How to adjust timings of nested items to match video

[spinachworld]

I have a recurring client whose videos are the same every week.  He stands on camera and reads his script while around him on screen are various graphics related to what he's talking about including text reveals, moving color blocks, sound effects and images that fade in and out.  These elements are always in the same positions and sizes on screen and the transitions and other timings are always the same. 

I've created a template that has placeholder text and graphics, as well as all the motion keyframes, transitions, opacity etc. Each week I just duplicate it and insert the latest elements into the latest copy of the template.  Of course his reads are not always the same length, so the text reveals and graphic moves happen at different points in his script every time.  So every week I have to adjust those keyframes and transitions to match his read.

The problem is that when I open the nest to work with the graphic elements, I can't hear his read, so I can't time the moves exactly to his words, and in some cases his actions - pointing at an OTS graphic, for example.

I've been doing it manually by timing out how far into his read the move needs to happen, adjusting for the difference of when the nest first appears, and then going back and forth nudging stuff until it gets to where it should be.   Obviously this is very time consuming, and it's a lotta math which isn't my strong suit.

My question is:  How can I hear the timeline audio in sync while I work with the elements inside a nest, so I can match the graphics to the read?

I'm hoping there's a simple solution for this that I've just never known about.

The only workaround that I've found is to take all the elements in the nest, copy and paste them and their attributes as individual tracks on the main timeline, make my adjustments to match the read and then re-nest them, but that's also time consuming and seems redundant.

Somebody please tell me what I'm missing.  This is the single biggest time waster I encounter.

[Silkr0ad]

Hi! I'll say cut and copy the part of the song that you want under the nested sequence and use it to do your animation and stuff. Then just remove the sound. 

[spinachworld]

Not sure what gives you the idea I'm editing on a laptop - I'm not.  Also it's not a song - it's a news broadcast and the graphics run the entire time along with every section of the script.        

[Sami Succar · Accepted solution]

So there are different ways to save precious time in your workflow.

As @Silkr0ad mentioned, you can copy the audio into the nest, adjust the actions as needed, and delete the copied audio when done.

You can also use markers. So, when you're on your main timeline, select the nest, and add markers where you want the action to be. Then when you open the nest, you'll see all your markers there. The shortcut for adding a marker should be the letter M, unless it's changed for you, check your keyboard shortcuts.

[spinachworld]

The marker idea works better for me than copying audio, because as I mentioned some of the cues are visual.  With markers I can place them and notate what's supposed to happen.  Not sure why this escaped me for so long - I use markers all the time for other stuff.