Audio Tools Plugin

[neb]

Audio Mixer

Requires Audio Tools Plug-in

Your timeline has to be present in the project in order for the Audio Mixed to be able to work.

1. Select Audio file to mix - Use the drop-down to select one of the currently loaded AD or Dubbing files.
2. Select Audio Output type - Use the drop-down to select which output format you want to create.
   

Output		Description
Premixed Wav	—	An audio Wav file for the whole program containing the original program audio plus the AD audio mixed together and using the Fade levels set for each audio clip
Video: Premixed	—	Adds AD or Dubbing audio mixed in to the program audio to either an .mp4 or .mxf video file. In an mxf file the audio replaces any audio currently on tracks 5&6.
DTT Wav file with Warble track	—	An audio Wav file for the whole program containing just the AD audio in the format used for the UK DTT broadcast services. This consists on a mono audio track containing just the AD audio and a separate control (warble) track created using the Fade and Pan levels set for each audio clip.
DTT->MXF	—	Updates an MXF file with an additional pair of audios on tracks 5&6 containing just the AD audio in the format used for the UK DTT broadcast services. This consists on a mono audio track containing just the AD audio and a separate control (warble) track created using the Fade and Pan levels set for each audio clip.
DTT-MXF	—	overwrite tracks 3&4.
Mono Wav	—	An audio Wav file for the whole program containing just the AD or Dubbing audio. Any Fade or Pan settings will not be used in this format.
Stereo Wav – Ignoring Pan	—	An audio Wav file for the whole program containing just the AD or Dubbing audio with the same signal on both tracks of the stereo pair. Any Fade or Pan settings will not be used in this format.
Stereo Wav – With Pan	—	An audio Wav file for the whole program containing just the AD or Dubbing audio taking into account any Pan settings. Any Fade settings will not be used in this format.

3. Select Output Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bit
4. Select Volume Modification - The Audio Mixer allows user to change the Overall AD volume on output.
   • Use process configuration.
   • Volume unmodified - volume is not modified.
   • Normalise to ( dBFS value) - applies a constant amount of gain to bring the amplitude to a target level.
   • Decrease by (dBFS value) - decreases the volume by the selected dBFS value.
   • Increase by (dBFS value) - increases the volume by the selected dBFS value.
5. Set Offset - This option can be used to offset the starting point - Defaults to 00:00:00:00
6. Set Duration - This option ca be used when you want to mix parts of the program, instead of the full program. - Defaults to the program length.
7. Original Audio - Select the original Audio File:
   • Audio Description - select the file
   • Program mix
     • Specify the source program audio file.
     • Must be a PCM Wav file - either 16 or 24 bit.
     • File must be located in the Stellar Media Folder (…stellar\media) or a subfolder.
     • If a video file is specified, then the audio track will be extracted to create a WAV file.
     • If the output type selected is an MP4 Video, then you specify the original video file. The AD audio will be mixed into a new copy of the video file.
8. Set output File Name and Location: Allows you to select the location and the name of the output file.
9. This area offers you an easy to read explanation of what the previously selected settings.
   
   
   
   a - Full path to the file that would be rendered. - set at point 1
   b - To the - Audio Output Selected at - point 2
   c - Using the - file that was set up at - point 7
   d - Writing to - path/name - set up at point 8
   e - As - output that was set up at point 2 - with a Bit Depth of - set up at point 3
   f - With a length of - duration set at point 6
10. Start Mixing - starts the mixing process using the settings that are described at point 9.
11. Close - closes the current window
12. Help - opens the Audio Mixing process Help page

Extract Gaps from Audio/Subtitles

Audio Tools → Extract Gaps from audio file or Extract Gaps from Subtitles

Stellar provides Gap Extraction feature which can automatically create an AD file which contains gaps in speech. There are two ways in which gap detection can be done: using Automatic Speech Recognition or a Subtitle/Transcript file.

1. Detect gaps using - allows you to set the method of gap detection.
2. If ASR - Select Language - Allows you to set the language of the ASR engine.
   If File - Select Text file - Select your subtitle or transcript file.
3. Minimum Gap size (seconds) - You can set the minimum length of the silent interval you want to be identified as a gap. (e.g. If you set this to 1 - then all the silent intervals which are larger that 1 second will be detected as gaps.) - defaults to 2 seconds.
4. Minimum Interval between the AD and original (seconds) - You can set the minimum interval between the end of the dialogue/speech and the start of the AD line. - Defaults to 0.08 seconds.
5. Set output File Name and Location - Allows you to select the location and the name of the output file. - output will always be an .srtad file.

Edit Fades

The fade effect applies to the original audio not the ad track.

Tools → Audio Tools - Edit Fades - Will open the General Fade Editing Settings.

Right click on the fade UI element. - Will open the Fade Editing Settings window for the current fade.

You can know if you are editing only one fade if the Edit fade settings window has a “Target Title ID” row.
Each audio clip in an AD file has an associated fade setting, this controls how much, and when, the program audio will be faded down during the AD audio. The fade metadata will always be written in the .srtad/.srtdub file.

The UI element for the Fade Data looks like this:

And is positioned in the fade band that is present between the Script Band and the Audio Band on the timeline.

Each fade has 4 round handles which can be moved around in order to alter the fade effect. ! In the case of ESF files - the fade start and end markers handles cannot be moved outside the confines of the box.!

Right click on the fade you want to edit → then select Edit Fades

This will open the Edit Fade Settings Window

1. Source file - Allows you to select which Audio Description or Voiceover file you want to set/write the fade data in - Defaults to the current selected file in the Subtitling Widget
2. Apply to all titles of this file
   • if checked - Stellar will set all the fades in the existing file to the same settings.
   • unchecked - only the currently selected fade will be changed.

    X. If only one fade is being edited - then the Target ID Title of the title corresponding to fade will be shown here.

3. Edit Type - Allows you to select the way in which the fades will be changed.

   • Absolute Values - set the fade(s) to the values set in dB and seconds
     

     
     
     Absolute Fade Level (dB) - sets the absolute fade level in dBs. From -50dB to 0dB.
     Fade Slope - sets the slope of the fade in seconds. From 0s to 2s.

   • Relative Adjustment - change fade(s) by a relative amount in dBs
     

     

   • Recalculate fade - will recalculate the times of the selected fade(s) to match the current audio clips.
     

     

4. Absolute Fade Level (dB) - See point 3 - Absolute Values

5. Fade Slope (seconds) - See point 3 - Absolute Values

6. Use Default Values - resets the values to their default state.

7. Recalculate fade position - recalculates the fade position to match the current audio clips.

8. Apply Fade - Will apply the current settings to the fade(s).

9. Close - Exit the window without saving.

Fade Handle Tutorial

Each fade contains 4 handles:
  a - start marker
  d - end marker
  b - fade in end marker
  c - fade out start maker

Moving the Markers - the markers can be move by holding Shift and Left Click Dragging them
There are two types of movement that can be done with a selected marker.

Up - Increases the Volume
Down - Decreases the Volume
Left - Reduces the length of the fade
Right - Increases the length of the fade

Setting the start of the fade interval - move the a handle (start marker) left or right
Setting the end of the fade interval - move the d handle (end marker) left or right
Setting the end of the fade in interval - move the b handle (fade in end marker) right or left
Setting the start of the fade out interval - move the c handle (fade out start marker) right or left

Set the volume maximum point of the fade in interval - move the b handle (fade in end marker) up and down
Set the volume maximum point of the fade out interval - move the c handle (fade out start marker) up and down

Extract AD from Audio

Stellar allows the user to extract Audio Description from the Audio Dialog. This process can recreate an AD file (ESF or SRTAD) from an Audio Description audio track by detecting the silence between the audio segments.
The original AD track must be an AD voice only track without any program audio.

Tools → Audio Tools → Extract AD from Audio

1. Minimum silence(s) - You can set the minimum time in seconds that will be detected as a separate audio segment.
2. Set Offset - You can set the start timecode(starting point) in the original audio track. Defaults: 00:00:00:00
3. Audio Type - select from the drop down menu.
            
4. Original Audio - Allows you to select that original Audio File.
5. New Project Tag - Set the tag of the new project.
6. New file path/name - Allows you to select the location and the name of the output file.
7. This area give explanation about how the previously set settings influence the Audio Description Extraction process.
8. Extract Audio - Starts the Audio Extraction process.
9. Close - Close the window without saving.

Import Audio Job

An Audio Job consists of the script file (srtad, esf, srtdub or TTAL) and any associated audio files (wav) combined in a single Zip file.

Tools → Audio Tools → Import Audio Job
Or
Files → Import → Audio Job

1. Import File - Allows you to select the files that will be imported.
2. Destination Folder - Allows you to set the destination folder.
3. Create New Project - If checked, the import process will create a new Project. Else, it will import the Audio Job into the current project.
4. Display Name - This sets the text shown at the top of the text column and on the timeline track for this AD or Dubbing file.
5. This area gives an explanation about how the previously set settings influence the Audio Description Extraction process.
6. Import Audio Job - Imports the Audio Job using the previously chosen settings.
7. Close - Close the Import Audio Job window
8. Help - Opens up the corresponding help page.

Export Audio Job

An Audio Job consists of the script file (srtad, esf or srtdub) and any associated audio files (wav) combined in a single Zip file.

Tools → Audio Tools → Export Audio Job
Or
Files → Export → Audio Job

1. Select AD file to Export - Allows you to select which AD file you want to export. This will default to the first AD or Dubbing file in the current Project (normally there would be only be one).
2. Destination File - Allows yo to set the Path/Name of the exported file.
3. Include all audio files :
   • Checked by default - All audio files will be included in the Audio Job Zip export.
   • Unchecked - Another UI element will appear under the Include all audio files element
     
     

To select the date, press on the Calendar icon in the right side. This will open the Calendar an allow you to search and input the correct date.
Only the files that were recorded after the selected date will be included in Zip file. This feature is useful when you are required to send updates, rather than the entire project.

4. Include all takes
   • If checked it will include all the Takes in the Zip File, even the ones which are marked as muted.
   • If not check, only the Takes which are active / market as unmuted will be included in the Zip File.
5. This area gives an explanation about how the previously set settings influence the Export Audio Job process.

Synthetic Voices

Stellar offers you the option to use Synthetic voices to render your Audio Description or Dubbing scripts.
This plugin has a prerequisite that has to be present in your Stellar project for it to work - Audio Recorder Widget.

Add the widget to your project.
Open the Widget Settings window, scroll down, select the Synthetic Voices plugin from the list and the create an instance of it for your project.

You can access the Synthetic Voices settings menu from the media player controls bar.

The same menu can also be accessed by Tools-> Audio Tools->Synthetic Voices

• Left click on the icon - - Will start the rendering process using the Default Voice settings. The render will cover titles that are included in the current selection.
• Right click on the icon - - will open the Synthetic Voices Settings window

1. Select AD file - allows you to select the Audio Description Script file from a list of available files.
2. Show only selected language - Limit the voices only to the selected language.
3. Select a language - Normally you will select the language to match the text language although it is possible to select a different language to have an accented speaker. EG. Select a French voice for English text to hear it spoken with a French accent.
4. Select default voice – A drop down list of containing the voices offered by all the providers which are available in Stellar will open. Each voice option also contains the price per character.
   The Synthetic Voice providers available are: Acapela, Amazon, Azure (Microsoft), Cereproc, Google.

5. Set Voice Rate - the values available are between 50% and 150% - different voices will behave differently for the same value. As a result, some might speak faster/slower than others even if they have the same Voice Rate value selected. Getting your desired results might require some experimenting in order to get find the right settings.
6. Set Pitch Modification - You can increase or decrease the pitch a voice by a maximum of 5 semitones. Some of the voices might support pith modification.
7. Rate control - an additional level of speaking rate controls
   • None – the voice will always speak at the rate set in the Voice Rate control, this may cause the audio to exceed the timing constraints for the text element.
   • Re-render if over length – if the audio is too long for the duration set for the text then it will be re-rendered at a faster speaking rate to make it fit. This may make it unacceptably fast so you need to check.
   • Re-render to match length – all speech sections will be rendered at a rate to fit the text duration.
8. Set Volume scheme:
   • None – there will be no changes to the volume as shown in the AD widget
   • Normalise – select between 0 and – 21 dFBS peak
   • Adjust – select between -9 and +9 dBFS
9. Would render [… File name …] - indicates which .srtad file will be rendered:
   • Render ALL Titles – This will render all the text elements in the selected AD file with the new voice. Any existing audio will be lost.
   • Render those without audio – This will render all the text elements in the selected AD file which don’t currently have any audio with the new voice. Any existing audio will be preserved.
   • Close the widget. – this will not render any new audio but the settings will be preserved. You can then use these settings to render individual text elements by using the Synth.
10. Estimate for current title & voice - will show and estimate for the current title length using the current selected voice/voice provider. (e.g. Estimate for current title:0.108¢ 0:(An aerial view of countryside, two cyclists from above).
11. State - Provides information about the state of the latest rendering process.

Export Pro Tools File

Stellar offers the option to Export to a Pro Tools file - A Pro Tools Project consists of the audio files (wav) and associated metadata combined in a single .ptx file. This is the best method of exporting audio and timing information from Stellar to Pro Tools.

File → Export → Pro Tools File
Or
Tools → Audio Tools → Export Pro Tools File

1. Source File - Allows you to select the file that will serve as a source for the Export process.
2. Destination File - Allows you to set the path/name of the exported file.
3. Export Audio Clips - Two options can be selected from the drop-down menu.
   • All Clips – will include both enabled and disabled/muted Takes
   • Active Clips will only include active/unmuted Takes
4. This area gives an explanation about how the previously set settings influence the Export Audio Job process.
5. Export - Starts the export process using the details from point 4.
6. Close - Closes the export window.
7. Help - Opens the coresponding help page.