Lost Video Island

[scarlett_106]

Okay, so I'm relatively new to Sony Vegas (Platinum 10.0) and I can't for the life of me figure out how to edit audio clips. I'm doing a bunch of voiceovers in this vid and although I know how to adjust the volume and insert envelopes and all, I can't go beyond that.

I have a wmv file (video and audio) of a clip that needs editing. Jack is talking and saying "I had her...I had her, and I lost her" and you hear this random bird chirp in the background because he's telling this Sawyer in the jungle. I can't figure out how to do that in Vegas so I downloaded two programs for free - Wavepad and Audacity- and can't figure those out, either. Basically, I want to keep the dialogue but remove the stupid bird. It's easy enough to "silence" the bird except when the bird is chirping as Jack's talking. I can't figure out how to silence the bird without silencing Jack!

Any ideas on how I can remove the bird chirping? I am using a ton of voiceovers in this vid so I would LOVE to learn how to edit audio, esp. getting rid of background noise and such. Thank you!!!

[littleton_pace]

As far as I know; you can't edit background noise out in Vegas. My understanding of it is that you would have to have the original audio, as in the version they used before they produced the final version of the show, to remove the background noise they've added. I'm sure there are projects like the two you mentioned that can get around this, but with Vegas itself I am yet to figure out a way to edit out background noise. I use Vegas 10, too If you do find a way with Vegas itself to do it; let me know!
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[Brooke]

I don't think they're trying to edit the sound of the bird out with Vegas, from my understanding they are trying to do it with Wavepad or audacity.

I have only used audacity once and had no idea how to use it, and I have never heard of wavepad.


EDIT. Just looked it up and wavepad is a audio editor. I've never heard of it but I would assume there are tutorials or a manual for it.

[scarlett_106]

Thanks, guys! I have been playing around with Audacity and I figured it out at least slightly. To edit a wmv file from Vegas into Audacity, I downloaded Audacity (free) and then set it as my default audio editor in Vegas. Then I right-clicked on whatever audio clip and hit "Open COPY in audio editor." For some reason, it will only open a wmv file for me when I hit copy.

Once it's in Audacity, I am basically playing around with it but I figured out how to silence stuff at least. For instance, the stupid bird - I just eyeballed where the bird stopped before Jack started speaking, selected that part of the track,a nd then hit "silence." That worked.

But as for when Jack is talking and the bird is chirping (haha), I can't figure out how to cut the bird without cutting Jack. I'm sure there is a way but I've yet to figure it out.

I know there is a feature in Audacity where you can select a sound (say, rain or a background hiss) and then analyze the rest of the track and it will eliminate that sound anywhere it finds it. But it's harder than it sounds because it's pretty exact and even rain has different sounds within a track! Ugh.

I will keep playing with it but for now, hopefully no one will really notice the bird. thanks!