Shotcut 'Multi-Tracking'

Help/How To
1

Can anyone advise please?

I am using Shotcut and I want to run the WORDS of a video in the backgound whilst looking at other video clips - THEN switch to the actual words AND Picture of the commentator … then revert back to to words only as before. This is done on TV all the time but I am struggling to make this work for me. Also - what is the official term for this technique?

Thanks,

Andy

2

I’m having trouble visualizing this. Can you post a link to a video that does this?

3

Ok - no really… Ill try and explain … Its used in documentarie/news items all the time. Someone starts talking (in the background) over a series of clips showing stuff of interest - then after a few clips, the actual person doing the talking appears on the screen (and their dialogue continues) then they continue talking over another series of clips.

So, I want to run a video of a person talking and play sound from that video only for a while, then cut to the actual speaker on video (and sound) and then swicth to their voice only again over other video clips

Does that help?

4

Ok - not really… I’ll try and explain … Its used in documentarie/news items all the time. Someone starts talking (in the background) over a series of clips showing stuff of interest - then after a few clips, the actual person doing the talking appears on the screen (and their dialogue continues) then they continue talking over another series of clips.

So, I want to run a video of a person talking and play sound from that video only for a while, then cut to the actual speaker on video (and sound) and then swicth to their voice only again over other video clips

Does that help?

5

Drop the interview video onto the timeline. Right-click the clip and Detach Audio. Trim the video to make room for B-roll.

These are called J and L cuts because the audio track hangs over like a J or L shape compared to the video track.

1 Like
6

Thanks Austin,

Sounds promising, I will look into this.

Andy

7

Another question for Austin. Thinking about it, there are still a few points I don’t quite get about this (I’m quite new to it all). Can you recommend any good video tutorials that cover this please? They’ve proved extremely successful for me recently.

Thanks,

Andy

8

I’m not aware of a Shotcut-specific tutorial for this technique. But some of the other regulars here may be able to post a screencast that demonstrates it. I am currently mobile and don’t have a computer to run Shotcut on.

9

Thanks Austin. Anybody up for it (please)?

Andy

10

I am up for it, I will make a tutorial for it soon when I buy a new stick of ram for my PC as my current one is cracked, I think I will do it in 2 days or so.

11

Thanks very much indeed, Ar_D - that is incredibly helpful. 2 days fit just perfectly with the requirement I have to meet.

It’s good to know there are good people out there.

Andy

1 Like
12

I bought a new ram stick yesterday and recorded it also yesterday, I (Actually the person I have hired…) edited my video and it’s now on YouTube, You can now follow it:-

3 Likes
13

Yeah, two tracks like you showed is a better method than Detach Audio if there is going to be a long stretch of interview speech or B-roll. Good tutorial.

1 Like
14

Hi Arpit & Austin,

Arpit’s tutorial looks to be exactly what I need. I am in meetings right now … I’ll try it out asap and get back to you.

Thank you SO much.

Andy

1 Like
15

Mainly for Arpitt…

Your tutorial was utterly bang-on - thank you so much. It all works a treat.

I have one further question: When I try to export my edited movie to my pc’s memory, I need it in MP4 format. The Shotcut software allows me to select MPEG4 but when I identify where in my file structure to place the file, Windows only lets me select saving it as AVI or ‘All Files’ - but either way, when it is saved, it only ever goes into my files as an AVI format.

How can I get around this please?

Thanks

Andy

1 Like
16

So even after selecting mp4 and all files while export, it just exports in .avi, I think you are checking the wrong file or while selecting mpeg4 in export tab you do not go to the advance tab under export tab to manually check what file type it’s exporting (checking what file type in the advance tab is required, because sometimes we change the setting of a preset and then forget it, So it just exports the type we set until we change it) . But if you have done everything right then you can just right click on the export job shown in shotcut and then click on view log, then copy and paste the text shown in log file or just upload it in the topic so that I can get a better idea of what’s happening while export.

17

Glad to hear that.

18

I was interested in the tutorial because I’d been trying to figure out how this could be done but unfortunately, it’s been set to Private on Youtube - I hope that’s only temporary…

19

Hello @Marik , Sorry for the disappointment you faced.
I made it private because I made the same video with better audio quality you can check that out here:-

Or you can go to the topic where I have posted the same video:-

And I will make the video unlisted so that everyone can see the old video with the link.

20

Congratulations!!! :partying_face: :partying_face: (Just for fun).

I made the old video unlisted so if you now click that video you will be able to see that one but I still recommend to watch my new video which has audio improvements. (This time serious, Not so serious)