Many of those who are trying to create their own projects in audio or video format often enough encounter the problem of how to superimpose one sound onto another. This can be, for example, recording a vocal part on an existing phonogram or a usual mixing of tracks. Very often, such operations must be performed when creating various kinds of multimedia presentations or similar projects.
In principle, there are several methods that allow you to perform such actions, even on a professional level. But we will begin the consideration of the most commonly used techniques with the simplest ones, and then we will consider the more complex ones. True, in this case, the initial solution to the problem of how to apply sound to music implies knowledge of the corresponding software at least at the initial level. But first things first.
How to apply sound to sound: basic methods
As for the tools used, the insertion of the sound file can be done quite simply in any office editor (as an example, the Power Point program will be considered later).
But when it is necessary to solve the question of how to impose sound on sound or audio on video, special editors can not do. Among all that can be used, the following software packages can be singled out separately:
- audio editors (Adobe Audition, Sound Forge, Cockos Reaper, Acoustica Mixcraft);
- sequencers (FL Studio, Presonus Studio One, Cubase);
- video editors (Sony Vegas Pro, Windows Movie Maker).
How to overlay sound in Powerpoint?
But for an initial understanding of audio insertion or audio overlay, it’s worth considering separately a popular office application for creating Power Point presentations. If the user understands this program in terms of supplementing documents with multimedia elements, after that it will be possible to begin the development of more complex applications.
So how do you put sound on slides? First, it is advisable to copy the audio file directly to the program folder. After that, multimedia is selected from the insert menu, and audio is set as the format. After selecting the object, you will be asked to indicate exactly when the playback should start (you can choose it by mouse click or automatic mode if you wish).
If you want to get continuous audio playback in the sound options, set the corresponding option. To play an audio file with showing several slides, use the animation section, in which the effect settings menu and the option “Stop after ...” are selected, and then the total number of slides for which the selected sound track should be played is indicated.
Using audio editors and sequencers
If presentations are more or less clear, you can move on to more complex tools. Consider the question of how to apply sound to sound, using the example of the Adobe Audition editor (in other programs the technology is almost the same).
First, open the editor, go into multi-track recording and editing mode, select the first track, and use the command to open the desired file from the file menu. Next, select the second track and perform the same operation (and so on for each track). In principle, you can open files one by one in the main mode, which is used to edit a single file, select it completely, copy it, and then paste it onto the desired track in multitrack mode.
Now the tracks will sound synchronously at the start of playback. If you need to make a cross sound (Crossfade effect), you can simply shift the desired track by the required number of positions on the timeline. To attenuate or increase the sound for each selected track, you can apply the Fade Out and Fade In effects , having previously selected the desired area of the sound track.
In sequencers like FL Studio, the desired audio file is sent to the corresponding track, after which the sequence of sound is set by a pattern in the playlist using the Song playback mode (the default is the playback mode of one pattern).
In other applications, you can immediately create audio tracks, and then either insert the selected files into them, or record vocals or a live instrument (with or without an additional soundtrack).
Sound Overlay Technique in Video Editors
In the same way, the question of how to apply sound to sound or audio to video is easily solved in video editors.
Each such program has a special timeline below it, onto which video clips and selected audio files are simply dragged. The principle of blending and combining at the same time is somewhat similar to working in PowerPoint and audio editors. If the application does not support audio editing (for example, Movie Maker), you can use external tools for processing (the same Adobe Audition). But most professional utilities like Sony Vegas Pro are equipped with such tools.
Final processing
Now a few words about processing. Suppose the user needs to make sure that all audio tracks during the final export, for example, to an MP3 file, sound at the same volume or even out when there are fragments with too low or too high a volume level.
To do this, you can use the normalization tool. In Adobe Audition, after saving the project, we switch to the single-file editing mode, select the contents, and then click the Normalize button in the menu on the left. In the same way, you can simply apply various kinds of effects like an equalizer or compressor, which will create a more interesting and warm sound.
If the user does not have the skills to use such programs, you can install an automated application for final processing (AAMS - Auto Audio Mastering System). Its advantage is not only that the user’s participation here comes down only to the choice of the template and file to be edited, but also that the template can be created by yourself, for example, by initially choosing the composition of your favorite group. After that, the user’s track will be processed in accordance with the sound characteristics of the original composition of some artist.
Conclusion
It remains to add that the best option for superimposing sound on another sound, both on video and on graphics in the form of slides is still the use of audio editors, especially since most of them can work with video when the import function of the corresponding format is activated. In addition, with their help, you can even extract audio from video, and then apply it to your needs.