Changing the music track

[edbulmer]

I have made a music video and want to change the music and sync to new music to the track. Can anyone tell me what would be the best program to do this. I tried womble but it won't open the file. It is a mpeg4 file file.
Or is this over my head as a beginner and should I just hire someone to do it.

[guns1inger]

Do you want to re-cut the video, or just change the audio track ?

[edbulmer]

I have the video all cut and just want to change the music track. So it will mean trying to figure out how to separate out the old music track from the original and putting in the new one and to sync it.

[guns1inger]

Try AVI Demux. Load the video, load the new audio track, then use the Shift function to sync the audio. Save the new file with video and audio in Copy mode.

[ZQX]

Usually it's not as simple as simply shifting the audio backwards or forwards a bit, nor is it as simple as stretching the new audio so that the start and ends match precisely. From my experience, trying to replace, say, a music video's audio with a better quality version (from CD, for instance) requires intricate stretching/shortening at small increments throughout the duration of the song (because it drifts in and out of sync through the song). It's a pain in the ass and I hope for your sake that either of the former methods work in your case. If there's no obvious visual cues (like somebody singing), then you might be lucky.

[JimmyS]

See if Audacity with the FFmpeg plug-in installed, will open the mpeg4 file that has the desired audio. If so, then you should be able to export the audio as what ever format you need. If it needs adjusting as described by ZQX, you should be able to accomplish that with Audacity as well. Before jumping through a bunch of hoops though, export a copy of the new audio. Open MPEG Video Wizard with your current music video. Right-click the the video in the timeline and select Audio - Mute to turn off the videos original audio track. Import the new audio segment and drop it into the Music track. See how the track syncs up, then if needed try to tweek it in Audacity until it fits.

[edbulmer]

I can't get any of theses programs to open the file.

[JimmyS]

A couple of things to check. In Audacity, go to Edit - Preferences, select Libraries. What FFmpeg Library Version do you have? And, what kind of audio does MediaInfo report in your mpeg4 file. Also are you using the latest version of Audacity (1.3.9)? Some of the preference locations are different in older versions.

[edbulmer]

Ah didn't realize that you have to import the ffshow plugin. Now I am able to open the mpeg file. But audacity is a music program this isn't going to allow me to work with video so it won't help me.

The video I'm working with was made as a finished product that a friend did for me and he has now moved away. I think it's an mpeg4 file but when I look at properties it just says file and womble can't open it. The music may be embedded into it as well . Is there a way first of all to separate the music track out and also to convert this file into a file that womble can use?

[JimmyS]

Excellent! - Good Luck

[JimmyS]

I missed your edits last night. Audacity (with FFmpeg) should be able to open most commonly formatted video files and extract the audio from it. Then what you have in Audacity is the uncompressed audio from the video file that you opened. You can then export this from Audacity as an audio file with your choice of formats (wav, mp3, mp2, aac etc.). Then take the new audio file and import it into the music track of MVW. The problem will be if Audacity can't open the mpeg4 file that you have. In that case, get MediaInfo installed and open the mpeg4 with it. It will give you the video and audio formatting details of the file. Then we can determine what may need to be done to get the audio to where you can use it.

[edbulmer]

The problem is I want to get rid of the music track on the video. Yes audacity will open the video file but how do I get rid of the music track. I don't want to export it or keep it. I have the new music track as an mp3. But I can't open the video in MVW to change the music tracks.
Thanks so much for the help.

[JimmyS]

I think I was getting this post confused with your last post concerning a music video that you were using MVW for. Basically what you need to do is demux the mpeg4 file you have into its audio and video components. It would help to know how your file is encoded so the proper tool can be picked. If you have not done so, run it through MediaInfo and post the text file it makes. Once it is demuxed, it can re-muxed with the new MP3 audio track.The MP3 track will have to identical in length to the old audio track or the sound will be out of sync on the final video. You can use Audacity for that. Hopefully it won't take to much tweeking as ZQX was mentioning.

[edbulmer]

Here is the info. from the mediafinfo prgram-
Wasn't sure exactly what you needed so I copied the whole file here-
General
Complete name : D:\Happy Hour
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 481 MiB
Duration : 3mn 5s
Overall bit rate : 21.7 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:22:07
Tagged date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:23:21
Writing library : Apple QuickTime

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3mn 5s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 20.3 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.734
Stream size : 449 MiB (93%)
Encoded date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:20:25
Tagged date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:23:21
colour_primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
transfer_characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
matrix_coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID : 1
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : sowt
Duration : 3mn 5s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 411.2 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 31.3 MiB (7%)
Encoded date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:20:25
Tagged date : UTC 2009-01-30 00:23:21

[JimmyS]

The video is avc/h.264 and the audio is uncompressed PCM (wav). MP4Box with the YAMB gui should work for this. Download both. Extract YAMB to a folder. Then extract MP4Box to the same folder. Run Yamb, then go to Settings - Advanced Settings for Yamb... - MP4Box and point Yamb to where MP4Box.exe is. Then at the main page, Editing - Click to extract streams.. will be for demuxing the orig. file. You'll only need to extract the h.264 part (use raw format).
I was experimenting with an h.264 mp4 file and Yamb will demux OK, but I'm having trouble remuxing it. In the mean time, get the elementary video stream out of your file and make sure your MP3 file is 3:05 in length in Audacity. Since the original audio was pcm, when your new audio file is correct, you could resave it as pcm. That way there will be no further degradation of quality by re-encoding it.

[edbulmer]

Put both in same folder and opened yamb but can't find anything that says settings or advanced settings. There are four icons and they all open something that says captions or tag removers only.

[JimmyS]

It looks like Yamb won't remux pcm audio files. So you will have to re-encode the audio in Audacity. If you use a high bit rate aac or mp3, you should not lose to much quality.

A couple more notes on Yamb. You can extract the video stream as either mp4 or raw. A raw stream (h.264) will ask you to input the frame rate in the properties for the stream when you remux, an mp4 stream won't. AAC or MP3 audio will both remux properly.
Remuxing is done in the Editing - Click to join files section.

[JimmyS]

Put both in same folder and opened yamb but can't find anything that says settings or advanced settings. There are four icons and they all open something that says captions or tag removers only.

This is the contents of my Yamb folder after extracting both downloads. Do you have the same Stuff?

[JimmyS]

This is what I see when I open Yamb.

[edbulmer]

When I open yamb I don't get any words under the icons in the left column. I have all the same files as you do exept for one that is different. I have a file that says libgpac.dll that you don't have and there is one I don't have which you have that is js32.dll. Could it be that I downloaded the beta version?

[JimmyS]

That sounds like it would be the best thing to try. Since there is no actual install involved, you can toss the old folder and there won't be any debris left. I was wondering if there might be some type of Vista compatibility issue going on. I don't have anything running Vista, but I have Win7rc running in a virtual machine and Yamb ran fine in it. So, I doubt it's a Vista thing.

[edbulmer]

Okay I had a busy weekend so I now have time to get back to the project. I reinstalled yamb and mbox without the beta versions and now have the settings dialogue. I got to settings and advanced settings but can't get past this. You talked about pointing mbox to yamb (how do I do that and I can't find anything that says extract stream. Maybe I missed something or didn't know how to load the file I want to work with.

[JimmyS]

Weekends have a way of doing that, don't they. Yeah, lets get this puppy wrapped up and in the can. As for the settings issue. Select the Settings icon then double-click Advanced Settings for Yamb and tools... The following should appear when MP4Box is selected.




Click the Location: folder icon. Then browse to where your Yamb folder is located (I have mine in my Program Files dir.). When there, select MP4Box.exe then click the Open button. The file location will be filled in. Do the same for a Temp directory.You can select any folder you want for the Temp directory. Then click Next. You'll end up back at the main screen.

Select the editing icon to get to the demux and mux functions. Double-click "Click to extract streams..." to demux your video. Click the Input the folder icon to browse to and select your video file. The content section will show the video and audio streams. Select the video stream, then in Options, select Extract to MP4. Click Next and the video stream will be copied to where the original video is. It will have an mp4 extension. Then Finish and Close if you're done.

When you have your MP3 ready to remux it with the video stream, copy it to where you have you the demuxed video stream. Then in Yamb, go to Editing - Click to join supported files. The Concatenation window will open. Click Add and browse to where you audio and video files are. Select them and click open. They will show up in the input field. Browse to where you want the output file to go and click Next. The files will be combined to a complete video file again.

Play the video to see if your mp3 file has correct sync. If not re-open it in Audacity. Adjust as necessary and resave. Then remux the adjusted MP3 with the video segment again.

If something doesn't go quite right, just delete the muxed or demuxed trial and try it again. Since you are not re-encoding anything, it goes fairly quickly. If you want to try a learning experiment, demux the video stream as raw format and MP4, then open each with MediaInfo and check the difference between video that is in a container and not.

[edbulmer]

I get to the extract stream file but it is not reading my file. I get nothing in the window.

[JimmyS]

Could be Yamb/MP4Box does not like uncompressed audio, which your video file has. It would not mux a video stream with uncompressed audio when I tried it. Back to the drawing board.

[JimmyS]

OK, one more time. I created a test video file using MEncoder that is h.264 video and pcm audio to see who will play nice with it. Yamb does not like uncompressed audio. XVID4PSP will demux the test file I created. So, download it from the tools section and install it. To demux the video stream, click the Open button and select your original file. Then, up in the main menu, select Video - Demux and let it fly (hopefully). Once (if) you have the new video and audio streams, Yamb will re-mux them. One thing though, I mentioned earlier that when re-muxing a video that is a raw .h264 stream (it is not in a container like mp4 or avi etc.) you will have to tell Yamb the frame rate of the video. Select the video stream in Yamb's Concatenation window. Click the properties button and type in 29.97 in the frame rate field.

[edbulmer]

I'm not sure what you mean by "download it from the tools section". Tools section of what?. I did download the XVid4psp program but when I tried to open my video file it was not able to read it.

[kajee]

edbulmer, https://www.videohelp.com/tools - search for the file you want and download it.

[JimmyS]

Or the easy method is to just click on the red colored XVID4PSP in any of the replies. It will take you right there. Same for any other tool mentioned.

[JimmyS]

I'm not sure what the issue could be with your file. The media info for it doesn't show anything unusual. It looks as though it was created with a MAC video program or with QuickTime Pro.
Browse to the post:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic370676.html#1987922

About two/thirds down the post you will see a reply that has a reference to a file called makesample.zip. Click on it and see if you can download it. It is small file cutter that may let you cut and save a small section of your video. Extract the program, then run it (no setup needed). Browse to where your video is then set the Files of type: field to All Files. Select your video and click open. If it is selected properly you will see the path to the file show up in the program. Move the slider to the right and try to get about 6 or 7 MB selected, then click the Make Sample button. If it works it will save that small sample to where your original file is. You can upload that sample in a reply by using the "Upload image or file" tool just below where you are typing in you reply. Browse to the sample file is located, and it will be included when you submit your reply. Then I'll see if I can find something that will help us out with it.