Good news for the 5Dii/7D folks on dual audio system (eg: Zoom H4n) The auto audio syncing plugin for FCP is coming for Vegas 8 n 9 (32bit first) soon. They are doing beta testing now. Hopefully it will be out soon.

Singular Software (http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes/)

Can't wait for the Vegas version! Hope it works!

Got the newsletter today that Plural Eyes Beta has been released for Vegas! I tested it and it works like a bomb, extremely accurate on my clips! I can't imagine why this type of software has taken this long to develop! Automatic syncing that actually works, I've been waiting patiently for this, thanks Singular Software, I'll be your first customer when you release Plural Eyes.

What's the principle behind this software? How do it know? Voodoo?

It looks at the audio files, compares the audio between multiple clips, and syncs them based on audio matches.

It looks at the audio files, compares the audio between multiple clips, and syncs them based on audio matches.

Okay so there has to be a guide track of some sort right?

If your video has audio then this software will analyse the audio and find similarities. I tested it on a concert I shot with three cameras, one had a feed from the desk, second had a shotgun mic and the third camera used the on-board mic. Took a couple of minutes to render out audio then analysed and walla all my clips was synced perfectly. Unfortunately I had to manually sync all the footage the day before the beta was available for download, irony :)

Nicholas, is the software smart enough to understand the differences in timing between audio from a desk and audio from a shotgun at the back of a large hall?

Tried it yesterday with audio from a boom mike outdoors on one camera and a lapel mic on the person with the second camera and ran the program everything synced up perfect for me

Mike I have been thinking about that myself, would be great if one could specify the distance for each camera from the sound source as light travels faster than sound this have to be factored in as well.

Works like a charm. Am having problems with the 5D lag thou. Still trying to figure out the 99.9% hack in Vegas. FCP has got one that makes it totally automatic but that only works for pure 5D2 and dual system audio like Zopom H4n. I'm trying to sync the 5D2 and XDCAM EX now.

I can confirm it works like a charm in Sony Vegas 8.0, with Canon T1i footage (like the 5D, but limited to 720p30.00) synced to Zoom H4n, Zoom H2, Canon HG20 and Canon HG10.

The thing saved me about 4 hours of work today. I've already convinced my boss to buy it when it goes gold, and I'm planning on buying a personal copy as well.

Nicholas, is the software smart enough to understand the differences in timing between audio from a desk and audio from a shotgun at the back of a large hall?
I don't know of any software that will do this adjustment automagically. However, such offsets, once figured for your particular mic/camera positions, should be consistent through the shoot.

We used to work with this all the time in timecode-based synchronization. Figure out an offset, then apply it to all audio from that recorder. Vegas supports this, but it is a manual operation.

There's the math regarding the speed of sound, but, if lipsync looks good, it is good. Slip the audio track to sync, then, figure out how much you've slipped it and note that - you'll probably need it again later. Eg., drop a marker at the beginning of your 2nd system audio clip. Then, slip the 2nd system clip to sync with visual. Drop another marker at the new head position. Select the area between your two markers, its duration = sync offset.

Mike I have been thinking about that myself, would be great if one could specify the distance for each camera from the sound source as light travels faster than sound this have to be factored in as well.
In my experience, even when you work the math, it seems there's always a reason to tweak it a little more one way or the other until it looks right... That may be because the speed of sound changes with temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Just used the trial of Plural Eyes for Vegas to sync 7 12-minute 5D2 clips to a matrixed audio source (2 chans from SBD + 2 chans from ambient stereo pair). Plural Eyes was a champ and nailed all 7 sync points on the first try, but of course did not adjust for visual/audio time differences. However, that's one simple event slip away, and poof, everything is perfect! Probably going to have to purchase that tool considering how many music events I do, freakin' awesome...

I tried it on a complex project that somehow lost sync far down the timeline. Plural eyes crashed and burned, no matter which way I tried to fix it.

However, someone on the Sony forum suggested that I try to fix only small sections of the timeline. As soon as I can free up some time, I'll give it a go - again.