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RE: No audio, just soundtrack: How to transition From/To?

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aroonfinch

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Hello, all of you
Probably a poorly worded subject, but I'm curious about strategies for using just the soundtrack score to cover scenes, with all other audio muted. I'm using this as a bit of a crutch in my Interstellar edit (work in progress). The scene I'm working on has many cuts, and it will be very challenging or impossible to match up the audio properly. I feel like I can get away with having just the soundtrack playing, and in isolation it feels effective but I'm looking for help in understanding how I can make the transition to soundtrack-only more believable (and vice versa; how to reintroduce the audio).

Do I need a full scene transition? Should I cut to an wide shot or environmental shot to "distance" the audience? What have others tried?

I remember there's a scene in the theatrical cut of The Chronicles of Riddick where the violence is fairly intense so they went music-only to get the PG-13 rating, but I don't remember how they sold the transition...maybe that's a starting point for me.

Advance Thanks!

If Audio Editing is a better thread for this, please let me know, but that one seemed more technical in nature.
 
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I like how you're also trying to pair this audio transition with something visually. I suppose all of this depends on the specific musical cue, it's place in the movie, and if it links to something within the story. Personally it feel like it's a case by case basis. I feel like going from audio/dialog to a musical cue or segue is easier than music cue to dialog. But I suppose making it less abrupt and having room tone precede any transition by a tiny bit.
 
It seems like the scene you’ve created probably has a lot of original theatrical musical score happening in the center channel which is why the scenes aren’t easily transitioned.

Covering this with just music isn’t a crutch if it feels right to the audience. If you’re doing the edit in surround you can isolate the center channel and see what you’re really dealing with. Parts with no music or quiet music could still be used, and you can add the missing foley sounds yourself on parts with loud music.

Now if there is a lot of dialogue happening with loud score/music in the center channel that can become difficult but not impossible to overcome. Online tools can isolate the dialogue and take out everything else.
 
Fade it in slowly (5-10 seconds? depends on the scene and music) underneath the scene so that by the time you cut away the soundtrack is at full power. You can either use a J-cut constant power transition or a second track with the soundtrack and an exponential fade in and a short exponential fade out on the first track close to the cut.
 
Yeah that’s a good trick. Often times the music will get much louder or much quieter at a scene change. It will feel right if done well.
 
Not sure what scene you're talking about but often a very slow transition will do. Check out my Batman Miniseries Intro for reference.


I wanted to transition to the intro logos with just music playing in the background (in the original it would've cut to next scene after Batman looks up at the sky). I start the transition at roughly the 17 seconds mark and around the 30 seconds mark the noises (rain, etc.) are gone and we just hear the music.

What I'll also often do, and you can try, is using ambient sounds of empty rooms or hallways in the center channel to ease transition into music-only parts of a scene. You can find those on Youtube like this one for example:

 
Can you post an example for us to watch/listen to? That will allow us to give the best direct feedback possible.
 
Feeling a little jealous "aroonfinch" got so much engagement here, lol.

Anyways, yes, the center channel in Interstellar is mostly clean, except for the scene I was heavily manipulating, and the strings bleeding through were quite egregious and not easily masked. I was looking for ways to "sell" a music-only transition, and wondering about common devices movie makers might use for this. I'll read through your posts now!

Ultimately, I ended up using vocalremover.org for the worst parts, and completely re-doing the sound effects (to 'meh' effect). My original idea was to have the sound effects stop when Cooper's helmet is cracked (with a high-pitched "now I'm deaf" type deal), then to restore the sound when he plugs his long-range transmitter back in, but it felt too contrived.
 
Very interesting...I was thinking I would need something very sharp/short/deliberate to signal the change to the audience, but it sounds like the opposite is the way to go. Ease into it so gradually the audience doesn't notice...I'll try this next time. I'm sure it'll be needed again.

Thanks aroonfinch!
 
futon88 said:
Very interesting...I was thinking I would need something very sharp/short/deliberate to signal the change to the audience, but it sounds like the opposite is the way to go. Ease into it so gradually the audience doesn't notice...I'll try this next time. I'm sure it'll be needed again.
Click to expand...
Either can work, it depends on the scene.

futon88 said:
Umm, this is my thread from October 2022, word for word...

https://forums.fanedit.org/threads/no-audio-just-soundtrack-how-to-transition-to-from.26113/
Click to expand...
🤔
 
Is this the first bot post on this site or did something like that happen before?
 
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