Problem Hitting Beats

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:29 pm

I am currenly working on a new vid and I am running into one big problem. During the beginning of my video I want to hit four specific beats so that each beat shows a different clip. Unfortunately I am having problems getting these beats to be just right and it always looks like the clips are just a little to slow or a little to fast. I really want to make this video but until I get this problem fixed I am at a standstill. Do any of you experienced AMV makers have any good ideas for how to go about doing this portion of the vid?

Rozard · Post by **Rozard** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:35 pm

Are you looking at the waveform while you're editing? It's a lot easier this way. You can usually see the spikes of the beats. Also, is it a syncopated rhythm, or is it a straight rhythm? If it's a straight rhythm, you can mathematically figure out where the beats should be.

Also, this should be in the Audio Help forum.

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:39 pm

How do you see the waveform of the music? Unfortnately it is not a streight rhythm. I think that is why I am having such a hard time with it.

Rozard · Post by **Rozard** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:49 pm

What editing program are you using? I don't think there's a way to view the waveform in Windows Movie Maker, but in Premiere, there should be a little triangle on the Audio channel where the song is. Click that, and it'll drop open, and you can see the waveform. If you're using any other editing platform, you may have to wait for someone else to tell you how to find it

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:51 pm

I am not currently using Premiere for this video, but I do have the program so I will try it out. I will let you know how it goes.

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 2:12 pm

well I opened up my audio in Premiere and I found the waveform you mentioned. I wish that I had known about this sooner because their is another video I want to fix that is all messed up on the timing. Thanks for the aid. I would have never thought of using premiere

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:00 pm

Ok, I opened up the waveform like you said but I can't make out the beats that I want because the different rises in the song are too close together. Is their a way that I can spread them out or do I need something like a stopwatch to get the timing right?

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:16 pm

Try zooming in (+ button).

Gallup · Post by **Gallup** » Fri May 13, 2005 6:44 pm

I did but everything was still packed really close together. I think that this is probably due to the heavy guitar use in this area of the song. Any other ideas?

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Fri May 13, 2005 7:30 pm

The one single trick that has helped me get the feel right for timing beats is to make the edit fall one frame before the audio event.

For example, if you are trying to sync to a snare drum hit, scrub back and forth over the few frames that are before and after the actual hit to get a really good feel for where it lands, then, when you are right on it, back up one frame, and begin the cut there.

I think it has somethig or other to do with the brain taking more time to process visual information than aural, but what matters is the end result, which is that when played back at normal speed, the audio and video event seem to happen at the same time.

To do this scrubbing to find the beat, I'm always down at single frame resolution on the timeline. Anything else is too imprecise.