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![\"Jay-Z](\"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/104_1_jay-z.jpg\")
<\/a>Jay-Z just won\u2019t answer your calls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n Choosing some music<\/h3>\n
You preview the V.O. file and they\u2019ve done a pretty good job. It\u2019s a female artist, good diction, clear, accurate and appealing. What it needs is a great sounding music bed that\u2019s not too obtrusive and sits nicely with this pleasant sounding voice.<\/p>\n
One good place to look for music that you can legally use would be the Stock Music collection at Shockwave-Sound<\/a>. They\u2019ve never let you down when you\u2019ve needed quick and easy royalty free music solutions and whaddaya know? This time is no exception. Within minutes of searching you\u2019ve got a whole ream of quality tracks that may just be suitable for the garden centre promo ad.<\/p>\n
The track that really stands out is called \u2018Rain Or Shine<\/a>\u2019 by Pierre Langer. It\u2019s a kind of light and airy acoustic piece that has quite a wholesome feel. The track description uses the terms \u2018outdoors\u2019, \u2018nature\u2019 and \u2018uplifting\u2019, which certainly fits the bill for our garden centre clientele. What\u2019s more, at only 38 seconds it\u2019s a great length for a short promo. It resolves too, so we won\u2019t have use a fade out, so that\u2019s a bonus.<\/p>\n
Importing the music into Vegas<\/h3>\n
Initially, there\u2019s no need to commit to buying the track before we\u2019ve tested it alongside the voice over.<\/p>\n
We can listen to the track using Shockwave\u2019s preview facilities. And play the V.O. file alongside at the same time. At least it will give a rough idea of whether the two elements work well together.<\/p>\n
Once we\u2019re happy that we\u2019ve made the right choice, it\u2019s time to purchase the track, download it to our \u2018Garden Centre Promo\u2019 folder and import it into Vegas.<\/p>\n
Vegas can read any number of different audio formats, WAV, MP3, WMA, PCA, AIF, MPEG audio and AC-3. I\u2019ve chosen to download the track from Shockwave as a WAV file.<\/p>\n
To import into your project, first create an audio track in your \u2018track header\u2019 by either going \u2018insert\u2019 and \u2018audio track\u2019, or by right clicking in the track window and choosing \u2018insert audio track\u2019. Highlight the track and go to \u2018file\u2019\/\u2019open\u2019. The \u2018open\u2019 box offers the option \u2018Files of type\u2019. Make sure this is set to \u2018All Project & Media Files\u2019 so that Vegas will recognise all associated files. Alternatively, you could use the drop down menu to go to \u2018Wave (Microsoft) *wav\u2019 so that it will specifically recognise that format. But best left to the default \u2018All Project & Media Files\u2019. Browse to find the \u2018Garden Centre Promo\u2019 folder, highlight the WAV file and open it. The WAV will appear on the designated audio track in the timeline next to the cursor.<\/p>\n
Now double click on \u2018track name\u2019 in the \u2018track header\u2019 and rename the track \u2018Music Bed\u2019.<\/p>\n
Put the file at 00:00:00 in the project window. If you wish to move it, simply grab it by holding down your left mouse button.<\/p>\n
As soon as you\u2019ve imported an audio file it\u2019s a good practise to make sure there is a good sturdy limiter plug-in on the output level. Most professional music files will peak at 0.00db, but to be sure that your project never exceeds this, Vegas provides a number of plug-ins with limiting in mind.<\/p>\n
Go to your master mixer and click the master effects icon. Choose a limiter or peak master plug-in and set it to 0.00db (they normally default at this setting). Doing this will avoid any nasty clipping or peaks later on.<\/p>\n
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![\"Preview](\"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/shockwave-sound-audio-player-1024x668.png\")
Preview the music using Shockwave-Sound\u2019s media player.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n Importing the voice over into Vegas<\/h3>\n
At this point, let me mention Vegas\u2019s Project Media function. It\u2019s a way of grouping together all your media making it available at your fingertips for immediate use. You can drag and drop files from the \u2018media bins\u2019 into your project window easily and efficiently. And this can often cut down on time spent on project management. It may be something we will refer to in greater depth in later tutorials. For this simple exercise, its use is limited.<\/p>\n
Check it out by clicking on the \u2018Project Media\u2019 tab above the project window.<\/p>\n
Now that we\u2019ve got our music bed lined up, we can import our voice over into the project window. We do this in the same way that we imported the music bed, but onto a separate audio track that we can name \u2018Voice Over\u2019.<\/p>\n
Our project now consists of two audio tracks. The \u2018Music Bed\u2019 and the \u2018Voice Over\u2019. These are the only files we require for this project. Once we have saved the project as a .veg file to our \u2018Garden Centre Promo\u2019 folder we can begin work on the project.<\/p>\n
Preparing the \u2018Voice Over\u2019 file<\/h3>\n
By clicking on the exclamation mark in the \u2018track header\u2019 of the \u2018Voice Over\u2019 track, I can solo the voice and play it without hearing the music bed as well.<\/p>\n
I notice from doing this and also looking at the waveform, that there\u2019s a few seconds of dead air at the start of the voice over file that need removing.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a number of ways to do this. You can right mouse click on the file to reveal the drop down menu. Here you will see the options, \u2018open in trimmer\u2019 or \u2018open in Sound Forge\u2019 (this is dependant on you having Sony\u2019s Sound Forge designated as your assigned audio editor). These options are perhaps better for more detailed editing. For a simple thing like this, it\u2019s easiest to remove the dead air from the audio file whilst it\u2019s still in the timeline. Do this by grabbing the start of the file in the \u2018square icon\u2019 zone (see illustration) and pulling it towards the right until the edge matches up with the very start of the waveform.<\/p>\n
If need be, you are also able to \u2018scrub\u2019 in Vegas by grabbing the curser and pulling it back and forth. For those who may be used to analog editing (fairly unlikely these days!), this is a useful and familiar method. But the accuracy of the timeline really out weighs the necessity for such things. (But it sure makes a nice sound, don\u2019t it?). OK, we\u2019ve done a quick snip, so now we\u2019ve got a voice over that begins immediately at the start of the file.<\/p>\n
Now the voice over file no longer starts at 00:00:00, so we need to drag it back to the start in the project window. Here\u2019s a tip while dragging files around in the Vegas project window. Make sure the \u2018auto-ripple\u2019 function is disabled first. (That\u2019s \u2018ctrl+L\u2019 on a PC. Or you can click on the \u2018auto-ripple\u2019 icon on the toolbar.) It\u2019s a great function, because it means you can shift all your media around in one go, just by grabbing one file. But if you leave it on, you can displace everything in your project unintentionally, which is a real pain!<\/p>\n
So with \u2018auto-ripple\u2019 disabled, we can drag the shortened \u2018Voice Over\u2019 file back to 00:00:00.<\/p>\n
![\"Grab](\"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/104_3_squareicon_edit.jpg\")
<\/a>Grab the start of the file in the \u2018square icon\u2019 zone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Deciding on duration<\/h3>\n
OK, things are looking good for our garden centre promo ad. We have a project set up that includes a voice over and a music bed and we\u2019re ready to mix and match the elements so they sound good together.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve established that our voice over is 30 seconds in length, while the duration of the music bed is 38 seconds. Unlike radio or TV, where duration is of paramount importance, the broadcasts produced for this garden centre are fairly loose and the brief was to make the promo somewhere between 30 and 40 seconds in length.<\/p>\n
So, for this exercise, let\u2019s say that we\u2019ve decided that the promo will be 35 seconds in length. This means, of course, that we will need to reduce the length of the music by 3 seconds from 38 to 35 seconds. For this we will need to rely on Vegas\u2019s timestretching abilities.<\/p>\n
Timestretching in Sony Vegas<\/h3>\n
Timestretching is a way of compressing or stretching out the audio without altering the pitch. A key use for this might be strict radio or TV commercials where the duration has to be exact. Or a remix where you want to alter the tempo of the vocal but keep the same key. There are lots of different applications for timestretching and in Vegas it couldn\u2019t be simpler. For minor adjustments to duration, tempo or for BPM matching it\u2019s perfect. And you can stretch audio on-the-fly in real time, so you can hear the results instantly and adjust accordingly.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s alter the duration of the music from 38 seconds to 35 seconds without altering the pitch.<\/p>\n
First highlight the music file.You can set the timestretch attributes on each separate audio file by right mouse clicking on the file and highlighting \u2018properties\u2019. Here you will notice a tab for \u2018audio events\u2019. Set the timestretch\/pitch shift to \u2018classic\u2019, then take a look at the stretch attributes. There are 19 attributes that you may be familiar with if you have used Sony or Sonic Foundry timestretch plug-ins before. Each algorithm has a different overall effect on the way the timestretching behaves and consequently how it sounds. But generally for music, the \u2018A03 Music 3 (less echo)\u2019 attribute will be the best one to use. Certainly in this case, where we are stretching (or rather, compressing) an entire mixed track. Experiment with each attribute when you have time. It may help you make decisions about timestretching in the future. Once you\u2019ve set the attributes, you can move on with the timestretching process.<\/p>\n
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![\"Press](\"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/104_4_timestretch.jpg\")
<\/a>Press control and a wavy line appears under the icon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s how you do it. First, highlight the audio file and magnify to a reasonable size using the zoom tools in the bottom right hand corner of the project window. Then position your mouse curser at the end of the file and run it up and down the far edge. You\u2019ll notice the attached icon displays 2 different modes. When you are close to the top right angle (where there\u2019s a blue triangle), the curser displays a curved icon. This is the \u2018fade\u2019 function. To alter the fade offset you would need to grab that blue triangle and push it backwards. But for timestretching, you need to move your mouse curser out of that zone and down the vertical edge of the file. You\u2019ll notice that the icon alters to a square shape. This is the area we\u2019re interested in. Hover the curser about midway down the vertical edge and press the \u2018control (Ctrl)\u2019 key on your PC keyboard. You\u2019ll notice a wavy line has appeared under the square icon (see illustration). Now you\u2019re in timestretch mode. Keep that control button down and grab the edge of the file (a blue line will appear signifying your start point). Drag the vertical edge backwards (to make the duration shorter), or forwards (to make it longer).<\/p>\n
Yep, it\u2019s that simple. If you preview the track while altering the duration you will hear the effect instantly with no processing time. You\u2019ll also notice that a yellow box has appeared in your timeline. The numbers in the box signify the amount that you are stretching in seconds, frames, samples, measures or beats. Whatever mode your timeline is set to, in fact. If you wish to alter this mode, right mouse click on the timeline to reveal a drop down menu displaying your options and alter accordingly.<\/p>\n
Of course, there are limits to just how much timestretching is acceptable. For a start, the composer will have chosen the tempo of the music for specific reasons. Stretch it too much either way and it may alter the mood. Also, there\u2019s the technical aspect to consider. Listen carefully to the track once you have stretched it. Although the algorithm is exceptionally good in Vegas, there will be degradation of the sound. Most algorithms will work well up to 130%. Vegas goes way beyond that and still sounds good. But it\u2019s a personal choice depending on your project and the acceptable levels of sound manipulation.<\/p>\n
For this exercise, I simply grab the end of the music bed file, press \u2018control\u2019 and drag the file duration back from 38 to 35 seconds.<\/p>\n
In the next part of the tutorial we will be looking at how to mix audio files using manual and automated mixing. We\u2019ll also be checking out FX processing and plug-in applications. As well as the rendering process and CD burning facilities. That\u2019s in part two of this \u2018Working with audio in Sony Vegas tutorial\u2019.<\/p>\n
Resources: \u00a0<\/h4>\n
Audio editing software<\/a> at Fixthephoto
\nVegas Pro product page<\/a> at Sony Media Software
\nRoyalty-Free Music by Pierre Langer<\/a> at Shockwave-Sound.com<\/p>\nMore in this series:<\/h4>\n
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