Noob question about FCP, syncing and time code
 

Usually I've done things the hard way and sync audio/video by hand, dummy slate being used on set. But now Im getting into multicam shoots where the recorder, slate and cameras all run at synced timecode.
Im mainly a sound guy wanting to understand more about how this works when brought into post.

When the Audio and Video clips have embedded timecode in them does Final Cut just automatically sync them somehow? How does this work?

And syncing after the picture is locked.. do you have to select each clip one at a time, roll it back to the slate, and then line it up w the audio? ...while being non-destructive to the timeline?

How does this sort of thing generally get done? With or without SMPTE capabilities...
(I know the way I was doing this was a bit of a mess, and probably not the norm)

Any light shed on this would be fantastic

Thanks in advance

Chris

One of the options in the multiclip dialogue box is to sync based on timecode. It should be just as simple as that.

This page looks like a good explanation of all my tricks.

The Essentials of Multicam Editing in Final Cut Pro

cool, thanks

that multicam tutorial was very informative. However still trying to wrap my head around replacing camera audio w/ field recorder audio non-destructively in the timeline after a picture lock. The workflow I mean.

Would I create an empty track in my timeline, move or duplicate the clip I want to replace audio to it, pull the in point back to find the slate, then find the corresponding audio file, drop it underneath, sync it by the clap, then pull the in points of the clips back to match the original cut and then move the good audio over the bad one?

This method is all I can think of.. to actually line up to the dummy slate requires me to alter the edits all over the place and then put em back.

Just curious if there's any other methods... Thanks!

or maybe duplicate the entire timeline, and edit the copied one somehow? Any ideas?

What I would do is leave the slate in at the head of the video to start with, edit to picture lock, then sync the audio. When you are sure it is synced, simply mute the camera's audio tracks and move the in point of the video and audio forward together to cut off the slate.

ok.. not sure exactly what u mean.. edit and leave slate in the clips? I get a pic locked fcp project, then I have to sync it, so I am not the one who gets to edit the video...

In that case, simply select the entire timeline, move the video forward, then extend the in point of the firstclip to the slate. Sync and reset the in points of the audio and video at the same time, and shift everything back to the beginning of the timeline.