syncing multiple zoom H1s to one camera

[Jeff Cook]

Hello. I have know how to sync one sound source to one camera, but what is the process when you have multiple reocrders? For instance one on the groom, on at the sound board and another at the podium. Do you have to sync each recoreder to the camera individually? Thanks in advance. I use Plural Eyes for syncing audio to video. I also edit on Edius.

[Don Bloom]

Clap your hands loudly after you start the recorders but just a moment or 2 before the wedding starts. Use the waveform peak to sync. I thought though that Plural Eyes would do that for you? I'm not sure since I don't use it but doesn't it work with multiple audio tracks?

[Roger Gunkel]

The simplest way as Don says, is to make a distinctive sharp audio noise after you have started all the recorders. This will show up on the wave form, or you can use any noticeable sound that would be present on all, such as the start of a piece of music or a loud voice. Just zoom in and align the wave forms. To do it that way, it is sometimes easier to line them each up approximately by listening to them first, then do the final align with the wave form peaks.


I use Magix Media Edit Pro 2013 for editing and that has a facility to sync all the audio tracks by clicking on one then highlighting the others. It is very quick and accurate. I would suspect that Plural Eyes works n the same way but have never used it.

Roger

[Roberto Diaz]

I have synced multiple audio sources using both techniques mentioned, in my case for orchestra, band, and choir performances.

When syncing them manually, I pan the camera audio full left and a second audio source full right, then listened with headphones. It's typically quite obvious when they come into sync. With more than 2 audio sources, I repeat this with each of the other audio sources on the right channel, thus using the camera audio as the "master" audio track for sync purposes.

I use plural eyes more and more lately and it works pretty well although I almost always use the try really hard" setting. It's nice how you just import the camera and all other audio sources into vegas, then click an icon to launch plural eyes, click sync in plural eyes, then click export to go back to vegas. Mighty simple, really!

Good luck!

[Jim Andrada]

I use a clapper board operated by my wife. Problem I've had with Edius 6 is that you can't see the audio waveform while moving the track, so (for me at least) it makes it hard to sync up manually - I find Vegas easier for this. For the classical concerts we do the camera is a long way from the stage up in the balcony so recording direct to cam isn't so practical. Haven't tried Plural Eyes yet myself but am thinking about it.

[Roberto Diaz]

@jim:

yes, vegas' waveform is definitely usable for syncing audio.

i've used a three-step approach... first, roughly line up the audio using the waveforms; second, listen with one track full left the other full right and slide one relative to the other until it sounds correct; third, go back to the waveforms to double check if it's right -- sometimes i have to nudge it a frame or two either way, keying off of an impulsive sound like a cymbal crash or a timpani/drum beat.

and plural eyes works for sure and is very cleanly & seamlessly integrated with vegas.

[Jim Andrada]

Yeah, it's the final tweaking that gets me. Even after the clapper board and audio are well synced, the director always has a different idea of how the downbeat should align with the baton even if that wasn't the way it actually happened. I think he really wants a rubber band audio track so he can move things if the orchestra drifts from the beat by a 20th of a second, which it almost always does after tweaking the downbeat visually. Of course he's right because the perceptual experience of a video is different than that of a live concert. But the extra time it takes is something else. My (pianist) wife and I are on the orchestra board so of course it's no charge.

And she's always after me to replace a single missed note when she's the performer. I just tell everyone that it's the small errors that are part of the art of performance and differentiate human artistry from boring computerized perfection. Sometimes it works.

[Evan Donn]

I haven't worked with Edius, but in final cut I just throw all the tracks into a single sequence and pluraleyes generally sorts it all out - I've done up to six audio tracks this way.