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Automated Soundtrack
Creation:
Make Your Own Kind of Music with SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4 and Sony Media
Software Cinescore
by Douglas Dixon
www.manifest-tech.com
SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4
Mood Mapping
Getting Smarter
Sony Media Software Cinescore
Cinescore Editing
Generating and Mixing
Getting the Score
References
Do you need a music
soundtrack to add emotional depth to your
video productions? Even if you're a musician
who could compose, play, and record your own
scores, that's still a lot of work. At the
other extreme, you can buy stock music, but
then it still must be customized to fit your
needs, and trimmed to the exact durations of
each segment of your production. Or with
some musical talent you can use a loop-based
mixing tool, but again these take time, and
need to be redone as your production is
changed and edited.
With the development of the
SmartSound Sonicfire soundtrack
creation tool, which now also has been
bundled with a variety of video editing
tools, there's a much better answer -- you
can audition selections from a music
library, adjust the tone and style, and then
have a piece assembled for you to fit the
exact duration of your project. Basically,
the tool assembles together blocks of
musical segments to automatically create a
finished music piece.
Now the musical envelope has
been pushed further with the release of the
new version of SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4
with "Mood Mapping," and a new competitor in
Sony Media Software Cinescore. Both
of these soundtrack creation tools now allow
you to drill deeper into customizing the
score by actually adjusting the mix and mood
of the soundtrack elements, providing a
whole new level of control over the
emotional feel of the piece in sync with the
visuals.
SmartSound Sonicfire Pro
4 was released in April 2006, priced at
$199 with two music library discs, and up to
$799 bundled with the first ten library
discs of multi-layer music. It's available
for Windows XP or Macintosh OS X 10.4 and
higher (with Universal Binary coming in
version 4.1.1). The SmartSound website
includes tutorial videos, and a downloadable
demo version (www.smartsound.com/sonicfire).
You start off in SmartSound
Sonicfire Pro 4 with a new project in which
you create your audio composition. Sonicfire
can have multiple projects open at the same
time if you want to try different approaches
for the same clip, or work simultaneously on
a group of clips.
The first step is to import
the reference movie or video clip for which
you want to create a soundtrack. Use Choose
Video to select a movie file in common
formats, including Windows Media, AVI,
QuickTime, and flavors of MPEG. The movie is
displayed in the small player in the bottom
left corner of the Sonicfire display.
Next comes the magic: click
the Maestro button to choose a soundtrack
theme for your clip. The SmartSound Maestro
dialog displays all your music files -- you
can search by name, or select and refine
from lists of categories (Style, Intensity,
Library, Instrument, and Keyword). You can
preview the selections in the dialog, and
click the new Preview with Timeline option
to play the video.
SmartSound Maestro
When you've made your
selection in the Maestro, click Insert to
add the music to your score. Sonicfire
automatically adjusts it to fit the duration
of your clip. You also can set a custom
insertion point and duration for the piece,
or trim and adjust in the timeline. As a
result, you can build a soundtrack from
multiple such sound files to the timeline.
And you now can offset the video within the
timeline to better match the section you
want to score.
Next, select the new sound
file in the timeline to display its
Properties on the right. Even though you
selected a theme in the Maestro, the sound
file also includes up to 8 or 10 different
arrangements of the music, called
Variations, which you can also preview and
select to further customize the music.
SmartSound -- Properties
And you can adjust the
transitions into and out of each element --
Sonicfire will generate a clear musical
beginning and ending for the piece, or you
can just cut abruptly, or select Loopable to
create a seamless looping background track
for Web sites and DVD menus.
The new Sonicfire provides a
new multitrack interface so you can mix both
SmartSound elements and your own imported
audio files. You can import files in Wave,
AIFF, and other formats, rip tracks directly
from an audio CD, and grab the audio track
from the video file to edit in the timeline.
In this way, you can mix SmartSound music
with voice-overs and sound effects tracks
right in Sonicfire.
Plus, you can explicitly set
Fade In and Out times for SmartSound
elements, and set a Crossfade between two
adjacent elements. And for even more precise
control of the multitrack mix, you can
adjust the volume for each track by setting
key points and rubberband lines.
So far so good -- with the
SmartSound approach, you can select music
for your score, choose variations, combine
multiple sound files, control fades and
transitions, and even manually adjust track
volumes. But Sonicfire Pro 4 goes further
with the Mood Mapping feature to let you
adjust the individual elements of the
multi-track music mix within the SmartSound
music tracks.
In particular, you can
choose one theme for your movie, and then
adjust the emotional feel of the mix for
different segments in your video -- perhaps
simplifying it for the beginning, dropping
it down for dialog, and punching up the
percussion for a dramatic scene.
To do this, first identify
the segments you want to adjust by using Add
Mood to drop key points in the Mood Map
track. Then select each segment, and again
use the Properties area to select the
desired mood preset for that section (for
example, Full, Background, Dialog, Drums &
Bass, Just Keys, Atmosphere, and Silence).
SmartSound -- Mood
Mapping
What Mood Mapping actually
does is to expose the individual instruments
that are used in the sound file's mix -- up
to 8 separate instrument tracks that can be
independently controlled (i.e., Lead Guitar,
Bass, Strings, Piano, Saxophone, Drums,
etc.). You can start with the presets, and
then use sliders to further adjust each
instrument, in order to change the emotional
mood at different points in your production.
Similarly, you can adjust the mix from
sparse to richer by adding more instrument
lines.
For even more fun,
SmartSound also allows you to peek under the
covers to see how the music files are being
adjusted to fit your project duration and
requirements. The Files and Blocks window
shows how each sound file is actually
composed from smaller Segment Blocks, which
can then are automatically adjusted to fit
the requirements of your composition. You
can have a lot of fun deconstructing the
music by playing the individual blocks, and
you can even edit them on the timeline to
create your own custom composition.
Finally, you can export your
composition as an audio file to import into
any audio or video application. You can
export as Wave or AIFF, or through QuickTime
to other formats. And again for more
control, you can export the current
selection, or even break out tracks or
blocks into separate files for each
instrument. In addition, you can export the
reference video clip with your score as a
Windows Media or QuickTime file.
For more music options,
SmartSound has expanded its music library
with ten new Strata series multi-layer
music DVDs compatible with the new Mood
Mapping feature in Sonicfire Pro 4. These
are available for $99.95 each, or in various
bundles. You also can use the more than 100
CDs in the SmartSound library in
Sonicfire Pro 4 (albeit not with the Mood
Mapping feature), and the music from the new
Multi-Layer discs can be used with the more
recent versions of SmartSound Quicktracks,
for Premiere Pro and other applications.
To install new music discs,
just insert then into your system's disc
drive and Sonicfire will offer to install
them. Once the library information is added
to the SmartSound database, you can access
the sound files from disc when you need
them, or copy them to hard disk for more
convenient access. The multi-layer libraries
at 48k require 3+ GB of space, while the 44k
CDs use around 400 MB, and 22k CDs around
200 MB.
for more about
SmartSound SonicFire
Sony Media Software
Cinescore was launched in April 2006,
building on the framework of Sony's Vegas
video editor to offer automatic generation
of royalty-free custom soundtracks, targeted
to movie makers, audio producers, and other
content creators (www.sonymediasoftware.com).
Cinescore is available from
Sony as a packaged product for $249,
including the Cinescore Essential Themes
DVD containing 20 themes and over 300
audio transitions and sound effects, or as a
download for $174 with 2 themes (you can
order the Theme DVD separately for a
shipping charge). It requires Microsoft
Windows 2000 (SP4) or XP. A free trial
download is available.
When you launch Cinescore,
its roots in Sony Vegas are immediately
obvious, both in the user interface, and in
the depth of support for multi-track
editing. You can create
professional-sounding music with a couple
clicks, or modify the settings to customize
the score, or dive in and do more
sophisticated multi-track mixing.
The Cinescore window has the
Timeline across the top, with the Master
Volume Control underneath to monitor audio
levels and adjust the overall project
volume, and the Video Preview window on the
right to provides real-time preview of the
video playing with your audio, and also
supports an external preview monitor. At the
bottom left are two tabs for the Explorer
window to browse media files on your system,
and the Project Media windows to import and
organize your video, audio, and image files.
Sony Cinescore Timeline
You can feel free to
experiment, as Cinescore supports unlimited
undo/redo history. Sony also provides
built-in Show Me How tutorials as an
interactive help system to guide you though
different tasks.
To score to video in
Cinescore, first import a video clip to the
top Video Scoring track. Cinescore displays
thumbnail frames along the timeline, and
generates a waveform view of the associated
audio in the next Reference Audio track.
Cinescore supports Windows Media, QuickTime,
MPEG, and other common formats. You actually
can do video editing in the track to combine
multiple videos and still images.
You can import additional
audio files in a wide variety of common
formats. The bottom Audio sweetening track
is intended for sound effects and
transitional audio elements, as found on the
Cinescore Essential Themes DVD. You can
import your own clip files, access some Sony
demo clips online, and extract songs from CD
(Cinescore even supports Gracenote MusicID
to identify CD track information).
As you assemble multiple
files in each track, Cinescore can provide
automatic crossfades between element. It
also provides master volume and mute
controls all three audio tracks, plus volume
and pan envelopes to adjust the mix over
time.
Cinescore also supports
audio time stretching, to adjust the
duration without altering the pitch. Other
carry-overs from Vegas for video editing
include snapping and ripple editing modes,
grids and rulers, grouping options,
synchronization tools, and a broad variety
of editing preferences.
Then create your soundtrack:
click Generate Music and use the Theme
Chooser dialog to review and audition
themes. You can select based on attributes
including Genre, Tempo, Instrument, and
Keyword. Each theme then offers 15 to 20
predefined Variations to customize the
sound, i.e., with various styles of
instruments and percussion. Or click
Advanced to further adjust the variation
within its various sections (i.e., Intro,
Interlude, Verse, Solo, Chorus, Reprise,
Break), selecting the Mood, Tempo Adjustment
(percentage), Arrangement, and Intensity
(percentage).
Theme Chooser
Cinescore then automatically
generates the music to fit your project
duration. It processes the audio in full
16-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz quality, providing
the headroom for high-fidelity quality.
Cinescore then displays the
Generated Music dialog, showing the section
blocks used to construct the score. Now you
can further customize your score beyond the
initial Variation preset by adjusting
selected passages within a generated score.
Use the mini-timeline to place Hint Markers
along the track in the timeline to indicate
places where the music should change. Then
click each marker and use the Hints tab to
edit the Sections, Intensity, Mood, and
Tempo for that section of the music.
Generated Music
Finally, Cinescore generates
the customized score and places it in the
middle Generated Music audio track on the
timeline. You can generate multiple such
scores along the track in the timeline as
needed to fit your video.
You can then use the
Vegas-style multi-track editing interface to
edit on the timeline and mix the generated
music with other audio elements. You can
adjust the ending type for the generated
score, selecting Normal, Abrupt, Fade Out,
or Loop.
When you are done generating
and mixing your soundtrack, use Render As to
export the project, either as a mixed-down
audio file, or as a video file with the
audio soundtrack. Again, Cinescore supports
a broad range of media file formats, from
WMV, AVI, and QuickTime, to MPEG-1, MPEG-2,
and MPEG-4/AVC.
Sony offers two additional
Cinescore Theme Packs with
collections of music: Incredible Vistas,
"breathtaking soundscapes with cinematic
splendor," and Pass the Ring, "expositions
of love, emotion, and celebration." Each
contains 10 themes, with around 200 preset
variations. Theme files can range from
around 25 to over 100 MB. These are
available for $89 each, and you can audition
samples online.
And there's the Sony
Pictures Sound Effects Series, which
includes real movie sound effects from the
Sony Pictures archives, in a ten-disc set
containing over 2,300 effects. The original
Volumes 1 to 5 focused on tangible elements
in categories including Animals / Natural
Elements, Home & Office, Weapons &
Explosions, Vintage Cartoon, Sports &
Recreation, and Vocals & Wallas. The new
Volumes 6 to 10 move further into the
intangible world, with Fantasy / Sci-Fi /
Horror, Explosions / Combat / Weaponry,
Backgrounds / Weather, and Period Effects:
Devices / Vehicles. The two sets of five
volumes are available for $279 each, or $799
for the complete set of all ten volumes.
Sony Media Software also has
drawn on Sony's film and music divisions to
offer additional stock footage and sound
effects libraries. The Sony Vision Series
libraries include royalty-free textures,
backdrops and stock footage ($69 for each
volume).
for a great price on
Sony CineScore andTheme Packs
SmartSound - Sonicfire Pro 4
with Mood Mapping
www.smartsound.com/sonicfire
Sony Media Software -
Cinescore
www.sonymediasoftware.com
Originally published in
Camcorder &
Computer Video magazine, 22, 7, Oct.
2006.
Manifest
Technology®
Copyright 1999-2006,
Douglas
Dixon, All Rights Reserved
Manifest Technology is a registered trademark of Douglas
Dixon
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