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View Full Version : Auto-align two audio clips.


Wowfunhappy
5th September 2016, 00:46
In Photoshop, when you have two pieces of a photo that you want to recombine into one larger image, you can go to "Edit -> Auto-Align Layers". Photoshop will find and use the overlapping data to reconstruct the original image.

I want this, but for audio.

A couple of years ago, I purchased a highly-dramaticized audiobook that added music and sound effects to one of my favorite stories. For some dumb reason, they removed the chapter markers, so I spent way more time than I care to admit manually splitting the file into chapters. Because they used music to transition between scenes, finding the right place to split the audio wasn't always easy, and I often had to experiment down to hundredths of a second in order to make the cuts sound clean.

As part of this process, I also deleted some promotional material that was tacked on to the beginning and end of the book.

Well, it turns out that I was an idiot two years ago, and failed to realize that this audiobook was available in surround sound. I bought and used the stereo version!

I've repurchased the audiobook, but I REALLY don't want to have to go through and find the split points for each chapter again. Surely there's some sort of software that could help me auto align the new files to my old, pre split ones?

My preferred program to split audio is ffmpeg, but I'm open to using other stuff. Also, feel free to direct me to another board if there's a more appropriate place to ask this question; I'm realizing as I write this that it might not be the best fit for doom9, but I don't know of any better places specifically.

Thanks in advance!

jmac698
5th September 2016, 02:19
Yep this is easy. It often comes up in video production, several mics at different spots and you need to align the recordings (also music production). There's even algorithms to align random recordings in a crowd at a concert or meeting , even partial recordings, and make them all in order and switching between them automatically, which is a cool concept!

Anyhow
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/synchronizing-audio-video-merge-clips.html

that's built into premiere. You can also use standalone programs or plugins that do the same thing.
http://www.soundradix.com/products/auto-align/
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Region_FX.08.html

etc
just search for auto track alignment or something you'll find tons of them, find a free trial somewhere, and get it done :)