PowerDirector - Tips on using audio ducking

[@evolutionaryTom]

Excellent tutorial. I've always struggled with balancing the settings and you've given me a good reference point to start with. Thank you.

[@SharperTurtle]

Glad this helped you. --Jim

[@rwayne73]

This was very helpful! Thank you! Great walk through of using this feature!

[@SharperTurtle]

Thanks for letting me know this was useful! --Jim

[@roydunstan1331]

Thanks again Jim I have always used the way you did it in the demo but I will try this way now

[@SharperTurtle]

Roy, I hope you find that this works in your circumstances. --Jim

[@beesbeesbees-andbees]

I wish you could do content awareness scale like in photoshop and I want the addition to be added

[@wheelielovelytv]

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you so much!

[@SharperTurtle]

You are welcome. --Jim

[@gadget_Bob]

Another good tip, Jim. I've used it a few times and usually works very well. Sure saves a ton of time. Another challenge for you to ponder, although I thought maybe you touched on this in another video? I was trying last week to use the pan and zoom tool on a picture of a creek to give the photo some motion but I was really trying to figure out a way to apply an effect over just the water portion of the picture to give it the appearance that the water was moving. Never did figure it out but a quick clip of the photo with some pan & zoom and the added sound effect of a stream almost made it look like a video. But any way you know of to apply an effect just to a portion of a photo? Thanks, as usual!

[@SharperTurtle]

You can add a FX track below the video and drop an effect on only the FX track that will impact the video for a limited period of time rather than for the entire duration of the video. Right click on the tracks and select ADD track, placing (1) in the box for the category in the Effects subcategory. --Jim

[@gadget_Bob]

@@SharperTurtle thanks Jim but not sure we're on the same track. I have a still pic in a video. The pic is of a stream that runs through the middle of the picture. What I'm trying to do is make the water only look like it's moving throughout the few seconds the picture is in the video. I didn't know if I could apply an effect to just the water. I'm done with that project, but after playing with masks in the past few days, I'm thinking that maybe an option would have been to mask out the stream as best I could and show a video of a stream behind it. It might be some effort for the few seconds that picture showed in the video, but may have worked. Being able to apply, say a ripple effect to just an outlined portion of the picture would be faster. UPDATE: Since I wrote that, I did just try the masking idea and it worked pretty well. Created the mask where the water is and inverted it, then put a stream video behind it. The only issue is that you have to leave the pic still (no pan/zoom) because the masked area moves as the pan moves and the mask is then no longer in the right place. Could keyframe it but not worth it. Looks pretty good with the still pic and moving water.

[@SharperTurtle]

Glad to know you were able to creatively accomplish your goal. Masking isolated the area you wanted to use effectively. Nice combination of techniques. --Jim

[@williampalenik7306]

A good Tutorial on audio ducking

[@SharperTurtle]

Thanks William. --Jim

[@neilforbes416]

I've avoided using Audio Ducking because I couldn't work out how to set it. I'll give it a try with my next video, but does Audio Ducking work with the native audio from the camera?

[@SharperTurtle]

I think it should work, Neil. --Jim

[@neilforbes416]

@@SharperTurtle I usually only apply music(from KZbin Music Library) at the top and tail of my videos so if I apply "Audio Ducking", it would be where the music might potentially drown out narration. I'll bet you're a bit surprised to get a serious comment/question from me. Well if this doesn't work, it could cause me to *quack up!* 😁

[@SharperTurtle]

Hey, Serious is good. Thanks for both the 'normal' comments and the humorous ones, Neil. --Jim

[@neilforbes416]

@@SharperTurtle Cheers!

[@top40researcher31]

@@neilforbes416 so you are serious well in that case i wont call you Shirley 🤣

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

Thanx, Jim.

[@SharperTurtle]

You are very welcome, Craig. --Jim

[@WhoaNellieRVAdventures]

🎶🦆🎼

[@SharperTurtle]

Thanks for checking this out! --Jim

[@JohnnySantiago]

Why is it that when I use those DOT things on my audio time line to drop the volume down on a cut, nothing happens?? It still stays the same volume? And after I save the project to work on it the next day, when I open the project up, the volume dot markers are gone???? And yes I saved them! 3 times in a row just to make sure.

[@SharperTurtle]

They may have changed the interface since I made that tutorial. I now hold the control key down and click with the mouse to set the audio keyframe (the DOT). Once it is set I can drag it up or down to change the volume (gain). I just experimented with saving the project with a modified audio track. I closed PowerDirector and then restarted and re-loaded the project with the audio track. The audio markers were there when I came back to the program. I don't know why your experience was different. What version are you using? --Jim

[@JohnnySantiago]

@@SharperTurtle I am using PD16 When I added the ducking dots they don't work right for some reason. EXAMPLE: I have a music track under a the talking of the video. The person says "Hello!" and I want to make it louder so on the audio track of the video, I added an audio dot before he says the word and after he says the word. Then I add another dot in the middle of the word and drag it upwards which would increase the volume just on the word and the audio should drop once it comes to the last dot but the problem is that after applying the dots before and after the word and then push the middle dot up I also see the wave file after the third dot increasing and it shouldn't do that. The audio should drop back down due to the dot on the line. Please advise what's happening??????