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4 · Choose the best moments inside a clip

Find important moments in the audio waveform

The audio waveform shows how sound in the video changes over time. Follow the timeline to find where speech starts, a pause, or a sudden rise in volume.

  1. In preview, look at the audio waveform on the timeline. Parts where the audio hits the limit are drawn in red.
  2. Click where you want to review. The video plays from that moment.
  3. Turn up the audio and listen to the relevant part.
  4. Mark the part you’ll use as a scene or add a time to your note.

If the audio waveform isn’t ready for a clip yet, Merceq starts preparing it when you open the video. It usually appears within a few seconds; it may take longer for long videos. You don’t need to close and reopen the clip. No waveform appears for a clip without audio.

Parts with speech appear as dim blue blocks inside the timeline. The block playing at that moment is brighter. These blocks aren’t clickable.

You may see different marks on either side of the audio waveform:

  • On the outer side of the waveform (away from the video) are things Merceq detected: blue speech sections and an orange line showing image problems.
  • On the inner side of the waveform (between the waveform and time information) are marks you added: scenes as a thin amber line, and note timestamps as small amber dots.

Hover over a mark to see what it shows; click to go to that moment. Tags don’t appear on the timeline: a tag applies to the whole clip, not a specific moment.

Audio alerts

If audio details are ready, you’ll see small icons on the right of the lower row:

  • Audio clipping, for example, “Audio clipping · 0:12, 0:40”.
  • Wind, for example, “Wind · 3 sec · 0:05”.
  • Silent, for example, “Silent · 4 sec · …”.

If there’s more than one event of the same type, a count appears in the corner of the icon. Each click on the icon takes you to 0.4 seconds before the next event.

The audio waveform and these alerts are separate kinds of information. The waveform visualizes sound; alerts are based on the prepared analysis results. Not every clip has all alerts.