Sync and weird "collisions"

[Marc the Darc]

So I've recorded a concert. In part a Panasonic G80 camera at 29,97 fps, and in part with pro audio equipment. Project settings is set to match framerate, resolution etc.

My, apparently naive, idea was to sync the two in Adobe Premiere Elements 2019.

There's also audio from the Panasonic, so I used this to sync by ear. At the beginning it's in perfect sync. But as the hour long concert progress, the video runs ever so slightly faster, and the audio is increasingly out of sync. This is annoying beyond reason, and puzzling, as it's two recordings of the same stretch of time, they should be the same length, and run at the same speed.
So this is the first question: What the hell???

Being the naive person I am, I attempted to cut out single frame lengths of audio here and there to sync it up manually, multiple times in the length of the video. And here the real trouble started; because shifting any clip, be it audio or video, causes random clips down the timeline to jump all over the place, for no apparent reason! They're not linked, they're not touching. But it'll rip it completely to threads, even cut clips into seperate parts and spread them all over the place, for no reason what so ever, other than me having the audacity to move a completely unrelated clip a single frame. And yes, there is space for the clip I'm attempting to move.
So this is my second question: What the actual hell???

I've experienced both before on multiple occations, but never quite this severe. And never found a reason, explanation or actual solution. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Bill Sprague]

Premiere Elements does not have any form of audio sync.  As you have discovered, it has to be done manually.   There is a very good YouTube that helps explain a technique that uses the (free) program called Audacity.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2kLOnOnx9c

To delete frames without other components moving, consider turning off "ripple delete".  There are a couple ways of doing it.  I suggest doing a google or YouTube search on "Premiere Elements Ripple Delete".

[Marc the Darc]

Yeah, wasn't expecting it to do the sync for me. But atleast not drifting out of sync, over the length of the recording would be nice. I had to cut it up into 10 separate pieces and sync them individually, to counteract the drift. I don't get how I can have a video and an audio track, each 1 hour 3 mins and 25 secs long. But once put in Premiere Elements, the audio is several seconds longer than the video, despite being the exact same length (and samplerate). And even a single frame of drift is instantly audible, thus unacceptable.

Which in turn was made 10 times as painful, annoying and time-consuming due to the 2nd issue, of things jumping all over the place, when trying to move something else even a single frame.
But I'll look into the ripple delete thing. It may be related.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply 🙂

[Bill Sprague]

Are the frame rates right?  30 FPS and 29.97 are common camera settings.  Will it work better at 30 instead of 29.97? 

Can you experiment with Time Stretch.  I just tried it and it will accept changes as small as a tenth of a percent.  I don't have any thing to test it on, but it might fix your dilemma.