Removing audio from a DV recording?

Patrick Cooper · October 26, 2009

I'm editing a project shot on MiniDv tape which is due in one and a half days time and I have a dilemma regarding audio. There is audio recorded on the tape which I do not need (it was recorded by the camera's mic.) It seems unlikely that the software that I will be using (Ulead Video Studio 5.0) has a feature for removing audio. Ive looked in the help section on Voice and Music and there is no mention of such a feature.

Obviously, when DV video is captured into an NLE program via firewire, both video and audio are transferred together. This may sound like a silly question but is there any way of disabling the audio from a MiniDv tape or preventing it from being transferred down the firewire stream?

On a related note, I have to add narration to this project. I admit that Ive never worked with audio before in NLE programs. Ive just discovered that Ulead has a feature for recording voice but the details in the help guide are extremely brief and don't answer my burning question. For those that have used Ulead, I'd like to know if I stuff up my narration, can I record over it again with new narration? Also for those experienced with Ulead, is there in fact a way that you can delete audio with this software?

Phil Rhodes · October 26, 2009

I've never used Ulead Studio, so I can only offer very generic advice, but I'd be absolutely astonished if there weren't features to do both of the things you want to do.

P

Patrick Cooper · October 26, 2009

Thanks Phil. Looking below the video track in the timeline, I see a Title track and below that a Music track and a Voice track. Still nothing in the Help guide regarding deleting audio.

Phil Rhodes · October 26, 2009

Crikey, that does sound fairly primitive. I'd be looking around for options to mute the audio on your video track; find a volume control, etc, and turn it all the way down. There must, good grief, be some way of modulating the volume of a video track, especially if it's going to let you put voice over on it.

Failing that there are ways you could strip the audio out of your captured video file, but that's a horribly clumsy approach and I can't believe it'd be necessary.

P

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

I do see a volume control thing but whether this deletes the audio or simply lowers the volume of the audio coming out of the speakers, I can't say. If it can be used for removing audio, it would be a total guessing game of whether it would allow one to selectively remove audio from the video track without affecting the audio of the voice track.

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

The volume control is located above the timeline so it doesn't look like it's directly linked to the video track.

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

A further examination reveals that this volume control is located right next to controls such as Play, Previous, Next etc (they are all in the same row) which are used for the video track. So I might be in luck! And all of this is in the Storyboard mode. To record on the voice track, I would have to go to the Voice mode. I guess I could try a test. Capture a little bit of video containing camera-recorded audio and turn the volume down all the way in the Storyboard mode, then in Voice mode, record a few words of mine with the microphone and see if I end up receiving only the audio from the voice track with the rendered video file.

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

I captured a little video and turned the volume all the way down in Ulead (but did not add a voice track) and finished the video, saving the file in My Videos. However, something very bizarre has happened. I played some other videos in My Videos using Windows Media Player (that have audio) and now there is no sound coming out of the computer speaker. Previously, sound was working fine. By the way, the clips I played were created with Ulead Video Studio. However, no sound from youtube videos either. I then tried to play the audio test video that I made just now and the file could not be opened. An option came up to look online for possible help. This is what came up:

"Windows Media Player Error Message Help

You've encountered error message C00D11B1 while using Windows Media Player. The following information might help you troubleshoot the issue.

Cannot play the file

Windows Media Player cannot play the file. You might encounter this error message for one of the following reasons:

*

Your sound device, such as a sound card or sound controller, requires an updated driver. To determine if an updated driver is available, see Windows Update at the Microsoft Web site, or see the sound device manufacturer's Web site.

*

Your sound device is not functioning properly. Try using Device Manager to check the status of your sound device.

To check the status of your sound device

1.

Do one of the following:

o

If you are running Windows XP, click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

o

If you are running Windows Vista, click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Manage.

2.

In the pane on the left, click Device Manager.

3.

In the pane on the right, expand Sound, video and game controllers, and then look for the name of your sound device.

4.

Do one of the following:

o

If your sound device is listed but the icon includes a red "X," the device has been disabled. To enable the device, right-click the icon, and then click Enable.

o

If your sound device is not listed, in the pane on the right, expand Other devices. If Multimedia Audio Controller appears in the list, right-click the icon, and then click Update Driver or Update Driver Software. Follow the on-screen instructions to find and install the driver software.

If you are not able to find and install the correct driver software, see your computer manufacturer's or sound device manufacturer's Web site for further assistance.

*

You do not have a sound device installed on your computer. Install a sound device, and then try to play the file again. For details, see your computer manufacturer's or sound device manufacturer's Web site.

*

You are trying to play a file on the Internet and the server might be temporarily unavailable or there might be a network issue. Try again later.

*

You are trying to play an MP3 file that contains compressed ID3 headers. The ID3 header is a portion of the file that stores the song's album information (for example, the song name, artist name, album name, and genre). This information is sometimes called a "tag."

To fix the problem, make a copy of the file and then use a non-Microsoft ID3 tag editing program to remove or reset the file's ID3 headers. After you remove the ID3 headers, Windows Media Player should be able to play the MP3 file.

Attempting to remove ID3 headers might damage the file and make it unplayable. Therefore, always make a copy of the file before you edit it.

If this solution does not resolve the problem, the file might be corrupted."

Well, I am well and truly confused. I have closed Ulead Video Studio and there is still no audio coming out of the computer speaker. I have a 30 day demo CD of Ulead Video Studio version 11 (that I haven't used yet) but I can't say whether it will solve these audio problems or not.

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

Ive opened up Ulead again and opened two video files within that software that I was working on. I checked the status of the volume control in each video file. In both videos, the volume is all the way down, even though I only turned the volume down for one of those videos (the audio test clip.) So it seems that if I turn the volume down in one video in Ulead, this affects the volume setting of the other videos as well. Very odd though that the audio from any other source on the computer is affected by Ulead's volume setting too (even Internet films!?!)

Okay, Ive turned the volume back up (within Ulead) in the audio test video I made and sound is restored (not only for that particular video but for all sound sources on the computer.) I also played back the same audio test video in Windows Movie Maker and this time, it plays fine (and with audio unfortunately.) However, I also played another video that I mentioned that I had played a few minutes ago (where I had no sound coming out of the speaker) and that error message came up that I had received initially with the audio test video. The file could not be played. I then tried to play the video a short while later and it played back fine this second time.

So to conclude, turning down the volume control in Ulead does not remove audio from video but it affects the volume of every audio source coming out of the computer.

Adrian Sierkowski · October 27, 2009

Ulead is adjusting the volume in windows. (just like windows media player does, it adjusts the volume control).

See if you can track down (and or edit) the hot-keys for Ulead; might be a key command to do it al'la FCP/Avid/Premier. Just grasping towards straws as I'm sure you are. Might, honestly, be a good idea to look into an upgrade (an older version of permier perhaps?)

Patrick Cooper · October 27, 2009

Thanks Adrian! Yea, oneday, I will upgrade to something more advanced and versatile (but hopefully not daunting to master.) I have found another volume setting in the Ulead interface (further up on the screen) with settings in numbers from well over 100 to 0. I captured some video, reset this particular volume control to 0, rendered and played back the video file (both within Ulead and in Windows Movie Maker.) The result? No audio! Success! I can't believe it took this long to figure it all out. Now finally, I can get on with editing this video project of mine. Whew.

Adrian Sierkowski · October 27, 2009

Don't feel bad. I had a copy of Pinnacle editing software back when I was running premier, and upon opening it up... I couldn't even figure out how to PLAY the damned video.