Hire an sound studio, or can I do this on my own?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Dirck Halstead : One Thread

I need to add a voice track to a 1/2 hour video programme that is on VHS (This is for the Internet, no attacks on the format please!).

It is in a foreign language, I need to dub English voice over the top of it but let the foreign language remain underneath. I have no idea how to accomplish this on my own... I can hire an expensive sound studio to do this, but I would like to know if there is any home-grown way to accomplish this as I have to do this multiple times during the week.

This is a low-quality test, nothing more, but I would appreciate your suggestions.

-- Bernadette P. (cyberjournalist@hotmail.com), May 23, 2000

Answers

Probably the easiest way to do this cheaply is to use some sort of non- linear editing bay with a small sound mixer (you just need it to have a few channels/tracks). Any type of editing system will do, Media 100, Avid, Final Cut Pro, etc...

Digitize the VHS show into the system, record your English version with a mic (you can use several types of mic's it does not have to be a studio mic's) going into mixer. Run the audio out of mixer into the edit system, and then lay your new audio tracks as you'd want them on a new audio track in the editing program.

You can do a minimal amount of mixing within most editing systems and it should be enough to achieve the mix you're looking for. Then dump the new version of the show back on to VHS. You're going to have compressed the show in the digitizing process but it will be hardly noticeable via the internet.

Good Luck,

kr

-- Kristi Reed (krist@farmfreshprod.com), June 12, 2000.


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