-
sync mix
So we finished our mix on an 80 minute project last week. We get our 5.1 mix, our LT/RT printmasters and our M&Es and when I drop it into Final Cut a very odd thing happens. These are 24-bit Wav files, one file for each track and FCP reads them as having 25 frame timecode, when I edited in 23.98 and it was mixed in 23.98. When I attempt to modify the TC on the wavs, it says 25 fps there, too. The sound at 1:00:00:00 on the sound files is not the same as that on picture (it’s about four and a half seconds off) and even if I sync the sound visually, disregarding TC, the sound “Drifts” toward the end of picture.
Is there something I’m supposed to do to these sound files to make it work? It’s strange to me that the timecode on the wavs is off by so much and that the playback ends up being so well out of sync towards the end.
Thanks
-
7 Replies
-
Totally what I thought… just needed a second opinion. They’re saying that every thing is fine on their end… we’re taking the sound files back to them to see if there was something wrong with the export. Everything was done in 23.98… so it does seem like the problem is in the export.
You’d think a place like this… I won’t say their name, but they are an internationally recognized company… would have their stuff together a little better. But I guess when you have a big enough reputation, you don’t really have to waste time doing it right….
-
Sounds like your wav files need to be re-exported from whatever software you used to create them…. this time at 23.98…. right?
Jerry
-
The plot thickens… we took it back to a sound house where they re-imported the wavs back into their protools session, where they tell me it’s synching fine… I’m terribly confused. Is this some sort of FCP bug?
-
Is the video they are looking at on the ProTools system PAL 25fps? Was it digitized from a tape or exported from FCP at 25fps? If it was, thats why it syncs up there. Are they working in a PAL 25fps session or a 23.98 session?
Sounds like the audio needs to be slowed down to sync up with 23.98 video.
-
The weird thing is that the sound starts out out-of-sync, is actually early. At about 11 minutes it actually looks like it’s in-sync, then, from there, gets later and later. So just doing any kind of speed adjustment immediately throws off one part or another.
We have been consistently tapeless from the get go (this is an animated feature). They synched to a locked-edit on QuickTime which was rendered at 23.98. When we look at the wave files in ProTools, it reads as a 24 fps time code based file.
Thanks for your help.
-
I wonder if they exported as a Aiff… instead of a BWF?
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO, CD’s
-
We were about to try that when I did the following to get it to work.
1) I opened the 24-bit wave files in Quicktime player and revealed the movie properties. This revealed a timecode track that was disabled. I enabled the TC track and then saved the file as a movie (this created a weird visual track that was a bunch of random numbers in a small, lo-res image). I then brought this file into FCP, which then recognized the file as being 23.98. But that was only half the battle.
2) placing the sound into my ProRes timeline, still gave me weird results. Weird playback issue. So I started to question whether or not (perish the thought) the sound mixers had mixed to the wrong movie. I didn’t think it was possible, but I had to check. So I got the quicktime they used to mix to, which matched my prores edit. SO that wasn’t the problem.
3) so next I created a new timeline and placed the h.264 reference quicktime in without sound. Then I dropped the wave file (from the quicktime movie) into that time line and it synched up fine. I believe my words at this discover were in the nature of “WTF?”. It lines up with h.264 quicktime, the h.264 quicktime lines up with the ProRes Timeline…. if a=b, b=c…..
4) So then I copied and pasted the sound from the h.264 timeline into the ProRes Quicktime, and it LINED UP FINE. Consistent synch all throughout. The same sound file that when inserted into my locked ProRes timeline had to be put into another timeline, then copied and pasted in.
So……. that’s the workaround if that ever happens.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up