We begin by importing a video (in this case, an AVI file) that is in need of a soundtrack via Cmd/Ctrl+Y. SmartSound Sonicfire Pro can import most of the standard video formats; if you come across one it can’t handle, simply create a reference movie by exporting a supported format from your editor and importing that instead.
You can scrub the video in the Movie Window (use the Spacebar to play/stop, and the arrow/Shift-arrow keys to move forward and back frames). In the Soundtrack, a marker called "Video End" is automatically created. Double-click it to see how long your video is.
STEP 2: Pick your music
Hit Enter or Return to jump to the start of your movie. Next, hit Cmd/Ctrl+M to open the SmartSound Maestro. You’ll see three columns that are used in sequence to narrow down your choices. Note that the column headings themselves can be changed.
Set the first column to "Find Music" and select "All" so you could choose among music on your own computer as well as any selections on the SmartSound web site. Set the second column to "Style" and choose an appropriate selection to your movie (In the example shown, I chose "Comedy/Kids" as my project was a video about a toddler running away). Set the third column to "Keyword" and make your next choice. Again, I chose "Old-Fashioned," which pertained to my project. The Maestro finds six songs, and you can select each one and hear a preview. "No Blues Allowed" was perfect for my needs.
Verify that "Add to soundtrack" is checked. Note that the soundtrack will be added at 00:00:00 (this is why you need to hit Enter/Return to jump to the start of the movie). The movie length is also shown. Now, click "Open," which adds the soundtrack to the movie, and then click "Done."
STEP 3: Explore your variations
In this example, you’ll see that to the right of the Soundtrack, "No Blues Allowed" has six Variations from which to choose-the default one is called "Look out" which I previewed. Now, you can listen to the others to see if other instruments would sound better. For my project, I decided to keep the original "Look out" variation.
Although the length of my movie is 17:29, the soundtrack is only 17:18, and the soundtrack length can change with each variation. Sonicfire Pro does its best to match the length of your video without exceeding it. Behind the scenes, it’s working with blocks of sound (as we’ll see in the next step) so it may not always end precisely with your video length.
STEP 4: Razor your soundtrack
Let’s say you want to increase the soundtrack’s length and fade it out, and also try a different ending.
Make sure the "Look out" block in the Soundtrack is selected, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R to Smart Razor it. This breaks up the original "Smart Block" into its component Segment Blocks. Zoom in on the timeline so you can see the names of the individual blocks.
STEP 5: Arrange your blocks
To change the ending, first deselect all the blocks by clicking to the right of the last block in the Sound track. Now select the last block, "Jimi 1," delete it, and select its adjacent block, "a wrap 1."
5a
5b
5c
To find an alternate ending, use the Block Window. Here, you’ll see the "No Blues Allowed" Smart Block on top, and its component Segment Blocks below. With "a wrap 1" selected, Sonicfire Pro uses a green highlight on those Segment Blocks which would be appropriate replacements (although I am not limited to using these highlighted blocks). Double-click "Jimi" to preview it, and drag it up to the Soundtrack.
Now you’d like to make the soundtrack a little longer. Using the same process, select "joe 5" in the Soundtrack, and drag the suggested "joe 6" Segment Block up to the Soundtrack and drop it right after "joe 5."
STEP 6: Make your final edits
Although you can use your NLE or sound editor to fade the ending, this can also be done within Sonicfire Pro. With any block but the ending, you can just select a block, hit Cmd/Ctrl+F, and set your Fade options to create a smooth transition from one block to the next. But for this final block, you need to use the rubberbands.
6a
6b
The Wave Display and the Volume Display are immediately beneath the Soundtrack. Create your Volume Points by Cmd/Ctrl-clicking or double-clicking on the red (peak) line and dragging to the blue (no sound) line. Alt-clicking deletes these points.
Now your editing is done. All that’s left to do is Cmd/Ctrl+E to export the soundtrack. A typical scenario is to export the soundtrack only. Note that I lengthened the soundtrack beyond the length of my video to give me more options in my editor, but if I export the movie and soundtrack together, the soundtrack will clip to the length of my video. So my choice is to export the Complete Soundtrack.
YOUR GUIDE
Mary Anne Lynch, Owner, MPower Design
Mary Anne is an experienced education consultant, instructional designer and teacher specializing in Web-based course development and delivery. She teaches online classes at Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania and consults through MPower Design, her freelance multimedia company.
Mary Anne Says Keep In Mind...
Sonicfire Pro can also create loopable soundtracks, which are useful for DVD menus and other areas where you may need ambient sound of no particular length. The easiest way to do this is in Step 3, by checking the "Loopable" box once you add your music to the soundtrack from the Maestro.
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