How to build essentially an effect template for Music videos?

[Grendafulo]

I am assuming Adobe tech support won't be able to help me on this as its more use than feature.  So I hope the community can help.  I am a DJ and I post videos of my mixes on my youtube channel.  I have gotten VERY lazy due to the pain in the butt workflow and I am sure its a easier way to do this.

Here is an example of the end product from an Mp3 file:  https://youtu.be/fQIbmxvhNe0

The short method is this:

1-Add background+logo.

2-Add MP3 file

3-Create an blank solid layer

4-Put a "Audio Spectrum" Effect on that layer + other layers (polarization, mirror, etc)

5- Duplicate that layer 2x tweaking effects for the layered feel

6- Create another comp and create keyframes for the audio

7- Use that as part of the magnify effect on the entire thing to the music.

Now pretty straight forward to make the basics, less so to tweak the colors and some of the effect parameters but would like to do one and just use this "template" for all my other videos.  I am more technical than creative so color pallets and things like that are tough for me.

Now...what's the problem:

Each show/recording is different length.  So if I were to delete the mp3 layer, add the new song and relink it to the audio spectrum effects.  I have multiple embedded compositions of different length.  I have been trying to do it manually and through the comp settings menu I still have had issues with things not lining up and the time it takes to do it sometimes is longer than recreating a "basic" version of it from scratch.  Also with ~15-17 hr render time for the YouTube 1080p preset in ME realizing there is an error costs essentially another day to try to fix. Is there an easy way to have ALL the layers/compositions to "snap" to one layer's length?  So What I want to do for my workflow is, open my base project, Save As new file.  Remove old MP3, put new MP3, relink the effect layers to the new MP3, generate a new Keyframe layer (for the magnify effect), "Snap all layers/compositions to the new Mp3 length", export to ME for rendering.  I can do all that in <5 min vs like 15-30 to make a new one with "quick/default" color schemes or ~30-60 min to try to edit an existing and ensure the comps and layers are all set to the right length.

(BTW, does someone know how to improve this?  I have a high end rig w/ 64GB Ram (50-65% utilized), a fast SSD (3-10% utilized during render process), GEForce RTX 3080Ti GPU (~15-25% utilized during render process), and a 12 Gen Intel I9-12900KF (100% utilized).  I have the ME settings and all set for GPU accelleration but seems that these type of videos do not utilize the GPU at all.  Any ideas?

[Rick Gerard]

If all you are doing is creating a graphic and an audio visualizer for a 30 to 60-minute video, AE is the wrong tool. There are audio visualizers on the web that will create that layer in your comp automatically. You can use After Effects to create a MOGRT to be used in Premiere Pro for any animated text and logos. You would layer the graphic that does not move with the visualizer created by a different app in real-time and then use the MOGRT to add some animated custom text and graphics. 

Trying to use AE to put the entire thing together is nuts. It's not designed for that kind of production. 

If you have several two or three-minute songs, then you could possibly create the Visualizer graphic for those pieces in AE as a plain visualizer layer, then you could do the same thing for a couple of lines of dialogue or VO, then edit the entire piece in Premiere Pro. Premiere Pro will render the final edit very quickly, but it will take some time to create the music visualizer in AE. 

I think you would be much better off using one of these solutions:

https://synesthesia.live/

https://www.renderforest.com/music-visualisations

VZX Music Visualizer

or check out these tools: 13 Best Music Visualizers in 2023 - VideoProc

[Grendafulo]

Rick-  Thank you for sharing those links.  Two of them did not seem relevant at all (more for live events, backdrops).  Though the renderforest one seems like exactly what I was creating from AE.  I did not see how (maybe my ignorance) to do that sort of effect in Premier Pro.  Did you watch my youtube video I linked?  Is that possible to do in Premier Pro?

Regardless if AE is best suited tool, my question still stands.  Is there a fast way to "snap" all the layers/compositions to the length of one element?  Example, everything from file one is 1hr long.  I then swap the new music track in (keeping everything else I built and liked), but the new track is now 57:23:35 long.  How can I quickly adjust all the layers/elements to that new length?

I am already paying for CC as I use other tools for Photobooths, movie prod, photoshop, etc.  I am hesitent to pay another 20 a month for renderforest just to make something I was able to do in AE (despite the long render times).

[Mylenium]

Audio-based stuff inevitably will favor CPU and not GPU. There just isn't anything in your setup that would even require a GPU beyond encoding the video and given the other steps before that usage is minor. There's nothing to change about it, given the sucky nature of AE.

Mylenium

[Grendafulo]

Yeah I know that not everything can take advantage of GPU core (I am a Comp Sci guy), but I was thinking since it is still making a video and most of the processing is the effects and graphics (responding to the audio and audio keyframes) it would use the GPU more...  thinking maybe its a setting or something but my stuff is all set as I found on the web as recommended settings.