Sync to video...

[Dr. Cuso]

Hi all!

I want to ask, how do you sync clocks when recording audio for a music video concert.

i.e. There is a music concert that will be recorded (audio & video) I will record audio (multitrack) in my DAW system, to be later inserted to the final video. actually I will insert the audio to the edited video manually.

I had the experience that running both systems (video and audio) by its own clock, when you try to sync them they are running wild, so its very hard and tedious to fix sync.

How do you guys deal with these situations?

I got a Alesis AI-2 for this purpose, but now I do not know how to use it.

any advice will be very appreciated.

Regards

Alex

[StefanM]

Hi,

assuming the video machine is the tc master it can be externally clocked.

A DAW being the tc-slave can imo not be clocked externally (tried it - did not work).

Stefan

[fifthcircle]

You can clock a DAW externally, but it requires thought of where your sync is coming from. In the case of using TC and wordclock- they will compete, because the DAW's clock is likely being resolved to the TC and the new clock competes with it. If you are running a situation where you want to use a word clock, send blackburst out to all the cameras and have them, the TC master, and the word clock generator lock to the same black signal.

It is a pain to do in the field, but works well... Most of the video work I've done has been to film which is a breeze to sync or I send my rough mix to the cameras and they jam sync the multitrack. The problems I've had with TC is if you get an unstable TC signal, you can end up having your recorder drop out of record. If you just take the TC from the TC master and sync to that, you should be fine too...

--Ben

[Waylon]

I am not a big fan of resolving the audio clock to house video sync unless I am drop dead certian that it will be stable ( read: PRETTY MUCH NEVER) IME you can usually get my bu recording thier SMTPE tc track to a channel of the multitrack so that you can at least sync them together later witrh relative accuracy.. if it is vital that you are locked dead to nuts accurate to the video truck... I would make sure you are runnign a "safety setup that mirrors the audio to another mutitrack system that is independant so that when the "gurus' over in Video land bugger up the clock stability you dont lose audio when your main recorder stops and waits for the clock sync... the other option is to see if you can provide video with a clock source so that you are the master.... they probablly wont want that for the same reason you dont want to slave to them....


YMMV, but I wouldnt risk it.

Now that I have spouted of, perhaps Steve R would like to set the record straight? he deals with this stuff everyday.

[Remoteness]

Hey Alex:

Long time...

If you need complete accuracy locking to house sync (video black) is key.

Ben is right on the money -- Video black must be locked to all the cameras, SMPTE TC master, recorders and word clock generators.

Like Ben said, "If you just take the TC from the TC master and sync to that, you should be fine too..."

We use a video DA (distribution amp) to feed "black" to all the recorders individually. SMPTE TC gets to the same recorders via a Brainstorm SR15+ Dystripulizer (sp?) DA.

Hey, unstable TC signal is a royal pain... We had unstable video black take down our DAW but, the DTRS setup kept recording just fine. We spent time after the show transferring the lost data to the DAW. Anyway you look at it, supplying a back up system with completely different media then the main system is paramount.

Steve, Thanks for the additional suggestions. I hear where you're coming from my friend. I've been in situations where we had to remove the video lock from the recorders because it was not stable enough to keep our system recording.

I got to tell you, when recording live, especially live video, I look at the DTRS recorders as my main system and the DAW as the back up to that.

[Dr. Cuso]

Hi all! thanks for all you comments, very helpful.

Unfortunately, video will be handled by someone else, and as Waylon says, I doubt they will want to be locked to my clock. video guys will be happy if I send a reasonable 2 tracks mix.

I think the key for me, knowing my setup, will be supply my sync box (AI2) with black or wclock signal then send smpte or WC to my DAW, and use a wild system as a back up.

Steve,
Glad to see you here!

by the way I found this link that you may like .

Here

Regards

Alex G.

[Sam Lord]

Originally posted by Remoteness

>>>
...If you need complete accuracy locking to house sync (video black) is key.

Ben is right on the money -- Video black must be locked to all the cameras, SMPTE TC master, recorders and word clock generators.

Like Ben said, "If you just take the TC from the TC master and sync to that, you should be fine too..."

We use a video DA (distribution amp) to feed "black" to all the recorders individually. SMPTE TC gets to the same recorders via a Brainstorm SR15+ Dystripulizer (sp?) DA...

...Hey, unstable TC signal is a royal pain... We had unstable video black take down our DAW but, the DTRS setup kept recording just fine....

...I've been in situations where we had to remove the video lock from the recorders because it was not stable enough to keep our system recording.

I got to tell you, when recording live, especially live video, I look at the DTRS recorders as my main system and the DAW as the back up to that.

Hi folks, thanks for this very helpful info, which seems to elude so many posters on video forums...So, here's another question from one who is just starting to make DVDs of live music : what if you don't have any VTRs, just a camcorder or two but several audio channels feeding ADCs and DAW? Can you make them time slaves through a LANC connection, or must you fork out thousands for VTRs? For this, I just got a MOTU Traveler which can output both WC and SMPTE timecode. Thanks very much in advance, Sam