QLab 5 Audio Programming Guide

Here are some tips for basic audio funcitons.

Converting Audio File Formats in Apple Music

MP3 files sometimes have timing issues and can skip or hang up, especially on large files. It is always better to use WAV files or AIFF files.

If you have an MP3 file that you want to use for a show, you'll want to convert it to a WAV file.

Here's how you do this using Apple Music:

1. Launch Apple Music. Make sure your Apple Music import settings are set to wav by going to the Music menu > Preferences > Files > Import Settings > select create using WAV Encoder.
   
2. Back in your music list, highlight your desired sound file and go to File > Convert > Create WAV Version.
   
3. Drag the new version from your music list to your desktop or show folder.
   

Note: If you purchased the file online, it may be restricted and you may not be able to change the format.

Patching QLab Audio and Video Devices

For presenting your image and sound stories, you'll need to patch different audio and video devices.

Step 1. Go to your QLab Workspace Settings by selecting the gear icon in the bottom right of the QLab window.

Step 2. Select the Audio Tab.

Step 3. Set Audio Patch.

Step 4. Select the Video Tab.

Step 5. Edit Surface.

Step 6. Replace Screen.

Step 7. Select Done.

QLab 4 Tutorials - Basic Audio Functions

1. Setting Up your Workspace

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2. Creating and Deleting Audio Cues

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3. Setting Audio Levels

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4. Looping and Trimming a Sound

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5. Adjusting the Speed of a Sound

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6. Fading Up a Sound on Both Channels

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7. Fading Channels Separately and Panning a Sound

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8. Following Cues

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QLab 4 WalkThrough Tutorial

Here is a step-by-step walk through of the basic audio functions of QLab 4.

To complete this tutorial, you'll need these content files.

Research Images and Video Footage

Resolution

When you're looking for images for a design collage or for research, you want to make sure the resolution of the images you find at least 1000 pixels in one direction. Most of the time this will ensure that it is high enough to project, print, or use later in your 3D model.

Usage Rights

When designing for a theatre company it is important to pay attention to the usage rights for images you might use in your final design. You'll do well to familiarize yourself with Creative Commons licenses.

Google Images

Under the tools menu in a Google image search there are features that allow you to filter for high resolution (large) images, and by usage rights (Creative Commons licenses).

Stock Images

Another good way to find high quality images (and this is usually my preference) is to search royalty free stock photo websites.

Here are some sites I use most.

Pixabay, Flickr and stock.xchng have good amateur stock photos, and are free and easy.

Lost and Taken texture gallery and texture lovers are good for textures and are also free.

You can find great images on sites like istockphoto, which has good images that you buy for $12-33.

Storyblocks.com Has photos and video as well as music and effects. Requires a low cost subscription but has lots of good material.

For specific period images you can search the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog or the Life database hosted by google images.

Video Footage

You can find great stock video footage at istockphoto and Getty images, but you can expect to pay somewhere around $50-$100 for a clip.

Storyblocks.com Has photos and video as well as music and effects. Requires a low cost subscription but has lots of good material.

Royalty Free Sounds

There are lots of resources out there for free sounds and music. Below are a few that students have found helpful. Some require you to set up an account in order to download their files.

Sound Effects:

• BBC Sound Effectsarchive has a great collection of all their sounds
• Findsounds.com You can specify settings 44.1K, 16-bit. Once you find a sound you like, you'll need to "right click" (control+click on a mac) on the link and select "Download Linked File As..." in order to save it to your show folder.
• Soundbible.com 
• Freesound.org You will need to register for an account.
• Storyblocks.com Requires a low cost subscription but has lots of good material, including music and effects as well as photos and video.

Music:

• Freeplaymusic.com has a wide variety of free underscore and instrumental music. They also have songs with words, which are mostly not helpful. In order to weed those out, go to the Browse Catalog link at the top and select Freeplay Music from the left. You might also find it helpful to search by style or feeling or tempo. You will need to set up an account in order to download.
• Bensound.com Has free as well as paid licensed music.
• Storyblocks.com Has music and effects, as well as photos and video. Requires a low cost subscription but has lots of good material.

If you're designing for an on-campus production, check with me and I can also give you access to our sound effects library.

Soundflower for QLab

If you want to set audio levels in QLab while not being patched into the theatre sound system, you are only able to work with the 2 channels of your built-in computer audio. However, if you want to set preliminary levels for more than just the first two channels, you'll want to download Soundflower.

Soundflower is a handy little application that tricks your computer into thinking it is connected to an audio interface. Once you install Soundflower, QLab will recognize it and will allow you to patch to it. It has a 16 channel option and a 2 channel option. Use the 16 channels.

Of course, no sound will come out because it is not actually a piece of hardware. But you will be able to make a guess and set some preliminary levels on multiple channels.

Sound and Video Test Files

When you are loading in sound or projections, you'll want to have some test files on hand. For sound, you want a piece of music that you know well, has a good range of frequencies, and that you don't mind listening to over and over. For video, you'll want a series of test images to focus your projectors.

MOTU driver

If you need the driver for our MOTU UltraLite-mk3, you can download it from the MOTU website.

QLab Tutorial

Here is a tutorial for programming sound in QLab, the software we use for sound playback.

Technology as a Collaborator

For you light and sound designers, here is an interesting TED talk that explores technology as a collaborator in storytelling.

In Production

Here are some of the video cues in the final product. It's a little anti-climactic without actors and lights, but gives a sense of the scope of the project.

Video Elevations

Here are some video elevations. I thought I'd be able to get a sense of the composition by just manipulating the images in QLab and adjusting them with the monitor setup in my office, but I wasn't able to keep a good sense of the set (especially since all my monitors are the same size). So I used a photo of the model, cut out the screens in Photoshop, and am manipulating the images in layers underneath the set.

Joel Bock's photos are working great. He shot the restaurant, the classroom, Dr. Waller, and Dr. Jinks. He's also taking video footage of traffic.

QLab Demo

This is the QLab programming station I have set up. And here is a video of the demo I put together to show the program and its possibilities to the artistic team. There are around 40 video cues in 100 seconds. The show is around 2 hours long...