Suggestions please for Narrator vs Background Music levels

HI Guys
I have recenty recorded some narratIons over some background music
Reflecting 4 weeks later on the recording and how I might have done things diffferently in order to improve things I came to the conclusion that there is not enough distinctiveness to the narrator whilst clashing with the dynamic range of the backgrOund music
Apart from hard limiting no other effects were really used.
How would everyone deal with this problem?
Simply Lower music levels?
Use compression on either or both Narrator and final mix?
Some other approach?
Thanks
Pete

Perennial problem, this. Partly the correct answer depends, believe it or not, on the age of your target audience. The younger you are, the easier it is for you to discriminate between dialogue and anything else (not just music) going on in the background. So if you want to play safe, you arrange that the peak levels of your dialogue track are somewhere between 12-15dB higher than whatever is behind it, because that should do for just about everybody. That said, it's clearly easier to hear through some types of music than others, so if you have made the mistake of having something, say, percussive or even worse, with lyrics then this really does need to be quite a long way down.
But...
My personal take on this is, according to some people, rather harsh, although I think that it's perfectly reasonable; and that is that unless the music is adding something very specific and intentional, it shouldn't be there anyway. So I find the concept of 'background' music to be something of an anathma, I'm afraid. Have relevant music by all means - but then I want to hear it, and don't really want it talked over! FWIW, I happen to know that I'm not exactly alone in having this view either...

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Hello
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This will be for music that is playing behind dialogue, so I am looking for instrumentals and/or beats.
Thanks!
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I just finished putting together my first Adobe Captivate 5 project and there is one last detail I need to learn how to do. I have recorded narration on every slide. I now want to insert background music underneath my title (first) slide and on the conclusion (last) slide. Somehow I accomplished this on the first slide, but I cannot remember how I did it and cannot seem to replicate it on the last slide. I imported the jingle called Corporate Video2 from the Adobe library. When I click on my last slide and go to Properties and click Edit Audio, I hear my narration. When I click on my last slide and then go up to the little music note icon up top on the toolbar called “Background Audio” I see and hear the corporate video jingle. How do I meld these into one audio file? What is the proper technique to add background audio? Should you lay down the background music first and then record audio or the other way around? Is there some little trick or glitch I’m missing? I only want to do this on one slide, not the entire project. When I preview the project I only get narration, no music, even though when I go to Background Audio, it looks like I have successfully imported the music file. PLEASE HELP! I got this far and want to put this project to bed! Thank you.

Hi there,
Welcome to Adobe Captivate Forums
In Captivate audio can be recorded to 1. Slides, 2. Objects and 3. Project background.
So you can record in whatever way you want to. In the case from what you mention, i can understand that you need to add background audio to first and last slide of your project.
First let me explain you that background audio will be for the entire project. So if you add an audio to project background then it plays for the project till the end of audio. If you want the audio to loop over and play again then you need to enable that option in background audio dialog. This way audio will play in background for the entire project.
Now considering your case i can understand that you have recorded audio for individual slides. So the slides already have a audio and you cant add two audio files to the slide. To accomplish this what you can do is to insert a text caption on first slide ( and last slide) of the project and make the text caption transparent. Later you can delete the text of the text caption . This way you have an object on slide which is not visible to others. Now you can import audio( background music) to this text caption and in the published output you can hear the audio from the text caption and the slide audio.
This will give you narration + Background audio on specific slides effect.
Try it out and let us know if you wanted anything more than this.
Thanks
Ashwin Bharghav B
Adobe Captivate Team

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they are all without exception either unnecessary (just pretty shells for the underlying UNIX/X utils) useless AND greedy $-gougers, just
useless, or just money gougers
Such a high-esteem for fellow human beings - and
programmers...
You know, there are some good decent nice people
behind those names?
You'd be amazed at how much testing goes into a product.
[SNIP]
g'day Hatter...
Yes, I know there are some good decent nice people behind those names..fellow human beings - and fellow programmers (so yes, I do know...) In previous incarnations I have 'thunk up' and developed, Marketed & supported considerably more complex Apps & systems myself - I even know some of the people you mention personally - and they are usually decent Blokes/women but normally, it isn't the programmers who make the decisions on pricing/features/support/performance/upgrade costs & cycles etc...
My only error was, I agree, the phrase 'without exception' - but (mainly) only because I haven't bought/tested & used all of them very very recently. So I offer my apologies to those to whom my remarks should not apply (long, late night/early morning frustration...)
However, I also offer a few simple pertinent examples:
One 'top name' Utility company had a 'save your Mac HD' product on the market for some time that was almost guaranteed to TRASH it irretrievably but did NOT say so - nor did they help or compensate those they harmed.
Several are selling what amount to simple, pretty, GUI shells for 'free' or OS-included command line tools - no more, no less but do NOT say so and are asking good money for the 'software'.
Many are asking ridiculous prices for "regular upgrades" so you can keep their tool current with your Mac OS - one wants US$100/year for it, another, $15 per u/g, others, US$25 or $40 per u/g; one asks 'only' $10 - and these 'upgrades' are happening 3,4,5,6 times per year and are necessary for the Marketing company to keep their product Saleable to new purchasers and new Macs (as well as for important Bug Fixes - and only co-incidentally to keep it performing with your current Mac and OS - which is what you paid them for in the first place).
I won't pay for a product 3, 6 or 9 times and I won't advise my clients to: It's not unreasonable for a person to expect a 'sensible lifetime/currency' of Product X for Computer Y - say 3 years (e.g. AppleCare). I wouldn't object to paying for an "upgrade" at that point - IF it's worth the money.
Software is Waaay too expensive in many cases and is simply inviting 'piracy' - from people who have already PAID for the product: sadly, they are killing their own Gooses.
Seriously, one product costs ca. US$100 to Buy in the first place
To keep it actually working for you costs about the same again Per Year - a 3 year 'sensible lifetime' or 'currency' cost of US$300 or $400! [That'll buy a lot of 'bare drives' to put in a handy Firewire case for automatic backups in Background, differential backups etc. and other simple practices which render this product type largely unnecessary ].
For what? A relatively simple set of utilities which would actually cost the company involved less than $5 total each - over 3 years - to make available to existing ( or 'current') owners. [Applecare 'complete' Hardware and Software warranty & support on a US$2000 iMac - which includes Tech Tools Pro Deluxe or somesuch costs about US$165 for 3 years. Total.]
Having designed, developed, Marketed, supported & maintained more complex Applications to/for a sizeable user-base (in US terms) over multiple complete Series of Product 'life-cycles' - regular Updates and all, I think I know where the pirates are.
These practices have been rampant in the MSWindows™ market for a longtime. It's a real shame to see it in the Mac world.
I have all the esteem in the world for those fellow human beings who deserve such - and programmers who are 'good decent nice people'.
I have none to spare for monopolists, 'exploitationists' or any of those who take unfair/unreasonable advantage of their fellow human beings - AND of programmers who are 'good decent nice people' (like, say, ME... .
In any event, as I said: they are "killing their Gooses": I know of at least 6 software companies which went this route a while back. All are dead or dying.
Thank you for your help - and the opportunity to apologise for 'mis-speaking'.
all the best,
orig g4 733, many others thru (the luvly) Macintels New & old Macs, Wintels, MacIntels, other systems...

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I'll give you my recipe to attain your goal. Then, please, tell me if it worked.
First of all, you need some MB of disc space on the web, and almost all of the e-mail providers (such hotmail.com, msn.com aol.com andso.on) can give you this chance.
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Enjoy it
slowly, slowly catch the monkey

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hello,
I don't seem to have any input level lights when adding narration. The lights show up for audio and soundtracks but not for narration. How can I fix this please??

Hello again - thanks for being so patient!
My asio settings are Output   X(box crossed) Realtek High Definition Audio
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lvel lights are working now, BUT now when I try to add the narration, the
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Hi azuzeno, welcome to the forums and happy holidays,
About Batteries. http://www.apple.com/batteries/
From //www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
"Battery Lifespan For Apple notebooks with removable batteries — such as previous generation MacBook and MacBook Pro computers — a properly maintained battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 300 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.
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You could also book an appointment for the Genius Bar. http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/ They may be able to save you a few dollars.

Suggestions please for Narrator vs Background Music levels

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