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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy Replacing audio with timecode-less backup audio

  • Replacing audio with timecode-less backup audio

    Posted by Brett Blake on December 2, 2011 at 11:25 pm

    Hi all-

    I have a conundrum that I hope you can help with. Here’s the situation: working on a series of webisodes on tight deadline. Audio was fed directly into the camera (EX3) from a mixer, but the audio was distorted in camera. Our sound guy recorded back-up audio that is clean, and now we’re looking to replace the camera audio with the clean wav files.

    I know that Pluraleyes could do this no problem, but our editor needed to start working on cuts and couldn’t wait for us to get the clean audio files. Now, we have some episodes that are completely locked, some that have been cleaned (unnecessary footage cut out, selects chosen). I’m not sure if pluraleyes can swap out audio from a locked cut without changing any of the timing, so am doing a test, but wondering if there is a faster/easier way to solve this problem.

    The other issue is that the audio doesn’t have matching timecode. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks so much!

    Brett Blake replied 14 years, 9 months ago 6 Members · 7 Replies
  • 7 Replies
  • Mark Raudonis

    December 2, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    Brett,

    Let me summarize your options: Your F@$%K’D!!!

    Whomever made the decision to move forward without fixing this BEFORE you started editing
    should take the responsibility to fix it now.

    THere’s no “automatic” way to do this. No Timecode? You’re absolutely F@%$K’D!

    Good luck.

    Mark

  • Brett Blake

    December 2, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    Hahaha. Thanks for the words of encouragement, Mark.

    That was my fear, but I just prayed that I was wrong.

  • Shane Ross

    December 3, 2011 at 12:34 am

    You can try this….

    https://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/Sync-N-Link/

    or still try Pluraleyes. Pluraleyes samples the audio and matches it up, so even if it is distorted, it might work.

    Otherwise, your f&%ked. When you are in a hurry, NEVER skip steps. That doesn’t save time, that only adds time. Do things right…never cut corners.

    Shane
    Little Frog Post
    Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

  • Steve Eisen

    December 3, 2011 at 5:53 am

    I agree with the above.

    If it’s dialogue, this may help speed up the process.
    https://www.borisfx.com/Soundbite/

    Steve Eisen
    Eisen Video Productions
    Vice President
    Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

  • Bouke Vahl

    December 3, 2011 at 10:51 am

    well, posted a solution but the bad word filter kicked in.
    I don’t feel like re-writing the whole shebang.
    If you need a solution, contact me direct.
    Do state how many sound files you have, and if they are BWF or not.

    (my mail adress is on my site, see below)

    Bouke

    https://www.videotoolshed.com/
    smart tools for video pros

  • Phil Balsdon

    December 3, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Try PluralEyes, I’ve been surprised at what it can match up a couple of times. It has a few features you can select to help replace poorer quality audio on the camera recording.

    Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
    https://philming.com.au
    https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

  • Brett Blake

    December 3, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Thank you all for your help. I’ve tried Pluraleyes with little to no success, and Sync-And-Link requires matching TC, so that won’t work.

    I’m having some success with a very round-about method, but it’s limited and sometimes causing FCP to act pretty wonky for reasons I can’t figure out.

    For the cuts that have already been edited, this is what I’m doing:

    – Syncing up the audio and video manually in a sequence (very easy to do with the clapboard)
    – Getting rid of the camera audio and linking the video with the clean audio
    – Exporting the new video and audio as a QT with the same file name
    – Reconnecting the original edited clip to the new media

    Sometimes, this works perfectly. The multclips reconnect, and anywhere in any sequence that media from either the video or audio tracks is used, the media reconnects and everything is peachy.

    Other times, though, the QT that is exported is corrupted in some way. I can reconnect the original media to the new file, but only one of the tracks of audio reconnects, while the other goes offline. If I open the file in QT, it shows dual mono tracks, and I can clearly hear both.

    Also, I get a “General Error” message before the export happens sometimes, and sometimes I don’t. I can’t determine what’s causing it, but when I don’t get it, everything seems to work fine. I’ve done a test and I sometimes get it re-exporting a clip that worked fine before.

    Hmmmmm….

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