Record Video over existing audio

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Record Video over existing audio

I use to use iMovie HD and I'm sure I knew how to do this. I'm using iLife iMovie '11. I play guitar and want to video myself using the iMac built in camera. Ok, I know how to do that, but I want to play guitar over a drum track I have in iTunes. In iMovie HD you had the soundtrack timeline down the bottom ... I can't see where it is now. I can video myself and record the sound of the guitar fine, but how do I establish the drum track (I watched the clip about adding audio to an existing video .... I want to do the other way around. I use an audio interface which records the guitar, so I have selected that as the recording source. I just can't figure out how to put the soundtrack down first ..... any help much appreciated 🙂

Note- I have Logic Pro, would it be better to use that?

Logic Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Apr 5, 2013 10:20 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

AppleMan1958

Level 7

27,492 points

Apr 6, 2013 5:15 AM in response to J-Bass

I would suggest using Logic Pro. This will make it easy to start with your rhythm track, add the guitar track, mix it and create a high quality finished track. I would then bounce that from Logic Pro as AIFF to use in iMovie.

If you have a camcorder, use 48khz in your Logic project so this will match the sound from your camcorder, which is 48khz. (44.1 will work, but may be more challenging to sync.

I also suggest using a camcorder on a tripod. This will give you the best picture, and will be easier to sync. The built-in iSight or FaceTime cameras on a Mac are optimized for webcam and FaceTime usage. Their aim is to minimize bandwidth. So if you are not moving very much, they may shoot 12 to 15 frames per second. Then when you are active, they might shoot 25 to 30 frames per second. This variable frame rate means that it will be very difficult later to sync up your high quality sound.

At the beginning of your performance, use a hand clap or a slate so you will have a spike in the sound track of both the camera and the Logic Pro track. You can use this in iMovie to line up the tracks so they are in sync.

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Answer 2

J-Bass Author

Level 1

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Apr 6, 2013 10:48 PM in response to AppleMan1958

thank you AppleMan1958 ..... I also found that plugging my Zoom FX box between bass and amp fed both through the interface to iMovie. I like your suggestions, will try , thank again 😎

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Answer 3

J-Bass Author

Level 1

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Apr 12, 2013 11:14 PM in response to AppleMan1958

I used my external FX box with drum machine ... my seperate audio interface has 2 mic/instrument inputs and 6 Line inputs. I can plug my bass into 1 mic/instrument and the FX Box (drum machine) into Mic/instruemnt 2. That's fine, I can play along to a drum pattern, and both are recorded, audio and video.

So now I have a song I want to video myself adding the bass track to. I can creat an MP3 or M4a or whatever in GarageBand or Logic, but I still can't understand how to put it in the iMovie as an existing track I want to play over. If I drag it into the area, it just doesn't play .... I'm sure I use to do this with iMovie HD and it's Audio Timline ...iMovie '11 is so different ..or is it? Does it have an audio timeline? Where, how do I see it?

So I've created this track without bass. If I add it to the Event or Project Library, it might play back, but it only records the bass. I'm so frustrated .... I'm sure I knew this. Feel so stupid ..is iMovie '11 meant to be easier than iMovie HD? I don't think it is ....😟

p.s - I think that years ago I would create the song in GarageBand or Logic without bass. Then open iMove ... go back to the audio app and begin playback with count-in ... switch back to iMovie (or Photobooth?) and hit record. THen all I needed to do was trim off the beginning where I await the track to begin...

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Answer 4

Oct 1, 2016 12:01 AM in response to J-Bass

I'm having a similar problem here, and the solution in this thread doesn't really help. I have an audio track that I have created in Logic, which I want to use as the audio base for a spoken word performance, but I want to record video of the spoken word performance over the audio track. iMovie doesn't seem to have this option anymore. I can drop the audio into a project, then record a separate video track through the "import" section and try to mish-mash them together, but that's not really working for me. I can't seem to record the video while the audio is playing, though I was able to do this with older versions of iMovie. Has this function been removed from the new versions?

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