Double system sound - automating sync
 

Earlier I mentioned the Edirol R-44 was capable of embedding time-of-day timecode (TOD TC) into the .wav files. TOD TC was how I planned to manually correlate double-system video with audio.

Today someone told me about SequenceLiner.

It will take TOD TC files and sync them automatically. It will even allow you to specify an offset to attain perfect sync throughout.

In my case, I would have a huge audio clip with lots of shorter video clips to sync. SequenceLiner will precisely align all of the video clips along the entire length of the audio clip! Imagine trying to do that manually!

This all works with FCP via XML files.

Check it out: sequenceLiner for Final Cut Pro - an easy way to get sync dailies, cameras or sound

For a PC solution, Vegas 8 Pro & above include some sync tools, not as refined as what Dean is describing (no "default offset" setting...), but they do provide basic sync.

The multicam layout tools will arrange the video clips per timecode. Import-BWF will arrange audio clips per timecode. And then, very cool, audio trax can be sub-frame slipped during preview for fine sync.

Here's another possible solution:

Sync-n-Link
Sync-N-Link for FCP: automatically create Final Cut Pro merged clips

Demo can be seen here:
Automatically Sync Dailies in Final Cut with Sync N Link | Studio Daily

This utility also depends upon time-of-day timecode. By synchronizing the timecode of the camera and recorder, these Sync-n-Link can match up clips automatically. If the timecodes are slightly offset, it's possible to make adjustments to get all the clips to sync perfectly based on that offset.

This is especially valuable for those doing reality-type documentaries where slating every shot might not be practical nor possible.

SequenceLiner is free for now and worth grabbing even if you don't have an immediate use for it.

Vegas will only indicate if something previously in sync has been moved. I know of no application that sync wild audio.