Camera Reel & Sound Roll
 

Should the camera reel number and sound roll number always be kept the same while shooting dual system? Is this option available on most audio recorders and high end HD cameras? Besides timecode, this would benefit the editor in post (syncing sound), correct? Thanks, Ryan

Ryan,
In the old days you used to have a relationship between the length of the film rolls and sound rolls which was predictable so the info on the slate helped the editor keep track of where everything was as well as logs from the AC, Sound Person and Script person.
Nowadays it is harder to predict as the Sound systems can record many hours at a time while the cameras have a wide range from a few minutes to many depending on the system.
Timecode is one of the best ways to keep things together and depending on the system you are using can be very accurate. It is best to come up with a system based on the gear you have which everyone understands and just be logical.
On a recent commercial I shot on P2 with a Sound Devices system we ran Rec Run on the camera and recorder system so everytime I started the camera the Sound Devices started recording. We ran the timecode incrementally through out the day so every file had a different timecode.
Some equipment may not be capable of this so we might have had to use Free Run Timecode to keep things in Sync.
Usually these decisions are best made as a discussion between the production departments and what the editors are expecting and try and be as consistent as possible.

One other point on this. Usually when using reels, you were shooting film. There was no sound on the film, audio was recorded to tape and later to hard drive recorders. The reel number and take information typically get listed as part of the metadata in a lot of the recorders. The Sound Mixer is responsible for keeping track of that. In addition, the camera department will mark the slate and jam TC to the slate (however, in normal operations, the slate and TC are generated by the sound department and simply handed over to 2nd AC). You have multiple people keeping logs on most productions. Reels and TC should match on all logs (and hopefully if the mixer did their job, the metadata).

Wayne