Audio Question followed by a "Motion" question in Adobe Premier

[thestalkycop.livejournal.com]

I have been slogging my guts out on a particular vid since September, and the main problem I'm having is the audio.

My computer is about a billion years old and is almost entirely without RAM (it will be cheaper to replace the entire computer, than upgrade it, before anyone suggests I need more), and I find that after a single viewing of my vid in Adobe, the audio/video get out of sync. It's fine when I export, but sometimes I'm making edits that don't need to be made, and ignoring really out-of-sync bits because they look fine in the preview.

I've pretty much given up trying to put markers on the timeline, every time I do this they're notably out of place (initially, I was crap, I admit that, but now it's glaringly obvious that my crap computer isn't helping), so I think my question is: can anyone recommend a good audio programme that I can play the song on, and make a note of the timecode for certain beats - basically, with a very detailed timer on it.

Or, if there is a way of making Adobe work for me and stop slipping a few seconds to the left every time I preview, then I'm all ears.

And on to the second question. When vidding with widescreen vids, I usually use the motion setting in adobe to set the clips to 135% in size, to get rid of the black letterbox around it - that way I can zoom in on static clips. For some reason, this particular project will not increase the screen size of my clips (I have successfully resized them for another vid though), the letterbox remains on all of them. Sometimes they have gotten bigger, but still have a letterbox around them, other times they stubbornly remain the same size. Any ideas why this happens, and is there an easier way of doing this rather than clip by clip? I'm using Adobe Premier 6.0

Thanks guys.

*sigh*

My kingdom for a decent computer.

Comments

[burntspaghetti.livejournal.com]

As far as audio goes, Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) has good timing information, it gets down to milliseconds. All you need to do is place the cursor at a specific spot and check the time on the bottom info pane.

[yunafire.livejournal.com]

Seconded; was going to post with linkage to Audacity. I use the lil darling program for all of my necessary audio edits. Best thing? Tis free ^^

[thestalkycop.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I snagged the programme.

[thestalkycop.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I've downloaded it, and now have to devote myself to listening carefully.

[ringwench.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if this is exactly the same problem, but I'll give you the tip anyway, just in case.

I'm using Adobe Premiere 6.0 too (and I also have a computer somewhat lacking in RAM!) and I find that Adobe just doesn't like some songs. It'll play fine at first, then I'll preview it and there will be little skips in places that eventually add up to really messed up timing.

I found what works every time that I have that problem is rerecording the mp3 using the above mentioned Audacity (which is a GREAT program). Just import the mp3, don't do anything with it, select "export as mp3" and save it as a different file.

Once it's remade, Adobe should have no problem with it.

Hope this helps.

[thestalkycop.livejournal.com]

This is my second version of the song already, the first version wouldn't import. I hate Adobe and it's little tantrums over various things. But I'll give it a shot.

[dkwilliams.livejournal.com]

One thing you might consider is your audio format. I had the same problem with Ulead's MediaStudio and when I went on their forum, I found this was a common problem when using mp3 files. Changing to a different audio format solved that problem for me.

[thestalkycop.livejournal.com]

I didn't think of that. Thanks, that might be worth bearing in mind.

PS: Love your icon.