lathompson Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 I put old home movies onto DVDs for clients. Once the footage is finished and I determine a run time for the final video, I then create a musical soundtrack from my collection of RF music and add it to the video. The problem is, I want to speed up the process of gathering the music to fit the length needed for the video. Right now, I must look at the run time of each song and add the times up as I go along. I use a special template in Excel to automate the math right now, but that's still a very slow process. Once I get the run time of my music within approximately 3 minutes of the video's length, I then create a custom track from scratch using Sonicfire Pro. I need to automate the music selection process more. I do not want to do this work on a time line, I'm not custom editing sound on a project that is budget minded. I'm setting up simple background music for old 8mm home movies. The music comes from a large collection and it does not need to be listened to for content. It is all appropriate for the videos. With the right program, I could throw say, 20 (or so) songs into the folder, see how close it is to the video run time, then add or subtract a few songs to meet the length requirements. Right now, that's a 20 minute job. With an ideal program, it could be a 20 second job. So, my question is this: Does anyone know of a program that would allow me to drag and drop tracks into a folder and have that folder instantly show me exactly what the combined run time is for the tracks I have just dropped into it? I will still need to create the custom ending with Sonicfire Pro, I know, but that's something that I don't want to eliminate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esc Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi!Maybe I´m on thin ice - but why not try PtE.Open any PtE-project and add musik. The time is calculated by default... /Lennart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi!Maybe I´m on thin ice - but why not try PtE.Open any PtE-project and add musik. The time is calculated by default... /LennartLennart, that was a good suggestion but I have already tried working with the music selection in PTE. There are various little things that happen (or can't be made to happen) when PTE's music selection window is open. It's true, it's a great place to dump a lot of music tracks for a quick read of the total time, but once that is done, the productive flow breaks down. I could go into detail on that, but would rather not bore everyone with all the little reasons. Suffice it to say, I can't use that beautiful little feature in PTE. If only I could do a CTRL-A for a mass selection and drag the music to a working folder for my video. (And NO Igor, I'm not putting that on a wish list. You have enough to do now) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopernatural Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi,Would it be possible just to drop the music files into a cd burning program?Not to burn,but just to see the time taken up by the files.If music isn't that important,maybe organize music into duration segments as well.Would save on the maths and the last track can be selected from a track of suitablesize in a duration segment.DavyC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esc Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hello again!Try thishttp://camtech2000.net/Pages/Downloads.htmlGo down the site to Utilities and download MP3STATS.Hope this will do the tric./Lennart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi,Would it be possible just to drop the music files into a cd burning program?Not to burn,but just to see the time taken up by the files.If music isn't that important,maybe organize music into duration segments as well.Would save on the maths and the last track can be selected from a track of suitablesize in a duration segment.DavyCI tried that in Nero and Acid Pro with no luck and it doesn't give the total time in Windows Media player when you compile a playlist or to burn. The suggestion to organize is a good one. I currently save every custom track I make in order to reuse it when it's length is appropriate for another job. There is a need to keep the music fresh by not using exact combinations over and over. I have a system now to make different choices in patterns. This way, music may be repeated in different soundtracks, but it won't be repeated with the same tunes. Sometimes, I can eyeball it with short durations. I have customized most of my music by making the time part of the title (example: Summertime_Ripples-0314.mp3 is a song that is 3min 14sec in length.)I suspect strongly that no such program exists but I thought it worth a try. Thanks for your suggestion, DavyC-larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopernatural Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi,Try some freebie programs out.Burnaware Free, or CD burner xp.Should be able to just drop them in and see a total for time.You can quickly remove a file and insert one of more suitable length.Nero does lots of things in a very average way.Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 So, my question is this: Does anyone know of a program that would allow me to drag and drop tracks into a folder and have that folder instantly show me exactly what the combined run time is for the tracks I have just dropped into it?If you cannot find something that fills your needs anytime soon ... I can probably custom make something to meet your needs.What I propose is to have an empty list with drag-n-drop calculations from the music folder list items. Possibly add music playback to help preview the selection(s), save the final to list or copy final selections to it own directory. Once I get started I will be more able to sort the details.Not too soon ... maybe if Iam freed up this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 If you cannot find something that fills your needs anytime soon ... I can probably custom make something to meet your needs.What I propose is to have an empty list with drag-n-drop calculations from the music folder list items. Possibly add music playback to help preview the selection(s), save the final to list or copy final selections to it own directory. Once I get started I will be more able to sort the details.Not too soon ... maybe if Iam freed up this weekend. You can do that? That's a pretty nice thing to do for a guy, I must say. Let me nose around with a few of the suggested programs first. I don't want you to do such a project if it's not necessary. The offer is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!-larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted August 27, 2009 Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 Larry,At this moment I dont foresee any problems in making it work to collect and calculate total times. The function of drag-n-drop may need to be replaced with buttons to add/remove selections from catalog list to selection list. I will most likely end up adding some other music related functions/features so other users here may find some use of the tool.I dont mind the little projects ... its the big ones that can absorb all your time and life.I think its going to be called MusiCalc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Brian offered a time calculator in another thread. It's a really good little tool for those who have not yet used one. I have a time calculator already using Excel and it does a variety of things when planning a video or slide show. Problem is, like Brian's offering, it requires the entering of times, one by one; and it doesn't have any interaction with the actual music files so although it is very useful, it does not save time on a budget project. Budget projects come in at a pace of 20 to 1 over complex and more profitable ones. My idea will allow me to do 5 times more in a given time frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esc Posted August 27, 2009 Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hello again!Try thishttp://camtech2000.net/Pages/Downloads.htmlGo down the site to Utilities and download MP3STATS.Hope this will do the tric./Lennart Hi Larry!Did you try this?/Lennart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 Yes, Lennart, I did try it. Sorry I haven't reported back. Spent the day with an ailing 90 year old father. Just got back to normal around here this morning. The MP3STATS program is really very nice, but only works on mp3 files. Many of my files are wav or some other format. Also, there is no ability to drag and drop once a list is compiled. I also tried the other suggestions. The CD burner xp program was a nice lite burner software but did not do anything I needed done. On the other hand, Burnaware Free was great for dropping music into in bunches and then culling songs out until the timing was right. The only problem with that is once the songs are in the list, they cannot be group selected and dropped into my audio folder for the video I'm working on. I suppose, I could simply drag & drop from the music folder, but that requires checking one window and selecting from the other. Certainly faster than my current method, but easier to make errors that will cause giant slowdowns in the process later. I'm going to work with that program for a few days and see what happens.Brian posted a nice little program for calculating music compilations, however it is not as useful for me since I already have a time calculator that does that, plus a few other time relevant calculations as well. The offering is much appreciated anyway and I hope that others will use it! Thanks Brian.nobeefstu, I'll be watching. Remember, no big rush on this. -larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esc Posted August 27, 2009 Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hi Larry!I guess Winamp will solve your problem. http://uk.winamp.com/download.html?build=full/Lennart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted August 27, 2009 Report Share Posted August 27, 2009 Larry,The MP3STATS program is really very nice, but only works on mp3 files.Post all music file extentions are you expecting to load ... it would be greatly helpful to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2009 Larry,Post all music file extentions are you expecting to load ... it would be greatly helpful to know. Actually there are only three types of files I use. MP3, WMV & WAV. MP3 and WAV are the most important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted August 28, 2009 Report Share Posted August 28, 2009 Larry,Actually there are only three types of files I use. MP3, WMV & WAV. MP3 and WAV are the most important.I suspect you mean WMA the audio file ... and not WMV the video file. Anyway Ive got it covered by including MP3, OGG, WMA, and WAV.I will PM you on this project matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lathompson Posted August 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2009 Yes, WMA. Sometimes the fingers get ahead of the brain..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 To keep interested users upto date on progress:MusiCalc beta 1 release will be out in a few days for my beta testers. All the main functions and elements are ready and working very well ... still needs error/misl coding. During the initial beta testing I will finish the rest of features/functions/packaging.So a week or so from now all looks promising for the user final release version. Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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