Audio and video questions

[tazman]

Hi, I have a question if you all don't mind:
if I shoot a video with my camera and record the audio into Nuendo. Once the audio has been edited in Nuendo and exported, how do I line up my audio and video in Premiere? (currently I use some cues in the video and audio)

Thanks


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[pkautzsch]

Presupposing your gear won't allow you to work with timecode and clock reference, the safest way would be to send a line feed of our rough mix (pre-Nuendo!) to the camera while shooting. This will give you a more precise reference than visual cues or cam's on-board mic.
Then, you can just line up the Nuendo export with the camera reference audio in the video editing software.

[Justas]

I don't know if I understand you correctly... If this is a typical video/film shoot where you record separately audio to be in sync with images (a dialog, for example), you should use something like a clap as a reference, and then sync image and audio BEFORE you start editing.
Unless you are syncing via time code, edit with some kind of audio reference (camera audio, perhaps) and then post conform? But I don't think this is a case for that.
Good luck.

[georgia]

either you or someone else should place their hands in front of the camera. When you start recording, very quickly, clap your hands once and keep them closed.... you now have a way to easily sync the sound by using the sound of the clap and the visual of the clap.


cheers
geo

[tazman]

The clap is what I use right now. I am wanting to learn about SMPTE, but I'm a bit confused about it (how it works).

[tazman]

The other thing I am sort of confused about is. Say I have two cameras shooting a scene. I then import the footage into an editor (Premier). I go through and edit the movies and switch between the cameras, etc. My audio needs to be edited accordingly as far as cutting out parts, etc. When do you actually do that part? Do you import the audio into the video editing software and cut it as you edit the movie or do you edit the audio in the DAW after you import the edited video? (which I assume would be a lot more complicated?!?)

Thanks again for the help,

Rob

[kk@jamsync.com]

Originally Posted by tazman

The other thing I am sort of confused about is. Say I have two cameras shooting a scene. I then import the footage into an editor (Premier). I go through and edit the movies and switch between the cameras, etc. My audio needs to be edited accordingly as far as cutting out parts, etc. When do you actually do that part? Do you import the audio into the video editing software and cut it as you edit the movie or do you edit the audio in the DAW after you import the edited video? (which I assume would be a lot more complicated?!?)

Thanks again for the help,

Rob

I import everything into the video editor. Then I line up all the audio and video so that all the tracks match in each scene. When I edit video, I do a rough edit of the audio, leaving long handles on the audio. If I have an overlapping audio track, I make sure it's on another track so I can leave handles w/o crossfading. When I have a rough cut, I export the movie and export the audio tracks as either mono or stereo pairs. Then I mix everything in PT and bring back the final mix into Final Cut. If I have to make edits in the video, I export the new movie and the resulting audio mix cut to PT and make the appropriate changes there. Since I'm adding SFX and music in PT, I don't bother with OMF exports in Final Cut. I'd rather have the raw audio with handles as files.

I'm much more familiar with multi-camera in FCP than in Premiere, so sorry if this doesn't make sense for you.

For lining up audio, I use a clapper (slate) because the transient is sharper and I write down scene, take and other info on the slate, which is captured (in FOCUS) in the first frames of the video. It's a must-have when someone makes a mistake on the take sheet (not unheard of).

[tazman]

Thanks, it does make perfect sense. It seems that after all, other than not having a clapper, I am doing things similarly.
So how does SMPTE come into play, or does it not have anything do to with this?

[kk@jamsync.com]

Originally Posted by tazman

Thanks, it does make perfect sense. It seems that after all, other than not having a clapper, I am doing things similarly.
So how does SMPTE come into play, or does it not have anything do to with this?

Depends on what you're shooting and with what kind of camera. For DSLR stuff, time code isn't such a big deal because you're often dealing with short segments.

Long form is different and having a camera that tracks time of day can be useful, too.

In editing, everything relates to TC because I can give an assistant an EDL for FX and music cues and have him or her go find samples of what I want while I edit. Those get laid into the session where I will layer/delete/effect them later. So, once I'm editing, TC is obligatory.

I'm just talking about non-linear stuff here. Online, tape, etc. is a different ball game and TC is mandatory for synchronization. I still have my Zeta III although I haven't used it in quite awhile...