soundtrack mix out of sync w/ final cut timeline
by Chris Gallaway
on
Oct 26, 2009 at 6:18:59 pm
Hello folks,
Well, I'm fairly stumped here. I'm working on an FCP video project and using STP to master the sound. My workflow is: rough-edit levels on FCP timeline, export to multi-track project in STP, master sound in STP and export mix, insert exported mix back into FCP timeline. My problem is: the final mix continues to come in and out of sync with the original video--some clip and interview audio will be perfectly in sync, others will be off by two frames or a fraction of a frame, still others are off by much more. And throughout the mix this problem comes and goes, even for audio clips that live in the same track. All of the original audio files in the FCP timeline are perfectly synced, and if I even just export the project to FCP and then run a mix (without doing any mastering in STP), the problem still emerges in the exported mix. I really can't figure it and would greatly appreciate any help that can be offered towards understanding what's going on. Thanks much, and please let me know if I can further clarify the problem at hand.
A further note: by Chris Gallaway on Oct 26, 2009 at 6:29:55 pm
In looking at the problem some more, I notice that certain tracks in the sound edit remain in sync while others float in and out. In other words: I've got interview audio followed by ambient noise in tracks 1 & 2, and in 3 & 4 I've got music audio. The music audio remains in sync, and the interview audio is also in sync, but the ambient noise following the interview in 1 & 2 is out of sync by a quite a bit. Later on in the same tracks (1 & 2), when new audio picks up, it gets back in sync. I've checked the original audio files in the FCP timeline, and there is no sync problem there. What in the world? And thanks for the help,
Could it be that . . . by Chris Gallaway on Oct 26, 2009 at 6:44:21 pm
I've mixed video frame rates in my FCP timeline? Due to poor planning, I used both 60i video and 24f (Canon's 24p) in a 24/frames-per-second timeline. It looks like the out-of-sync audio clips might all be from the 60i video. There's no problem with synchronization in the original FCP timeline, but perhaps this mixture of frame rates is causing a hick-up in the transfer to STP? I can't see why video frame rate would cause inconsistencies in audio files that sync perfectly in FCP, but it looks like that could be the problem.
If it's agreed that this is the source of the problem, are there any suggestions on how to remedy it? Should I re-export the out of sync video clips in FCP so that they conform to the frame rate of my timeline? Should I manually move audio clips in STP until they sync up? Thanks again for the help. I apologize for the verbosity of this thread.
