Syncing External Audio in post to match DSLR

[Micah Mcdowell]

I usually sync audio manually by matching up waveforms with the on-camera audio. Never had any trouble at all and it just takes a second. Slate the shots with a clapperboard and line it up that way if it makes you feel more comfortable; that’s how the film guys have always done it.

Everyone I know that uses PluralEyes loves it, though I’ve never tried it.

[Norman Willis]

I had a two cam shoot and an H4N, and synching them up was easy. I don’t know how you do it in your NLE, but in Vegas you just line up the clap-board spikes, then go to the end of the recordings, grab the lower right-hand corner of the track, press CTRL, and it allows you to stretch or shrink the length without altering the pitch. It took maybe five minutes, tops (first time).

I don’t want to argue NLE’s, but I had an editor doing it in FCP and he said it was very difficult, and that he needed PluralEyes to do it. I don’t know if it really was harder in FCP or if he just did not know how to do it, but in Vegas it was a snap.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Michael Sacci]

Well I use FCP and I have never needed to stretch one stream to match the other. If you are shooting correctly that is a step that should never be done. Lining up clapper spikes is super easy and quick. Pluraleyes really comes in handy if you have a a lot of short clips and no clapper or if one camera is stopping and stopping and the other is running continuously. You can still match up the waveform but the spike makes it so much quicker.

Have any of you PC guys tried DualEyes? The replace audio in movie seems like it would be a great feature. Of course movie files should be backed up before doing anything like that. But that would really make the editing process cleaner.

[Norman Willis]

>>Well I use FCP and I have never needed to stretch one stream to match the other. If you are shooting correctly that is a step that should never be done.

I have two prosumer cams and one DSLR. The two-cam shoot was with the two prosumer cams (HF S10’s). After 1:48:48;01 Camera B was one frame after Camera A, and the H4N was 6 frames after Camera A.

I probably did not need to match up the two cams, but I did anyway; and six frames seemed like two much to leave.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Norman Willis]

*too* much to leave

[Chuck Purnell]

Thanks for the great responses. I do use Final Cut Pro so I am gonna do some run throughs before my shoot and practice lining up the spikes and so forth.

Thanks again!!
Chuck

Cre8tive Minds Entertainment, LLC

[Richard Van den boogaard]

Hi Chuck,

Please check beforehand if your D90 records in 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz and then choose the same setting for recording on your Zoom H4N.

I use Canons, so for me it’s all 48 kHz.

Richard van den Boogaard
cameraman / editor / video marketing consultant

Branded Channels
W: http://www.brandedchannels.com

[Mike Solmon]

Link to pluraleyes and dual eyes linked in responses: https://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html. I’ve personally used pluraleyes and it worked ok for me.