How do I add audio to video

Cubase
1

Hi,

I have a video and need to add music to the video and dialogue.

The dialogue is already in the video.

How do I export the additional music to the video and maintain the dialogue?

Thanks

2

Use a video editor.

3

Can’t this be done using Cubase (it can in other DAWs, which is why I was looking for it in Cubase) ?

Is there a good, free or inexpensive video editor that can do this job for different frame rates and export formats (e.g. for HD, for YouTube etc)

4

In Cubase 10.5, but at the moment only with a fixed format.

Da Vinci resolve from blackmagic designs is free at least, and I think quite good given the fact it is free.

5

+1 for Resolve. The free version is an excellent video editing environment and easy to use with lots of YouTube tutorials.

You can use the Cubase video player as you work on your music, then export the audio mix. Drag and drop that into the project with your video and dialogue. You’ll then be able to mix both audio and dialogue levels to suit your taste. Additionally, the current version has Fairlight and is a pretty full featured audio mixer that includes support for vst plugins.

6

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try Resolve. Can the free version do this or do I need the paid version?

We could do with this feature in Cubase. Cubase is great for composing for media, but it would aid workflow to be able to just add the music without affecting the original dialogue/sfx. You can do this in Logic and it would be great to have this in Cubase.

7

I would venture to say that there’s nothing you would want to do that’s not included in the free version.

I bought the paid version a while back to get their denoiser capability but to be honest I just wanted to support their work since the free version is so incredibly feature rich.

8

I downloaded Resolve and have been trying it.

However, I’ve hit a few problems:

  1. The audio no longer aligns with the video. It’s aligned ok in Cubase on playback but not when I import the audio and put it on the timeline. The audio isn’t right and it doesn’t meet the hits.

  2. I tried an export but it renders with no sound at all. Audio format selected etc.

  3. After trying the export and exiting Resolve, I can no longer hear any sounds in Windows (e.g via browser or media player)

Audio interface is UAD Apollo Twin MkII Quad Thunderbolt

Any help/advice welcome.

9

Bummer… Have you come across the programs forum pages…?
https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewforum.php?f=21&sid=4aa2c2e79e747ba5c4fc092a62f116b1

Have a look through there for similar issues/things to check.

Off the top of my head, double-check your video frame-rates/format, and audio sample rates settings, before and after you load in either app (you could use an app like MediaInfo that will interrogate at a file level - its Donationware).

Also, sounds like an incorrect audio driver/device has been chosen by Resolve; this could well leave your system ‘unconnected’. Or its maybe that you cannot use Windows sounds with the chosen device, whilst Resolve is ‘open’. Check your device capabilities.? Again, examine audio i/o settings in Resolve.

These days, for simple audio replacement (and any video format/resolution changes) I am using ER MediaToolkit from Audio Spot - Convert Video, Replace Audio in Video, Converter | audio spot

HTH
Bob

10

Bob’s advice is good all around and I’ll offer a few observations of my own as I’ve been using Cubase and Resolve on Windows 10 with no issues, and prior to that both played nice on Windows 7.

While you should be able to create videos with most any audio format, I always mix from Cubase at 48k as that’s the default for the video world. There are numerous ways to create a timeline in Resolve. If you drag and drop media into a media bin and then right click that media to create a timeline, then it’s going to add the video clip and, importantly, use the audio format from the video. So, if the video has audio at 48k but you mix from Cubase at 44.1k it will behave exactly as you mentioned and not line up.

As you experiment with exporting from Resolve, I’d recommend first just using the Vimeo or YouTube presets to make sure you get audio and video. There are lots of things to tweak but these have always worked right out of the box.

When you exit Resolve and can’t hear any sounds, bring up task manager and see if Resolve.exe is still running. If it is, then it’s holding your audio devices open. Kill it, and you should get your audio back. Then debug why Resolve isn’t shutting down clean. Sounds like an install issue with Resolve or drivers as Bob suggested.

That said, at this point it’s not about Cubase but rather getting Resolve happy on your system, so as he mentioned the Blackmagic forums would be my next stop.

Resolve is an excellent program even for money, let alone for free, but Video World has as many complexities as Audio World so there’s plenty of room for adventures. If you stick with it and get things sorted out it will serve you well.