Syncing a compound clip

[Jordan Wilson]

And I actually had two cameras. And two wireless lav feeds.

So the more I think about it, it would be more work to use this amazing “time-saving” feature in FCPX than it would be for me to manually match levels in FCP7.

Or am I missing something here?

[Tom Wolsky]

Who can equally manually match waveforms in FCPX just as you can in FCP7. What you’re really missing is that you’re not using cameras suited to shooting video or for the production you’re doing.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2011 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Jordan Wilson]

So the paradigm shift of people putting away their P2s and their EX1s and their XL H1s in lieu of DSLRs…. they are all using the wrong camera?

As far as higher-end wedding production, there’s more companies using DSLRs than not.

[Jordan Wilson]

And isn’t the whole point of the “sync” feature in FCPX to sync external audio to…. say…. a DSLR?

I’m asking a question about a built-in feature of FCPX. So by you questioning my camera usage, you’re actually questioning Apple, which has defined pro NLE for years.

Now… back to my question. Is there a way to sync a compound clip?

[Geoff Dills]

[Jordan Wilson] ” So I figured I would be able to select all the video clips and synchronize all the clips. Turns out you can only do one at a time. “

Maybe this can help:

https://vimeo.com/28972315

Best,
Geoff

[Tom Wolsky]

DSLRs are incredibly popular and have been wonderfully marketed and produce great images, unfortunately they suck as video cameras. If you want to shoot video, you really should shoot with a video camera. There are great video cameras out there that don’t have the problems of DSLRs, basic features that in a video camera would simply preclude a professional from considering them. The power of marketing is truly remarkable.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2011 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Tom Wolsky]

No, you can’t sync to a compound clip.

The feature is designed to work for single clips with dual system sound. Perhaps you can break up your audio into separate clips, or combine each clip separately with the single piece of audio, trimming off the access. There is nothing that prevents you from using the same piece of audio to sync to multiple clips.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2011 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Jordan Wilson]

Thanks for the link, Geoff. I tried this, but it’s a little different than what I’m trying to do.

In that video, the multiple video clips all contained the same content. Ex: All the video clips contained minutes 1-4 from 5 different angles and a 4-minute audio track)

For my purposes, I have 4 different clips. (Minutes 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, for example.) And than I have 2 different audio clips (both 40 minutes). I’m trying to find a way to easily sync them all.

Now, I know I could just use the “sync” command to first sync Audio 1 with clip 1 (minutes 1-10). Then, I could cut the rest of the audio (minutes 11-40.)
Then I could move on and individually sync the other 3 clips to the audio and cut the corresponding overlap. Once I do that, I’d have 4, 10-minute clips all synced and I could make a compound clip. (Then I’d have to repeat this WHOLE process for the second cam).

This is similar to how I did it in the past with FCP7. And although it’s pretty easy to do, it’s pretty time-consuming as well. That’s one of the reasons I purchased FCPX…. the promise of sync. But so far, it seems like the time it would take me to go through the aforementioned steps is about the same it would be to manually sync the waveforms.

So essentially, I need to know if there’s a way to sync multiple shorter video clips to a longer audio clip.

[Jordan Wilson]

Thanks for the input.

I’m a dual shooter…. stills and video. So the DSLR is what I’ll probably stick with for the foreseeable future.

Also, I feel spoiled by the IQ of the DSLRs. I’ll take my $5k worth of bodies and lenses over any $5k traditional video camera. For what I do, at least. I’m not saying that’s a blanket rule that applies for everything. But most of my stuff is sit down interview/static shots.

Sure it’s a pain to deal with the audio syncing and the lack of focus tracking. But I’ll take those cons when I see the image a 7D and a 85 1.2 can produce.

[Jordan Wilson]

Thanks for the input.

I’m a dual shooter…. stills and video. So the DSLR is what I’ll probably stick with for the foreseeable future.

Also, I feel spoiled by the IQ of the DSLRs. I’ll take my $5k worth of bodies and lenses over any $5k traditional video camera. For what I do, at least. I’m not saying that’s a blanket rule that applies for everything. But most of my stuff is sit down interview/static shots.

Sure it’s a pain to deal with the audio syncing and the lack of focus tracking. But I’ll take those cons when I see the image a 7D and a 85 1.2 can produce.

Also remember, everyone’s definition of “video camera” is VERY different.