Tutorial: mkv to avi or how to remove the background music from your voiceovers.
Ok guys! So finally, here's the long promised tutorial! One of the most popular questions people ask me (ask.fm) is how I remove the background music from the voice overs I use in my videos. Now, I started doing it fairly recently, maybe in 2010? Mainly I vid Supernatural videos and at the time I had a copy of season 2 (not even in the same country where HD was) and when I opened the episodes in trimmer (learn how to work with it! I was surprised to learn that quite a lot of people find this tool kinda hard to work with, so change that! make it your best friend!) I noticed that there were different audios to it. SO!
I know I've been promising this tutorial for ages, and I guess my laziness not as strong as the amount of the same question being repeatedly asked :D
May I present you,
How to convert *.mkv into *.avi with 5.1 sound a.k.a. HOW DO YOU REMOVE THE BACKGROUND MUSIC FROM YOUR VOICEOVERS???
The season of SPN I was talking about earlier was in avi format. I later discovered that it's quite rare that you get to download avi files with the 5.1 sound and you generally have to use MKV files. Since it's just a container for audio and video files (and other information, like subtitles or chapters info), Sony Vegas can't read it and work with it, so first you have to convert it to avi. This way of converting files was explained to me by one lovely girl, fellow vidder, a couple of years back. It's not the only way to do it, I know other vidders do it differently, but this is the way I'm used to, so here it goes!
First of all, we need to start with what we have as a source. If the footage you want to work with (tv series or a movie) is out there on a dvd or bluray - you need those rips, if it's a new episode of your favorite show - you need to find the right file.
The general idea of the 5.1. sound is that the whole audio that we hear in a movie consists of different audio channels, each and every one of which kind of functions and a separate audio track. Combine them and we hear the finished audio. There's a channel for the background music only, there's a channel with all the audio effects, like, bams and booms etc, and then there's a channel with just voices. We need that one, obviously.
What files to download?
Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to get all the blurays and dvds I want, so I kind of need to download all the footage I need. Jeez I hope I won't be banned from the Internet for openly talking about it lol Anyway! I usually use torrents where I can find the latest movies and tv shows in half HD or full HD, logoless. I usually use thepiratebay. Lately I've been on a Sherlock kick, so we'll work with that :)
Just type in what you're looking for. Let's say, we're looking for episode 2 of the third series. Now, what is important is to look for WEB-DL (watermark free copies) and DD5.1. (5.1. audio) in the title of the torrent.
Note: For this way of converting files you need the original source to be in *.h264 codec (video) and ac3 audio.
Downloading!
Now we have a full HD copy of the episode, logofree and with the 5.1 sound. Since SV can't work with mkv files, we need to convert it to avi, obviously. Long story short, we need to kind of unpack the mkv container and then make a new file with separate audio and video files.
How to convert MKV to AVI?
We'll need three different programs (see what I mean? there has to be an easier way to do it lol ): MKVToolnix, avc2avi & VirtualDub. You can download the archive here. avc2avi & virtualdub - are portable programs, you don't need to install them, just open the right files, however, you need to install MKVtoolnix.
First open MKVtoolnix and open the mkv file:
Then check boxes on the files you want to unpack from your mkv container - audio and video. Please note, the episode I'm working with is dubbed, so there are two audio tracks - Russian dubbing (the main one) and the original English version. If you don't have the dubbing, you'll have just one audio track. You can unpack the container wherever you want by clicking "other" and choosing the folder. Click "Extract".
You'll have something like this in the folder:
Now we need to convert *.h264 file to avi. Open avc2avi:
The only thing that you have to pay attention to on this step is the framerate of the original file. You need to match the original framerate to the framerate of the files that you're going to have after converting them. Generally all the American TV shows are in NTSC format (23.976 fps) and the European ones are in PAL format (25 fps) - here it's the default. You can check the framerate of your original file, for example, in your media player:
Click "Mux" and wait. After the program have processed the file, you'll see this window:
Now we need to make a whole file with the audio and video. Open VirtualDub, add the video file:
And then the audio:
Add the ac3 track, click OK.
Now we need to set preferences for the output file. Click Video - Compression - choose Xvid codec in the window. Now, if you don't have this codec - find it and install it. It's like, the cornerstone for you. Click "Configure":
Here we need to set the preferred quality. The smaller the number the bigger the file you'll get. 2.08 - 2.10 (plus or minus) is the size somewhat true to the original one.
Click "calc". Here you need to write in the time/length of your file, choose the framerate and the audio format, which has to be ac3, otherwise you won't have your audio channels and 5.1 sound.
Okie-dokie! Click File - Save as and just name your file whatever you want and choose where you want to save it. Depending on your machine it may take from 20-30 minutes to an hour or even more. The length and the size of the original file also matters in that regard.
Now we have an AVI file with the 5.1 sound!
What's next?
How to separate the audio channels?
Open Sony Vegas. Open the episode in trimmer. First of all, right click on the audio track and turn off "Use All Streams and Channels":
Right click again - channels - channel 3:
Generally, the 3 channel is the voice channel if you work with 5.1 or 6.1 audio, but if you miss, I'm sure you'll find the right channel ;)
Then just drag what you need on the timeline and work with it! And that's it! Just to compare, here are two audio clips.
Original audio from the episode:
Listen or download Singer Track name for free on Pleer
And what we have after:
Listen or download Singer Track name for free on Pleer
See the difference? :)
If I forgot something, or if you have any questions - feel free to ask here or via any other social media site you can find me on ;) Hope this helps! Have fun vidding! :)
I know I've been promising this tutorial for ages, and I guess my laziness not as strong as the amount of the same question being repeatedly asked :D
May I present you,
How to convert *.mkv into *.avi with 5.1 sound a.k.a. HOW DO YOU REMOVE THE BACKGROUND MUSIC FROM YOUR VOICEOVERS???
The season of SPN I was talking about earlier was in avi format. I later discovered that it's quite rare that you get to download avi files with the 5.1 sound and you generally have to use MKV files. Since it's just a container for audio and video files (and other information, like subtitles or chapters info), Sony Vegas can't read it and work with it, so first you have to convert it to avi. This way of converting files was explained to me by one lovely girl, fellow vidder, a couple of years back. It's not the only way to do it, I know other vidders do it differently, but this is the way I'm used to, so here it goes!
First of all, we need to start with what we have as a source. If the footage you want to work with (tv series or a movie) is out there on a dvd or bluray - you need those rips, if it's a new episode of your favorite show - you need to find the right file.
The general idea of the 5.1. sound is that the whole audio that we hear in a movie consists of different audio channels, each and every one of which kind of functions and a separate audio track. Combine them and we hear the finished audio. There's a channel for the background music only, there's a channel with all the audio effects, like, bams and booms etc, and then there's a channel with just voices. We need that one, obviously.
What files to download?
Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to get all the blurays and dvds I want, so I kind of need to download all the footage I need. Jeez I hope I won't be banned from the Internet for openly talking about it lol Anyway! I usually use torrents where I can find the latest movies and tv shows in half HD or full HD, logoless. I usually use thepiratebay. Lately I've been on a Sherlock kick, so we'll work with that :)
Just type in what you're looking for. Let's say, we're looking for episode 2 of the third series. Now, what is important is to look for WEB-DL (watermark free copies) and DD5.1. (5.1. audio) in the title of the torrent.
Note: For this way of converting files you need the original source to be in *.h264 codec (video) and ac3 audio.
Downloading!
Now we have a full HD copy of the episode, logofree and with the 5.1 sound. Since SV can't work with mkv files, we need to convert it to avi, obviously. Long story short, we need to kind of unpack the mkv container and then make a new file with separate audio and video files.
How to convert MKV to AVI?
We'll need three different programs (see what I mean? there has to be an easier way to do it lol ): MKVToolnix, avc2avi & VirtualDub. You can download the archive here. avc2avi & virtualdub - are portable programs, you don't need to install them, just open the right files, however, you need to install MKVtoolnix.
First open MKVtoolnix and open the mkv file:
Then check boxes on the files you want to unpack from your mkv container - audio and video. Please note, the episode I'm working with is dubbed, so there are two audio tracks - Russian dubbing (the main one) and the original English version. If you don't have the dubbing, you'll have just one audio track. You can unpack the container wherever you want by clicking "other" and choosing the folder. Click "Extract".
You'll have something like this in the folder:
Now we need to convert *.h264 file to avi. Open avc2avi:
The only thing that you have to pay attention to on this step is the framerate of the original file. You need to match the original framerate to the framerate of the files that you're going to have after converting them. Generally all the American TV shows are in NTSC format (23.976 fps) and the European ones are in PAL format (25 fps) - here it's the default. You can check the framerate of your original file, for example, in your media player:
Click "Mux" and wait. After the program have processed the file, you'll see this window:
Now we need to make a whole file with the audio and video. Open VirtualDub, add the video file:
And then the audio:
Add the ac3 track, click OK.
Now we need to set preferences for the output file. Click Video - Compression - choose Xvid codec in the window. Now, if you don't have this codec - find it and install it. It's like, the cornerstone for you. Click "Configure":
Here we need to set the preferred quality. The smaller the number the bigger the file you'll get. 2.08 - 2.10 (plus or minus) is the size somewhat true to the original one.
Click "calc". Here you need to write in the time/length of your file, choose the framerate and the audio format, which has to be ac3, otherwise you won't have your audio channels and 5.1 sound.
Okie-dokie! Click File - Save as and just name your file whatever you want and choose where you want to save it. Depending on your machine it may take from 20-30 minutes to an hour or even more. The length and the size of the original file also matters in that regard.
Now we have an AVI file with the 5.1 sound!
What's next?
How to separate the audio channels?
Open Sony Vegas. Open the episode in trimmer. First of all, right click on the audio track and turn off "Use All Streams and Channels":
Right click again - channels - channel 3:
Generally, the 3 channel is the voice channel if you work with 5.1 or 6.1 audio, but if you miss, I'm sure you'll find the right channel ;)
Then just drag what you need on the timeline and work with it! And that's it! Just to compare, here are two audio clips.
Original audio from the episode:
Listen or download Singer Track name for free on Pleer
And what we have after:
Listen or download Singer Track name for free on Pleer
See the difference? :)
If I forgot something, or if you have any questions - feel free to ask here or via any other social media site you can find me on ;) Hope this helps! Have fun vidding! :)