Moho Forum

Hi Guys,
I've recently purchased Anime Studio Pro and I am in the process of learning the software. I'm also new to animation, but have been a big fan for years, especially the old stuff. My question is: Can anyone tell me
if there's any tutorial for laying down sound effects and musical scores
etc....? I can't find anything in the program or tutorials. Your help is
greatly appreciated. Thanks...

Without - a- Sound

You can bring in an audio file to use as the soundtrack, but it has to be already produced. In other words, you can't mix and match sound effects and music within AS, you need an external audio program.

Danimal wrote:

You can bring in an audio file to use as the soundtrack, but it has to be already produced. In other words, you can't mix and match sound effects and music within AS, you need an external audio program.

The best FREE program to create a sound track, IMHO, is Audacity. It's not very hard to learn.

One Tip: You can not position sounds were you want them inside ASP. That kind of timing in done in what ever audio editor you use, and then imported in to ASP. The animation can then be tweaked for perfect sync, such as for lip syncing

Good Luck

FCSnow

Thanks guys for your replys. I am also a musician and have music
and video editing software I can use, but probably will pickup something
like Final Cut, etc....Thanks again
JC

What you can also do is lay down the basic audio track, use that to animate, but for the sound effects that you really need to "time out" visually, create the animation for, then export your animation to bring it into an audio/video editor and add in the sound effects where needed to match the animation.

I'm doing this on my current project- I have a character that jumps around and everytime he hits the ground there's a clank noise. I couldn't just put random clanks in the audio file and then match the animation and hope it looks good.

It is a bit of a toss up, but even if AS had more powerful sound editing, I probably still wouldn't use it because it wouldn't be as powerful as a standalone sound program.

i use a great script called padsound, that will take the audio file and match it to the location in the timeline you want it to start, becuase otherwise you have to try to match it in your sound program with can be a pain in the ass.

Don't forget that even live action movies put in sound effects AFTER the filming is complete; footsteps, punching, gunshots, explosions, dropped objects, etc etc. These are added in post.

No reason not to apply the same technique in animation.

-vern

This may not be everyones cup of tea as far as working with animation goes but I have always produced the entire soundtrack for my animated TV commercials and other projects before the animation for a few reasons.

1. TV commercials and most shows have to be done to an exact time right down to the first and last frames so by doing the soundtrack first it provides you with your working parameters on the timeline.

2. The soundtrack does give you a great feel for your project and helps you to visualize how it might be animated.

3. Music and Jingles are a huge part of an animated project and may sometimes require the characters to interact with the music like singing or other emotions that require expressions or responses that might be essential to telling your story.

4. I tend to use the soundtrack as an audible storyboard to help with timing scenes.

5. By producing a soundtrack first you have really completed your project. All you have to do is fill out the timeline with animation.


Extra sound effects can be and almost always are added later but generally working with an entire base soundtrack makes it a lot easier for me to start and complete a project.

We try to get on to the sound as early as we can - even if it is temp.

We usually storyboard - then cut in the music (usually temp) and the board together. Record all the dialogue etc. But we usually leave sfx till last, during final mix - unless they are essential to the story.

Once all the animation is done ... most likely the timing of the shots and scenes have changed. So the final audio mix is done then.

Back in the days when I was at Disney ... they worked the same way. Temp music - temp sfx - Final dialogue. We would animate to that. Actually sometimes they would re-record bits of dialogue after the animation was done ... which stressed us out. ... ahh memories.