Matching LAV mic sound to video camera

J

jrod81

Veteran
Here was my setup... I have a Vixia HF11 camera on the interview subject with a Rode Shotgun Mic on top. The subject had a lav mic that ran into an H1 that sat basically on the floor beside them. Now I am in FCP and would like some advice on syncing... I have used PluralEyes in the past (about 2 or 3 years ago) and honestly the workflow and organization never did make sense to me... It ended up being more work than just manually syncing...
Are there any other options?
 
Zoom in on the waveforms; as close as you can and still see and recognize both tracks (camera and lav). Pull the lav track back until the waveforms line up, and voila! done. Once you get the hang of it, it probably is quicker than using a separate plug-in program. And, unless you have a reaaallllyy long video file, you won't have to worry about sync drift at all. If it's long, you may have to pop in at various points and re-sync.

GJ
 
"Once you get the hang of it, it probably is quicker than using a separate plug-in program."

That's always my argument. Made even easier by something as simple as having the talent clap their hands at the beginning of each take to give you a nice spike to line up, but even without it, not really much to it.
 
well that is probably true... once they start talking it is a 20-30 minute interview so once i get it synced up it should be fine... we have 16 interviews so i was thinking a plug in would be ideal but i will just do it the good ole fashion way!
once i do indeed get the audio synced with the video... how can i lock them together so that when i start doing cuts it will take out everything successfully???
 
Not sure you can "lock" them together, per se. Use the blade tool ("b") to make cuts on all tracks. Have snapping on "(n") to help align new edit points by dragging.

Another option would be to sync all the raw video and audio together in a sequence and, before editing, export it as a QT movie with the same settings as the original source material. Then, import that clip back into your project and use it as your new raw footage with everything being (and staying) in sync.
 
jrod81 said:
I have used PluralEyes in the past (about 2 or 3 years ago) and honestly the workflow and organization never did make sense to me... It ended up being more work than just manually syncing...
Are there any other options?
Click to expand...

Try the latest versions of PluralEyes. A commercial software 2-3 years old is probably already the father of the grandfater of the latest version.


PS - if you do end up with more work than manual sync'ing, either the sync was a trivial job to start with, or you didn't use PluralEyes in a proper way. If you treat PluralEyes as a workflow tool and if you do have a non-trivial amount of footage and sound tracks to sync, it can save you a lot of time. The more work you feed it, the more time it saves you.
 
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