Audio Stumper
 

OK, here's something that's got me stumped at the moment:

I'm editing a 2-hour long film that was shot at 24 fps. I burn a DVD to give to the music composer. He writes music and syncs everything up to the edit I gave him, but when I go to lay his music files back on my timeline, the music no longer lines up properly with the video.

I think the problem is due to the 24 fps video being converted to 30 fps while being played back from the DVD. The composer is syncing his music to 30 fps video, and so it won't sync up properly when put down on my 24 fps timeline. My question is how to fix this- if there is a way to fix it!

Hopefully this makes sense to you folks out there!

There isn't enough info here:

1. Are you editing in a 24p timeline? How did your footage originate?
2. What audio suite is your composer using (this is very important)?
3. Why are you handing him a DVD in the first place?

In my experience it is always far better to meet with a composer as opposed to giving a reference video. My advice is to plan a meeting and have him bring a mobile setup (laptop) to where ever you are cutting. You can time it on the spot with him.

If you must give him something to cut with, find out which application he is using and plan on giving him a true 23.98 QuickTime (if that is what you are cutting in and his audio suite can take this type of file).

Hope this helps,
-C

This footage originated from a Panasonic HVX200 and I'm cutting it on Final Cut Pro 6.something-or-other on a 24 fps timeline.

This I'm not 100% sure, but I remember him telling me that he's using a PC with Reason, FruityLoops, one or two other stand-alone titles, and Pro Tools on the PC.

I gave him a DVD because that's what he asked for.

He's never had to do something like sync up music with certain moments in a film before, and I've never had to work with a composer before, so we're both treading on unknown ground!

Unfortunately, having him bring in a laptop is out of the question because he doesn't have one. however, I could always burn a Quicktime file to a data DVD and give that to him. I'll try that tomorrow when I get back to work. Thanks for bearing with me!

Looking at the video and audio tracks they likely do not line up. One is longer than the other? I have no idea how to do this on a MAC but with Vegas on the PC it would mean unlocking the audio from frame sync and then stretching or compressing the audio track to fit. This is a frequent task for me with different audio sources never having quite the exact audio clock.

Ron Evans