Use several cameras and sound files in one project

A project can hold several recordings of the same performance: a phone in front, a camera from the side, and the clean sound of a recorder or audio interface. They all play together on one timeline. You add them when you create the project; in the editor you choose which are heard, how loud, and which videos are on.

Before you start

• Every file must be the same take, recorded at the same time. Files of different takes do not belong in one project.
• The files are added when the project is created, and stay as they are. The editor never adds, swaps or removes a file.

Steps

Add the files when you create the project

1. In the Create project dialog, drop all the videos and audio files at once, or press Choose files and pick them together (create a project).
2. The first video is the Main video. Under each other video, FlowChord asks how it relates to it, with Another angle of the same take already picked. To use another one as the main video, pick A different take — make this the main video instead.
3. Under an audio file, FlowChord asks what it is for: Use it as the soundtrack when it lasts as long as the video, else Only use it to detect chords. Keep the choice or pick the other.
4. To take a file out again, press the × on its card.
5. Create the project as usual.

The chords and the lyrics are heard from the audio file when there is one, else from the main video.

FlowChord then lines the files up by ear, so files that were not started at the same moment play together (line up files).

Choose what is heard in the editor

1. In the editor, open the Extra tab of the settings card. On a phone, open the Extra tool.
2. Open the Assets section. Its files are listed under Videos and Audio.
3. Use a file’s switch to put it in use or leave it out.
4. Press a file’s speaker to mute or unmute it.
5. Drag the level beside the speaker to set how loud the file is in the mix.

Options

On a file’s row	What it means
Used for chords	The chords were heard from this file.
Used for lyrics	The lyrics were heard from this file.
Used for chords and lyrics	Both came from this file.
Full frame	The video fills the picture.
Off	The file is not used: not shown and not heard.

What plays at first

• One video fills the picture. Two videos share it, the first on top in the vertical format and on the left in the horizontal one.
• Two videos show at a time. A third stays off until you switch one of the others off.
• A soundtrack is heard and the videos are silent. An audio file kept only for the chords starts muted, and the video is heard. Without an audio file, the first video is heard.

Which video shows where

Where each video sits in the frame, how much room it takes, and whether one sits over the other are set in the Video tab (the Video tab). The Assets section is only about sound and which files are in use.

Tips

• Start every camera and recorder before you play, and keep them close enough to hear the music. FlowChord lines the files up by the sound they share.
• A recorder or an audio interface usually gives the cleanest sound for the chords. Add it as an audio file: the chords are heard from it.
• A muted file keeps its level, so unmuting it brings back the mix you set.

Common problems

I want to add a file to a finished project. Files are chosen once. Create another project with all the files.

A file is refused when I add it. A project holds a limited number of files: A project holds up to 4 videos and 4 audio files.

A file I added is not in the list. Its upload failed or was cut short when the project was created, so the project cannot use it.

A switch cannot be turned off. At least one file stays on.

A third video does not come on. Two videos show at a time, switch one off to show another.

There is no sound. When every file is muted, the section says No file is heard right now, unmute one to have sound. Unmute one of them.

A file ends before the others. A video that ends early holds its last picture, and an audio file goes silent. Nothing else moves.

The files are out of step. Under Sync in the same section, line them up by hand (line up files).