Fading Music

[CliveW]

The feature of specifying music tracks to play for each (or selected) slides on a slide by slide basis is good. It speeds up the creation of the slides shows for me a lot.

But is it possible to have a option to fade a previous track rather than just stop it suddenly when a new slide with music attach starts?

I find this is necessary as the slide durations/transition times vary on different speeds of computers, so to ensure that I don't get periods of silence on slow machines I make the music slightly longer than needed, but would then like an auto fade as it transitions into a new slide with new music.

Any views of suggestions how to handle this?

Thanks,

Clive

Southampton

[Guest guru]

the slide durations/transition times vary on different speeds of computers

To be sure the slides duration is identical in all computers, you can synchronize them with an empty (that is silent) mp3 file.

[alrobin]

Guido,

Can you then superimpose this with customized music for each slide?

[LumenLux]

butting in here Al, but among friends right?

Yes indeed, the super-imposing on each slide does work well.

[alrobin]

No problem, Bob! I learn something new every day - now I can go back to bed!

Guido, you are full of great tips!! Again, that's probably why they call you the "guru"!

[Alan Lyons]

Hi Clive,

Welcome aboard. the best way to insure that the right music plays at the right time is to combine all tracks into one MP3 with audoi editing software, many of which are mentioned in this forum. To fade one sellection before playing the next the editor uses a "clothes line" which runs through the display for each track. By clicking and draging points in this line you can controll the volume of any part of the music, i.e. fade in/out or lower behind voice over. With an editor you also have tabs at the start and end of each track. By draging thease over each other you can cross fade two tracks and get a much smoother sounding sound track. Once you are happy with the timing, you can use the syncronise option in the project options to place the slides where you need them. You may have to adjust the timing a few times, but the smooth show you will end up with is worth the effort.

Hope your handeling the heat down there in Southampton ok

Regards Alan

[CliveW]

Thanks for the tips guys. I had been producing shows using the synchronising method in project options but it takes far too long to align everything, so I thought that the option of putting mp3 tracks into the slide where you want that track to start was a good improvement. I already use an mp3/wave editor to sort out the music files and size their duration etc.

The idea of using a silent mp3 file as the master background track and then putting individual mp3 files in slides as needed is good (thanks Guru); except that I need to have slides showing for different time periods (some change quickly and display for only a short time and others remain for much longer) and I wanted to avoid the time needed to align each slide to the track.

But I guess that the only way is to do one big master mp3 file and align the slides to that through project options again.

However the fading option might be an enhancement idea to add to future releases (Kai's Power Show used to do it quite well, but lacked other features that Pictures-to-Exe has.)

Clive

Southampton

[Tripstrilles]

Hello, I´m missing the - fade out / fade in - mode like in Kai´s Power Show too.

It would be very urgent for me to use it with PTE. I`ve made pictures of a Karl-May-Festival (Winnetou I) and I want to start the right music with the right scene. So I need to fade out the music before the next starts. And this is not possible with PTE.

Greetings, T.

[alrobin]

That's what the timeline is for. And, it's not that difficult, even for a large show! Everyone should give it a try, at least. There are options to automatically spread the slides over the length of the music, (you don't even need to open the timeline to do this), or you can use the timeline and press the space-bar whenever you want the next image to appear, in perfect sync with the music.

You may have to run through the music a few times in order to get it right, but if you want the music to coincide with the slide, you will find yourself doing that anyway before you get it to sound the way you want it.

As for fading the music, the best way, with maximum control over where the fades occur, is through the use of a music editor - some are even freeware.

[Guest guru]

Only a little advice, Tripstrilles, if you want to use a sound editor: try Audacity 1.2.0 pre-1. It's free, and even if is a beta again, seems very stable and suitable.

[Tripstrilles]

Hi guru, I am using audacity over a year. But I want to save time by synchronizing my show.

- I want to display each slide for the same time

- for the first 5 slides I need music which fades out before the next slide appears

- for the next 15 slides I need an other song, fading out before the next slide appears

and so on and so on.

So I have to stop the displayed time of (incl. transition time) every part of my show with a stop-watch

and make the length of each song with fading out in - audacity -.

Then I make one mp3 file of all songs in - audacity - and after this an automatic synchronization to

get the same duration of display each slide.

Then I must finetune the slides where a new song starts in customize mode.

Is it so right ????

Or is there any more simple way ?

Greetings, Tripstrilles

[alrobin]

Hi, Rainer,

Sounds like an interesting project.

FWIW, here is the way I would do it if I were you, since you said you want each slide to remain on screen for the same length of time (I assume that since you are not concerned about syncing the show to the beats of the music, that you also do not care if the slides do not remain on screen for exactly the same amount of time):

1. Decide ahead of time how long you want each slide to remain on screen. Say "Y" seconds.

2. Multiply "Y" by the number of slides to get the total length of music required.

3. Find some music for the first section which is approximately 5 x Y seconds in length.

4. Do the same for the next section, 15 x Y seconds, and so on.

5. Put these music selections together in Audacity with the appropriate fades added and make one file.

6. Add the music selection to PTE.

7. If the music selections are exactly equal to the number of slides x "Y", choose Project Options / Customize Sync / Automatic Sync / Add Arranged Points.

8. If the music selections are not exactly equal to number of slides x "Y" (i.e. if you adjusted the length of the individual music selections a bit in order to find the best-sounding transition point), then "drop" each slide manually on the timeline every "Y" seconds, where "Y" is now the calculated time on screen for each of the individual music selections.

9. Go back and preview the show on the timeline, adjusting the slides to fit the music transition points more accurately as you play through the music.

10. You can use "pause" and "play" to stop the music while you make fine-tuning adjustments to the slides and then resume without having to go back to the start each time.

If I were I, then I would use Adjustor to spread the slides over the lengths of the music selections, and "pin" the times for the end of each music selections, and automatically spread the intermediate slides over those intervals.

I know this sounds like a complicated procedure, but for my objectives, there is really no easier way, and it is not really so difficult when you have done it a few times. Of course it all depends on how fussy you are about where in the music you want to put the transitions. Myself, I believe that the transitions should match the beats in the music, which is a whole new story and new procedure.

Hope this helps.

[Tripstrilles]

Hi Al, thank you for your answer.

If I were you, I would try to translate your - adjustor - to german. This is my problem.

I don´t know exactly how it works. So I must synchronize the slides like the first point you have written.

Greetings, Tripstrilles

[alrobin]

If I were you, I would try to translate your - adjustor - to german. This is my problem.

Rainer,

If I did that, you would have even more problem understanding it!

Seriously, though, I am afraid I can't do anything about that - maybe someone else can translate the instruction notes. Maybe if you run it through one of those software translators??? But your English is very good here on the forum!

However, you just have to jump in and try. After playing around with the model, it will probably start to make sense. You can't hurt anything as long as you don't save anything. And even then, you can always download it again and start over. All the best!

[Tripstrilles]

O.K. Al, I will try it.

Greetings from Trier / Germany

Rainer

[alrobin]

Rainer,

Let us know how you do.

By the way, I really enjoyed your Nepal slide show. It brought back a few memories of our trek in the Khumbu region in 1996.

[Tripstrilles]

@Al

Hi, today, I´ve started to create a new show with different music files by fading out each file.

1. Sorting and renaming all slides with acdsee.

2. Adding first music file in - project objects - and switching to - customize synchronization.

3. Manually adding all slides I need while playing the first song (every 4,5 sec.).

4. Loading this first song in - audacity - and fade out at the time point the PTE-timeline shows (you have to count the seconds).

5. Store the new file and add it to PTE (first remove the old music file)

6. Adding second music file behind the new first file.

7. Manually adding all slides I want to show with the second song

8. Open second song in - audacity - and copy and paste it at the end of the first song

9. Fading out the second song at the right time point the PTE-timeline shows.

10. Store the new file (now with the two songs) and add it to PTE (remove the old music file first)

11. Same procedure like the first two steps.

I hope you understand what I mean. I´ve needed for 100 images with 7 different songs by fading out each song at a customize point and making one mp3-file in audacity about 1,5 hours.

Greetings, Rainer

[alrobin]

Rainer,

If I understand you correctly, that sounds like a good way to do it. Did it sound OK after all this?

It might make things a little simpler if you did all the calculations first, then found all the music selections you need and put them end-to-end in Audacity. Then go to the timeline and manually add the images as the music is playing, according to the average intervals between slides, calculated for each music selection in turn.

Unless your music is "too tight" (i.e. too many slides or too short a time on screen for each slide), it should be possible then to go back in and fine-tune so the transitions occur on the beats of the music.

It's always a lot of work synching to music, but it's worth it in the end.

[Tripstrilles]

@Al

Yes you are right. It sounds very well after this method.

1. First I do the calculation for the first part slides/music

2. Fading out in audacity and export as mp3-file, adding to PTE

3. Adding second song to PTE

4. In timeline all slides of the first calculation are o.k.

5. Manually adding all slides for the second part/music and calculate the fading-out-point of second song

6. Copy and paste the whole second song in audacity behind the first song.

7. Fading out the second song at the point, the PTE timeline shows me (calculation in seconds - for audacity)

8. Export the new song (part 1 + part 2) as mp3-file, adding to PTE, but first remove the old songs

9. In timeline all slides of the first and second calculation are o.k.

10. Adding third song to PTE (now you have the song of part 1+ part 2 (one file) and third song)

11. Manually adding all slides for the third part/music and calculate the fading-out-point of third song

12. Same procedure like part 1 and part 2 until you have finished

13. Fine-tuning the slide-changing points of each new song so the transitions occur on the beats of the music

I hope this is for better understanding. It looks like much work, but it isn´t so. The most work is to calulate the minutes to seconds, and this in no work.

Greetings to Canada, Rainer

[Maureen]

Maybe if you run it through one of those software translators???

Sorry to go back a few places but only today I found an useful site to translate and check out my very rusty german to a friend at ..............

http://babel.altavista.com/

Hope this helps.

BW Maureen