keep audio and video tracks in synch

James-Holtzman wrote on 11/27/2025, 11:48 PM

I'm editing with Vegas Pro 23. I shot an event where the speaker is narrating a power point. My camera goes back and forth from the person's face and the projected images, which I don't want the audience to see this. I would rather grab a frame from the screen and stretch the image out while the person is talking. To do this I ungroup the clip, and place the still photo to the video track, stretching it until I want to switch back to the speaker's face. The problem is now the voice and the person's lips are out of synch. I group the still photos and sound together but they are slightly out of synch. How do I prevent this from happening or how can I fix it, I'm not good at lip reading. This is my first post here, hope I have explained the issue. Jim

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 11/28/2025, 1:02 AM

@James-Holtzman said: "To do this I ungroup the clip, and place the still photo to the video track, stretching it until I want to switch back to the speaker's face."

You don't have to ungroup, split or otherwise manipulate the clip. Just "Save a snapshot to file" of the timeline to make a still image and place it on a track above the main track.

Dexcon wrote on 11/28/2025, 1:09 AM

@john_dennis ... just beat me to it. I was about to suggest exactly the same approach.

... and you can dissolve to and from the still if you want by adding a fade in and or out to the still.

James-Holtzman wrote on 11/28/2025, 1:24 AM

Wow, that was quick for a response! That's exactly what I did, was a mistake to ungroup, at least it wasn't necessary. I bumped the video and audio tracks down one and inserted the snapshot on the upper track to overlay the camera transitions. The video lasts about an hour and a few minutes, I'm about half way for my first edit.

The organization I shot the video for did not obtain model releases for the trainees. I have three choices, assume they did get releases, not really my problem. Or, how easy would it be to blur their faces? We used to call it a "cops" filter like from the TV series cops, where only the faces are blurred. Last, to blur the entire frames. I should start a new thread on this, but I'll bet you have some answers, I've been doing editing for a long time but have just switched to Vegas.

Jim

Dexcon wrote on 11/28/2025, 1:50 AM

... how easy would it be to blur their faces?

An industry leader for this is BorisFX's Match Move FX called BCC+ Witness Protection ML (ML = Machine Learning - i.e. AI).

From BorisFX's product website:

https://borisfx.com/documentation/continuum/bcc-witness-protection-ml/

... and a BorisFX YT tutorial:

The above relates to BCC version 2024.5 but the recently released version 2026 features improvements to BCC+ Witness Protection - see a mention of this at 02:53 in a BorisFX BCC 2026 launch YT video:

This FX used to be available as an individual 'unit' purchase but sadly it doesn't look as though BCC Filters and Units are individually available anymore. The entire BCC (Boris Continuum Complete) suite is excellent but the OFX version (for which Vegas Pro is a supported host) is very expensive at $821.25 USD at Black Friday pricing (which is 25% off the regular cost).

Others on the forum may know of alternative more affordable plugins that do a similar job.

Jack S wrote on 11/28/2025, 9:04 AM

@James-Holtzman You can use Bezier Masking to track a face, then apply a blur effect. Check out my tutorial 123.