Learn to Cut Music: Excercise 1

DavidTO

A while back we were talking about the importance of being able to cut music, and I promised to get some exercises going so that people could learn or improve their music cutting skillz.

I've uploaded a file which you can click here to download. It's a classical piece of music. I've included a video channel with a timecode window. The thinking is that you could upload your music edits and we can all see where it is that you cut.

So, here's how it would go:

1. Download the exercise file
2. Transcode it to the codec of your choice. Whatever is easiest for you to edit.
3. Cut your own version of the piece.
4. Upload your edited music to YouTube, SmugMug, or any other service from which you can:
5. Embed your video in this thread.
6. Comment on and critique each other's cuts!

NOTE: This music is to be used for the purposes of this exercise only. Not intended for any other use.

Here is the file you would download from the links above. As you can see, it's nearly 2 minutes long.

<object width="352" height="288" ><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010102501.swf&quot; /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="flashVars" value="s=ZT0xJmk9MTIxNTM3NTM4MiZrPTZLZ1RvJmE9MTEzNjU0X3BQbTJjJnU9ZGF2aWRyb3NlbnRoYWw=" /><embed src="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010102501.swf&quot; flashVars="s=ZT0xJmk9MTIxNTM3NTM4MiZrPTZLZ1RvJmE9MTEzNjU0X3BQbTJjJnU9ZGF2aWRyb3NlbnRoYWw=" width="352" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>




As an example, I've cut this music cue down to a :30 bed. There are a million ways to cut it. How would you do it?

Note: I've marked the cuts and added a new running timecode up top for the :30 second duration of this new cut.

<object width="425" height="284" ><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010102501.swf&quot; /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="flashVars" value="s=ZT0xJmk9MTIxNTAyNjg5OSZrPVRjRFNZJmE9MTEzNjU0X3BQbTJjJnU9ZGF2aWRyb3NlbnRoYWw=" /><embed src="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010102501.swf&quot; flashVars="s=ZT0xJmk9MTIxNTAyNjg5OSZrPVRjRFNZJmE9MTEzNjU0X3BQbTJjJnU9ZGF2aWRyb3NlbnRoYWw=" width="425" height="284" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>

angevin1

DavidTO, I know you're the Music cutting Guru, and I think I'd like to learn more about this. When I received feedback about my Vid's and the music cutting, I thought it was in relationship to the video or visual presented.

Is this Lesson 1, just where a person ought to start? Music without video?

DavidTO

angevin1 wrote: »

DavidTO, I know you're the Music cutting Guru, and I think I'd like to learn more about this. When I received feedback about my Vid's and the music cutting, I thought it was in relationship to the video or visual presented.

Is this Lesson 1, just where a person ought to start? Music without video?

There are no hard and fast rules, but I often start by cutting the music. It helps to clarify what the pacing and structure of the piece will be.

Assume you were going to use this piece of music for a video of your own, and you wanted it to be :30 or :45, or some specific length, or even that you knew you wanted it to be under one minute. If you started cutting while leaving the music itself uncut, then you'd be cutting to something that would be changing in the future.

Certainly if you're going to get better at cutting music you have to have experience...cutting music. Meaning, no matter which way you start, when the music needs cutting it helps to be skilled enough to make the cut.

I think that for most beginners it doesn't even occur to them that they can reshape a song by cutting it, or at least they don't realize to what degree this can be done.

angevin1

DavidTO wrote: »

There are no hard and fast rules, but I often start by cutting the music. It helps to clarify what the pacing and structure of the piece will be.

Assume you were going to use this piece of music for a video of your own, and you wanted it to be :30 or :45, or some specific length, or even that you knew you wanted it to be under one minute. If you started cutting while leaving the music itself uncut, then you'd be cutting to something that would be changing in the future.

Certainly if you're going to get better at cutting music you have to have experience...cutting music. Meaning, no matter which way you start, when the music needs cutting it helps to be skilled enough to make the cut.

I think that for most beginners it doesn't even occur to them that they can reshape a song by cutting it, or at least they don't realize to what degree this can be done.

Thanks for the clarification. I have NEVER looked at it this way. I've always looked at the video and done it from a visual perspective, which may be why the criticism I've encountered that I just didn't get. I'll give this a whir, stir and see soon~

DavidTO

angevin1 wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification. I have NEVER looked at it this way. I've always looked at the video and done it from a visual perspective, which may be why the criticism I've encountered that I just didn't get. I'll give this a whir, stir and see soon~

I would venture to say that it's most crucially important with the type of videos that most of the people on this forum will be creating. That is to say that if you watch a movie and its relationship to music you'll find that the majority of the time that there is no music is because it's a dialog scene. The rhythm of the writing and performance by the actors is of utmost importance, and music is dropped out to limit the distraction of it. Not always, but generally.

My point being that few of you will be cutting highly dramatic dialog scenes. So, what's left to carry the video's rhythm and sound? The music. And you can't cut successfully if your picture editing ignores the rhythm and structure of the music.

Marc Muench

This is a brilliant idea David. When you first mentioned this to me it really made the most sense of anything I had read about how to approach editing video, music/audio first. I just need to find the time to become efficient at editing music.

CookieS

I cannot save this audio file without QT pro, is there an mp3 of it or another link.

DavidTO

CookieS wrote: »

I cannot save this audio file without QT pro, is there an mp3 of it or another link.

Are you referring to the link in the original post? Or were you trying to download the embedded video?

DavidTO wrote: »

I've uploaded a file which you can click here to download.

If that file isn't working, let me know. You will have to right-click it and "download linked file", or however your browser puts it.

David_S85

I just DL'd it to the standard Mac setup and it plays in QT. I don't know if the default QT is equivalent to QTpro.

CookieS

OH well , for me when I right click on it to download it has a pop up that says I need QTpro. ( from PC and firefox latest )not a big deal i was just trying to learn a bit more, not trying to be a bother . I am figuring it out bit by bit.