Best way to align/sync video to recorded audio

[MIDI Life Crisis]

[schmargle]

Just break up the multi track into manageable bits and edit the damn thing, already! Bounce the sections you want to add or just copy and paste them into the proper place. You should be able to patch up the waveforms easily. Again, import the video audio so you can see it. Open it in the sequence window, paste or import the segment in question, and do you crossfades, edits, etc.

I'm just not understanding why you can't do that. Is the time line on the multi track different (longer?) that the video? Why doesn't it just sit in one with it now? there's a piece of your puzzle that is missing.

Fess up! lol

I'm not following all of this, but yes, I could finishing mixing and editing the audio in DP first, and bounce it. And at that point, if I'm just dealing with stereo audio, it all becomes easier. I could align and do crossfades within DP or within the video editing software too.

But I'm talking about the step before I'm ready to bounce the multi-track audio. I want to make my multi-track mixing, comping, and editing decisions while watching the video.

And I think this is actually something that happens in the real world of audio mixing for film. (I've been doing more Googling last night.) You get an edited video and then you mix the dialog, sound effects, music, etc. in a DAW. But in the professional world, there is probably a way to use time code to make sure everything aligns. I'm shooting video without time code. So aligning that video in DP is the tough part.

Basically, I'm just combining sound and video for my own amusement and for YouTube videos. But the scenario I mentioned about a live concert film comes from this account of Bob Clearmountain mixing Shine a Light: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sec ... armountain He had to remix based on what was happening on screen.

Anyway, to answer a few of your questions: Yes, sometimes, the audio is longer than the video or vice versa (mainly because I hit record on the camera before or after I hit record on the computer). And yes, I do import the audio from the video to do the alignment. But since I don't want to move the multi-track audio, that visual alignment isn't all that helpful. I have to set a new movie start time, import the audio, see how I did, re-set the movie start time, re-import the audio, check again how I did, etc.

I think the movie capabilities in DP are probably geared for the pro audio-for-film people (who are dealing with time code) and less so for those of us with cameras that happen to shoot video, iPhones, and the like.

Believe it or not, I used to work for Digidesign/Avid many years ago. And there was always the promise that the world would someday have a complete audio and video editing solution. (I figured Avid would be the one to do that.) To my knowledge, it still hasn't happened with any company, which is kind of amazing to me.

[schmargle]

Howabout this: Drag music to the nearest beat, use conductor track for tempo/meter, set correct tempo/meter at downbeat, then play with tempo/meter before the music starts until you line it up. Kludgey, but doable.

Ah, this is a next-level tip. I'll have to fully digest this advice and try it out. Thank you.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

There’s no one stop (app) solution to editing audio and picture, just like there’s no viable one stop solution to notation and advanced audio and MIDI editing. Sync’ing to picture in any audio app assumes the picture will not move. You can get it to move in DP with start times but those are temporary adjustments to score specific sections. You can’t score or sync the whole thing in one sequence that way because you’ve changed the definition of time. So the sequence with the new start time needs to be rendered and imported to a master sequence.

My suggestion is either settle on the score and edit stuff in a video editor; settle on a video and edit the score in a DAW; or what is the usual paradigm: a combination of the two where you can change a little in one app, a little in another, and when you’re totally happy, either mix the final product (all the little pieces) in one app or the other.

It’s like every other art form. Every line and dot on the page contributes to the picture. Every spec of marble you remove or leave behind results in the statue of Venus. Every word you leave in or out results in a stage play.

And don’t misunderstand me. Your instincts are spot on. Your human brain is capable of visualizing the sound and picture at once. It’s the computer that hasn’t caught up with humans in terms of being able to do all that. At least, no programmer has created the definitive, single app to handle the billions of calculations and code steps required to do all those tasks at once.

The workarounds will work to some degree, but ultimately, you’re going to get close to the finish line and the workarounds will have to be abandoned. You’ll have to decide which is most important and as much as I hate to admit it, visuals rule in this genre. The video will need to be established and the audio slaves to that. Video editors use temp tracks and create complete films from that, and unless you’re Stanley Kubrick working on 2001, the film will then go to composers, dialogue and sound editors and designers, and a film editor to merge those elements.

The important thing is to either know exactly what you want in advance (most people don’t) or allow yourself the flexibility to move stuff around freely and put the pieces together. If your goal is just audio, DP is the best solution IMO. If it’s video, I usually use Final Cut Pro. There are way less expensive solutions to that, even free ones if your just doing really basic editing.

Ok. I’m outta here. You won’t get another peep outta me.


...peep

[schmargle]

Well, I appreciate all your peeps!

[RobKaplowitz]

The movie's position is, as you know, adjustable. It SHOULD have embedded timecode in it, which decides where it is supposed to start. You can keep all of your beats and bars if you use the Chunks window and set your chunk start time: Right click on the chunk, Set Chunk Start Time and then you set your chunk to the same start time as the timecode in the video. It doesn't affect where beat 1/ measure 1 is - it just tells DP to match the start time of your sequence to the Timecode start time of the video.

[Microtone2]

Hi, just found this video on YouTube which talks about setting the chunk start time independently of the video start time. Might help?

https://youtu.be/ikOGNpF1gnU

[Phil O]

There's a sneaky way to move the grid lines to align with moved audio.

Place a measure (or several) before the start of your audio. For example, chunk time start at measure -2.
Lock all your audio.
Slightly change the tempo from measures -2 to 0 up or down to move the gridlines left or right.
Unlock you audio.

Not elegant, but it works.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

BTW, I've been using a slate to start videos for years. It makes syncing so much easier.

[FatimaAdamu]

When it comes to aligning or syncing a movie to recorded audio within DP (assuming you mean Digital Performer), a handy technique is using the "timecode" feature. It helps ensure perfect synchronization between your video and audio tracks. Give it a shot and let me know if it works for you!

[peterdna]

Hey there! Syncing a movie to recorded audio in DP can be a bit tricky, but fear not! One method that has worked for me is using the waveform display. By visually matching the peaks and transients in the audio waveform to specific visual cues in the movie, you can achieve precise synchronization. It takes a bit of patience and fine-tuning, but it's totally worth it! By the way, I've heard that some 4k video editing software provides advanced tools for aligning audio and video tracks seamlessly. It might be worth exploring if you're looking for that extra level of precision in your projects.