[tutorial] My subbing process
In the past several weeks, I got asked often which software I use, or which process I take to sub News Zero, I thought I would write it all down here.
1/ Getting the raw
I usually get my raw from K-A-N奈奈 website using baidu ( tutorial here). I'm also now able to record it live using my graphic card incorported program (I have an AMD radeon, so I'm using the Relive program, every graphic card has a program like this now, the perk is that it's free :)), I used Movavi screen recorder before as well.
2/ Converting the raw
Usually, the raw will be in *ts format, 1440x1080p resolution, so I'll convert it to *mp4 and to a 1280x720p resolution using XMedia recode.
If the file is in *mkv format, I'll use handbrake.
Depending on the file resolution, length, your computer's processor etc, this can take from several minutes to several hours. In my case, converting the usual 10 min Sho's cuts file, takes around 15 minutes.
3/ Editing the raw
I'm then gonna need to edit out the parts I don't need, I will also put a white fade in/out after the opening, and some audio adjustements. For this, I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Here is a basic tutorial by Adobe.
(nb: You can do some video edition in Photoshop too if you have one of the latest version, but it will be more heavy to deal with. But it can be done, and you can add some fade in/out effects as well).
It will look something like this:
4/ Subbing
Once I've received Arashi English Translation's weekly translation of News Zero, I start subbing (sometimes, depending on when the raw is ready, I will start timing in advance on Sho's script in Japanese from News Zero official website (ps: you need a Japanese IP address to see NTV's official website, so you'll have to use a VPN, unless you live in Japan obviously!) and add the translation later.
I use Aegisub for timing/typesetting. This is a great program, and every subbing team use it basically. It can also do karaoke effects (which I have 0 knowlegde of). The NZ opening was also made using Aegisub (one day, I will learn After Effects properly and redo it all there, but that day is not today XD)
This is a great tutorial.
5/ Encoding (hardsubbing)
What's left is to combine the subs and the video into a single file. For this, I use Megui. This progam is incredibly complete and complex, I am no expert at it, so I'll just write here how I use it:
- Open the program, and choose Tools>File indexer
- In "Input File", choose your video file; under "File Indexer", choose "L-SMASH Works"; then under "Audio encoding", choose "No Audio". Then hit "Queue" at the bottom right.
- A popup window with the video distorted will appear. This is normal, close it.
- In the next window called "AviSynth script creator", uncheck "Resize" under the "Crop & resize" settings (this is not a good idea to resize your video AFTER having time it in Aegisub, because the subs position will be wrong afterwards). Go to the "Filters" tab at the top, and under the "Filters" section, import your subtitles.
- Click "OK" on the little popup, then hit the save button at the bottom. A popup with the preview video will appear, you can check that everything is alright (we checked the "no audio" option at the beginning, that's why there's no sound, don't worry!).
- Close the video preview window. You're now back to the Megui main window. We're gonna add the audio now.
Under the "Audio" section, in "Audio input", add your original video (this will import its audio) Of course we could have left the audio since the beginning. I'm absolutely not an expert at encoding, but I had problems before with doing the file indexing with the audio, so this method works best.
- Then hit "Auto-encode" at the bottom.
In the "Automatic encoding" popup window, under "size & bitrate", check "Average bitrate". And change the value to "3000 kbits/s". You can see the video size on the right will change. You can work with whatever bitrate you want to target the desired file size. 3000 is a good compromise between quality and size (I went as low as 500 once and the video was still kinda ok. Kinda).
- Hit "Queue" at the bottom, and the encoding will start. Several popup windows with encoding status will appear, I let them do their job.
- Depending on the file resolution, length, your computer's processor etc, this can take from several minutes to several hours (for me, it takes between 15 to 30 minutes for a video between 6 and 10 minutes). The final file will end up being named xxxxxxxxx-muxed.mp4.
There's also this great tutorial by ihsarafes using Avidemux.
6/ Uploading
I then upload it to Mega and Mediafire :)
Aaaaaand, that's about it ^^
1/ Getting the raw
I usually get my raw from K-A-N奈奈 website using baidu ( tutorial here). I'm also now able to record it live using my graphic card incorported program (I have an AMD radeon, so I'm using the Relive program, every graphic card has a program like this now, the perk is that it's free :)), I used Movavi screen recorder before as well.
2/ Converting the raw
Usually, the raw will be in *ts format, 1440x1080p resolution, so I'll convert it to *mp4 and to a 1280x720p resolution using XMedia recode.
If the file is in *mkv format, I'll use handbrake.
Depending on the file resolution, length, your computer's processor etc, this can take from several minutes to several hours. In my case, converting the usual 10 min Sho's cuts file, takes around 15 minutes.
3/ Editing the raw
I'm then gonna need to edit out the parts I don't need, I will also put a white fade in/out after the opening, and some audio adjustements. For this, I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Here is a basic tutorial by Adobe.
(nb: You can do some video edition in Photoshop too if you have one of the latest version, but it will be more heavy to deal with. But it can be done, and you can add some fade in/out effects as well).
It will look something like this:
4/ Subbing
Once I've received Arashi English Translation's weekly translation of News Zero, I start subbing (sometimes, depending on when the raw is ready, I will start timing in advance on Sho's script in Japanese from News Zero official website (ps: you need a Japanese IP address to see NTV's official website, so you'll have to use a VPN, unless you live in Japan obviously!) and add the translation later.
I use Aegisub for timing/typesetting. This is a great program, and every subbing team use it basically. It can also do karaoke effects (which I have 0 knowlegde of). The NZ opening was also made using Aegisub (one day, I will learn After Effects properly and redo it all there, but that day is not today XD)
This is a great tutorial.
5/ Encoding (hardsubbing)
What's left is to combine the subs and the video into a single file. For this, I use Megui. This progam is incredibly complete and complex, I am no expert at it, so I'll just write here how I use it:
- Open the program, and choose Tools>File indexer
- In "Input File", choose your video file; under "File Indexer", choose "L-SMASH Works"; then under "Audio encoding", choose "No Audio". Then hit "Queue" at the bottom right.
- A popup window with the video distorted will appear. This is normal, close it.
- In the next window called "AviSynth script creator", uncheck "Resize" under the "Crop & resize" settings (this is not a good idea to resize your video AFTER having time it in Aegisub, because the subs position will be wrong afterwards). Go to the "Filters" tab at the top, and under the "Filters" section, import your subtitles.
- Click "OK" on the little popup, then hit the save button at the bottom. A popup with the preview video will appear, you can check that everything is alright (we checked the "no audio" option at the beginning, that's why there's no sound, don't worry!).
- Close the video preview window. You're now back to the Megui main window. We're gonna add the audio now.
Under the "Audio" section, in "Audio input", add your original video (this will import its audio) Of course we could have left the audio since the beginning. I'm absolutely not an expert at encoding, but I had problems before with doing the file indexing with the audio, so this method works best.
- Then hit "Auto-encode" at the bottom.
In the "Automatic encoding" popup window, under "size & bitrate", check "Average bitrate". And change the value to "3000 kbits/s". You can see the video size on the right will change. You can work with whatever bitrate you want to target the desired file size. 3000 is a good compromise between quality and size (I went as low as 500 once and the video was still kinda ok. Kinda).
- Hit "Queue" at the bottom, and the encoding will start. Several popup windows with encoding status will appear, I let them do their job.
- Depending on the file resolution, length, your computer's processor etc, this can take from several minutes to several hours (for me, it takes between 15 to 30 minutes for a video between 6 and 10 minutes). The final file will end up being named xxxxxxxxx-muxed.mp4.
There's also this great tutorial by ihsarafes using Avidemux.
6/ Uploading
I then upload it to Mega and Mediafire :)
Aaaaaand, that's about it ^^