How to sync two video clips to one audio track? (5 posts)

Topic tags: audio sync problems, final cut pro 7 and before
  • Profile picture of Philip Brubaker Philip Brubaker said 1 year ago:

    Two cameras captured the same interview from two different angles, but only one camera recorded sound. Now I am trying to match clips in the timeline but the audio does not stay in sync at all…same frame rate but different data rates…is that the problem? HELP.

  • Profile picture of Guy Cochran Guy Cochran said 1 year ago:

    Hi Phillip,

    Which two cameras specifically? Can you let us know what the frame rate and video format was? If they’re dramatically different, you may need to adjust the Speed of 1 of the clips (usually the B camera) and hand sync the clips. One may be faster or slower than the other. If your “B” clip is selected in the FCP Timeline, the keyboard shortcut is CMD+J to adjust the Speed. Next shoot, you may want to make sure that the camera settings are matched as close as possible and feed the audio to both cameras. For example, we have two sets of Sennheiser wireless. One transmitter is on the subject and we use two receivers, one on each camera, to transmit the sound to each camera. This makes it easy to use Plural eyes or to hand sync. I put a clap at the head and at the tail of each shot. When you turn on Audio Waveforms in the Timeline (CMD + Option + “W”), it makes it super easy to visually see where the spike occurred. Sometimes I’ll put a marker on the clip at the spike to make it real easy to line up with Snapping turned on in the Timeline (keyboard shortcut “N”).

  • Profile picture of Philip Brubaker Philip Brubaker said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Hi,
    I used two Panasonic AF-100s and the frame rate is 29.97. Your advice for next time is good and I understand it. As for this current problem it seems like there should be a way to sync these clips without manually adjusting them piece by piece.

    Philip

  • Profile picture of Josh Mellicker Josh Mellicker said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Data rates should not make a difference… you are saying when you place the clips in one timeline they “drift” out of sync?

  • Profile picture of Philip Brubaker Philip Brubaker said 2 months, 4 weeks ago:

    Hey remember this?

    The solution was not to use the clips – they didn’t really fit in the larger whole. I have since done similar audio matching; such as recording dialogue with an H4N Zoom and syncing it with an interview shot on a Panasonic AF-100.

    Thanks to everyone who offered help.