How to adjust volume of video clip

[dbolt]

I have a show that consists of a few video clips (made with 5DM2) that I intersperse with the animated stills. How do I adjust the volume on the video to match the volume of the background music added to the show.

Also, how do I turn the background audio off while the video plays. To avoid both sources of audio, I put the videos at the beginning and delayed the start of the regular background audio.

Here's my questions: 1, how can I turn background audio on/off and 2, how can I adjust the volume of the sound from the video to approximate the volume of the background music?

[Lin Evans]

HI Douglas,

First, to control the audio of a video you must first "mute the Video." in Objects and Animations Property Tab. Next go to "Project Options" to the "Audio Tab" and click on "Add Audio File." At the bottom right where it says "Files of Type" click on the little "down arrow" in the small "blue box" and change it to "Video File." Next navigate to your video file and click on it to enter it as the Audio File. Now you have all the same adjustments for the audio of the video as you have for any other audio file - you have the envelope, volume, etc. Just click on "Customize" and all the controls will work for the audio of the video file. You will have to set the "offset" for the proper time for the video to begin playing. Don't confuse it with "start time" - Start time is how far into the sound that you want to begin playing. In this case you want to leave that value alone because you want the audio synced with the video.

To turn off a background sound while the video is playing you have a couple things to consider. First, do you want the audio to continue to play silently or do you want it to "stop" and begin where it left off after the video? Assuming you want the audio to stop and start where it left off, you will need to set the "Duration" for the background audio to end at the time the Video begins. Then you will want know how long the video runs. Add this amount of time the video runs plus the amount of time the audio ran before the video began and put your background audio track in as another track. Set the "offset" for this new duplicate track to the amount of time the audio played before the video began plus the time the video ran. Set the start time for this second iteration of the audio to the identical time the first background audio track ended. So for the second iteration of the background audio, you will have values in both the offset and the start time.

You may also want to fade out and fade in your video's audio and fade out and fade in your two audio tracks for background.... It sounds complex, but if you think it through, it's really straight-forward.

If you want the audio background to continue to run silently then you need to use the "envelope" tool to shut down the volume to zero and bring it back to normal.

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

In addition to Lin's comments I would offer the following.

After "Muting" the video's Audio track the the Audio can be be added via the "Add Audio or Voice" button.

The result is the same but it has an advantage in that if you have to move the position of the Slide containing the video or the timing of previous slides during the project construction the Audio will move with the slide and will not require adjustment of the "offset" value.

Just another way of approaching it and worth consideration.

DG

[goddi]

HI Douglas,

First, to control the audio of a video you must first "mute the Video." in Objects and Animations Property Tab....

Lin

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Lin,

After reading your instructions, it reminded me that I had dealt with muting a video's audio in one of my video segments in a previously made show. Just to remind me of the steps, I went back and checked if I had followed your steps to mute the audio in my video.

In oneof my shows, I looked at one video segment and went into its O&A/Properties tab. The mute audio was strangely ticked to be muted. Even though I did not want the audio muted, the video's audio did, in fact, play. I was puzzled why it had been ticked to be muted. I unticked it. The audio still played. I reticked, the audio played. I could not get the video's audio to be muted.

So, I then when to a second show that I had a video segment with the audio not muted. The video's audio played as expected. I then ticked the audio to be muted and the audio was, in fact, muted.

I am a bit confused as to why the muting of the video works in one show, but not the other. I looked to see if there was an added track with some audio in the first show, just in case I had added it separately, but there is not. The video's audio in the first show is coming from the video, even though I tried to mute it.

Any explaination????

Gary

[davegee]

Gary,

Check your Audio Files in Project Options for the Show in which the video was Muted (ticked).

DG

[goddi]

Gary,

Check your Audio Files in Project Options for the Show in which the video was Muted (ticked).

DG

===========================

Dave,

Yes, I checked the Audio Files in Project Options. Take a look at my attachement. It is a screen print that I think shows everything. I just can't see why the video's audio does not mute when it has been ticked in Properties.

Gary

[davegee]

Gary,

One other possibility:

Look at Customize Slide to see if you added it in Add Audio or Voice?

DG

[dbolt]

Thanks all! I got it to work as I wanted. 40% seemed to match the volume of the background music just fine.

I could never have figured it out without your help!

doug

[goddi]

Gary,

One other possibility:

Look at Customize Slide to see if you added it in Add Audio or Voice?

DG

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Greetings,

Bingo!!! That is where I put it. The audio was removed from the video and put in the Add Audio or Voice input. I have no idea why I did that originally. I think I was in the learning stage of dealing with video's audio files. I have now figured out that it is better to add the audio to a new Track. You see everything there. So if I mute a video's audio, I can then add that video's audio as an mp3 to its own Track and have better control...or at least I will see where it is in relation to other track inputs. And I can just drag it to the point I want in the track without having to input a specific Offset for it to start (it will automatically put in the correct time in the Audio Clip Properties window). Wow.... I though I was going a bit crazy. Thanks for pointing me to the Add Audio or Voice selection.

Your suggestion to use the Add Audio or Voice input is good too, so that it moves with the slide, if you remember that is where you put the audio track.../>

Gary