iMovie '06: Isolating Music? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I have made my first DVD project using iMovie.

The program is pretty straight-forward, but the most difficulty
I have had is with adding music.

The footage is a helicopter ride, so the sound inside the craft is
pretty loud.

I can add music, but it is somewhat drowned out by the helicopter noise.

There are check buttons to the right of the DROP CLIPS HERE grid
that allow you to isolate music, but none of that is transferred to the
actual final product.

Is there a way I can cut the main footage soundtrack and just have
music playing over it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JohnRice]

I'm digging way back in my memory here, but I seem to recall you can select any soundtrack and then adjust its volume. You would just drop the volume all the way down on the main soundtrack.

 

[DaveF]

http://screencast.com/t/7kPDwWbYTVx

Select the movie clip and decrease the Clip Volume. Select the audio clip and increase Clip Volume. That should do ya.

I've dabbled with iMovie 08. For what you're doing, it's quite good. Until you want to make a DVD. It doesn't let you set DVD chapters like iMovie 06 does :frowning:

 

[Ronald Epstein]

David,

Your explanation (thanks for the picture) makes almost absolute
sense.

The problem is that, as I see it, that clip volume applies only to
the added music. That's the only soundtrack graph I see. What I
need to control (lower the volume) is the original taped soundtrack
of loud helicopter noise.

How do I access the original soundtrack?

I may be having problems because my project is completed.

 

[DaveF]

In the timeline, select the main video clip and decrease the clip volume for it, just as you selected the soundtrack "clip" and increased its volume. In the timeline there are three (?) regions for clip video, clip audio, and soundtrack. The top one is the video; click it and then adjust the clip volume slider. I did a quick test of this and I could independently control video and soundtrack volumes.

This is all in iMovie, so I think you'll have to re-share with iDVD to get the changes into your DVD project (but I'm not sure about this step)

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

You can also go to the view menu where there's an option like "show clip volume levels". Then you get little lines across the middle of your clips that you can drag up and down to fade the volume up and down.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Guys,

First, I appreciate your replies as always.

I am at work now so I can't readily look at the iMovie '06 program.

However....

I distinctly remember that there was a panel of dropped clips
that represented the movie.

Below that was the music track that I dragged to start at a certain
point in the film.

I can easily move the music track, but have no idea where the
original film track is located. Is the film soundtrack represented
by the clips themselves?

If the clip boxes DO represent the film soundtrack, how can
I select at what point within a clip I want to lower or raise the
volume? I can easily highlight an entire piece of a clip (CMD+A)
but unlike the music soundtrack, I can't designate a portion
within a clip(s) to lower the soundtrack and raise the music.

I am probably making this sound more confusing than it should
be. I don't have the program up right now and I will check it
again later today. The main problem was that I could identify
the music track but not the actual film soundtrack.

By the way, let me say again I get more help on this forum
than I do on MacRumors or MacForums.

 

[DaveF]

Here's a case where you need to think like Apple; you've gone all PC and are overthinking it Select video. Change clip level. (if you didn't extract audio. if you did, select the extract audio)

If you want to change volume at specific times, I think Aaron's tip gets you there: clicking in the middle of the volume line creates a volume adjust point that you can adjust.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,

Where is the EXTRACT AUDIO command?

I am very busy for the next few days. Have family down for the
weekend. Really will not have the chance to implement any of your
advice until Tuesday. Will let you know how it works out.

Thanks everyone for all the assistance.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Ron, don't extract the audio if you haven't already. The box that represents the clip also represents the audio. If you've turned on "show clip volume levels" in the view menu, there will be a blue line across the middle of the clip that you can drag up and down -- that's the clip volume.

 

[DaveF]

Advanced->Extract Audio is a menu command that extracts the audio from a movie clip so you can manipulate it independently. It requires more care and attention in the editing -- you can get your audio and video out of synch. But I used it a lot because it was the only way I could easily identify the audio lulls, natural edit points, in my video.It's a distinct action -- you'd know if you'd done it.

If you find yourself wishing you could more precisely edit based on the audio (a silent point, or a really loud event, or whatever), then Extract Audio can make it easier. But it does take more care and attention, and there was a learning curve on how to deal with it.

This is an item that iMovie 08 has made easier with "scrubbing". I sacrifice some precision, but I don't need to manage extracted audio anymore.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

As usual, I have to thank all you guys for the assistance here.

I was able to figure out the sound levels. The "show clip" levels
was the one thing I had been missing. Once I selected that from
the ADVANCED menu, I was clearly able to adjust the sound levels.

When you turn that view option OFF, you can easily manipulate
the music soundtrack by moving it on top of another music track
(to do a mix as one fades out the other fades in) or even shorten
or just do a portion of a particular song.

My video took a 100% turn for the better. Music now dominates
as background noise fades to the background.

....and Holy Shit!.....I am very impressed with iDVD '08. That
is one hell of a program that;s truly up to professional standards.
Once you complete your editing in iMovie '06 it sends it to iDVD '08
and building your own DVD takes mere minutes. I even added in
two separate slideshows with really cool dissolves and such. I
cannot believe how nice a program this is.

One thing I need to do different here than my initial attempt
at making a DVD....

My first iMovie project was compressed from a HD-DVD camcorder
using the "Best" compression method. I was not happy with the
results on my DVD player. Could see too much "mosquito" noise
in the picture. This time I am going to use the longer "Professional"
compression method in hopes it does a better job of making the
video look more like a first-rate DVD transfer.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

[DaveF]

Glad to hear you figured it out! I've not tried iDVD 08 yet, so I'm glad to hear it's so good. But as iMovie 08 can't create DVD chapter breaks, I've shelved iDVD for now.

But I'm curious, if you can say, who do you give your DVDs to? And why DVDs instead of online video? (I'm still trying to figure out if my audience prefers DVDs or web video.)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,

A bunch of HTF members went on a helicopter ride into
the Grand Canyon last July. I shot it on Hi-Def.

That's the video I am putting together. So, to answer your
question, it goes out to all those members.

Thanks for all your help, Dave.