Music, narration and sound can dramatically improve the impact of your story. In addition to (or instead of) any original audio, you can add music, narration, and sound effects to your video stories. (A second additional sound track becomes available when you upgrade to the complete version of IntroDV so that, for example, you can use one track for music and the other for naration.) You can record sounds into your camera's microphone or into a microphone attached to your computer, or you can import other sound files directly into FreeDV's library for use in your Story.
In addition to audio captured with video by your camcorder, you can also import files in the following formats:
NOTE: FreeDV supports most of the same audio file formats that QuickTime supports. Visit the Digital Origin Web site (www.digitalorigin.com) for the latest information on compatible file formats.
You import sound files the same way you do video: Choose File>Import, then choose the sound file you want.
Since your clips contain both video and audio, you automatically import audio at the same time you import the video. You can keep this sound with your final story, or you can replace it with different sound effects when you create your video story, as described later in this chapter.
You work with audio clips in much the same way as you do video clips. We recommend that you readChapter 3 before this chapter. If you have done so, you already know the fundamentals of working with audio clips. Here's all you do:
- Import an audio file.
An audio icon and the name of the file appear in the Library window.
- Select an audio file by clicking it; the audio file's icon and file name appear in the Clip Player.
- Use the Play Clip Selection button (or press C on your keyboard) to play and stop the clip.
- If you want to shorten the audio clip, set new Start Cut and End Cuts by dragging the scissors to the left and right.
- Click the Add Clip button (between the Clip Player and Story Player) to add the audio clip to your video story. You may also drag the audio clip directly to the Music and Narration track.
You'll see the clip's file name in one of the sound tracks in the Story window. Sound tracks are shown with a musical note icon at the left.
- Use the Play Story button in the Story Player to play the story, which now contains the music you've added.
NOTE: If you have a slower computer, the sound or picture may stutter during playback. If so, you can experiment with temporarily reducing the playback quality of the video so that your computer can improve sound quality. Choose View>Options, then click the Playback tab. You can then choose "draft" quality for playback.
- Select audio clips you want to change (by clicking them) in the Story window.
You can then rearrange them, set new Start Cut and End Cuts, or delete the clips.
- Right-click an audio clip and choose Properties to view information about it.
- Set the volume level for a clip by clicking the speaker icon inside the clip and dragging the knob up and down while the story is playing or paused.
You can individually change the volume level for each audio track in your story and for each separate video clip. For instance, you might want to completely suppress the sound of the original audio (if any), and replace it with voiceover narration and music. Or you might want to keep the original audio and have some music playing softly in the background.
To completely suppress the sound of a track, drag the slider all the way to the bottom. For instance, to suppress the sound of any audio originally recorded with a video clip, click the speaker icon in the video clip in the Story window, then drag the slider all the way to the bottom. That way, any other sound you've added to your story, such as music or voiceover narration, can be heard. You can then fine-tune the volume of your added sound tracks.
There are two ways to create voiceover narration for your video story: you can either record an audio voice track into the microphone on your camera or record it into a microphone attached to your computer's sound card.
You can create a voice track for your video story by simply shooting some more video footage that includes the narration you want. The video portion won't matter. In fact, you can just turn the camera on and start speaking, without being concerned about what you're recording visually. Unless, however, you also plan to use the video portion of the narration in your Story.
When you're finished speaking, you capture the narration you've recorded by clicking the Capture button or choosing File>Capture just as you do when capturing a video clip.
Once the clip is in the Library window, you can edit and preview the audio section as described earlier in the chapter. Then, with Start and End Cuts set, drag the video clip past the video track and directly onto the audio track in the story line at the point in the story you want it to play. Only the audio portion of the clip will appear in the final story.
If you prefer, you can bypass your camera and speak directly into a microphone connected to your computer's sound card. Windows comes with a built-in sound recorder.
You can then save the narration in .WAV format.
Alternatively, you can use one of the many sound recording packages available for Windows95 or Windows98 to record and save audio.
You can add music to your video story by plugging a CD player or other audio output device into your computer's sound card, or by importing an existing audio file containing music into FreeDV.
As with recording voiceover narration, you can use the Sound Recorder supplied with Windows, or any of a number of sound recording packages available for Windows95 or Windows98.
Digital Origin |