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Issue with syncing audio recorded @ 44.1k, and video shot at 48k (23.976 FPS)
Hi there,
I’d like to start out by saying I’m new to FCPX and video in general. I video taped a live concert with my Canon T2i. 24 (23.976 FPS) and 48k. I also took a multitrack feed of the mixer to a laptop that was recording at 44.1. I now understand that 48k is more appropriate for video, and will record at 48k next time. When I went to drop my video clips into FCPX, they dropped in just fine. I then mixed my multitrack audio, rendered my mixes down to 44.1 wave files and brought them into FCPX. when I went to line them up, I noticed a considerable difference in speed. The camera audio seamed normal, and the multitrack audio seamed a little slow. I went on many forums to see if other people have had my problem and I felt better than many other people have. The most common solutions were things along the lines of “resampling” the audio at 48k in Soundtrack (which I tried and didn’t work). Convert the video in Compressor (which didn’t seam to work either). So after hours of “monkeying around” I clicked a button in FCP X called Conform Speed, to my extreme surprise, it sped my audio up to 109%. I lined the clip up, and it synced up perfectly! ! I thought I had my answer, until I tried doing it again, only to find I couldn’t get FCPX to do it again. I then manually adjusted the audio clip speed to 109%, which seamed to of worked fine, but some clips seamed seamed like I couldn’t get it perfect. My reference point is the drummer. Sometimes you can see his stick hit he drum perfectly timed with the audio, other times its a hair off. In FCPX you can move the speed of an audio clip to 109 and move it back and forth a hair or two and it still be 109%. At no point do you see the exact math, for example 109.25%. . Can anyone help me figure out how FCPX can do the math again for me and automatically adjust my clips the way it did that one time? I’ve tried to repeat my steps over a dozen times and without luck. I know you guys are the pros on here, so hopefully you have some advice for “noobs” like me. Hopefully I gave enough information for my situation to make sense.Thanks in advance!
Michael Moore -
13 Replies
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I’m really surprised to hear FCP X has the same sample rate problems FCP always has had. I had thought that was fixed. Typically I use QT7 to convert 44.1 to 48 and maintain speed. I’ve used Telestream Episode to convert when I needed a speed shift (without pitch shift), for example in the starting days of the 5D when they didn’t do fractional rates. Try converting your mix in QT7, import and resync and see if that works. Also use AIF and not WAV.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Michael Moore] “I then mixed my multitrack audio, rendered my mixes down to 44.1 wave files and brought them into FCPX. when I went to line them up, I noticed a considerable difference in speed. “
Explain the process of what you did here.
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I used a Presonus Studio Live console to record into Presonus Studio One software at the sampling rate of 44.1 (I didn’t know I should of used 48). I mixed the files multitrack (We had an individual channel for each instrument) and exported the file @ 44.1 (which it was recorded at). When I brought the wave file in to FCPX the speed on the audio was a little slower than the video. I tried exporting the multitrack recording at 48, but it didn’t change the speed, just the tags that says what sampling rate it is.
I know from last night that the difference in speed between my video and the multi tracked audio I got is 9%. The multitrack is 9% slower than the video and the audio from the onboard microphone.
What is really making me crazy is that ONE TIME when I pressed the conform speed button in FCPX, it set my “good” audio to 109% which perfectly made it match the video. Every other time I press this button it doesn’t do anything. I can manually adjust the audio to 109%, but there is a little room for error in that you can move the file’s timing a tiny bit forward and backwards and it still be 109%. What I would really need to do this manually would be a read out of like 109.25%, that way I could perfectly duplicate what FCPX did for me that one time. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
@ Oliver: The only version of quicktime I have is quicktime 10, and it doesn’t have any options for exporting the files differently than the way they are. I do have Compressor, but I didn’t seam to have any luck with a change in speed when I ran the files through there. I tried exporting my multitrack as an AIFF file, and then tried pressing the conform speed button in FCPX, but it didn’t do anything. Is there another advantage of using AIFF files over .Wavs? Coming from a non-video sound background, .wav is the only format I am used to exporting to.
Thanks guys!
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I should mention that when I went to line the files up, I did it manually by moving them into place with the video in the main timeline, and the audio beneath it. I got the files to be in sync for a few seconds, then the audio would “drag” behind it. FCPX determined correctly that the audio is 9% slower. I just wish I could get FCPX to conform speed for every audio file I have, and with some consistency.
The footage is a multiple small clips (1-2 minutes each) of a band playing, which I’m ultimately trying to sync to full song mixes that I plan on chopping up to match the length of the video files. Once I’ve replaced all of the onboard camera audio with the really good sounding multi tracked audio, then I will actually start the video editing process.
Hope this helps.
Mike -
[Michael Moore] “I used a Presonus Studio Live console to record into Presonus Studio One software”
OK. So you did the mix in Studio One.
Let’s start there.
Just as a test (and it’s only a test).
Did you have a guide track going to your video camera?
If you take the audio from the video camera, and add it to the Presonus mix, does the timing match?
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[Michael Moore] “The only version of quicktime I have is quicktime 10, and it doesn’t have any options for exporting the files differently than the way they are. I do have Compressor, but I didn’t seam to have any luck with a change in speed when I ran the files through there”
Download and install QT 7 (free) . If you have FCP7 on the system it will enable the Pro features. Not sure about if you only have FCP X on the system. In any case. QT7 Pro will enable exports and conversions including 44.1 to 48 without a speed/pitch change. It’s also possible that your recording system did not have a reliable enough clock. That’s happened to me in the past with Zoom recorders other than the H4n.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
OK, but let’s take FCPX out of it for a second.
Does the camera audio match the multitrack record in the Presonus mix?
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Good Question! I just took the audio from the on board camera and put it on a new track in my Presonus Studio One project, and the audio is still off. Same results, on board audio is quicker. Seams like its not FCPX that messing the timing up, rather the actual files are different speeds.
I didn’t use guide track (I actually had to google the term). I am a drummer / musician myself, so I though I would be able to pretty easily line things up manually. I still feel like I could do it fine as long as the speed of the audio matched up.
What would you recommend I try next?
Thank you for your patience with me.
Mike -
[Michael Moore] “What would you recommend I try next?”
Well, I am unfamiliar with Presonus so it’s hard to trouble shoot.
It seems odd that the timing would be off as a second should be a second.
Is there some sort of master clock or guide in Presonus? Perhaps a frame rate of some sort? Or some sort of tag that can control the timing?
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@ Oliver:
I downloaded QT7.7 from the apple website, but when I go to install it, it says I can’t install it because QT X is already present. I tried my other drives, and it said it has to be loaded on the same drive I boot from. I don’t know if there is a work around for this.
I don’t have a copy of FCP7 because I was messing around with it over a friends house and I honestly felt like its over my head. My friends say how great it is, but to be honest I do live sound for a living and am looking to add “band trailers” to what I do. Just snippets of live performances with really good audio so that bands can promote themselves, which in the end will get me more gigs. I played around with iMovie before FCPX and feel like its dummied down interface suits my needs well. I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with some of the more advanced features that FCP7 offers.
I do trust my recording system’s clock though. It is a Presonus digital mixer recording over firewire to my Macbook Pro. I just think the problem is that I didn’t know I should of recorded at 48 when I plan on syncing with video. Now I know, but am still stuck on how to get my files speeds to consistently match. If the video I got didn’t look as good as it did, I would just scrap this project and try again.
Thank you
Mike
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