Bad form, Tony. We don't do that kind of thing here.

Besides, we're not allowed to "advertise" services in the forum.

I've tried to do this before and it's not going to be that easy. But here are some thoughts...

- If you have some footage that doesn't have the singer in it, that'll help. You can use that if you can get it in time,even if it's not footage from the song being used, you may be able to find ways to use it.
- Pan and zoom into the footage so you can remove some of the specific lip/instrument syncing.
- Use effects (like reversing some clips through a verse or use some layers) to hide the sections that are completely offtime.

With that said, for the bits you do need in sync, you may need to use the speed setting in the clip properties to help get things more in sync. Short clips with fast cuts will help as well in terms of being able to get back in sync with the music.

Head over to - that is something I did against live audio, but only about 25% of what you see is from the actual song being played. Maybe you'll get some ideas from that...

I would give up, unless you have LOTS of takes to work from lots of angles. You will not be able to hold shots with the drummer or vocalist in as sync problems show up very often. You can get away with more with guitar shots. I would use the time stretching tools to fit to the cd track where necessary.

However, this is something I have never tried.

I have done this before. The more closeups, the tougher it will be. You can get away with murder on long shots, and in fact if you watch closely, many of the commercial DVDs of "live" concerts often aren't synced on long shot.

You'll have to change the speed of the audio to get things synced. If your shots are less than five seconds, and the live performance is fairly close in tempo to the canned music, you'll be able to get pretty close. You can usually sync on words that begin in "m" or "b" or "p". Something where the lips are closed and then opened.

So, you are fortunate in that those that have gone before you often cover the audio (or video) with stuff that isn't synced. Look at the extended ("extra") discs from Woodstock or the Monterey Pop Festival, for instance.

Acquaint the client with reality. Make it clear this is a RESCUE job, and you have to get creative. Use vegas to zoom in on interesting portions of the clip. Use some crowd slow-mo. Use file footage. Use effects. Basically you've got to recycle what you've got and create multiple takes from one shot to hide the truth.

There are quite a few old music clips which use live footage with obviously record-based material. Sometimes not even the same song. It can work. You may find some old Sex Pistols music clips like this.

BTW, another reason you so often see slightly out of sync concert video is that the pros usually film several concerts and splice them together. The audio obviously has to have continuity, so the video sync ends up getting hosed. Someone mentioned the drummer, and I'll bet 50% of the drummer shots I see in concerts are not synced to the music.

Wow, thanks guys! I had 3 cameras running 2 sets at an hour each. So footage is not the problem.

It also doesn't have to be 1 song. It could be 4, 15 second sections of 4 different songs. Also I am not trying to sync the clips with the audio nessacarily.

And nor do I want to try to sync up my video with the CD...that's a big can of worms because their live stuff is at a much faster tempo than the studio recordings.

I am screwed right? ; )

Another thing to consider: If the CD had a distributor you better check with them before you use it. The band may not have the rights to use the CD in the video.

If you dont want to sync it, then what is the issue? Just cut it what ever way you like.

Or you could try something totally different . . .

Assuming you have the footage, why not do a "behind the scenes & fans" video ? Have NO shots of the band performing, a few where they're setting up, some sound check antics, fans queueing at the gate, amps being plugged in, all that sort of material.

Make a virtue of necessity.

agree totally with robertw - what exactly is your problem? cut how you like!!!

Sorry guys for my delayed response....Up to my hips in alligators so to speak. ; )

Well look at my user name...I am clueless. I guess what am looking for is how to cut like that (with no regard to sync things up)? I am such a linear thinking type of guy (yes this makes for a bad editor : ( , it's hard for me to think out of the box, I can sort of imagine it but can't quite wrap my head around the concept of this style of cutting.

So I guess I am looking for a clue! ; ) Ok I realize I should cut in time with the beat. lol and that's about where get locked up. Any good examples out there of this type of cutting? I need ideas. Thanks for being patient with me.

Regarding snyc rights, it's just a local band with self distributed music. blink3times, did you ever hear back from Uni?