Hi

We're editing a 30 min feature.

The sound was recorded on free-run timecode and is now out of sync with the video (don't ask me why). The production house have synced the audio and video together on the timeline. There's about 28 different sequences, with 30+ clips and a lot of empty space between, of roughly 25 hours of footage. There's four audio tracks.

How do I work with this?

When I start working with the material (on a new project and sequence) all the audio will loose the sync that the production house created in these individual sequences. And once it's sent to post-sound, it will create mahem.

Can I create a NEW timecode? for all these sequences? Use that as the source material that the soundguy can reference back to?

Please help. This is pretty urgent and I'm pretty new to Avid.

Thanks!

Matylda

You need to subclip each sync clip and then AutoSync those. Check the manual how to do it. This will basically will generate a new sync'd SUBCLIP clip while maintaining the TC from the original master clip.

Thanks for the reply.

If I subclip the clips, it will loose the sync that's in these timelines. I don't need the original TC from the sound, because that's no good as it has no sync to the video. What I need is to KEEP the sync that been created in these individual sequences. Do you see what I mean? 

The only reference that we have at the moment to synced audio and video is in these sequences. If I start subclipping them, the free-run timecode will not reference back to anything useful, but to the TC that is out of sync with video.

What about creating a new TC? Is is possible?

 Yes you can change your timecode base. But I want to ask another question - are you working with drop frame time code or non-drop? Drop frame timecode was created because non-drop eventually gets out of sync with real clock time - drop frame compensates for this. Perhaps you and the audio post facilities are on different sides of the TC fence?

To change the tc base of your sequence, click on the record window and then CTRL + I. This will bring up the sequence info window. In the TC field the colon (:) indicates non-drop, the semi-colon (;) is drop frame. You can change one to the other and it will modify your sequence timecode accordingly.

matylda:

If I subclip the clips, it will loose the sync that's in these timelines.

No. Why would it? A subclip is similar to a regular master clip. The only difference is that a subclip media is dependent from a master clip. Subclipping just merges the video with the audio to make them behave as 1 clip while maintaining their relationship with the original media.

You can Autosync using in points. It does not have to be with timecode.

Just  subclip and autosync and see what I mean.

fYI -I highly advise trying to modify the original audio TC. Even if the TC is not in sync, you may need this point of reference in the future. If you try to recreate this project in the future - most of your TC meta will be useless and you will need to resync manually again.

1. Make In/Out point of a section of the sequence that is in-sync.

2. Generate a subclip.

3. Invoke Autosync.

3. A new subclip is generated that is in-sync while maintaining TC meta from original.

Click here for pic

Hi

I'm not with the material now, but I know it's non-drop. The instruction you gave me, Larry, are they to change from drop to non-drop or can I completely reset the timecode there?

Dom, at the moment we have two completely separate sources of material: audio and video. They have NO whatsoever links with each-other. Someone has gone and put them together in sequences. So now, the only way I can edit sound and video together is from this material. The way they are edited in these sequences. If I subclip, then I will create a separate clip that will reference back to the ORIGINAL TC and NOT to the sequence where the sync is. As far as I understand I need to keep the sync that I have in these sequences. How else will the soundguy go and find the hundreds of snippets of sound that I'm planning to put together? If the material is only synced in these sequences?

Am I missing something here?

Video TC does not match Audio TC. Someone goes and syncs them in an AVID sequence. What do you do next?

Thanks for your patience!

 CTL (CMD) + I will allow to change the timecode base anyway you want to, including numerics as well as drop or non-drop. Whatever you want it to be is good.

matylda:

but I know it's non-drop

Since you used time of day timecode, which is essentially clock time, the timecode base should have been drop frame. I believe this may be the source of your problem, given that non-drop winds up eventually being longer than real clock time. In drop frame, 2 frames are subtracted at the top of each minute, except at :10, :20, :30, :40, :50 and :00.

{EDIT} That doesn't mean 2 frames of clip content, it just means 2 frames of the timecode tally.

You are missing something, namely the whole point of using subclips to sync seperate sound and vision. The synced sequences are irrelevant once you've created the subclips, as they will allow you to recapture the correct audio/video or export an omfi by referencing the original timecode of each separate element. That's how films have been cut for years.

Yes, thank you, I've realised this. 

I need to go back to the material and see what has gone wrong. I think the the problem might be that each tape, for each day, starts with the same TC. So each seperate reel will in fact have duplicated TC.

I think this is where the whole problem started. That's where we came up with the idea of a new TC.

How do you find a solution to that?

matylda:

How do you find a solution to that?

We just gave you the solution - subclip and autosync!!!

Even though they have same TC they have different tape names - right??

Don't generate new TC. You will introduce bigger problems in the future.

So even if all the tapes have the same timecode, they will refer back to more info than just the actual TC numbers? Incl tape name? I'm worried that the soundguy will look at the TC1 A1 (for example) and it will say 10:03:04:05 but he won't know from which tape. Because there's 28 tapes that all start on 10:00:00:00 Thanks!

You're obviously not getting your head around this.  So, spelling it out, you can visualise any frame on any tape as being addressed by the reel name and the timecode.  Let's assume that you want to use a clip from the tape recorded on day 2.  I would have named that tape reel 002.  Of course, If you have more than one tape per day, you'll need a more complex naming system, but let's just go with my example for the moment.

OK, so you want to start editing from the frame at 08:12:53:20.  If you combine that address with reel 002, there will only ever be one unique frame with that address.  There can be no confusion.  If it helps, you can visualise the address being used by Avid or any other editor as really being 002:08:12:53:20.  Obviously, the timecode address 08:12:53:20 on reel 001 is not the same as that on reel 002, and will not be regarded as such by Avid.

If you're getting confusion with your media it will almost certainly be because you do not have unique reel names.  If you want to change anything, use the modify tool to change the reel name not the timecode.  And if you change the reel name, make absolutely certain that you are doing it consistently.  Label each tape with the name you've assigned to it as you make the changes.  Any new material that you digitise must also follow your consistent naming convention.

There is one special case that can still cause problems.  You will encounter tapes where the timecode resets or wraps around tthrough 00:00:00:00.  In that case you should adopt a naming convention that allows you to have more than one name for that reel.  I use 002, 102, etc., others use 002, 002A, 002B, etc.  The approach that you adopt is up to you.  On those tapes you will need to spool by hand to the appropriate point where the new code starts when you digitise.