Multi-system - best way to organise/sort audio+video clips for post-processing?

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dylansmith

Well-known member
Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to separate system recording, so please bear with me. Here's my current setup:

Cam A: Canon 6D
Cam B: Galaxy S6
Audio A: RODE Video Mic Pro
Audio B: Zoom H1 with ATR3350 Lav

Cam A and Audio A is straightforward because it plugs straight into camera (for run-and-gun). For B-Cam, it's not as straightforward because the camera might be quite far away from the Zoom H1 and during an event, I cannot possibly keep using a clapper/similar sounds to put audio markers for syncing on Pluraleyes later.

In addition, there is a 5 min recording limit on the S6, which forces me to start/stop pretty often. The Zoom is left running all the way though.

How would you guys sort your clips/re-structure your workflow such that it's easy to sync the audio/video in post later, keeping in mind it's a one-off event (i.e. no repeats)?

Thanks!
 
Plural eyes doesn't need a slate (although helpful) It analyzes and matches waveforms. You just need to get "legible" waveforms. Rode and a few other companies sell smart phone mics that plug into the headphone port I believe...
 
Yes PluralEyes doesn't need a slate. I don't know the current state of affairs but PluralEyes used to want clip for clip for matching. If that is still the case you would need to cut up the longer takes to match the shorter takes.

Because of your equipment limitations I would recommend syncing all of their clocks so the time stamps on the files will be almost identical. That way you can sort the clips later by looking at the creation times. In post I would also rename everything because there are ways that the creation dates can get changed. Also some devices put the time stamp in the modified field, which can easily get changed, and stick some generic date in the creation date field.
 
dylansmith said:
Hi guys,


Cam B: Galaxy S6
Click to expand...

I hate to do this...but that's not a camera, that's a phone, and you are extremely limited with using a phone as a main camera. If this is a gig that pays, then I would highly advise you to rent at least another 6D so you have consistency in the image from one edit to another. If this is just for messing around, then forget what I said. I mess around with my iPhone all the time. Plural eyes doesn't need a dumb slate, but if you are good at manual syncing, then neither do you. I just manually sync everything that way in Final Cut, but I've done that sort of thing a LOT and I can get separate audio and video in sync pretty fast. Just make sure you take careful notes as to which audio file goes with with shot, because if you have lots of takes you will have a mass of files later on and you won't know what audio goes with which video and it'll take forever to sort out.
 
Hi dave,

I am just shooting for personal projects (mainly to record my kids' milestones). I also have an Olympus EPL-5 with 12-35 f2.8, but the compression is so bad that it crushes everything and ends up worse off than my S6. Also to be honest, my S6 beats the crap out of my 6D in good light, unless I shoot in RAW mode on my 6d.

The reason why I thought a slate is needed is because I tried filming once from far away (around 7 meters away) and the audio didn't sync properly in Pluraleyes. The audio source is close to dialogue, which is different from the cam source (all the background noise and mambo-jumbo), so I'm not sure how Pluraleyes can be smart enough to figure out they're pointing to the same source.

scorsesefan -
Are there any Android alternatives? It probably wouldn't sound as good compared to it being passed through the Zoom H1?

Noiz 2 -
That's what I'm trying to avoid. 1 shoot lets me end up with hundreds of clips (partly also because I shoot RAW video through my 6D). It will be a nightmare to organise them manually. Thought there would be at least a semi-auto way to make things easier.


On another note, does anyone have recommendations for editing MLV (magic lantern raw) in premiere pro directly? the RAW workflow is really killing me with the effort and time required to process it.
 
"Are there any Android alternatives? It probably wouldn't sound as good compared to it being passed through the Zoom H1?"
It's a mic placement issue. A droid or other POS audio recording device placed .5 meters away would sound better than a $2k pro mic 7 meters away.

PluralEyes uses the audio wave forms for sync. If one is seriously degradedl, it doesn't work well. Many folks send wireless audio (cam hop) scratch track to the distant device to aid in post sync, either manually or with PluralEyes.
 
If you are just shooting "milestones" for your kids I'm not sure why you would shoot RAW? I guess just to see how it works?

I would suggest that you get some of the film friendly camera profiles for the cannon. I've actually been very impressed with the T2i footage so?

I'm shooting 24p FPS, 1/47 shutter, and one of the marvelcine picture styles.

Setting the clocks is your best bet with finding matching files. There is or was a second app that may work better for you. PluralEyes was designed to sync up multiple cameras footage and kind of got hacked into syncing audio. They were at one time making an app that was actually designed for syncing sound and that app was supposed to deal with odd file lengths better. I don't know if they still make that or if it all got folded into PluralEyes but probably worth a look.

Not to be snarky but there is work in filmmaking and sometimes you just have to do the work. It's not like laying bricks or cleaning sewers, it's just time.
 
davefisk said:
I just manually sync everything that way in Final Cut, but I've done that sort of thing a LOT and I can get separate audio and video in sync pretty fast. Just make sure you take careful notes as to which audio file goes with with shot, because if you have lots of takes you will have a mass of files later on and you won't know what audio goes with which video and it'll take forever to sort out.
Click to expand...

This is the major benefit of 'slating'... and even calling the shot when only the camera recorder is running (quasi-MOS). The information to match up the audio with the video is self contained, if 'note taking' is less than accurate... which unless one has a pro script person, or a OCD script person... will almost result in 'less than'...

My one experience watching someone use 'plural' eyes, was not all that impressive... I was able to sync up about 20 shots for a 48 hour project via slate and 'click' matching... whereas the guys using Plural Eyes seemed to have some difficulty getting the right 'audio' file matched up with the right video. Since I'm not familiar at all with PE... I don't know if it was due to their own lack, or just due to the way the media became undocumented... as the pace quickened... I was the DIT to archive all the audio and video, but that was at the 'take the media, copy to hard drive, verify media on hard drive'. The script person was taking the shot by shot notes on 'file names/numbers' for video and audio...
 
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