Editing Music

[Doug Shields]

This is to anyone who can help me with this. There are some songs in which I do not want use the entire song in the show. Is there anyway to edit parts of songs into one song and then animate with the edited song? any help will be appreciated



Thanks in advance

Doug Shields

[Dale W]

Using the audacity program, you can cut and paste as many songs as you want. Provided the overall length of the editted song does not exceed the capacity of your LOR program (I think LOR I is 10 minutes), then you can sequence the song in any manner you like.

Note: I might be wrong about the total time.

[Denny]

There are several audio editing programs out there that you can use; I and many others use Audacity, which is free. You can get it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[Doug Shields]

Thanks guys for the information and the link

Doug

[John Sauer]

Does audacity work in Vista?

[Kenny Greer]

Dale W wrote:

I think LOR I is 10 minutes

I was under the impression that the 10 minutes was for the MP3 players/directors. I know that they have a limit of 10 minutes for a single sequence (after which the music will still play, but animatoin will stop). But I thought that the actual computer could do whatever.

I could be wrong here, though. Somebody correct me if that is the case, please.

[Don]

Kenny,

I believe you are correct.

[DaveK]

Last year I had two sequences of 15minutes each and they ran flawlessly…from the LOR show editor and schedule editor software. So, yes sequences can be longer than 10 minutes if run from the computer. At least they did for me.


This year I have started sequencing two more long music montage sequences each about 14 minutes in length. I like to select the order of songs, crossfade the music, and mix the selection into one composition. Sequencing takes me about 2 ½ hours per minute – so it is a long process, but I find I get more variety from the finished piece. Having a concept allows me to hold back some items (channels) until later in the sequence to surprise the spectators. It is also fun to build to a crescendo at the end of the sequence to listen to the reaction.


I use Adobe Audition to edit songs and overlap (crossfade) the songs to make one continuous music montage. The multitrack ability of Audition (formerly CoolEdit) makes this crossfade process easy.


Sorry about the long answer, but one of the nice things about this forum is it allows the exchange of ideas that can spark creative thoughts to make our decorating endeavors more rewarding.


- Dave

[JR V]

I believe the length of song depends on its file format and kbps. For instance a wav file can take longer to load then a mp3 file. And then if your actually using a mpeg file it takes even longer.

[Shubb]

I've tried several times to cut sections of music out of a song and have had no luck patching them together. Audacity works great for me to fade the beginning and end of a song. I also use it to equalize the volume level of each song.

If anybody has any tips on cutting a section out of the middle I would love to hear them!!

Scott

[Don]

Shubb wrote:

If anybody has any tips on cutting a section out of the middle I would love to hear them!!

Editing music is a tricky thing ... You can go to my site and listen to the Gary Hoey mix and TSO Mix videos from 2006. Each of these are mixes of two different songs spliced together. It took quite a while for me to find two songs that were compatible with each other, and then to find the right spot to make the cut.

It's the same concept with cutting a section out of a song. You have to listen many times to determine which portion of the song you are going to cut out. Then you have to determine where exactly the cuts are going to be made. I'm not a musical person, do I don't know exactly how to write it out .. but I try to cut along what I call the down beats ... If you put the two down beats together ... it sounds natural.

That's the best advise I can give. Other songs in my display are edited as well. From 2006 the songs I personally edited portions out of were, Hippo for Christmas, Queen of the Winter Night, and Sleigh Ride.

[Brian Mitchell]

The way I've gotten my best cuts is by playing the section I highlight (want to cut) in a loop repeatedly. When I have the cut points right the section will sound seemless and when I make the cut the remains are usually pretty seemless too. It does take practice and some songs are very difficult to cut, especially if they don't have repetitive verses or choruses.

[Cedar City Mike]

I am going to try to do some audio sequencing this year, I have played with it on and off throughout the year but for some reason am not sure how it will look until lights up...



Any suggestions with mini models or anything else like that?

Thanks

Mike