Working with markers

When syncing up audio events to film cues or video, it is common to use markers. Markers are a powerful feature in SONAR that helps to simplify the task of identifying major events in a song or video. They can be used to clarify where a verse or chorus begins in a rock tune or, in the case of film scoring, they can be used to identify hit points (points in the film where you want a musical event to synchronize with a visual event). Before we get started on this next exercise, return to the Video Properties dialog box and click the Video Settings tab. Set Start Time to 1:01:000, Trim-in Time to 00:00:00:00 and Trim-out Time to 00:00:44:23.

Let’s say we want our music to start at the beginning of the video right when the sun comes out. This occurs about 4 seconds into the movie. Taking a closer look, this happens at 4 seconds and 10 frames into the clip, which, expressed in SMPTE time code, is 00:00:04:10.

There are several ways to add markers in SONAR:

Place the Now Time at the location where you would like a marker, then select Project > Insert Marker or press M.

Click the Insert Marker button in the Control Bar’s Markers module.

Click the Add Marker button in the Markers view.

Let’s open the Markers view by selecting Views > Markers.

 

Note: This feature is not available in SONAR Home Studio.

The Markers view is very handy when working with events in a film. The first thing we want to do is add a new marker to the project, indicating the start of the project. To do this, click the Insert Markers button to open the Marker dialog box.

From this dialog box, you can do a lot of very important things. First, let’s name this marker by typing Intro in the Name field.

Next, select the Lock to SMPTE (Real World) Time check box. This option is very important when working with video. If a marker is not locked to SMPTE time, its position in relation to events on the video will change with tempo and meter changes in the project.

You might also notice that the Time value changes to the SMPTE format after you selected the check box. This determines where the location of the marker will be. We know in the video that the sun comes out at about four seconds and ten frames into the video. Let’s set the Time value to 00:00:04:10.

Click OK to insert the marker and close the Marker dialog box. You can place as many markers as you need for a project to sync up all of your events. The Markers view will now display the marker you just created, with the name Intro assigned to it. The Marker view toolbar contains the following commands that apply to selected markers.

Control	Description
	Click the Delete Marker button to delete the currently selected marker.
	Click the Change Marker Properties button to open the Marker dialog box for the selected marker. This is useful if you want to change the location of a marker.
	Click the Lock/Unlock Marker button to lock or unlock the marker to SMTPE time.

Close the Markers view now and take a look at the Time Ruler in SONAR, which spans the top of the Clips pane in the Track view. You will notice there is now a flag named Intro indicating where your new marker is in the project.

 

See:

Importing video

Exporting your video