Making footsteps sound far away?

M

MeAgain

Carbonite Member
I recorded some footstep in leaves/dirt sound effects and I have a shot where the character is far away in a valley and she walks a long ways to get somewhat closer to the camera. I obviously lowered the sound FX a good amount but now I'm trying to add some subtle echo fx and I'm running into problems.

I'm using FCP and since I have to chop up the audio into small blocks, using the echo effect doesn't work since the echo stops when the file cuts off- any way to keep the echo going but stop the sound file from playing?

Also, should I play with pitch at all, or will that be too advanced?

Thanks
 
Try placing the audio into another sequence, dropping the audio from the new sequence on the first timeline and then applying the effect to it that way. As long as your sequence is long enough it should work.
 
Thanks- I had no clue you could do that, honestly.

But then how do I adjust the effect for the sequence? Do I need to adjust the mix on the original audio clip first, then just apply it to the nested Sequence, or is there an easier way to tweak it?
 
Use an audio editor to add silence to the end of your audio file then bring it back in again

Also don't use echo, the effect you want is called reverb
 
Just keyframe the audio volume using "p" command. You can press the button at the bottom left of the edit window to turn on volume lines (not sure what the actual name of that button is). Hit p, then make points to edit audio volume. With the walking at its furthest away, have the volume set to the lowest, and the reverb mix at the highest amount that still sounds real. (usually a small room sound would do) Then as the walker gets closer, and the volume gets louder, keyframe the "Mix" level of the reverb to get quieter.
 
OK first off you really should use an audio program not a video editor to do sound.
But I know use what you got.

SO highlight all those misc footstep clips in your time line and nest them (that's in the sequence menu I believe). That will replace the individual clips with one long nested clip and you can apply your echo to that. This does basically what was mentioned above. Nested clips are actually sequences. If you double click the nested clip it will open as a sequence so you can edit the clips individually.
 
P= PEN tool. But it doesn't get around the problem that FCP has with sound in that everything is clip based so you can have something like reverb on a bunch of clips with out duplicating the reverb on each clip and then you will have it cut off unnaturally at the end. So you need to nest the clips so that you can apply continuous filter FX like reverb. Also I don't think you can have key frames that are not IN a clip so you can't really do the volume move smoothly with out nesting either. The bottom line with this is that trying to do sound in FCP is a bit like trying to paint a room using a toothbrush. You can probably get buy if you have to but it's a lot more work that it needs to be and the results are never great. Apple didn't include an audio app because they needed to fill space in the box.
Cheers
SK


Chadfish said:
Just keyframe the audio volume using "p" command. You can press the button at the bottom left of the edit window to turn on volume lines (not sure what the actual name of that button is). Hit p, then make points to edit audio volume. With the walking at its furthest away, have the volume set to the lowest, and the reverb mix at the highest amount that still sounds real. (usually a small room sound would do) Then as the walker gets closer, and the volume gets louder, keyframe the "Mix" level of the reverb to get quieter.
Click to expand...
 
What about STP? Is it worth using the program to edit the entire movie? I'm not an expert with it, so it may just complicate things for me.

Or what about Audacity? Free program aside, wouldn't that give me more options than FCP?
 
MeAgain said:
What about STP? Is it worth using the program to edit the entire movie? I'm not an expert with it, so it may just complicate things for me.

Or what about Audacity? Free program aside, wouldn't that give me more options than FCP?
Click to expand...


The problem with Audacity, and other 'freebees', is they don't allow you to really create complex 'timelines'... well easily.

I've grown use to being able to drag a clip into the time line, cut it to the 'size' I want, then perhaps use the pen to adjust volumes at specific points, and all the while looking up at the video to make sure I'm matching up with what's on the screen.

Audacity, at least the last time I used it, didn't have that kind of capability, as well as 'non-desctructive' editing, such that if I wanted to tweek something tomorrow, it wasn't a simple open up the time line, go to the effects window and adjust...

But for a specific clip, where one is just processing the sound to a desired effect, Audacity works.

I've read but not tried using Adour linked up with Blender, such that while one is sweeping the timeline in Adour, the 'video' sweeps in the NLE window of Blender.

I've not tried this, so I don't know how 'easily' that is to set up.
 
STP works OK. It integrates well with FCP and it is very similar to FCP but with an audio focus.
The people I would recommend learning STP are one stop shops where you are not primarily a sound editor. If your comfortable in FCP then STP will not be a huge learning curve. IF your a sound editor then it's not a great choice. For one thing it's pricey (you can only get it as part of FCS). It is also no a commonly used audio application (by audio professionals). IF your a sound person Pro Tools is a better bet.

So if your a picture editor (mainly) and your not going to go over ?... 20 tracks or so and you use FCP, the STP is a good choice. If your sending it to audio post then it doesn't matter because they will be using, whatever (though probably Pro Tools).

MeAgain said:
What about STP? Is it worth using the program to edit the entire movie? I'm not an expert with it, so it may just complicate things for me.

Or what about Audacity? Free program aside, wouldn't that give me more options than FCP?
Click to expand...
 
Just one little note Noiz2: You get STP when you purchase Logic Pro too.

And MeAgain, try out STP. It may just be the ticket for you. I just wish they would integrate it with FCP. When I was on PC I used Vegas, and that app is the BEST as far as audio in a video app. Vegas started as an audio app. If FCP could pull their heads out and do that I would be in heaven.

Personally I have no problems working in Cubase. I just export files and drop them in cubase. It would be nice id FCP could export a frickin' MONO file though. I don't like everything being converted to stereo.
 
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Ah, I didn't know that. Seems like a strange choice though. Is there anything you can do in STP that you can't in Logic? Logic I know very little about but I though it was kind of like STP but with MIDI and a better interface and more musician friendly.

STP is fairly integrated with FCP, though it is the classic work flow ie sound always plays catch up with picture. But I think what your talking about would be more of a "sound" pane inside FCP that was STP. And I agree with you. The one big strength that STP would have if your working in FCP would be tighter integration. That does however mean that the same person is doing both. So that work flow would be great to most of FCP's core users BUT it would make it harder for FCP to work it's way into features with any kind of a budget. I'm not sure Apple cares about the feature market (other than for advertising splash) so it might well happen.
The other option they have (and personally I think a better one) is to allow FCP to import OMF or AAF files. So STP (or even Pro Tools) could send the multi track edit back to FCP.
But if I had to put money down I would bet on functionality something like Motion has, where you can drop a STP project on the time line and double clicking opens it in STP and the changes are reflected back to FCP in real time. It fits their core user base better and it makes it a more unified package.
 
Chadfish said:
Personally I have no problems working in Cubase. I just export files and drop them in cubase. It would be nice id FCP could export a frickin' MONO file though. I don't like everything being converted to stereo.
Click to expand...

Well STP gives you 5.1! It's been awhile and I'm sure there is a way to get just stereo or mono out of it but every time I work with someone who's doing a bunch of work in STP all of the files come over as six tracks, most just dead air. This might just be user error but if it is then it is obviously an easy error to make.
 
YOu don't have to have 6 tracks coming back from STP Noiz2. I haven't used it too much, but I remember there being a choice at some point. And about STP being included with Logic Pro - it's probably just to beef up the Suite so it looks better on paper. Marketing.

I don't see the benefit of having an OMF file coming BACK to FCP because what would FCP do with it?. I know FCP can MAKE an OMF of it's timeline, and I have used that to start an audio project. Most of the time I just export audio tracks, usually just dialog, then open them up in Cubase. If I need visual cues I export a video file and open that up in Cubase. Then mix everything with the superior editing capabilities of a real DAW, then export a stereo file, MASTER it, then put it back into FCP. Mastering should be a separate process than mixing, and with the round trip method of going out to STP and back to FCP that doesn't happen. I found that there is not much advantage to being able to round trip because one still needs to master. It's not good form to just drop mastering plugs into your mix project. Too much inter-effecting IMO. You mix, make a stereo file, THEN you master that file.

All that being said, STP is a useful tool that everyone should experiment with - especially if you're new to audio. Wach videos! I just have my own methods that work best for me.

Here is a guy that does some very helpful, free tutorials on any app on FC Studio. He has a "STP Start to Finish" series that will get anyone started.

Apple Shake Guru
http://www.youtube.com/user/AppleShakeGuru

He has a playlist about STP with 7 videos and counting.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgaNVjA3AHs
 
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