Syncing Audio with Vision on clips not sequences

[Michael Hancock]

That’s just how Avid is! 🙂 Just kidding.

Avid’s timelines grow as you put more media into them. If you want a long, blank timeline you can cut in a piece of media (say a cut of music), then lift out all but the last few frames or seconds. For example, if I drop a 3 minute music track into a blank sequence and lift all but the last second, I have a three minute timeline with 2:59 of blank. Then you can disable the source side audio tracks and insert edit 10 times to drop filler in for another 30 minutes. Now you have a thirty minute timeline with no media except for the last second.

Having said that–you’ll likely get frustrated with Avid if you try to use it this way. It isn’t designed like that. If you need to insert a shot into your timeline, you should use Insert Edit. It will keep everything in sync for the tracks you have selected and will drop your shot in where you have your In or Out point marked.

To sync Video to Audio–load the video into your source monitor. Find a good sync point (the clap of a slate, for example), and mark an In. Load the audio into your source monitor, find the same sync point (the CLAP! sound). Mark an In. In your bin, select the audio and video and go to your Bin menu and choose Autosync. Choose to sync by In point (if the audio and video have matching timecode you can skip marking an In point). It will make a new clip that contains the Audio and Video in sync.

Or, you can lay your Video and Audio out in a sequence and sync them there. Then Drag your sync sequence to your source monitor to edit. or choose your sequence and do the Autosync again. It will turn the sequence into a synced audio/video clip. Edit!

That said, if you’re learning Avid by coming over from another editor (FCP or Premiere or Edius or Vegas, etc…), it is best to try to forget how the other system works. Avid works differently than any other system I’ve sat down at, and it’s best to just accept it as is and try things the “Avid” way. It will frustrate you at first, but it starts to make sense as you embrace it. Trust me, I cursed a blue streak trying to learn FCP after I had been using Avid for a while.

Michael.

[Alex Bond]

ok thanks, I’d kind of started doing it like that, just wondered if there was a better way.

I’m coming from Media 100 which works in a true non linear way (ie straight forward cut and paste), to me it seems to be the most logical way of editing and I reckon the Avid designers will eventually cotton on to the fact that a lot of the systems methods are hangovers from linear editing.

By syncing I actually meant grouping, to give it another word, though your methods of syncing are good ones. With Media 100 the vision and audio remains linked until you unlink it and move the audio and vision clips independently – with Avid the whole thing is loose unless you sync the whole timeline – to quote family guy ‘that does not make sense’…of course that’s just my opinion!

Cheers

Alex

[Michael Hancock]

Technically speaking, working in a “true non-linear” way means you don’t have to redo your entire sequence if you need to change a shot in the middle. You put stuff into any order you want and change it however you want without redoing everything. Media 100 and Avid are both non-linear, they just treat clips differently and require the user to think differently. The Avid way of editing is incredibly logical and is based on years and years and years of feedback from actual editors. It just requires you to look at it from another point of view.

If you want your audio and video to stay linked on the timeline (move video, audio follows)–well, Avid doesn’t operate that way. With Avid, it makes no assumptions about what you want to do. If you want the audio to come with your video you have to select it. If you want to move the video only, just select the video.

I know a lot of people like their Video and Audio linked. I personally dislike my editing system to link my audio to video–FCP drove me mad with this, and so did Edius. If I want my video and audio to move together, I’ll make that decision. Very often, I don’t.

Like I said before, Avid operates very differently from pretty much all other editors–particularly drag and drop editors like Premiere, FCP, or Media 100. I’m not saying Avid’s way is better for you–it’s just different than what you’re used to. If you try to make Avid operate like a Media 100 you’ll get frustrated very quickly. Embrace the Avid way! It’s a very capable and fast editor once you get the hang of it and learn its “rules”.

Let us know if you run into more problems or have more questions.

Michael.

[Alex Bond]

interesting to see that AMC 5 now lets you Sync tracks.

Even more interesting (in a geeky way!) that the shortcut is Y to do it…Apple Y in Media 100…wonder where they got the idea…