and the next clip.

 

Note: You can't cut your main audio track without unlinking it from the video first and then left clicking it once so it moves fractionally to the right. If you don't do this you will split the video track as well. (The unlinked sound has to be moved a bit, the left click does this.

 

Nat

[Dougie]

Makes sense at first, but if you have a single effect sound (say like a gunshot, or other quick sound) that you want to use multiple times it seems rather inefficiant to have a dozen audio tracks with a single sound on each. I'm talking about sounds on tracks not related to synced audio. One should have complete control. Why would a first sound control where other sounds are set at? Or moved to?

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

"....it seems rather inefficiant to have a dozen audio tracks with a single sound on each...."

 

In the case of multiple synched sounds they can all go on the same track if there is sufficient space between them

At the most you would only need to use two tracks.

 

"Why would a first sound control where other sounds are set at? Or moved to? "

 

You can set the Options control "Other" to prevent sound clips you may add to a track from pushing later ones up the track, if the clip you are adding is bigger than the space you have on that track. Just set the option to "Cut the active clip" instead of "Push clips to right" Later sound clips would remain in their allotted places.

 

Nat

[Dougie]

>"You can set the Options control "Other" to prevent sound clips you may add to a track from pushing later ones up the track,"

 

I'm not trying to insert audio into a track that has previous audio on either side.The problem is that if I add another audio clip to the end of a track that has previous audio ahead of it (but nothing past it), and I miss-place it by a few frames, I can't move it. It just snaps back to where I first placed it. The only way to move it along the track is to delete it, and try to be more accurate when replacing it. If there is not yet any other audio on the track, then I can move the clip anywhere without problems. Just strikes me as strange. I hope I'm explaining this correctly.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Version 2.41

If you have some audio on a track and then drag a second audio clip to the same track but to a point after (to the right of) the first clip then irrespective of where you drop it, you should be able to drag it to any point to the right of the end of the first clip. Obviously you can't overlap it on the same track as it will just place itself immediately following the first clip. But if VP is working correctly for you, you should be able to drag it along to the right and drop it anywhere so leaving a space between the two clips. That's how it works for me.

Any audio clips that I have placed remain independant and I can adjust them all separately.

 

If this isn't happening then it would seem something is wrong. The only thing that might cause an audio file to jump back when you attempt to drag it to the right is if there IS another sound file off the screen to the right and you are trying to drag your active clip over this. It will overlap until you release it then it will jump back to its original position. It won't move or push the next clip up.

 

Nat

[Dougie]

Your first paragraph accurately describes my problem, and no, it isn't happening. The track is clear of audio clips all the way down the line beyond my added clip, but it won't stay where I drag it to. Just jumps back to it's original placement.

 

Now, I was wondering...does 2.41 have a "Snap To" control, and does it effect audio tracks? Maybe something's wrong there...? Don't want to take up too much time here with this, but courious about it.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi Dougie

 

It must be a fault somewhere. I am not aware of a "Snap to" feature or setting in V2.41 As I mentioned all my audio clips behave as separate moveable items when added to the same track. They will push up later clips if they are present (if set to do this) or otherwise truncate themselves if the space is too small. The only way I can see a snap to happening is if the sound is still linked to a video clip as this will "snap back" as video clips automatically line up end to end.

Interesting to know..Can you pull the offending sound bite down to a lower track, and if so can you then move it about?

 

Nat