Editing Audio in KDEnlive
One of the really good things about KDEnlive is that editing audio is done in the same way as editing video. You could even edit audio using the Clip Monitor as per video - although this is less helpful if your track is purely audio as the Clip Monitor window will just remain blank. As a result most people will simply edit audio tracks via the Timeline.
Most video formats, such as MP4, import into KDEnlive as a single, combined, audio-visual track:
KDEnlive allows you to split the audio out into a separate track by right-clicking the combined track and choosing the "Split Audio" option:
The audio track will then be extracted and moved down to the next free audio track:
However, the audio and the original video track will still be linked, so if you try to clip, edit or resize the video, the audio will also be adjusted in the same fashion:
To allow the audio track to be edited in isolation from the video, right-click either the audio or visual track (-it doesn't matter which) and choose the "Ungroup Clips":
If you now click on the audio track, you should see it should now be selected (-outlined in red) whilst the video track is not:
Once the audio track is ungrouped from the video, the track can be shortened by clicking on the start/end of the clip and dragging it inwards once you see the green triangle display:
Dragging the end point towards the start will remove audio from the end of the track, whereas dragging the start point towards the end will remove it from the start point:
Note: the removed audio can be re-inserted by dragging the end point back outwards and that you cannot drag the track out beyond it's original start or end point
KDEnlive supports multiple audio (-and video) tracks. If you want to add a sound or track over an existing one, it is simply a matter of dragging it from the Project Tree down to the correct position in a free audio channel:
Note: if a clip in one audio channel overlaps with that from another, the two tracks will be blended together (-i.e. both played simulateously) by default, but this can be changed by applying an effect to a clip
Once an audio clip has been placed in the Timeline, it can be adjusted in the way outlined in the previous section:
To remove a section from the middle of an audio clip, simply position the cursor at the start of the section you want to remove by clicking at the desired point in the Timeline ruler:
Note: you can also use the mouse scroll wheel - or the keyboard arrow keys - to advance or reverse frame by frame to identify the correct point. In addition, use the waveform thumbnail as a guideline: the author finds it invaluable in locating gaps between words / silence in a track
To create a break in the track at the current cursor point, right click the track and choose the "Cut Clip" option:
If you are cutting a section out of the middle of a clip, you will then need to navigate to the end of the unwanted footage and repeat the above - ending up with three sections: the start (keep); the unwanted (remove) and the end (keep).
Click on the unwanted section and hit the "Delete" key to remove it:
If required, you can then click on the middle of the clip (-the cursor should change to a "hand" icon) and drag it to it's new position:
KDEnlive allows you to easily apply many effects to your audio clips. Built in effects include (-but are not limited to):
- Fade In / Fade Out a clip
- Volume Control
- Balance
- Phaser/Bass/Echo
- Mute
- Swap Left and Right Channels
To apply a sound effect, right click the desired audio clip and choose the "Add Effects" option, then pick the category and effect you wish to apply:
The effect will then be added and displayed in the "Effect Stack" tab in the centre of the screen - where you can adjust any parameters for the effect (-in the featured case, this is purely the bar labelled "Gain"):
You can apply as many effects as you like to a clip: they will all be listed in the Effect Stack. To alter an effect, simply select the clip, click on the effect in the Effect Stack and alter the parameters. To remove an effect, simply select the clip then uncheck the checkbox next to the effect - or (to delete it altogether) click on the effect in the Effect Stack and then on the red "X" icon: