Sound Film to Digital Files

[Steve Walls]

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Hey Everyone - I'm new here.... I just joined yesterday

I'm going to transfer the visual part of these old sound-films

using this device:

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Then.... I'm going to plug a digital audio recorder
into the ear-phone jack of a sound-projector,
so that I can extract all of the audio - and sync it
together with the picture using editing software
on my computer.

Is this a good way to transfer my old sound-film

over to digital files?

Let's hear some of your thoughts on this.....

By all means, give me some helpful tips or advice.

Cheers,


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[Brian Fretwell]

Sorry, but where you put "This device" all I can see is a blank space and a couple of full stops.

[Steve Walls]

Sorry - here it is

[John Robertson]

I just joined here yesterday as well but my experience goes back about 18 years. I would say this is the correct approach but you will have to pay close attention to the sound levels to make sure they are not over driving your input. The synchronization is the tricky part because the timing will be different and the film speed in not consistent on either projector. Put both tracks into your editor and mark the first frame on both tracks independently were the leader ends and the film begins. These marks must always line up in your editor. Now find the very last frame and place marker on that frame for each film track. It depends which editor your using but you will now need find the tool to retime the shortest so the last frame aligns with the longer track. Now go back to the first frame and check the markers, if they are not aligned you will need to slide the retimed track down so they are aligned again then repeat the above retime step one last time. In some cases, due to the speed inconsistencies, you may have to divide up you film track and work in say in 3 1/2 minute sections at a time (cutting at the end of each small reel). I hope you understand what I'm trying to explain. If not you can always contact me through my website and I'll explain. There is a second method as well I never tried using a magnetic tape strip to identify the start and ending of the audio in the film. https://createmydvd.com

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

In short - that's doable of course.

But I usually use a camcorder/projector in usual "off-the-wall" method, but with the audio from the projector directly hooked to the camcorder's audio input. Therefore I have visual reference to help when editing the audio to the video track - that would be a BIG help when doing critical/lip-sync accurate edit.

BTW that "device" is IMHO nothing more or less than a usual projector, a normal camcorder, with a modified optics in order to get upright image straight off this and that's it. Considering that if you also can have a usual projector, a normal camcorder, and a macro lens in between, you'll get about the same result as this unit. The only catch is that it would be vertically flipped image - which it's just a matter of adding an image flip to the video track during the edit. This also is the "real time" scanning system - no frame accurate transfer in the first place. Therefore I'm not sure whether this is the best possible solution?

[Osi Osgood]

Another nice twist for your audio, would be to directly transfer your audio from the projector, to your PC, and using a program such as "audacity" ( excellent software, totally free on the internet), and use the noice reduction and other tricks of the software to make your soundtracks sound better than you could ever imagine!

[Chuck Carson]

Osi,

You mentioned using Audacity to clean up an Audio track. Can this be done for the audio track of an MP4 file that has 8mm Video on the first track and the Sync'ed audio to be "cleaned" on track 2 or the audio track. And not bother the video Sync with the sound? In other words keep the audio and Video in sync. Or should I be looking for a Video Editor with Audio cleaning capabilities?

Chuck

[Chuck Carson]

Found that Divinci has some audio editing tools in the free version -- A background and volume leveling functions

[Erkki Tikkanen]

You can use the telecine system to videotape directly in real-time from the three-blade projector running 18fps using the Lumix cameras like GH5 and GH6. You can adjust the shutter speed to 1/54 (3x18) using the Syncro Scan and there is no flicker and the sound is in perfect sync. You can use even 24fps, you just adjust the shutter speed to 1/72 (3x24).
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRmSSIg5CDQ