Premire Pro 2025 Audio drift bug

[Videographer Suxrob]

Hello everyone, I have a Sony FX3 and a Zoom H6, and I always record wedding videos continuously, meaning I don’t stop the camera while filming. The main reason for this is to avoid synchronization issues. However, after I synchronize the wedding video, during the editing process, the Zoom H6 and camera audio keep differing by 1–3 milliseconds. What is the main cause of this? I think Premiere shifts the audio by up to 1 microsecond when cutting the video, and after many cuts, this phase difference accumulates to a 1–3 second discrepancy. Is this a bug? (For additional information, the audio and video are at the same level, 4800, and I have 15+ years of experience. I have many computers and have tested this in various ways. I have uploaded the video; watch it and see how the audio is drifting — it is only noticeable up close.) For any additional questions, write to me, and I will reply quickly.

(My pc: Intel Core i9 9900k, Asus RTX 2080 Super, Windows 11 Pro, Premiere Pro 2025 25.6.3. Build 2)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BkMP7AnKy40ATj7kkxFTO84UhjjMtGQ-/view?usp=sharing 

[R Neil Haugen]

No ... it's the devices themselves doing this. 

No camera made keeps a totally accurate timecode, and the Zoom H6 (it's what I use btw) is better than most cameras but still not perfect.

So drift will always occur unless the operators jam-sync.

That's why all major professional productions have Tentacle or Deity set of sync units ... and while you can do a startup-sync, but disconnected while shooting, it will still drift after a bit.

Full continuous jam-syncing is done to avoid that. And is the only process that does. You have a master device and linked per-camera/audio unit device ... and everything is connected the whole time.

I have BlackMagic UMP and pocket 4k cameras, and work daily in Resolve also ... and am on the Resolve forums. "Over there" talk of proper syncing is a constant part of their forum, as with all the cameras they make, their forum has extensive film production discussions ongoing.

[Videographer Suxrob]

I perfectly synchronize the audio, the sound is 1:1 accurate, but for the synchronized music sound and the camera-recorded sound, let's say for the first minute it is 1:1 correct, after 10–15 minutes the sound differs by 3–5 microseconds, and eventually here the camera and Zoom H6 audio sound like an echo. True, they are almost unnoticeable, but the audio scale, the audio waveforms show in Premiere that one is ahead or behind by 1 second.

[R Neil Haugen]

That is as expected, not because Premiere is doing anything but that the timebase for the files vary ever so slightly. As I discussed in my previous post.

For instance, with simple time-syncs at the beginning of a shoot with multiple cameras and sound recording devices, if they are not continuously connected to a syncing system, it is assumed that in post, an editor or assistant will have to adjust end points at the least to get the over-time back into sync.

As you note, the first few minutes will be spot on, but eventually the drift in timekeeping will be noticeable. And will need to be corrected.

Whether using Avid/ProTools, Premiere, Resolve, whatever. Because again the devices do not have the exact same time pacing to their internal clocks. 

No cameras or sound recorders have perfect timekeeping internal clocks. PERIOD.

Even the timecode generators like Tentacle or Deity don't actually have "perfect" internal timekeeping, So why does a constant connection help? Because with cameras and recorders that can accept external timecode, the sync unit's timecode is used for all devices.

Therefore timecode cannot drift. And that is the only way to have no noticeable timecode drift.

So ... most of us sync at the beginning, and assume we'll be manually correcting the audio track length to match with the video ... that's what I normally do. As the audio track can be set to audio time units, and therefore is nearly infinitesimally adjustable.