Karaoke lyric Software

[Dodol]

Hi,
I just finished a videoclip of a wedding couple for an outdoor shooting.
The couple loves the videoclip and now asking me to put lyrics as in karaoke video so they can sing their favorite song and viewing their own clip. Can you guys suggest a good and easy software to create the karaoke style lyrics? I tried using Premiere Pro Titler but i can't get exact sync with the song.

[tommon]

Try those cheap consumer software from Ulead.

[Dodol]

You mean Video Studio? But I don't see any mention of karaoke lyrics maker in the features.

[JRC]

Originally Posted by Dodol Hi, I just finished a videoclip of a wedding couple for an outdoor shooting. The couple loves the videoclip and now asking me to put lyrics as in karaoke video so they can sing their favorite song and viewing their own clip. Can you guys suggest a good and easy software to create the karaoke style lyrics? I tried using Premiere Pro Titler but i can't get exact sync with the song.

It can be done in premiere pro or other editing software but tedious.
I do not know of any software that can let you easily do that.
In premiere pro, you need to prepare the lyrics graphics - one white text and one blue text for every line. Lay these two graphics on the timeline and use the wipe effect to make the words turn from white to blue as the music runs. You have to use keyframes of the wipe effect to make the music in sync with the lyrics (to control how fast you want the 'wipe' to be). so you see....it is a time consuming process to make it sync properly.

In premiere pro, you can hit the * key as you play back the music to place markers on the timeline to help you in the syncing of the lyrics.

[wilsonang]

in Mac, you can use Final Cut Pro,

in PC, recommend Vegas Movie Studio

but, as said, it is extremely tedious to do it... n u hv to look for a minus one version of the song to togger for DVD... if VCD, its L or R only... complicated

[engr]

Can be done Sony Vegas quite easily but the timing part takes some time.. no escape from that..

[jaegersing]

Hi everyone. First post here, hope I can contribute to the forum.

Vegas is the best SW I've tried on PC for this. With most other editors, you have to save every text event as a different file, and since you have more than one hundred texts in any karaoke video, this becomes very tedious.

With Vegas, the text events are embedded in the project and you don't have to bother with saving files. You can easily create a set of template text events, and then make multiple copies. You can edit the text on these copies to match the song lyrics and Vegas will handle it. Usually I copy and paste the text from a TXT file that I prepare beforehand.

Premiere Pro V2 does save the text event as part of the project, same as Vegas, however there is no quick way to do multiple copies and then edit the text, because when you change one copy Premiere changes all of them which is not what you want.

So far, I've made over a hundred karaoke videos using Vegas. The text synchronising is quite tedious, but the whole thing, including video editing and text, only takes around 2 - 2.5 hours per song which isn't too bad. When I started it was more like 5 hours, but eventually I got into a routine and things got faster.

Here's a sample of a video that I did:

http://www.jaegercat.com/media/beat-LR.wmv

It's quite compressed but you can get the idea. If you need a sample VEG file with the text events already set up let me know.

[shojibake]

Here's a simple method that should work with anything that has layers.

Just insert the lyric line into the visual segment. Layer a mask over it and multiply the colour. And pull it across to reveal the words.

The jumping ball trick is a lot more difficult.

[jaegersing]

Originally Posted by shojibake Here's a simple method that should work with anything that has layers. Just insert the lyric line into the visual segment. Layer a mask over it and multiply the colour. And pull it across to reveal the words. The jumping ball trick is a lot more difficult.

So far I never tried to do the jumping ball.

I would prefer JRC's method of using wipe effect between 2 different colours of text. It's a lot easier and faster than keyframing a mask, at least I find it so using Vegas.

[shojibake]

No the mask is faster imo. Just move the mask layer from one side of the screen to the other. In vegas or any other nle you can set keyframes for the timings.

[jaegersing]

Hi shojibake. The reason I prefer the wipe transition is to do with the number of steps needed to synchronise it.

In order to keyframe the mask I believe you have to open up a window and adjust the mask position somehow. In order to adjust the wipe transition you just need to drag the edge of the text event on the timeline. If you have 60 or more of these to synchronise it makes quite a difference to how long it takes.

However, I am always learning new things in Vegas and would like to look into this further in case I am missing out on a better way to do the karaoke text. Maybe you could explain in more detail how you apply the mask to the text event without affecting the underlying video, and how you use the mask to change the colour of the text? Also, using this method, is it possible to change the text outline and/or shadow colour at the same time to make sure both colours of text stand out against the video background?

[shojibake]

Oh yeah this should work in any nle with parenting, like after effects etc. Just create a layer and make it parent a multipied mask layer and the text. This should stop the generated colour event from impacting the entire screen. On another layer have the original text. Then just insert keyframes on the mask layer using a synced cursor and have the mask move from word to word.

[jaegersing]

OK, thanks. Not sure if After Effects is the best SW to use for synchronising to audio though.

I tried using a mask in Vegas, using generated media as the mask, and applied using multiply mode to change the text colour. Unfortunately the sync cursor is not active in generated media, so I couldn't just change the mask size to make the wipe. Then I tried moving the mask using track motion, and this does seem to work, however I found there are more steps involved compared to the linear wipe I normally use, and also there is a vertical line at the left-hand edge of the mask that I couldn't get rid of easily. It's also a bit trickier to deal with multiple lines of text where only one is wiping, but I suppose that can be done also if you create the right size of masks. Do you find the render time is OK with this method?

[shojibake]

Yeah any nle that has parenting. I find this method the most intuitive and translatable for different apps. For multi lines just have seperate layers. In either case i don't have hard figures for rendering times but any method should be fine.

[jaegersing]

I've just come across another karaoke program that is really easy and quick to use for creating the karaoke text. (It helps if you know the song though).

Details are here-

http://www.karafun.com/

There's a free version you can download and decide if it works for you or not. If you want to use it to export high quality text for chroma keying in an NLE you have to buy the Studio version at US$59. I just created 2 karaoke songs in 1.5 hours, including the text sync, video capture and editing, rendering, everything. Using Vegas alone would have taken me 4 - 5 hours and a lot of effort so it's a great saving for me.

[BbMaker]

Originally Posted by jaegersing Hi everyone. First post here, hope I can contribute to the forum. Vegas is the best SW I've tried on PC for this. With most other editors, you have to save every text event as a different file, and since you have more than one hundred texts in any karaoke video, this becomes very tedious. With Vegas, the text events are embedded in the project and you don't have to bother with saving files. You can easily create a set of template text events, and then make multiple copies. You can edit the text on these copies to match the song lyrics and Vegas will handle it. Usually I copy and paste the text from a TXT file that I prepare beforehand. Premiere Pro V2 does save the text event as part of the project, same as Vegas, however there is no quick way to do multiple copies and then edit the text, because when you change one copy Premiere changes all of them which is not what you want. So far, I've made over a hundred karaoke videos using Vegas. The text synchronising is quite tedious, but the whole thing, including video editing and text, only takes around 2 - 2.5 hours per song which isn't too bad. When I started it was more like 5 hours, but eventually I got into a routine and things got faster. Here's a sample of a video that I did: http://www.jaegercat.com/media/beat-LR.wmv It's quite compressed but you can get the idea. If you need a sample VEG file with the text events already set up let me know.

Hi jaegersing!.... i myself are new to the vegas software and eager to learn new technics... i'm very much interested in your : sample VEG file with the already setup! If you don't mind could you please send it to me so i can see and get the how to method? Thanks!

[jaegersing]

OK, will try to prepare something for you. What version of Vegas are you using?

[KCBox]

Quote: http://www.karafun.com/ There's a free version you can download and decide if it works for you or not. If you want to use it to export high quality text for chroma keying in an NLE you have to buy the Studio version at US$59. I just created 2 karaoke songs in 1.5 hours, including the text sync, video capture and editing, rendering, everything. Using Vegas alone would have taken me 4 - 5 hours and a lot of effort so it's a great saving for me.

Thanks I'm also looking for making KARAOKE

[BbMaker]

Originally Posted by jaegersing OK, will try to prepare something for you. What version of Vegas are you using?

Hi jaegersing! WOW! thanks for the quick responds i'm using Sony Vegas 7.0! I have my songs and lyrics and know what i want to do, but i can't seem or know how to do...! If you don't mind could you be very clear and precise in your explanations? Thanks so lot jaegersing!, it means alot!

[jaegersing]

Originally Posted by BbMaker Hi jaegersing! WOW! thanks for the quick responds i'm using Sony Vegas 7.0! I have my songs and lyrics and know what i want to do, but i can't seem or know how to do...! If you don't mind could you be very clear and precise in your explanations? Thanks so lot jaegersing!, it means alot!

OK, I will try to do it at the weekend, and send you a Vegas 7 sample file that you can use as a template. You can get great results using this method, but be aware that it is tedious and takes a lot of time, especially if there are a mix of fast and slow words on the same line and you want to get the synchronisation accurate.

While you are waiting, you could also download the free version of KaraFun and try it out. It is much much faster and easier to work with.