Locking sync on audio

Serena wrote on 6/16/2005, 7:55 PM
Having recorded an event in double band (ie separate image and audio recordings) and laid them down on the timeline in sync, is there a way to lock them together in the same way as occurs in capture from a camera? Grouping the two doesn't seem satisfactory because the groupings apply to the original and isn't retained in clips cut from longer takes.

edit: I see another post very closely related to this but this specific aspect has been skipped around!

Comments

farss wrote on 6/17/2005, 1:39 AM
Hi Serena,
unfortunately grouping is the only option and that's exactly the same as what happens with captured media, it's all too easy to slip the A and V out of sync, fortunately there is a tool (one that I've yet to try) in V6 to highlight media that's out of sync.
While that's a step of sorts in the right direction it still doesn't help much if you've deliberately shifted the sync a few frames and it will not work with a double head recording as far as I know.
Your safest bet is once you've got everything synced, render out to a new file, at least that way it's a lot easier to see if you've inadvertantly slipped the sync.
Bob.
Serena wrote on 6/17/2005, 9:37 PM
Hi Bob,
The lack of a "sync lock" tool in Vegas has always surprised me, so maybe this is something for Vegas 7! After all, the only tracks that have sync inherently identified are the captured video with audio. Can't imagine why video editors haven't found this a constant problem, but I guess that just shows that I've come from having all tracks locked down by sprockets. I've developed a work-flow that reduces problems, but I reckon I could do without the stress.
I guess frequent rendering out is indeed the best approach. Just as well it's digital!
Of course in rendering Vegas 6 does learns that the AV is meant to be tied together and the "sync error" facilities then work very nicely. Use that all the time!

Serena
farss wrote on 6/18/2005, 12:30 AM
I'm one video editor who sure finds this a constant problem. Add to that the lack of support for multitrack audio files and doing a typical movie style soundtrack in Vegas is as you say pretty stressful. I'd love to work on some serious productions in this area, Vegas looks like it should be miles in front as the NLE of choice but in the few years that I've been using it there's been no progress in this area.
Bob.
Serena wrote on 6/18/2005, 6:18 AM
While I raised this for locking the audio tracks, obviously the same issue exists for image tracks. Often I put cut-aways and titles on higher tracks, so it's essential that they maintain position. So with a minimum of 4 or 5 audio tracks I find plenty of opportunities for slipping frames unintentionally when making cuts. I've found it useful to group stuff on all tracks just to the right of the intended cut, so I can push open everything together. But it's a process needing absolute care in grouping/ungrouping/ripple-edit/no-ripple-edit and a moment's inattention generates a lot more work. Markers can be inserted as visual indicators, and in fact recovering sync without these can be very irritating. It would seem simple to be able to assign a "this stays with that unless I say otherwise" and obviously grouping has that purpose, but somehow it's not enough.

I suppose most people break the job into smaller packages (in terms of number of tracks) and hence reduce these problems. I tend to an iterative approach (after the rough cut) and perhaps this puts too great a depth of stuff on the timeline. Ah well, the learning is fun.

Serena