multicam question

Mindmatter wrote on 1/6/2013, 3:36 AM

Hi all,

just about to prepare my first multicam project, a jazz gig recorded with 4 sony EX1 cams.
Should I use 4 separate HDDs for the 4 cam multicam editing?

Thanks!

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 1/6/2013, 7:07 AM

I doubt that hard drive throughput is going to be much of a bottleneck for editing.
With that much material though, you might consider proxy editing.

What about your audio? Using audio from 1 cam, or outboard recorder?

Mindmatter wrote on 1/6/2013, 8:28 AM

thanks Musicvid,
the final audio is a normal 2 track master that will be mixed in a studio, it will be synced to image later on. Using the cam audio just for sync alignment right now.
the mpeg2 longgop from the EX1 seem pretty smooth on the timeline so far, if I run into problems I'll probably switch to proxy editing.

musicvid10 wrote on 1/6/2013, 8:34 AM

Too bad the EX1 doesn't have genlock in; would make your life a lot simpler.
But for music video, +/- 1/2 frame precision isn't that bad.
Pluraleyes is a great way to sync outboard audio to a single camera reference.
The big advantage of multicam in this instance is that you can slip a frame at a take point if the audio starts to drift from the reference. Good luck!

bsuratt wrote on 1/6/2013, 11:07 AM

I regularly use Pluraleyes to sync 3 cameras plus external audio file on the timeline... very precise!

Sync everything on timeline first and save copy of veg before going into multicam edit.

Mindmatter wrote on 1/6/2013, 4:31 PM

Ok proxies it is after all...4 tracks of full HD is pretty taxing...the sync went well, at least so far.
A question about the EX workflow remains: although I had absolutely no trouble aligning clips on the timeline ( totally seemless in playback, impressive ) that got separated during the card switch in the cam, I was wondering if there's something in V12 tha can do that automatically. I tried the XDcam explorer but I either did not grasp its functions at all or it is not recognizing the EX files on my disc.
I can handle it manually, but is there a way to consolidate clips in V12?
thanks!

musicvid10 wrote on 1/6/2013, 5:54 PM

Multicam will do it automatically if all cameras are freerun T/C synced to a master clock; something unfortunately you won't do with EX1s.

EX3s should do this and automatically sync in Vegas multicam if there are no garbage frames at the beginning of takes. If there are, you will still end up aligning them manually, which like you said isn't that hard.

musicvid10 wrote on 1/6/2013, 6:49 PM

"Sync everything on timeline first and save copy of veg before going into multicam edit."

I actually just copy and paste the whole thing to new tracks before creating the multicam track. Serves the same purpose though, preventing the whole thing from disappearing.

riredale wrote on 1/6/2013, 10:35 PM

Just curious--how much does one have to spend to get camera and audio gear that can genlock to a master timecode?

For the kind of stuff I do, it would be a luxury, but it sure would save time on complicated projects.

musicvid10 wrote on 1/7/2013, 7:12 AM

Many of the older tape based cameras had this, along with dual xlr audio. Some of the newer, smaller models may have left them out because of size and cost considerations.

EX3 is about $2K more than the EX1?