Easy way to change music file length...

[allthatwhichis]

Ever have that mp3 that seems to start just a little too soon for your show? I guess you also have to be a dumbass like myself and not really know how to manipulate a laser show. I also don't have a program to alter music either but...

I was watching that Mission Impossible beam show from Pangolin, or included with... The music seemed a half second faster that the show. It was on beat, but the change ups happened a half second early if that makes sense. Started to annoy me... Since I don't have an audio program installed and I'm a n00b with my software , decided to try big "Bill's"(M$, not King Pango) bundled software M$ MovieMaker. I imported the mp3, dragged it .5 seconds down the timeline, save movie to computer... It even defaulted the save name to "Audio", asked what bitrate to save it as and saved it as a WMA file, which Autoplay was happy to load with the laser show. It actually took me about 4 tries of dragging and saving before I got the perfect timing, but that shitte is smoooth now.

So if anyone fits the above Criteria, and has an annoying mp3 like the above. Here is a free fix. If you got Winblows.

[buffo]

Aaron;

Why didn't you just open up Showtime and drag the whole scene for the show to the left or right by a half second and then preview it to see if it matched up. When you get it right, just re-save the show and you're all set. No need to play with other software... Pangolin's Showtime is all you need.

Adam

[allthatwhichis]

and I'm a n00b with my software...

[buffo]

Awww, man... You've had it for 6 months! I would have thought you'd be at least a little familiar with it by now... Have you watched the DVD yet? There's a lot of good info in there.

Maybe that's something we should plan for a future event... Have someone do a tutorial on showtime and live pro.?. Hmmmm.

Adam

[cruch]

Buffo:
That is an good idea

[allthatwhichis]

Maybe that's something we should plan for a future event... Have someone do a tutorial on showtime and live pro.?. Hmmmm.

Adam

That is a very good idea. Maybe I should hit Hayden up. He knows a little about this software doesn't he? AND he is local.

As to having it for 6 months, I want to get my projector 100% before I learn the software. My fear is to start playing with the program and the projector goes out. That would be tourture. The motorcycle has been getting in the way also.

[DZ]

Actually, if the audio follows the show then its easy to drag the entire show on the timeline to make up for the fact that the audio is behind. If the audio leads the show, then only if there is room on the timeline to do so, can you drag the entire show to the left on the timeline to fix the fact that audio is ahead of the show. I use a program called Cool Edit Pro for issues like this. With Cool Edit, you can edit all the way down to the bit level and its very easy to add a few seconds of silence to the file and then do all the fine adjustments in Showtime.

[allthatwhichis]

Yes, next time, well after I learn myself, I will use the timeline. I think I had to add time to the music and didnt have anything. My point is, on the cheap, if you have to add some length to a music file... you can use M$ Moviemaker, and have had your software for 6 months and haven't learned anything about it. But... now everyone can just use the time line.

[The_Doctor]

If you need to edit length or levels/fades in MP3's try MP3DirectCut by Martin Pesch. It's a VERY tiny windows program that can do this losslessly so you retain whatever sound quality the MP3 has even after the edit is done. It's also a very fast tool to use. But take care! Work on a BACKUP file because it wants to overwrite the loaded copy as default action.

[buffo]

DZ;

I've got Cool Edit Pro as well, and I love it! But I still think that the easy fix is to use Showtime to make the scene fit the audio. (You may not have room on the timeline in the scene view, but if you switch to the next one up - module, I think it's called - you can drag that one around to get more time; it will move the entire show as a whole.)

Doc: I've got a buddy that was talking recently about MP3DirectCut. I've been meaning to take a look at it as an alternative to lauching Cool Edit when all I need to to is a simple trim. Guess I need to check it out... Thanks for the tip.

Adam