Align One Camera Track With External Audio Recorder Via Timecode?

fr0sty wrote on 12/16/2018, 4:30 PM

I have a friend who is trying to sync audio recorded to an external audio recorder with video from one of his cameras using timecode, but we're not having much luck figuring it out. Vegas has a timecode sync option. but it only applies if you have a multicamera track, the option is greyed out otherwise, and he isn't using more than one camera angle. How would he go about doing this? We even tried importing it into Resolve, doing the sync there (which works perfectly, easily), and XML importing that project into Vegas 14. Vegas ignores the external audio recorder's files, and only imports the camera angle and its audio.

Comments

Musicvid wrote on 12/16/2018, 4:53 PM

Syncing timecode between devices is done using a cable during a shoot.

Lacking this, your options in post are Pluraleyes, or manual alignment that may require chopping one track up depending on clock drift. I don't suggest time squeeze or stretch for anything but speech.

fr0sty wrote on 12/16/2018, 5:09 PM

He did that correctly, and Resolve can use the embedded TC data to perfectly sync the audio with the camera, but Vegas seems to lack this ability.

mbarton wrote on 12/16/2018, 5:13 PM

@fr0sty I usually do what @Musicvid says with the manual alignment and for my 1h+ recording it did not drift that I had to realign again. You mentioned it worked perfectly in Resolve, so I may try that next time and try to render the video and audio together to place on the Vegas timeline.

Musicvid wrote on 12/16/2018, 7:30 PM

I know from my tape days that Vegas gets stupid if there is not valid timecode on the first frame of each event.

The solution then was to trim a few frames and smart render the HDV.

fr0sty wrote on 12/16/2018, 7:36 PM

Align tracks to timecode is greyed out under multicamera, so we can't even attempt it. It doesn't seem Vegas is set up to align audio without video to just one camera angle. I told him to throw in a dummy track with a random video and use that to create a multicam track, but he said it didn't work. Timecode sync was still greyed out.

Musicvid wrote on 12/16/2018, 8:17 PM

Can you trim a couple of seconds and re-save your audio file? That should tell you if it's the culprit. Assuming freerun t/c, it should not affect sync.

Vegas doesn't recognize genlock, only SMPTE in audio files, I believe.

Musicvid wrote on 12/17/2018, 4:54 PM

Hope you get it sorted -- I've recalled about all I'm going to ....

Worst case in 2018 -- but it was the only case 10-12 years ago.

We captured everything in 2G chunks per the FAT limit, then took the outboard audio track and cut it into 9-10 minute chunks, but only at zero crossings in quiet spots.

Then we aligned peaks by hand with the genlocked camera audios. Result: 32 mics, 6 subs, and a show that netted $40k including donations and dvd sales. OK, this is a bragging post but good luck!

OldJack wrote on 12/18/2018, 5:18 PM

>>We captured everything in 2G chunks per the FAT limit<< If you use Vegas Pro "Device Explorer"(Ctrl+Alt+6) Vegas will read all your 2G chunks and merge them into one file.

Musicvid wrote on 12/18/2018, 6:20 PM

>>We captured everything in 2G chunks per the FAT limit<< If you use Vegas Pro "Device Explorer"(Ctrl+Alt+6) Vegas will read all your 2G chunks and merge them into one file.

Thanks Jack good to know but the ISOs are about all that's left of the 2000s musicals.