the best to sync multiple dv cam for concert

[Marc Gaudet]

im looking forward to get a contract to film a concert .the sound will professionaly captured but i need to film the show .now my question is how do i get my 6 cameras to be sync i have two sony pd 100 1 pd150 1 xl1 and 1 gl1 can any one help me on this topict

[Seth Bloombaum]

An accepted method is "time-of-day" timecode.

The idea is that you preset the timecode on all cameras to the time of day, and switch it from "record run" to "free run". If you do this carefully, you'll start out with timecode that is within 15 frames or so. The PD150 and the XL1 can do this, I think. I believe the pd100 does as well, not sure about the gl1.

Once you get your shots up on the timeline of your editor, you should be able to quickly do rough sync with the recorded timecode - assuming that your editor and production workflow support camera timecode all the way through the workflow! Test it before your shoot.

For fine sync I use the audio tracks. It is important to get audio onto all camcorders. From the sound people is best, but camera mic is acceptable. You'll use this for fine sync, bearing in mind that you might need to tweak further because of the time that sound takes traveling through the air to your camcorder.

[Marc Gaudet]

well the thing is i cant go by the sound cause there will be someone who will record the audio professionaly off the board and the live noise and he will mic every individual instrument as well but the i agree that sync it to run rec makes sense the only problem will be that a dv cam tape takes only 40 min to record and the show will last about 1h30 so when ill be changing tapes will that affect my timecode yes

[Nate Weaver]

Marc,

I do this day-in-day-out with DV cameras. I've shot about 20 concerts with up to 9 cams.

Honestly, I take no special actions, except making sure each and every camera is recording audio off on the onboard mic. This audio is used for syncing. The other "must have" is making sure none of the cameramen "break the roll", meaning they all roll starting at the beginning, and only end when they're ABSOLUTELY SURE the show is over.

After you bring everything in, find a sync point in the audio that every camera recorded. This can be stick clicks at the beginning o the first song, the first guitar note, etc. Set the in point on each first clip to this point, and then either build your multicam group or drag each to it's own track, lining up the in points.

It's possible to get really fast at this, it only takes me maybe 20 minutes to sync a whole show using this method.

Using TOD timecode, while sometimes helpful for the entire show, can be a disaster if the cams use it for shooting the rest of the b-roll they might be assigned to also. TOD code, if used for regular stop and start shooting, will cause your capture process to take much much longer because of the breaks, and your NLE will have to stop and start many times while capturing these. The one time I used it, I said never again. If your NLE can capture across timecode jumps without stopping, then this might be a good route for you.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

TOD code, if used for regular stop and start shooting, will cause your capture process to take much much longer because of the breaks, and your NLE will have to stop and start many times while capturing these. The one time I used it, I said never again. If your NLE can capture across timecode jumps without stopping, then this might be a good route for you.

Right. Final Cut Pro, rather famously, does not deal with timecode breaks well at all. Real trouble if you use anything other than record run, and occassionally trouble with that, too. I found the multicamera thing to be pretty unintuitive, too.

Vegas on the PC deals with timecode breaks rather seamlessly, and also has excellent synchronization capabilities, it's pretty cool for multicamera and double system sound. TOD works really well for this NLE, easy to forget that not every system likes it... thanks Nate.