Apple Soundtrack - Manual (Page 9)

Preface An Introduction to Soundtrack 9
Creating Music with Soundtrack
Making use of the advanced digital audio capabilities of Macintosh computers and
Mac OS X, Soundtrack gives you a simple way to create music: After preparing the
video in Final Cut Express, you add media (audio and video files) to tracks in the
Soundtrack Timeline, edit and adjust your audio, and then add effects and automation
to create a final mix that you can export and distribute.
To create your Soundtrack projects, you use prerecorded loops and other audio files.
You can choose the style, tempo, and instrumentation of your music, and arrange
musical events in time, even with no musical experience or training. In short,
Soundtrack gives you greater creative control over the sound of your music than you
would get using stock music libraries or relying on an outside music production facility.
The following steps outline a typical Soundtrack work session. You won’t always
proceed in a strict linear order, and you may choose to overlap some steps. For
example, you may add more audio after starting to build your arrangement in the
Timeline, or you may make changes to the arrangement after you begin mixing.
Step 1: Prepare the video
If you’re scoring a video, you’ll want to determine the length of the scenes to be scored,
what mood and style of music are appropriate for the video, and how the music will be
synchronized with the action at specific points. You can prepare the video in
Final Cut Express by adding scoring markers, which appear when you import the video
into Soundtrack.
Step 2: Add media
Once you’re ready, you begin by selecting the audio files you want to use in your
project. You can preview audio files in the Media and Effects Manager, and then add
them to the project Timeline. If you’re scoring a video, you import the video file into
the project so that you can view it as you create your score, and synchronize the music
with the video.
Add
media
Build
arrangement
Mix Export
Locate and
preview media
Media Manager Project workspace
Creating Music with Soundtrack
Import to
Final Cut Express
Prepare
media