How to sync audio to video
 

I shot footage for a workout video for a friend. I used to Cameras (Canon 7D & T1i) & used one external mic to the main camera.

Here is the question:While editing, I want to always use the primary extermal mic for audio but want to add in video from the 2nd camera & wonder if there is an easy way to sync the audio from my primary camera to video footage of camera #2?

I will be editing in Vegas Platinum

Thanks guys for any help you can offer!

Jeff,

I'm surprised that the t1i footage will look ok with the 7d? Doesn't the t1i run at 20fps?

Anyways, you'll have to manually sync the video tracks to the primary audio. I use Vegas pro and it's not that difficult, though that other frame rate might mess you up a little. Stack the two sources on top of each other with the primary track below. The video clips in the upper track will overide the lower track, the audio should mix together. You can slide the upper track around until the echo goes away. Then you should be close. It also helps if you lower the audio level in one of the tracks so you can tell which is which.

Some others will also post some advice as well

The best thing to do, although it's kinda late now, is to set a "sync" point...

Clapping hands, camera flash etc. You can do what Ken says then look for something else that's obvious in both cameras to fine tune it.

Ok, I got the two video tracks & 2 audio tracks sync'ed together using the sync command & turned off one of the audio so it is perfectly sync'ed.

Now the next challenge, I want to change from video track/camera 1 to video/camera 2 in mid clip & wondering how to pull it off. I can select which one to use but it does so for the entire clip.

I have not tried using a marker (never done it before) & split the clip at a given point but not sure if that will work.The problem with that is I do not think I could then use a transition fading one video to another because if you push the videos together, it would mess it the audio track & put it out of sync with the video tracks.

Anyone got an idea how to pull this off? I am on a learning curve & never dealt with editing 2 video tracks before of the same scene.

Jeff, take a look at Vol 1 #9 of my newsletters. It shows you multiple ways to do multi-cam editing. If you're on Vegas Pro 8 or 9, search for "multi camera" in the help file.

^^^ Edward, a big thank you! I will read it today & see if it helps. I hope the fact that I have Vegas Platinum does not make it so different that I cannot use the info.

Your site is on my favorite list, thanks again!

The manual methods will work in the Movie Studio versions. The script methods will not and it doesn't have the built-in "multi-cam" options found in the current Pro versions.

Along with the resources everyone posted above, I found this video clip that was helpful for me:

YouTube - Multi video track editing in Sony Vegas & Movie Studio

The only problem I ran into was sync'ing the 2nd video track to the primary audio that had an external mic. I think next time the best way to go about it would be to split the external mic wire so it feeds into both cameras (instead of just the primary camera) thus they would have the both cameras would have the same audio track. The way I did it, the 2nd cameras audio was unacceptable thus I was forced to sync it to the primary cameras audio.

All in all, it is a learning curve for me since I have never filmed with 2 cameras. I am sure I will learn something each time I film.

Jeff, have you tried Pleural Eyes? Its amazing! and there is a version for Sony Vegas Pro.

Pluraleyes
 

Thomas, I concur! I use it for multi-cam w. seperate 4-track audio and it syncs it all up perfectly!

I downloaded the trial and got so used to using it, I forgot about the end Jan deadline for the introductory price and ended up paying full whack! Still worth it though.

The T1i runs at 1080p20, but 720p30.