how can I move a track back a split second?

derek wrote on 9/4/2012, 6:12 AM

Hi. I put 2 tracks up on Music Maker 11 Deluxe. They're both mp3 and one is vocal and one is music. My plan is to record them together, but the music track is slightly ahead of the vocal track and I don't know how to fix it. I can click on the music track and drag it over a little, but that's more than what is needed. The music track will then start too late. How can I move a track over by very small increments, down to the split-second level? Thanks.

Comments

gandjcarr wrote on 9/4/2012, 6:50 AM

Hi,

As far as I can tell, in MM the smallest increment that you adjust is at the frame level.  At 30 frames per second that would be one thirtieth of a second.

There is a free application called "Audacity" that will allow adjustments at the micro second level.  However being freeware, it is not that easy to learn unless you have a fair bit of audio recording and editing experience.

If you go this route, finish your project mix and mastering phase, and only make this adjustment as your final edit, otherwise if you trimm off say 1 millisecond from one track and bing it back to MM, it is going to fall right back to the frame level.

Good Luck

nihon94 wrote on 9/4/2012, 7:07 AM

When I face problem like yours I use ZOOM IN  then move the object. So far it had worked fine for me.  Please try.

First click the vocal track(the shorter one)then click the Minus sign to Zoom. You will realize after zooming you can move object easily.

Screen shot for reference:

Hope this answer will help you.

Note: always save your work before you do anything.

 

Procyon wrote on 9/4/2012, 11:38 AM

I agree with nihon94.  I've never had a problem editing to a minute degree.  It's simply a matter of zooming in to an appropriate level.  In addition to what Nihon94 shows, zooming in vertically so the the two tracks fill the arranger view is also helpful when making tiny adjustments.

If you track is made up of multiple objects, it is usually easier to group them before moving them so that they behave as a single object.

gandjcarr wrote on 9/4/2012, 12:19 PM

@procyon and @nihon,

What you both are saying is absolutely correct if the project was totally created in MM, because if both the music and the vocals were created in MM they will both adhere to the 6 milisecond minimum which is the smallest adjustment you can make in MM.  If the vocals or instruments were created as MP3 or anything else in something other than MM such as a personal recording studio, trying to sync the vocals to the music in MM would be almost impossible unless by some coincidence the adjustment that is needed is 6 milliseconds or more in 6 millisecond increments.  If the out of sync track is less than 6 miliseconds or out of sync by say 9, 10, 11, 13 etc milliseconds that is not a multiple of 6 milliseconds, Music Maker cannot do it!  6 milliseconds for vocals that are out of sync with the instruments is beleive it or not, a very long time 13, 15, 19 etc is even worse.

@derek, If your project was totally created in Music Maker, please let us know.  If not, go to my original answer.  Both Nihon and Procyon are very knowledgeable about Music Maker, much more so than me.  What I got from your question is that you have 2 MP3 files recorded from something other than Music Maker, and you are trying to use Music Maker to align the two tracks.  If I am wrong, I owe a big apology to Nihon and Procyon.

I am not an expert on Music Maker, but I have edited music as a recording studio engineer for over 30 years, and if I were trying to deal with a out of sync vocal/instruments problem such as this, Music Maker would be the last application that I would look at.  If I were creating a new project from scratch,  Music Maker would be one of the first I would use.

Good Luck 

derek wrote on 9/4/2012, 5:59 PM

Thanks very much everyone. First of all, I did use MM to create both mp3 tracks. I normally would have kept the piano track as a midi, which would have been much easier to fix, but I wasn't able to this time, for reasons I won't bore you with.

Here's what I did to solve the problem. I used the zoom button, but not exactly in the way you said. Hitting the minus sign seemed to have the opposite effect of what I needed. I clicked on the zoom drop-down menu and selected "1-sec." That allowed me to move the track in an increment that worked. So thanks again.