Eddie AI
Contact salesSign inSign up
Features
Solutions
Resources
PricingGet the appContact salesSign in
EddieDaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve · Projects and workflow

How to add audio description in DaVinci Resolve

Updated 5 stepsFor DaVinci Resolve

The short answer

Write a description for each gap in the dialogue, record it as voice-over on its own audio track, and lower the program audio under it. Where there is no gap, make room with a freeze frame for an extended description.

Jump to the steps Do it in Eddie
DaVinci Resolve's color page on an iMac, with an editing control panel, an audio interface and a mouse on the desk.
Photo by JC Gellidon on Unsplash

5 steps

In DaVinci Resolve

  1. 01Find the gaps
  2. 02Write the descriptions
  3. 03Record them
  4. 04Make room where needed
  5. 05Mix it

  1. 01

    Find the gaps

    Watch the edit and note each place where the dialogue leaves room for a description.

  2. 02

    Write the descriptions

    Describe what matters on screen in short, plain sentences that fit each gap.

  3. 03

    Record them

    In recent versions, choose Timeline > Record Voiceover on the Edit page and record onto a new track, or use Fairlight's ADR tools.

  4. 04

    Make room where needed

    For extended description, cut the clip at the right frame, right-click and choose Retime Controls, then choose Freeze Frame from the speed menu and stretch the freeze to fit the description.

  5. 05

    Mix it

    Lower the program audio under each description on the Fairlight page, and render a separate described version.

Eddie AI

Do it in Eddie

Ask Eddie to audio-describe the edit, and it builds the described version.

Say "Make an audio-described version of this edit." Eddie makes a new "(extended AD)" edit with voice-over descriptions and still-frame pauses, extended by default or standard if you ask. It costs 200 credits a minute and uses a US female or US male voice. No human reviews the descriptions, so check them.

In Resolve, from the .drp or the FCPXML, each pause arrives as a still image at its own place; the stills are in Generated assets on the Export menu, beside the description audio, so keep them next to the timeline file. Delivery of a described edit to a Resolve cloud project isn't available yet.

Back to Resolve

Open the edit, click Export and choose Resolve. The default is a Resolve project (.drp) that opens with the timeline built; behind the arrow is a Resolve FCPXML you bring into the project you have open with File > Import > Timeline. In the desktop app, Send to DaVinci Resolve builds the timeline in the Resolve you have running, through Eddie's script (Workspace > Scripts > Eddie AI AE).

If you imported the footage through the desktop app, the timeline points at your original camera files. If you uploaded on the web or pulled from cloud storage, it points at Eddie's proxy media: relink to those in the Media Pool with Relink Selected Clips, not to the camera originals.

Try it in Eddie freeNew accounts start with 500 free credits.
An interview logged in Eddie: three speakers found and their best lines listed with timecodes.

From the help center

FAQ

Questions

What is extended audio description?
The picture pauses so a description can play where the dialogue leaves no gap.
Does DaVinci Resolve generate audio description?
No. You write and record the descriptions yourself.

Projects and workflow

More DaVinci Resolve questions

Let Eddie do the DaVinci Resolve busywork

Add your footage, say what you want, and send the cut back to your editor. New accounts start with free credits.

Try Eddie freeSee pricing