Sync issues

[John Rofrano]

[Martin Phillips] “This is puzzling me. I have some footage of a first dance filmed at a recent wedding. When I over dub the original music track, it gradually gets out of sync as the song progresses.”

The drift is to be expected since every playback devices has it’s own clock crystal and plays back at slightly different speeds. To fix it, you need to stretch the music to fit the video audio. This may require splitting it in several places as it gets out of sync and Ctrl+Dragging the right edge so that it lines up again.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Martin Phillips]

Hi John,

Thank you for responding. I do understand that as an issue, and i think i may have just been unlucky in the last 2 weeks, because i have edited over 150 weddings with vegas, and its only the last 2 that have required any ‘fixing’…. ive just loaded the first dance for the next wedding and over dubed the org track, and its fine – which makes me think just an unlucky run.

Regards
Martin

[John Rofrano]

[Martin Phillips] “which makes me think just an unlucky run.”

…or a DJ who’s playback device is a bit off (or a ghost in the machine) 😉

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Nigel O’neill]

[John Rofrano] “DJ who’s playback device is a bit off (“

I experienced that for the first time at a recent wedding. I noticed he was able to adjust the pitch to better mix tracks. It is a real pain when they do that.

[Martin Phillips]

Hi Nigel,

I think thats it….. i must check that with the next DJ.

Regards
Martin

[Mike Kujbida]

DJs are notorious for doing this. It would be OK if they left the pitch control alone as you could do a time stretch in Vegas but a lot of them change it back to normal (or speed it up) after the crossfade 🙁

[Martin Phillips]

This is making more sense now…. one way around it i guess would be to get the channel 2 audio directly from their mixing desk.

Martin

[Mike Kujbida]

[Martin Phillips] “This is making more sense now…. one way around it i guess would be to get the channel 2 audio directly from their mixing desk.”

If you can do it, that way is the best.
I like to take an AUX out from their mixer with (hopefully) only the music feed assigned to that AUX.
Make sure they tape it or somehow secure it so that it doesn’t get bumped during the festivities.
AUX outs are usually at line level (either +4 or -10) so make sure your gear can handle it.
Make sure you have every kind of audio adapter cables with you and do some tests beforehand to ensure that you’re getting a good audio level to your camera.

[Martin Phillips]

Thanks Mike – sound advice (pun intended !!!). Regards Martin

[Mike Kujbida]

My pleasure Martin. I’ve done this a number of times and have dealt with all kinds of audio boards (consumer and pro) so that’s why the caution to have all kinds of adapter cables and do a test before the big event.