Audacity and mp4

[Anonymous]

The technical setbacks just keep on coming. Udemy's response to my test video suggest I use Audacity to edit out the echos in my audio. That's okay for my screencast recordings. But the headshots are in mp4 which Audacity will not load. Has anyone addressed this in their courses?

[DavidBookbinder]

I also use MP4 with Audacity. You need to install a couple of plugins in order to do it.

From the online Audacity manual: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/importing_audio.html

"FFmpeg for other importable audio formats

You can install the optional FFmpeg library to import a much larger range of audio formats including AC3, AMR(NB), M4A, MP4 and WMA (if the files are not DRM-protected to work only in particular software).

FFmpeg will also import audio from most video files or DVDs that are not DRM-protected."

Edit the MP4 audio, save it, and then import the editied audio back into your project, make sure it syncs correctly, and then silence or delete the original audio.

Hope this helps,

David

[Thor]

If you use Camtasia for video you can export audio only, work on it and reimport it. 

[Anonymous]

Taking out echos in audacity is going to be difficult, if not impossible. You are better off just re-recording with a better mic/room.

[Juriy]

As was mentioned by @Anonymous , dealing with echo is usually a hard process to perform in post-production, so I'd join that advice. 

In cases if it is not feasible (i.e. you recorded the whole course this way and only realized afterwards) it is still possible to separate audio from video and edit the tracks individually. MP4 is a "container format" that acts almost like a zip file, putting together video track(s), audio track(s), subtitles and other useful information in one file. It is not hard to extract the parts from mp4 file. 

I am a "command line" guy, so I would use ffmpeg for that. ffmpeg is a open-source video processing utility. It requires some time to go throught a million of options and flags that it has but it gets the job done. 

Here you can find a list of useful FFMPEG commands https://gist.github.com/protrolium/e0dbd4bb0f1a396fcb55

And the one that you're looking for to extract audio is probably this one:

> ffmpeg -i input-video.avi -vn -acodec copy output-audio.aac

[Anonymous]

I guess I am at a bit of a crossroads here. @DavidBookbinder , @Thor ,  @Anonymous , and @Juriy ;  I truly appreciate your valuable responses.I don't want to whine. Nor come across as unappreciative when I share my frustration that I now decided that will never get this course launched if I don't just go with what I've got.

I started developing this course over a year ago and had the structure and content blocked out and the drafts written by last April. Since then I've been struggling with the endless cycle of buying equipment, overcoming their related and undocumented technical issues leading to having to develop unexpected skill sets which in turn started the equipment / software acquisition cycle all over again.

If I could have any confidence that the downloading and installing another library or purchasing a different editing software or acquiring another, better microphone would be the final iteration and that I could then return my attention to course content development I'd do it. Right now. But I just no longer have that confidence in my technical abilities.

Udemy feedback is that   "Your test video passes our minimum requirements for our quality review process, but..." so I guess I'll have to take a chance despite my skills deficiencies. But that in no way diminishes my appreciation and respect for your insights.

[Thor]

It makes sense, also never see a course as a static product. 

I keep updating mine, tweaking them, getting better equipment to make higher quality and making it easier for me. 

If you get student feedback in reviews you know where to fix things.

My biggest mistake with my first course (now retired) was to try to make it perfect. 

[Anonymous]

The echo is largely a result of the room you are recording in, since all echo is, is the sound of your voice bouncing off the walls and back to your mic.

Carpeted floors and a dynamic mic should limit echo. As a matter of fact, I have a simple blue yeti mic and a carpeted office (12' x 15'). I have no echo problems. You shouldn't need lots of equipment or tech knowledge to avoid echo.

[StephanieTo520]

Hey anonymous,

It's been a few years, so I'm not sure if you'll catch my reply. I'm wondering, though, how it went for you in 2019? Here it is 2022, and I'm getting the same feedback from Udemy on my videos. I've recorded half of them-- took me ages to get it pulled together to do that-- and now I'm faced with learning yet another piece of software, Audacity, to possibly but not definitely clarify my voice and eliminate echo.  My videos have met the minimum Udemy requirement, too, so I'm wondering about just publishing them.

Did you publish as they were, or were you able to clean them up? How did it go? How was feedback from your students on the audio?

Stephanie