Help -- trying to tweak the soundtrack of a Quicktime movie

[howie b]

Hi. I'm running PTLE 6.4; the quicktime movie was created with Apple iMovie.

Here's what I did in protools:

1. selected Import Movie under the Movie Menu
2. a new track is created named "mymovie.mov"; a new window with the movie appears and plays
3. selected Import Audio from Current Movie
4. clicked OK on track import window (audio track 1 highlighted)
5. selected audio files in the choose a folder window
6. mymovie (stereo) shows up in audio files
7. created new stereo track named audio 1
8. dragged mymovie from audio files to new track
9. BUT ONLY 1 SECOND OF AUDIO appears in the audio track.

Here's what I'd like to know:

1. how to import the entire quicktime movie with its stereo audio track into protools and
2. how to bounce the quicktime movie with the new soundtrack (adding a bit of compression maybe and lots of eq) back to the hard drive

I plan on burning the results to a DVD with iDVD, if it's all the same to you

Thanks...

[Slim Shady]

Is the thing you're importing a full stand-alone quicktime movie, or is it part of an iMovie file?

If you still have the iMovie project, you might try just exporting the audio out of iMovie, doing your tweaks in ProTools (and bouncing the audio back out), then just add the new altered audio back into iMovie. You won't have video to work to in PT, but it'll save you A LOT of time on exporting video files from multiple applications, which is very time consuming.

[stoneinapond]

I don't know if this will help, as I don't use iMovie. I know I have had problems where I have tried to import audio directly into Pro Tools from a DV source with similar results to yours. Perhaps iMovie formats its movies with an audio file that is not liked by Pro Tools.

You could try re-saving the video from QuickTime Pro into a format that PT likes. Again, since I don't work the way you do, I am unable to help you with the specific file format to use.

You could also try to search for similar threads where these types of issues have been discussed.

Hope at the very least that this points you in directions that will eventually help you.

[howie b]

Okay. Maybe it's just iMovie 3, but audio track(s) can not be exported. I'll look into Quicktime Pro. Meanwhile, any suggestions from the guys who wrote the protools reference guide? I'm just following their orders . . .

BTW -- Obviously, I'm not a heavy protools or pro video user, just another musician with some basic skills. I can shoot interesting camcorder video, but the cheap cheesy audio sounds much better with a little boost on the top and the bottom and a big scoop in the middle -- still noisy, though.

So, if there's anybody around who works with videos of live performances, I'd be curious to know how you handle the soundtracks. I guess I could set up my mBox for a live recording and run it along with the camera, but I expect getting the sound and video to sync up perfectly could be tricky, either in real time or while editing. Come on, give me a hint!

Thanks again.

[stoneinapond]

I don't know what your budget is, but I use Final Cut Express (recently lowered in price) and it is obviously much more tolerant of various video and associated audio formats.

I have done interviews with a point and shoot camera with the built in microphone, and after editing in FCE, exported the movie to a format that Pro Tools likes. It was then very simple to import both into PT and perform audio magic on the sound files. (By the way, the audio sounded pretty bad coming out of the camera, and I was able to make it sound pretty decent within Pro Tools.)

I then bounced the audio to disc, took the file and put it back into FCE, from where you can output in any format your heart desires, for streaming, for DVD, for download, etc.

You may also find the audio tools in FCE sufficient, although I do not use them, so cannot comment on their effectiveness.

[Starcrash]

It shouldn't matter that it originated from iMovie because it's been exported and now exists as a self-contained Quicktime movie. Since Quicktime is not a actually a file type per se, but rather a container, what's more important is the video and audio codecs used. Cmd+I in QT will tell you at least the video codec; you might need QT Pro (Cmd+J) to find out the audio codec used. Since the video appears in your PT movie window, you must already have the correct video codec installed on your computer. The audio codec is the screwy part.

I've never heard of the audio track being truncated to one second before. Are there handles you can pull out or is it a one second file? Back to the codec thing, I'm guessing it could be that the codec used is one where the audio and video are muxed together and for some reason PT is having difficulty converting to your session's format.

Download MPEG Streamclip (freeware) and see if you can transcode the movie to a different codec. DV/DVCPRO NTSC or Motion JPEG-A are the best for Pro Tools. You might even be able to export (or de-mux) just the audio as a WAV 48kHz (or whatever your session format requires). Then import that file into your PT session. BTW, 48kHz is standard sample rate for video production.

Let us know if this helps.

[cancurry]

Try exporting your movie from iMovie as a DV file. It depends on your version of iMovie, but look under "Export" or "Share" in the File menu, then "quicktime" and choose the "full quality" or "DV" option.

Then import this DV movie into Protools. Good luck.

[howie b]

Thanks, buds. I'll get on this tomorrow and let you know how things turn out. Enjoy the evening, or day, depending.

[howie b]

Trying to export as DV in iMovie was not successful -- it froze up my iBook, then completed the process but the file was nowhere to be found.

HOWEVER . . . MPEG Streamclip (free download from Apple) lets me select "Export Audio" in AIFF form, which protools accepts. Yes! I assume I can now tweak the soundtrack and bounce it to disc as a new AIFF, move it into the iTunes library, and then import it back into iMovie via the "Audio" menu. No need to spend $30 for QT pro; just hoping it all syncs up in the end.

Anyway, thanks again.

Peace,

HB