29 replies to this topic

[Ichikaidan]

Really? ohh...

Well thank you.
I did use some effects dialogues like 'reverb' but
I never scrolled down to the 'normalize' option.
But thanks to you pointer i can find out how it works and if i need some help i will write to Ben.
Thanks again.

[spenayoung]

Hi!

Thanks for the extra tips in MS! To be honest, I have had problems with exporting the video from MS. For some reason, my audio when going to AVI always is distorted and can't hear a thing, so I stopped using the Audio in MS for anything and just work on it all in Final Cut and LOGIC.

If any one has any idea why my computer does this, would love to know. I still don't use the audio in MS (I use LOGIC) but it would save me some hassle when I do syncing.

Thanks!
Sabrina

[primaveranz]

Hi!

Thanks for the extra tips in MS! To be honest, I have had problems with exporting the video from MS. For some reason, my audio when going to AVI always is distorted and can't hear a thing, so I stopped using the Audio in MS for anything and just work on it all in Final Cut and LOGIC.

When you say AVI do you meant the legacy option or HuffYuv? There is a solution to the sound issue with the second (at least for Sony Vegas).

http://www.moviestor...amp;#entry85023

[primaveranz]

Ah, of course this will only work for a PC. If you use a Mac :-

[Daveman]

Great Tips!!!! I will be making my own pop filter for my new Samson Go Mic.., very small but really great quality for a compact USB mic.
I also consulted a friend who does Voice Overs professionally on cheap ways to dampen sound. He said a friend of his started out hanging Duvets (quilts/blankets) around his recording area and a foam padded sound box to sit his mic in.

Oddly he suggested i use a Biro (pen) between my mouth and the mic until I get my pop filter made. He admits its not perfect but it helps disperse the air and sound from the mouth and reduces pops when nothing else is handy.

[spenayoung]

Great Tips!!!! I will be making my own pop filter for my new Samson Go Mic.., very small but really great quality for a compact USB mic.
I also consulted a friend who does Voice Overs professionally on cheap ways to dampen sound. He said a friend of his started out hanging Duvets (quilts/blankets) around his recording area and a foam padded sound box to sit his mic in.

Oddly he suggested i use a Biro (pen) between my mouth and the mic until I get my pop filter made. He admits its not perfect but it helps disperse the air and sound from the mouth and reduces pops when nothing else is handy.

Interesting suggestion. I know I had to teach myself how NOT to puff out air with my P's. It doesn't feel natural but it does sound good in the audio. I would think the pen would limit your overall expression, but I guess if you are used to it...

Pop filters are pretty cheap (to make or buy), and the difference is HUGE, so I would invest in the filter asap. I just recorded an album this summer and did a blues solo myself. The pop filter allowed me to hit my full range at full volume without any probs.

Another inexpensive option that I used for the beginning narration for my film Libertaria: The Virtual Opera is finding a narrator from Fiverr.com . I wanted a famous movie-actor sounding voiceover, so I sent a voiceover impressions actor (Johnny Video) my text and he read the lines. I then tweaked them further in Logic so he would sound more authentic (his voice was too high-pitched). Was good work. won't recommend it for the full movie, but was good for short spots.

[lazwoj]

Really useful topic, thank you very much!

[spenayoung]

I am so glad that so many MS animators have found this thread helpful!

Smiles!
Sabrina

[sgnr76]

Some really useful tips here.

If I may add a few more based on working on a few indie projects:

Know your microphone's polar pattern. Knowing what type of mic you have, and what the pickup pattern of the mic is will help you place your sound sources in a more optimal way to get the sound you're looking for and avoid picking up unwanted noises. A great article that breaks down different mic types and patterns can be found here: Crown Audio

Use the proximity effect to add sonic "depth of field". When a mic is placed close to a sound source, there will be a natural boost to the bass frequencies recorded from that source, resulting in a fuller sound. Moving away from the mic will thin the sound out. By manipulating the recording distance, you can add an extra layer of realism to your scenes by giving characters who are further from the camera in a scene actually sound further away in the same way things would sound in the real world.

Add a noise gate followed by compression when recording. The noise gate should cancel out the bad ambient noise you don't want to hear, and the compressor will even out peaks in the sound and make things sound more smooth and professional.

All other effects should be chained in after the clean vocals have been recorded. Seems pretty obvious, but in doing my own web series, I learned that even though I know exactly what effect I want to hear on a vocal track (in my case for making a robot voice) I'm always making minor tweaks to the effects levels from recording to recording, and if I don't record a clean vocal, I'd be tearing my hair out trying to fix things.

"Worldize" vocal tracks by blending vocals into the ambient sound. While clean audio is important, voices do not exist in a vacuum, and vocals that stick out too far from the ambient score will sound out of place and take people out of the scene. A good way to acheieve this is to also add a compressor to the master audio track when doing your final mix.

[spenayoung]

Awesome tips! 

 

So when I work with audio in moviestorm, I follow a pretty lengthy process. Because I am usually dealing with music vocal lines and MS doesn't always realize that a "lyrical" performance is not a single word being held out for a long long time, I usually will create a separate audio track exclusively for MS lip sync.

 

This track will be clean audio with clear breaks between syllables. This allows the lip sync to work better within MS. You can do this in your audio editor (ex. Logic, Audacity, Garageband, Protools, Cubase).

 

To do this:

1) Record audio - vocals only, ZERO effects except for some minor compression and/or EQ

 

2) Use a Noise Gate to get rid of unnecessary noise (hum removal might be necessary)

 

3) Manually "chop" the audio, eliminating long tails to words like "love" so they don't run into the next syllable (Don't mess with the timing, just select the extra tail and choose "insert silence"). Another option is to use the MUTE function, but I hate messing with that, I'd rather go in and take care of it myself. Get rid of mistakes, saliva, breathing...anything that MS will confuse for a syllable.

 

4) Take long takes and break them into smaller, more manageable segments. (I've worked with lip sync up to 3 min. long with no probs, but MS sometimes works better with shorter scenes). 

 

5) Import the audio and type in the lyrics/words.

 

6) Play with the lip sync to see how much you really want your puppet to talk/sing.

 

7) Record from multiple angles and with a few different settings for the lip sync.

 

8) Record some takes over the shoulder, the eyes, mouth only, close-up of face w/o mouth, etc. as pick up shots. Sometimes the lip sync is nearly perfect except for one word, and that extra shot of the eyes at the right moment will cover a world of error.

 

Hope that helps! 

Best!

Sabs