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Lesson 4


Adding Music to your Story


Music is the easiest way to improve the impact of your video story. IntroDV includes a selection of royalty free music files that are included on the installation CD. You can also use your own sound files by importing them directly into IntroDV's library for use in your Story.

Importing music files

At this point in the tutorial, you should have completed editing your story. Depending on the type and length of the video you are producing, you may choose to add a single song to your video or multiple songs may be needed for different portions of the Story. In this example, the story is only 23 seconds in length, so a single sound track file will be sufficient.

If you have not already imported the Boulevard Funk audio file, follow these steps:
  1. With your edited Story open, choose Import from the File menu.
  2. Navigate to the IntroDV_Tutorial folder on your hard disk.

NOTE: The IntroDV CD-ROM also includes a selection of music tracks in WAV format which you may copy over to your hard drive. IntroDV 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.

  1. Choose the music track called Boulevard Funk and click Import.
  2. The music track now appears in the Library window as a distinctive green icon.

Adding Music to your Story

You work with audio clips in much the same way as you do video clips. We recommend that you read Lesson 3 before this chapter. If you have done so, you already know the fundamentals of working with audio clips. Here's all you do:

  1. If the music track called Boulevard Funk is not already selected, open it in the Clip Player by clicking on it in the Library; the audio file's icon and file name appear in the Clip Player.
  2. Use the Play Clip Selection button (or press C on your keyboard) to play and stop the clip.

There are three ways to edit the length of a music track. With the audio file in the Clip player:

  1. Note that the Boulevard Funk clip duration is 01:30:17 while the Story time is only 00:23:17. This audio file contains more music than you have video. Trim the tail portion of the music clip to 30:00 by dragging the scissors to the right.

  1. Position the Story time cursor at the beginning of the Story. Click the Add Clip button (between the Clip Player and Story Player) to place the audio clip directly to the audio track of your Story. Note: you may also drag the audio clip directly to either of the two available Music and Narration tracks.

    You'll see the Boulevard Funk file name in one of the sound tracks in the Story window.

Fine Tuning Audio and Music

Note that the Boulevard Funk track is still 7 seconds longer than the video portion of the Story. This allows you to fade the audio volume instead of stopping the music and picture abruptly. While early versions of IntroDV do not offer a sound fade filter, the section below describes how the volume control sliders can be used to create a similar sound fade effect.

  1. First, start by muting the original audio for the video portion of the Story. You can adjust the volume level for an entire track by using the volume slider on the left most speaker icon in the Story Window.
  2. Once the volume is suppressed for the original video, move the red Story Time cursor to the end of the Story. With the Story time cursor a few seconds after the end of the last clip (approximately 00:00:25:17), select split clip from the Edit menu. Move the Story Time cursor two seconds further down the time line and select split clip again.
  3. You can now fade the volume slider for the two audio split clips you just created. Adjust the sliders as indicated in the picture below.

  1. 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. If editing with the Playback to Camera option enabled and a DV camcorder attached, you may try using the Print button to get the most accurate preview of audio/video synchronization.

TIP! When incorporating music into your own videos, you may find it easier to add video footage rather than shorten your favorite songs in IntroDV. In addition, professional editors will often fine-tune individual cuts to better match the pace of the music.


Digital Origin
http://www.digitalorigin.com
Phone: (650) 404-6300
460 East Middlefield Road
Mountain View, CA 94043
support@digitalorigin.com
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