New Audio on Clips

hi

i finished editing a 20-minute short using camera audio (hvx), and only recently i received the wav files from the sound recorder. now i need to insert them in the main timeline, so that i can export an EDL for the sound editing team. (btw, is this common procedure in LA?)

i have decent slates for (almost) every shot. so my first thought is to sync audio for every clip used in the main timeline, using a temporary sequence wherein i will insert the video, then the audio from the sound rec, sync it, merge video and audio clips and drag them to a new bin labeled "Sync'd" where i'll have a new clip with the same name and new audio tracks.

however if I do this, i'll have to manually match frame for every cut and, well, basically re-edit the film using my timeline as a reference guide (which is not the end of the world for a 20 minute film...)

if i go the only other way i can think of (exporting new clips and relinking media), i will lose the .WAV files reference in the EDL....

what would be the easiest way to do this? any tricks?

mike

Had the same problem recently. We dubbed the master clips into a new folder but with identical filenames, then deleted the old audio and inserted the new Audio onto them using QT Player. If you're not familiar with the procedure, the exact How 2 is all in the QT player help.

Take the original media files offline (by transfering them to a different drive). Then restart FCP and reconnect media to the new masters. The entire project will update, inlcuding subclips.

Definetly test this first before diving in, but it worked for us.

hth,
Clay

but did you get the AUDIO TC in the new clips,
or did they have the original video TC?

one way might be to sync your clips as you plan,
then to make a CinemaTools database of these clips.

IF the audio TC goes into that,
then you should be able to make an audio EDL from your original picture cut sequence.


nick

Since your film is only 20 minutes and your edit is locked, I'd suggest not using Clay's method, which requires that you make a backup of every single clip before proceeding, in case the QuickTime Player method modifies the clip in undesireable ways.

It might be faster in your case to just copy every clip to a "Sync Sequence", do the sync work, then use Timecode Overlays to re-insert the WAVs into your edited sequence. Also, you could use Modify - Timecode on your WAV files after you've synced them, so that the WAV timecodes in FCP match the video clips. Then you can just enter a timecode on every WAV to match back to video.

I did this years ago with a 24-minute short and it only took about a day, and that's with a less experienced assistant editor doing the procedure. After I devised the process, she did the whole film just fine, no hiccups. Just remember to save often.


www.derekmok.com

in case anyone stumbles across this message in the future, here's what I did, and it was actually pretty fast:

- created a new sequence to do the sync work
- went back to the main timeline and matched frame for each and every cut (F then alt+1, alt+x to remove in and out markers from the viewer)
- inserted every entire video clip in the sync sequence, one after another
- opened each corresponding wav file, marked in and out for every entire clip in the sync timeline then used slip tool to sync video and audio
- once syncing was done, i paired each video and audio segment and linked them all in the sequence
- then I selected all from the timeline and dragged everything to a new bin called "syncd", where I now have a whole bunch of subclips with their right audio counterparts
- then i did the reverse job and matched frame from the main video timeline, copying the in timecode and marking it on the subclips, overwroting audio only

it's something close to what derek suggested. thanks man

i still think there are easier ways to do this, but i didn't have enough time to research!

thanks to everyone for their help

mike

On that 24-minute short film I'd mentioned, we did this:

- Made backup of the project file and Sequence to protect the locked edit against mistakes;
- Right in the editing sequence, opened up each sound clip, used waveforms and Audio Scrubbing to find a noticeable audio spike;
- Located corresponding WAV file and marked the same spike;
- Inserted the WAVE file and then matched the markers.
- For clips without scratch sound, we Match Framed them in a separate sequence, used the slate for sync, then copied and pasted the WAV back into the editing sequence.

If you can trust the audio spikes, this saves you from having to re-extend each clip to find sync, and also means you wouldn't have to use another Sequence for the sync work. This is why in modern-day shooting on video, you always want to leave the microphone on to get scratch sound, even when the quality's not usable. There is absolutely no reason not to -- it speeds up the sync process at least three times.


www.derekmok.com