Audio in Rich Media
Tricks of the Mix
In the first four articles of this series, we’ve looked at how journalists can increase the impact of their stories by adding audio. In this final installment, we’ll show how to combine interviews, voiceover, and ambient effects in Soundtrack Pro, the audio application that comes bundled with Apple’s Final Cut Studio suite.
In the last article, we introduced Soundtrack Pro and covered one of its core concepts: the fact that there are two different types of Soundtrack Pro projects. To recap, Audio File Projects let you edit individual sound clips, either permanently or nondestructively. With Multitrack Projects, you work with many audio clips simultaneously: arranging them in time, adjusting their balances, adding effects, and so on. You can still change the way a clip sounds in Multitrack mode, but you’re really only modifying the way the computer plays it back, not altering the actual file.
In practice, this means the typical Soundtrack Pro workflow is to polish your clips in Audio File mode, then assemble them in Multitrack mode. That’s how we’re proceeding here. In the previous article we operated in Audio File mode, refining the components of a fictitious interview with a self-proclaimed “cryptobotanist.” Now we’ll venture into Multitrack mode to assemble the doctored clips. You’ll learn to navigate the interface, perform common editing tasks, set up a mix, add music clips from the Soundtrack Pro library, and perform a few audio tricks, tasteful and otherwise.
Remember, you can have Multitrack and Audio File Projects open simultaneously. (They appear as tabbed items below the main window’s toolbar.) In fact, when you double-click on an audio clip in a Multitrack Project, Soundtrack Pro asks if you’d like to open it as a new Audio File project.
Session Setup
When you first open Soundtrack Pro, the program creates an empty Multitrack Project. Let’s eyeball the interface.
The timeline, toolbar, browser, video window, and transport are the same as in an Audio File project. But instead of seeing a large display of a single audio clip’s waveform, we have eight simultaneous tracks. (We can add or subtract tracks, but let’s go with the default for now.) As the timeline moves from left to right, all the tracks play in sync. If multiple clips are placed directly above or below each other on separate tracks, they play simultaneously. However, each track can only play one clip at a time. You can add as many clips as you like to an individual track, but if the clips overlap, only the topmost one — that is, the visible one — will play.
Before we add our clips, a few setup tasks: First, make sure your session is set to the proper sample rate. From the Soundtrack Pro menu, select Preferences and click on the Project tab. We’ll set the sample rate to 44100 Hz, since that was the sample rate we worked at in the previous tutorial. (44100 Hz, also known as 44.1 kHz, is the default rate for audio CDs. 48 kHz is more common in video.) Most of the other options here pertain to video and music production, so let’s leave them as they are for now.
Next, think about how you want to save your project. Remember this crucial fact: When you save a Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project, the audio files you reference are not automatically saved with the session file. So it’s a good idea to create a project folder to store your session and all its referenced clips. For this project, we created a folder on the desktop called Cryptobotany Project. Inside it we’ll store the Cryptobotany session file, plus a folder containing all our audio. Even if you have your audio backed up elsewhere, it’s usually a good idea to save it in the same location as your session file.
Loading Sounds and Getting Around
Now that we’ve covered our assets, let’s load them into the session. Click the Browser tab at the top of the lower left window and navigate to your audio folder. Here we have five clips: Our edited interview, ambient sound recorded on a schoolyard playground, and three snippets of voiceover narration. You load them simply by click/dragging onto the tracks.
But how many tracks do we want? Here’s the usual thinking: Each audio source gets its own track so you can process each type of sound independently. In this case, the interview goes on one track and the ambient sound on another, but we can place the three voiceover snippets on the same track, since they feature the same voice recorded in the same location. No need to worry about the exact horizontal placement — we’ll adjust that as we proceed. So initially, our session would look something like this:
Notice that the tracks are automatically renamed according to the first file to appear in each one. To change a track name, just double-click on the name and type in a new one.
As you start assembling your clips, you’ll need to zoom in and out as you inspect different parts of your project. Again, there are multiple ways to do so: You can use the Zoom slider at the bottom of the screen (immediately to the left of the scroll bar), or you can employ key commands. (They’re displayed in the Zoom menu.)
The fastest way to leap around in time is to click on Global Timeline view, the bar directly above the timeline. This always shows an overview of your entire project, regardless of the zoom settings in the main window. Another handy trick: Press Shift + Z to make the entire session fit in the main window.
Some Assembly Required
Now we’ll listen to the interview to decide where we might want to insert the voiceover or effects. To hear it in isolation, we could mute the ambience and voiceover tracks by clicking on the little speaker icons to the right of the track names. But there’s a faster way: Click the interview track’s headphone icon, which solos the track by muting all others. (You’ll find such solo and mute buttons on almost any mixing board, real or virtual.) Soundtrack Pro automatically grays out the non-soloed tracks.
Here we decided to cut the interview at location 00:00:28:00 and again at 00:00:48:00. To split a file, simply select it, click on the timeline at the desired split location, and select Split from the Edit menu — or just press the S key. Another option: Select the razor tool directly beneath the project tab and then click directly on the audio clip anywhere you want to split it. You can also set the location of the playhead (the thin black line running through the timeline) by nudging it left or right with the arrow keys; holding down these keys shuttles the playhead through the project.
Soundtrack Pro automatically snaps the playhead to the nearest ruler tick or other time marker in the timeline. This makes basic edits fast and easy. If you want to fine-tune the locations of file splits or other edits, you can disable Snap by unchecking it under the View menu. For ultra-fine tuning, click-drag on the numbers at the bottom of the screen immediately to the left of the red record button.
You arrange clips in time simply by click-dragging them. We want to begin our project with the first voiceover clip, and then insert the other voiceover clips between the interview edit points. We’ll introduce the schoolyard effect before the second interview segment, when the subject talks about visiting a schoolyard. Again, you nudge clips to the left or right — just hold down the Option key while clicking the arrow left and arrow right keys. Adding the Shift key nudges clips in larger increments.
Our rough edit looks like this:
But the mix has problems, aside from the fact that it’s a silly fake interview. Have a listen.
The schoolyard effects are far too loud, and they end too abruptly. The voiceover segments are of unequal volume. And the entire production needs some sparkle and polish. Let’s make it better.
Intro to Automation
Any mixing board is really just a collection of knobs and switches. When you automate a mix, it’s like having an invisible hand reach out to adjust a knob or press a switch whenever you specify. That means you can change what you hear without having to edit your audio clip. You can also refine or remove automation at any time.
