SmartSound Pro and Movie Maestro

At our May 2004 meeting we were introduced to SmartSound as it is embedded in Premier 6.5. This is a very limited implementation, so here are so more details about the standalone product and its smaller sibling.

In both these products you bring in your video, probably with all other aspects of audio editing finished. You can then lay down your music tracks from the SmartSound selections you own. You add a selection at about the place you want it, then you can drag the beginning and end to the exact location desired, right down to single frame positioning as required. The software then creates a music track exactly the length required with a proper opening and conclusion – no more fading up and down at start and finish ! When you’ve added all the tracks required, you can export the music track to a WAV or whatever format, and then import it into your editing software to complete your movie. For certain editing software you can export direct into the specific project files.

This is “all” Movie Maestro does. SmartSound Pro however goes further, you can use your favorite CD track (presuming you have permission) and import into SmartSound, which will then allow you to use it in a similar way to its own native tracks. It’s start and finishes are not quite so polished, but they better than you can do on your own.

The other major difference between the programmes (apart from the price) is the quality of sound track they use – Maestro uses 22k samples, Pro uses 44k samples. What is the difference ? The higher the sample rate, the better the sound quality. It mainly effects the way the highest frequencies sound. Cymbals, bells, and other high frequency information is most accurately reproduced at 44k. But you have to have very good ears to notice the difference.

Very useful implementations of SmartSound are now included in Pinnacle Studio 9 and Ulead VideoStudio 8.

You can now download and purchase SmartSound Pro with 8 music tracks for $US99.99, this is a fantastic saving on the boxed version. A demo version can be downloaded, or requested on CD at :

http://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/demos/index.html

Its not the answer to all your music/video requirements, but it is one of the options you should seriously consider.