Tracking audio to Home VHS tapes

Evildick

Evildick

New member
I am curious about dubbing over home videos and adding custom dialogue to previously recorded VHS video. For the most part, it will consist of family reunions, birthdays, holidays and such and I was hoping to make it look a little more professional for distribution at a reunion.

I'm a complete amateur in terms of SMPTE time code and synching audio to video. I have no problem reading up on the subject, it's just a matter of where to begin and how much I could expect to invest in this endeavor. I think I'm pretty much set on the audio side of things, but the video baffles me. Details below.

Dedicated P4 1.8a DAW
2x 60GB HD's
Layla24 w/ breakout box
SONAR 1.3 (not XL)
Mackie 1402VLZ-Pro
2x SM-57
SM-58
Rode NTK

I know I can get a quality audio signal to tape, but starting out is a bitch. Any links or personal experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

(I can spend about $1500 US on the video side if necessary)


Dick
 
Vegas software and an ATI All in Wonder video card should do the trick. Vegas does video editing and has multi track audio. I haven't used but I've heard good things.
 
I have the ATI Radeon 64DDR which has a SPDIF (RCA) style on the back and accepts video capture. I'll have to look into the All in Wonder card. I think it only adds the TV tuner. If I use this, will I be able to record over just the audio track on the VHS tape and leave the video as is? If so, this could be easier than I thought. Thanks Tex
 
If your video recorder has a SCART connector you could try buying a SCART cable- SCART plug on one end and multiple RCA plugs on the other end. The RCA plugs are marked for the various audio and video connections (inputs and outputs). Connect the audio ins and outs to your mixer and the video outs to your graphics card, or the co-ax connector to your TV card as you will need to monitor the video and you have recording capabilities for your VHS.

If you go the computer route i.e. capturing video to your computer, you will have to make sure that your graphics card has a TV out socket otherwise you can't send the finished product back to your video cassette - you will have to burn everything to disk as either a DVD or as avi or mpeg data. This takes a long time, not just in capturing and rendering the finished product, but also in learning how to use a programme (e.g. Media Studio or, better Adobe Premiere), calculating output size, which compressor to use etc, etc.....

I'd probably try the SCART option first, let us know how you get on.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

John
 
Thanks John, although the digital path appears to be a little easier, most of the people that would view the video would have to watch it on VHS. I'll check into SCART to get everything back to analogue.

Anything that remotely touches on this topic helps. Thanks for everyones input so far. If I learn something that I can't use right now, odds are I'll probably need it somewhere down the road. Thanks again.
 
Once you are done with it in the computer then you just use the TV output and put it back on VHS.

Doing it directly to a VCR would be more expensive and difficult to sync. The real poor man's way of doing it is to use 2 vcrs and while the tape is dubbing to the other you put your mixer in the middle of the audio chain to combine your audio with the original as it dubs to tape.

To directly overlay the audio on a VCR you need a VCR with Audio Insert Edit capabilities. That can be found on most prosumer VCR's that are meant to be used in home editing systems with an editing controller. With those you can simply lay the audio onto the HI-FI track of a pre-recorded tape.
 
Hi TRK,

I stand corrected on the direct to VHS method under the following provisos:

If your orgininal audio recording was stereo i.e. dedicated left/right track.

If your playback medium is going to be stereo.

If, on the other hand, your original recording was mono (same signal on left/right tracks) and your playback medium (TV, I think) is also mono then you can overdub on one of the tracks leaving the other track untouched.

I think the question here was overdubbing commentary and not lip syncing so the time lag would be minimal.

Evildick, before you start capturing it might be a good idea to surf the net for more information on the problems you might face - there's nothing worse than spending time/money only to be very disappointed by the results.

check:

http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/video-capture.htm

This should give you a general idea of the problems.

Wishing you success,

John
 
There is no one right answer. There are many ways to do it and each has cost/quality considerations.

The mono/hi-fi tracks on a VHS can be a little confusing and it took me a long time in high school video class to finally sort it out.

John, please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the mono track always get written along with the control track? Only the hi-fi track can be insert edited (or overdubbed). If you insert edit video with audio than that audio goes to the Hi-fi track, right?

It's been about 10years since I did any vhs editing. I got spoiled with betamax SP and 4 tracks of audio + SMPTE.

That is why the computer may be your best bet for home video to avoid all the complications.
 
TexRoadkill said:
There is no one right answer. There are many ways to do it and each has cost/quality considerations.

The mono/hi-fi tracks on a VHS can be a little confusing and it took me a long time in high school video class to finally sort it out.

John, please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the mono track always get written along with the control track? Only the hi-fi track can be insert edited (or overdubbed). If you insert edit video with audio than that audio goes to the Hi-fi track, right?

It's been about 10years since I did any vhs editing. I got spoiled with betamax SP and 4 tracks of audio + SMPTE.

That is why the computer may be your best bet for home video to avoid all the complications.
Click to expand...

Hi Fi tracks MUST be recorded with a video track. Linear tracks can be edited seperate of the video via insert edits. Insert editing allows for video and linear tracks but NOT hi-fi. It's been a while, but I think Assemble edits allow for video and hi-fi because a new control track is being recorded as well.

There is no "mono" track. Non stereo VCR's will sum the linear tracks and won't even "read" the hi-fi track.
 
Thanks Tex, John, JR

I'm wasn't really looking for the meaning of life in the post since I know how rediculous those sort of questions are. All of you have offered great advice and gave me a push in the right direction. I know that I need to do more research on the subject and getting a few key words that apply to my plight work wonders with a search engine. Thanks again fellas. I really appreciate it.

Dick
 
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