Soundtrack Editing

Dec 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Frank McMahon

New software versions, virtual instruments, and a little bit of training can take your video scores beyond the loop.

The number of video producers creating their own soundtracks continues to grow for several very simple reasons. First of all, it's now fairly easy to create tracks that sound professional without a complete knowledge of musical background. You kind of know when it sounds good or when it sounds bad, and today's soundtrack creation programs do their best to make it sound good.

Sonar 4 Producer Edition features a workflow very similar to that of video editing applications. For example, the software offers simultaneous clip editing and track folders.

Also, because of the increase in loop packages available via third-party vendors and on the Web, the number of programs that offer loop features has increased as well. Currently you would be hard pressed to find any audio program that did not have at least some type of feature set to work with looping audio files. Lastly, audio programs are much smarter than they used to be. Now if you slap in various loops, the programs can automatically control the pitch and beat so the loops you've added sound as if they were meant to go together.

In this column, I'll go over new programs that bring a lot to the soundtrack scoring table. I'll also discuss techniques that will have you scoring that track in no time, including how to take virtual instruments and turn them into audio files that can be used just like loops.

This season brings a batch of new audio program releases, and two of the biggest and most exciting additions are Sonar 4 and Cubase SX 3.

Sonar 4 Producer Edition

Sonar 4 Producer Edition offers more than 100 new features, some of which actually seem inspired by desktop editing programs. For example, Sonar now features track folders, where you can move several tracks of audio into one track folder and then mute or solo your work with that folder as a group. It also works from a management angle if you are laying down numerous loop tracks and need to free up space for audio you are currently working on.

Another video-like feature is simultaneous clip editing. With this feature you can nudge and slip-edit a whole series of tracks at once. Improvements like these help video producers move their brains from video construction to audio construction. You will find that much of the workflow is the same. Loop arrangement, scoring, and creation are more about editing, and programs like Sonar make this easy to do. The program also takes the Cyclone DXi functionality for working with loops from the previous version and brings it into the main interface, allowing you to quickly alter the gain, pitch, and pan of your sonic samples. This can help you take a commercial loop from a collection and make it sound unique.

What if you use virtual instruments? The new Sonar can take synths that come in via plug-ins such as VST and DXi and “freeze” the track. Then you can unload your synth and work on it as a straight audio track or a looped audio track. This feature opens up a huge number of possibilities in creating new loops and tracks that sound unique and can be manipulated. Sonar 4 also adds a surround panner and more than 30 different audio output configurations, such as 5.1 and 7.1.

Cubase SX 3

Steinberg's Cubase SX 3 is out of the gates too. One of the coolest new features is audio warp. This allows you to take a loop and set a tempo for that loop via the project. The project tempo can be altered and the loop is then time stretched in realtime. Keep in mind that this is project based so it does not affect the original loop, but the loop will play back exactly as warped in that specific project. You can also use Cubase's warp tabs to lock a variable-tempo audio clip to one constant tempo.

SX 3 also adds a new track called the play order track. This lets you select segments of your track one by one and then put those segments together to form a new song. Instead of laboriously cutting and pasting different elements, you merely reorder markers that point to different track sections to pull together entire new songs on the fly. SX 3 also features a new freeze option to create loops and free up CPU and memory. In addition, the program offers many new options for setting up workspaces. You can now load up your virtual studio exactly as you last left it, with your menus and screens just where you want them.

Other options

There are still plenty of other choices out there for creating scores. Sony's Acid Pro has set the bar that many other programs have followed. In fact, the dedicated WAV format of Acid's loops is now supported by just about all audio programs. Sony just recently released version 5 of Acid Pro.

Acid remains one of the best programs to start with; it has a good price point and a free-style experimental interface. Other good programs for jumping in include Cakewalk's Project5, which has a clean, easy-to-digest interface and many built-in killer sounds. (See the review of Cakewalk Project5 in the October Video Systems). Another is SmartSound's Sonicfire Pro.

I would single Sonicfire Pro out as the easiest program to use if you don't want to roll up your sleeves and you don't mind using the audio tracks provided by the company. The software lets you set a time you need (say you require a two-minute piece of music) and then magically creates a score to that exact time.

It does not have the deep feature set of some of the other programs discussed here, but it clearly redefines quick and dirty when it comes time to include professional music in your production. Conversely, Acid Pro, Cubase, and Sonar are complete audio suites that not only allow song creation, but also digging in and chopping up individual sound files.

What if you want the depth of a suite and more than the basics of letting a program write music for you? Well, then you have to learn how. But as learning desktop video editing software does not necessarily require you to be a director, so it goes that learning an audio program does not require you to be an accomplished musician.

Fortunately, there are some great resources out there for learning. Digital Music Doctor offers training CDs at reasonable prices, its “Know It All” series includes discs on Sonar 4 and Cubase SX 3. The discs' interfaces and movies are all Web browser based, so navigating is quick and easy. The movies are full screen and you can stop and rewind to catch details of the presentation.

Training discs are also available from PC Audio Labs, which currently has CDs on Cubase, Nuendo, Reason, and others. These training lessons are Flash based, and you can skip around and view them in the order you want. The discs are professionally produced, and pack in a lot of techniques and feature exploration.

Once you learn the programs, how do you play a song? Well, most programs allow you to use your PC keyboard for input. If you want the tactile feel of hitting something to launch a sound or loop, there are several MIDI keyboards available for around $100. Lots of times you are basically cutting and pasting, so you are sliding in loops to create your score.

Virtual instruments

One way to create sounds is to use virtual instruments. VST and DXi are two instrument formats. Often these can be more expressive than sampled loops.

A few recommended add-ons for your audio suite: GMedia's Imposcar and The Oddity, Fxpansions' BFD/BFD XFL, Zero-G's Altered States, and MOTU's MachFive. These are some of the hottest scoring instruments out now. Because the newer audio programs can freeze a MIDI instrument and create a sample from it, you can bypass buying pre-made loop collections on CD and create your own.

The Oddity is perfect if you want some analog sounds harkening back to synthesizers from a decade or two ago. BFD is a massive drum kit of sampled sounds featuring professionally recorded beats using drum kits dating from 2002 back to 1920. Altered States packs almost 5GB of sounds into your program, loading 3,499 instruments that run the gamut from moody atmospheres and ethnic loops to voice sound FX, synthetic pads, and many more. MachFive has a huge sound and a huge number of sounds. With it, you can play instruments in 24-bit 192kHz format, play and transpose 5.1 audio files in realtime, and stack sounds on top of one another for unique sonic creativity.

Some final advice

Finally, here are some suggestions for getting started with loop-based programs. After you decide on a program to score music, the tendency is to buy as many loop discs as you can get your hands on. Believe me, there are great resources out there, including Sony's now legendary Acid disc collection.

But try working with a smaller set of loops and altering them. Once you dive into the feature set of these programs, you will see many ways to slice, dice, flip, rotate, pitch, and basically create entire new sounds from existing audio loops. Some programs are better at this than others. For example, Adobe Audition 1.5 has some killer tools for going crazy with altering sampled sounds, but most programs have a full deck of processors and editing tools for making your loop indistinguishable from the original cut.

In addition, investigate virtual instruments, such as the ones mentioned here. These come in the form of plug-ins, such as VST. These offer much more bang for your buck. Some bring several gigabytes of sampled sounds that can be played and altered just like the sounds of real instruments. Now that current audio programs can take a sample of a virtual instrument, freeze it, and save it for reuse and altering; you can spend an afternoon creating your own loop and sound library.

Also, look into training. It's a great way to get up to speed on these feature-rich programs quickly, allowing you more time to spend noodling around and being creative in coming up with sound-tracks. And don't forget to have fun. With a great set of speakers and some cool software, you really can create musical scores, as well as offer a new service your clients may need.