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Audio all of a sudden not syncing with rushes (but does in FCPX)
Hi – I hope someone can help me.
I am shooting standard interviews on a Canon 1D MK4, 25fps 1080p (and recording reference audio using the camera mic) and recording audio on a Zoom H4n, Stereo 48KHz 24bit.
I used the Canon Log and Transfer plugin to transcode the footage to ProRes 422HQ when I brought the footage into FCP7. I just bring the wav audio files in without transcoding (as I have done every other time).Now, when I try to sync the rushes at the beginning of a clip (the longest being around 12 mins) the audio progressively goes out of sync with the vision the further you move the playhead along. I have tried to change the speed of the audio to see if that’s the issue but that didn’t work (so I guess its not the issue). I have also trashed preferences but to no avail.
What’s weird is that I brought the original H.264 into FCPX (that I have just recently installed) and was able to sync the audio to the rushes perfectly! **CONSPIRACY?!** (everyone loves a good conspiracy)
Since I have just started playing around with FCPX I don’t want to get stuck into using it for an entire important project – hence me wanting to cut it in FCP7.So what I did for that 2hr interview was – brought H.264 and audio into FCPX and synced them up then exported those individual synced clips as ProRes 422HQ to be used in FCP7 AND THEN changed the timecode of the clips in FCP7 to match the original time of day timecode that the Canon Plugin would have given them!! ARGH! Only took 2 days to sync a 2hr talking head…awesome…
So for the next interview I got the sound guy to use a different Zoom recorder (for the hell of it) but the same problem occurred. By this stage the only syncing that worked was between the H.264 and audio in FCPX so I decided to take a ProRes 422HQ clip to another computer (iMac) to try syncing it on FCP7 (with no FCPX in the system) – IT WORKED! **CONSPIRACY**
Now, I’ve been trying to find similar threads to this but the main thing I can find is people having issues with 44.1/48KHz – but that’s not my problem.
Please, feel free to debunk my conspiracy theory of Apple crippling FCP7 a bit to make you use FCPX.
JUST PLEASE HELP ME – I don’t want to spend 2 more days syncing a talking head again.
Let me know if you need any more info…THANKS!
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4 Replies
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As a test, make a new project.
Hit control-q and choose a 1080p25 easy setup.
Save FCP. Quit FCP. Reopen FCP. Very important to do all of those.
Import and your logged and transferred ProRes clips.
Import your h4n audio.
Sync?
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Thanks Jeremy
That worked a treat for the first clip (so hopefully it will for the others).
Do you know why I had the issues I did and how this fixed it?
After I posted this morning I noticed that only in my system my audio had the green render lines on it.…oh well…so much for my conspiracy theory…
Thanks again Jeremy.
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No conspiracy just an old behaviour. Matt Lyon wrote a tutorial on the problem and the correct way to import audio assets into FCP.
https://library.creativecow.net/lyon_matt/fixing-fcp-assets/1
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If you read that article that Michael linked to (I always forget about that one, thanks Michael) it explains what’s happening. You can even fix your current project if you want to via XML, as the article goes through the process.
Basically, the audio gets tagged to the frame rate that is setup in your easy setup when you import it. So if your easy setup is 29.97, FCP will tag the audio to 29.97 and it of course will playback at the wrong rate knocking it out of sync with the video. To ensure the proper frame rate is selected, you have to choose the proper easy setup, quit and reopen FCP and then import your audio. At that point everything is in sync.
It’s a little quirk that has been happening for quite some time. Maybe FCPx fixed it.
Jeremy
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