PTE V5.0 Sound and backgroundmusic

[mwo_achenbach]

Hi,

has anybody an example (.PTE) with many sounds and more than 1 background music?

Is it possible to synchronise <new background music> and a number of slides?

Many thanks.

Manfred Achenbach

mwo_achenbach@arcor.de

[jevans]

You maybe need to explain your problem in a little more detail. If you use a sound editor such as Audacity or Adobe Audition, you can combine a number of separate sounds into a single sound track. Then you can attach this to a PTE project and adjust the slide positions in the timeline so that they match your soundtrack.

Jeff

[jfa]

has anybody an example (.PTE) with many sounds and more than 1 background music?

Manfred, have a look at my AV "Riding the Wind" if this is want you want to do with sound let me know and I will try to explain how I did it.

Download Av from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7xdaio4jxxt

[Ronniebootwest]

Manfred, have a look at my AV "Riding the Wind" if this is want you want to do with sound let me know and I will try to explain how I did it.

Download Av from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7xdaio4jxxt

I cannot get your link to work I'm afraid. Is it still current?

Ron

[Ken Cox]

mediafire appears to be down at present - am unable to access my files

ken

[mwo_achenbach]

Manfred, have a look at my AV "Riding the Wind" if this is want you want to do with sound let me know and I will try to explain how I did it.

Download Av from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7xdaio4jxxt

Hi John,

many thanks for your great AV "Riding the Wind"

Your show is precisely what I need.

You solved all problems I have/had; but I am sure more elegantly. How did you realise the music problem? Is the linkage of music 1 and music 2 as backgroundmusic the best technique? I solved it in older shows with sound! (sound = music) and manual synchronisation. PTE 5.0 offers <Play new background music (files)>; but I think with no synchronisation. May I get an small .PTE file which shows your solution? How do you synchonize music and slide sequences? Timeline? Can the adjustor from Alrobin help?

Thanks for your responses,

Manfred

[jfa]

Your show is precisely what I need.

You solved all problems I have/had; but I am sure more elegantly.

Manfred, I'm glad the show helped.

Here are answers to your questions and some other information, I hope it will be useful.

How did you realise the music problem?

My general work flow for the sound is as follows:

Before I start I have a general idea of the show images and sound needed, (in-fact the sound/music is often the start of the idea for the show and the images follow).

I will make a rough layout of the images in PTE. Then I will preview them with a stopwatch and note the times where I need to add a sound effect, start/stop music, change music track etc.

Next I will go to my sound editor, currently I use "Cool Edit" a program now owned by Adobe and called "Audition". Also there is a very good freeware program available called "Audacity" from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ which I also use, and is used by many PTE creators in this forum.

In the audio editor I build an audio file by adding each sound effect, music change etc at the time points that I have recorded in PTE. This file is saved, then back in PTE I add this audio file under Project Options>music as "background music for show". Also tick "Synchronise music and slides" under the Main tab in Project Options.

Next I use the timeline and fine tune the timing of the images against this sound file. Also I may need to go back to the audio editor and make timing changes in the sound file. There is a bit of to and fro here but is worth it to get the precise timing that will make a big difference to your show.

In the future I believe there will be some basic audio editing available in PTE with a redesign of the timeline window. Igor has indicated in v5.1 or v5.2 he can provide this with the new sound player he introduced with v5, see Ideas and suggestions for next versions section for more information on this. This will make this job much easier.

Is the linkage of music 1 and music 2 as backgroundmusic the best technique? I solved it in older shows with sound! (sound = music) and manual synchronisation. PTE 5.0 offers <Play new background music (files)>; but I think with no synchronisation.

Once I start to use more than 3 or more audio files I find the above method the easiest and more flexible as the audio is completely independent of the image timing.

May I get an small .PTE file which shows your solution?

You won't see much as its all done in the audio editor program.

How do you synchonize music and slide sequences? Timeline?

Basically yes.

Can the adjustor from Alrobin help?

I am currently looking at it and learning what it will do. For now I will stay with the audio editor.

Hope this is useful to you Manfred.

[JEB]

Hi, Manfred, John<

For what its work I work in almost the exact manner as John, however what I have found very useful during the early stages of putting the sound track together is to prepare that on my laptop and the PTE slides on my desktop.

This gives me a better control of the synchronisation of both elements before committing the soundtrack (which may be made up of many elements such as a number of music tracks plus on occasion sound effect).

Regards

John

[Ronniebootwest]

Hi jfa,

I read with interest about your workflow and it seems that you rely totally on an Image Editor. I agree that this method is perfect for compiling a 'Background' track but what about the option to add a 'Sound Bite' as well. I often find that I need to add just a simple sound effect (for a particular slide) over the top of any existing background music. Do you use this feature?

Ron

[alrobin]

Can the adjustor from Alrobin help?

Manfred,

The main purpose of the Adjustor model is to be able to view some of the slideshow parameters in a single table format, and be able to tweak them if necessary. It also shows at a glance whether there are any "ambiguities" in the transition timing such that the transition time is longer than the slide duration. It is useful too in making global changes to the pathnames for the images using Excel's "search" and "edit" capabilities. Adjustor for PTE 5 does not record any information about the sound, itself - you have to do this in PTE with a proper sound editor.

I suppose that with the sound editor open, either on a different computer or in a separate window on your main computer, you could use it in conjunction with Adjustor to determine what adjustments to make to the time parameters in PTE, or even to set up the initial timing in PTE before opening the timeline to set up the final synchronization or test the timing in a non-synched show.

[mwo_achenbach]

Hope this is useful to you Manfred.

Hello John!

Many thanks for your complete answers to all of my questions.

I understand the technique you use to synchronise your slide shows.

This method I believe is suitable if you do not interrupt your slide shows or if you are creating an AVs.

Normally I create shows (lectures), which I can stop on well defined slides to make explanations or to answer questions of the audience

So I have synchronised slide-sequences with music which should not be interrupted (for example: if I show the impressive landscape of dunes) and such slides where I can stop (left click).

AAAAAAAAAAAAABBBAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBAAAAAA

Synch M1 Synch M2 Synch M3

A customized slide with OaA

B slide, which can be stopped

My problem is synchronizing the A sequences comfortably.

At the moment I do it arithmetical.

I beg your pardon for my bad english!

Yours

Manfred

[jfa]

Ron,

I have used the "sound" field under the slide preview window to quickly add a sound file to a slide often. This is quick and easy to do if you wish the sound to start with the slide. The main drawback I find with this method is the lack of control over the volume when the effect file plays over the main/background sound file. This is the method I assume you are commenting on as when adding a sound effect under the "custimize slide>music" tab the background sound is lost while it plays.

Manfred,

Normally I create shows (lectures), which I can stop on well defined slides to make explanations or to answer questions of the audience

Using my method as described earlier you can stop the show at any point you wish with the keyboard, mouse or navigation bar. When the show is restarted, (again with the keyboard, mouse or navigation bar), then music and images will continue from that point still in complete sync. I have used this same technique to deliver lectures on photography and other subjects, often pausing to answer questions or give more details. It is also possible to add sections of silence within the sound file to coincide with a number of slides if you wish to talk while these slides are displayed and the show continues.

I beg your pardon for my bad english!

Your English is fine, much better than my German.

[mwo_achenbach]

Hello Al, Jeff, John, Ken, Ron

Many thanks for your responses. It was very interesting for me to hear about your solutions synchronazing slides and music. Because I synchronized all my show manually I am not familiar using the timeline.

From there I have some stupid questions:

Example

All my shows have the same structure:

Project Options NO Background music for show

S01

S02

S03 Play new background music file(s) | M01

S04

S05

S06

S07 Before synchronization M01 is ending here BUT M01 sould end at S09

S08

S09

S10

S11 Play new background music file(s) | M02

S12

S13

S14

S15

S16

S17

S18 Before synchronization M02 is ending here BUT M02 sould end at S15

S19

S20

Is it possible to manipulate (shrink/extend) the duration of the slides using timeline?

Moreover I believe there is a bug in V5. When I use 1 background music for my show - this music is always started when I <start preview from the currect slide>

Yours Manfred

Ron,

I have used the "sound" field under the slide preview window to quickly add a sound file to a slide often. This is quick and easy to do if you wish the sound to start with the slide. The main drawback I find with this method is the lack of control over the volume when the effect file plays over the main/background sound file. This is the method I assume you are commenting on as when adding a sound effect under the "custimize slide>music" tab the background sound is lost while it plays.

Manfred,

Using my method as described earlier you can stop the show at any point you wish with the keyboard, mouse or navigation bar. When the show is restarted, (again with the keyboard, mouse or navigation bar), then music and images will continue from that point still in complete sync. I have used this same technique to deliver lectures on photography and other subjects, often pausing to answer questions or give more details. It is also possible to add sections of silence within the sound file to coincide with a number of slides if you wish to talk while these slides are displayed and the show continues.

Your English is fine, much better than my German.