Syncing Sound From a Go Pro Hero 4 to an external recording device?

[stuartg60634896]

I've tried syncing an audio track between a camera and an external recording device once and I had no problem with it. Just click on synchronise, synchronise by audio.

I tried to do it a second time today and it wasn't working for some reason.

The devices I was using were a go pro hero 4 camera and a Zoom H1n recording device.

As far as I can tell the recording device will be useless, unless I synchronise by audio because otherwise it won't be lip synced.

Is there any tricks that I can use to help the synchronising process.

The Zoom H1n records in .Wav by default, I am not sure what file format the Go pro records in. Perhaps if I changed the default file format in the Zoom H1n to .mp3 it would have an easier time synchronising?

Any help is much appreciated.

[rodneyb56060189]

this is a tricky subject, because there are a lot of different scenarios where you need to sync stuff.

I recently asked a friend to come over to my apt. so I can shoot a music video of him playing a song on an acoustic guitar ( with singing).

He came over and we talked about it and put on some lights and checked out the space available to shoot, etc.

Basically comes down to a master shot ( slightly wider than medium , so we can see the guitar ( neck and body)). So, we use a seamless background for that … lit so it looks nice. One angle, one shot, the master.

With music videos the sound sync is super important. Why? Because when you start shooting inserts and other clips to 'match' the timecode of the master, you have to be exact or it looks stupid.

How do you do that in a pro sumer environment ( no professional crew with timecode jammed slates, sound mixer and camera ? ).

My solution... ( not done yet … we are talking about doing it ).

shoot master, put it in editor, use video monitor to pass through the SDI signal to a little field monitor ( the little monitor is small .. smaller than a typical SLATE ).

Display the image of master with timeline time code of master.   Set up your close up shot, and have someone hold up the field monitor as a SLATE.. so you see the timecode... at head of clip you are now shooting.... refocus and frame if necessary to get your shot... CUT,

DONE,

Now you drop that shot into timeline matching the timecodes... ( another video level above your master ), Now you can drop whatever you want into the main master level from that clip, using the timecode.

and it will be exact.

[stuartg60634896]

Thanks for the reply although that sounds quite complicated to me.

I‘m mainly looking to use the auto sync function on premiere pro, I will be filming myself and editing myself.

[rodneyb56060189]

yeah, it's convoluted and sounds tricky but it's not. I have same stuff as you probably. DSLR, BMPCC, H4n, Tascam, boom mics,, etc...shoot myself, edit myself.

Soooo, lets say you shoot some stuff. and it's a go pro maybe a drone maybe on your head riding a bike, whatever. Now you have AV ( audio and video ).

Now you want to record some stuff on H4n and sync it to footage ( the visual part ) of your previous work via go pro...

why not use what I suggested, and slate the shot using a visual timecode cue from your timeline of your go pro stuff.... ( and a clapper to make sure you sync the H4n to that code … in other words, that's when you turned on the H4n and started recording )...

you throw out the video portion cause you might not need it for your purpose ( I have no clue what you mean by lip sync, but the go pro maybe has some guy talking ? ) … so now you are in sync with the h4n via timecode from your own editing timeline and the clapper for when you started recording on the H4n.

Anyway, as you say, there are automatic ways to do this now... because the program can match waveforms and sync that way, so you can just press a button and get it done. Whatever works is the best way.

[stuartg60634896]

Ok, I think I’m starting to catch your drift.

My plan was record on the go pro and sound recording device at the same time.

I was trying to auto sync using a loud audible clap as the sync point.

This would sync the go pro sound with the sound on the recording device.

Then I Would delete the sound from the camera and only use the sound from the recording device. By lip syncing I mean it’s annoying and hard to watch when you are lip reading what someone is saying and the sound comes with a 1 second delay.

I’ll Look into your method tomorrow morning.

[Meg The Dog]

stuartg60634896  wrote

I tried to do it a second time today and it wasn't working for some reason.

What method did you use when having the successful sync?

Is the problem that audio fails to sync or is it that the sync drifts out over time?

Are you confident the frame rate of your sequence matches the frame rate of the source video?

MtD

[rodneyb56060189]

Ohhhh.. I get it... that's basically just using a clapper ( slate ) that is IN THE SHOT when you start the shot …. basically set up your shot for the visual ( with or without sound to camera) and put the H4n where you want it to record nice level .. and stick a clapper in the shot...

roll sound

then roll camera

then 'mark it' ( use the clapper so camera sees it and h4n hears it )

then call 'action'

done.

[rodneyb56060189]

p.s.

cut and turn OFF h4n recording ( not pause, but stop recording entirely ) for every shot.  That way it makes a new file for every sound take ( new wav file ).

shut off camera too at end of shot.

that way every time you start new recording it makes a new file

those files will be your match between sound and visual stuff...

file 1 of camera will equal file 1 of H4n.

you have to sync visually using the clapper, and then LINK that sound to the clip... and then you can push it out of the way ( figure out how to stack the stuff in your timeline so you can keep syncing stuff and get that part done first...)

THEN you can trim those linked video and sound files to build your roughcut, etc...

good luck !

[rodneyb56060189]

I bought this little slate and it works fine.  Usually use a dry marker ( like a magic marker but you can wipe it off with a paper towel or cloth) to say what's going on ( take number etc. )

the angled colors make it easier to see the exact frame when the clapper comes down to final contact ( and clap noise ).

[stuartg60634896]

Will that help the audio sync?

Not saying it doesn‘t but I don’t understand how the audio is affected by the visual.

As on my raw audio there there is no visual to match it.

I would have thought doing a physical clap myself might be equally effective (as that’s what I did in the successful sync albeit with better equipment)  but I suspect there might be more to it.

[stuartg60634896]

I am not confident that the frame rates match.

When doing the successful sync I used a tascam Dr10L and a different camera.

I synced about 10 clips with the audio.

I tried it once with the GoPro and the Hn1 and it was unsuccessful.

I assumed it was because the sound quality on the GoPro was so low but I also wasn’t sure if it was because the sound files needed to be in the same format or something.

I tried physically clapping my hands the one time I tried to sync it but I had no luck.

I am still unsure what format the GoPro audio file was, maybe .mp3 or a lower quality format. is a sync still possible with these audio files?

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.

[Meg The Dog]

stuartg60634896  wrote

I assumed it was because the sound quality on the GoPro was so low but I also wasn’t sure if it was because the sound files needed to be in the same format or something.

The audio that is recorded on the camera must be of sufficient quality and volume that the automation in Premiere Pro can find enough matching areas to perform the sync.

If, for example, the GoPro was 20 feet away from the speaker on a windy day, I would not have high expectations that the quality of the sound on the video file would be sufficient.

stuartg60634896  wrote

I tried physically clapping my hands the one time I tried to sync it but I had no luck.

If you can see your hands coming together for the clap, then you can manually sync the audio from the external recorder fairly easily. Drop the camera clip to the timeline, and position the timeline playhead at the point that your hands come together.

Drop the audio from the external recorder to the timeline, and you should be able to spot the spike in audio where you clapped your hands in the audio waveform. Drag that file until the spike from the clap is beneath the point where you clapped you hands.

Play back and judge if you need to slip the clip earlier or later a few frames to obtain better sync.

MtD

[rodneyb56060189]

sorry, but I really don't understand very well what you are doing. I don't ever sync sound between in -camera sound and an external sound recording of the take. I just use the external sound recording by using the slate.

I've often wondered why people try to sync using the camera sound to the external sound and it confuses me. For example, let's say you have shooting with a long lens ( 300mm ) and someone is getting out of a car and saying, " I'll be right back " to a doorman of a hotel near where he parked.  The sound boom man will be very close to where the action is ( just outside of frame). The camera will be halfway down the block. The time it takes for sound to travel from the action to the camera would make it NOT SYNC the moving lips if you recorded that at the camera.  Plus, the quality of sound is always less good when recorded by camera in comparison to your H4n or Tascam.  So I just don't get it.

Others do it here as I've seen people talking about it, but I just don't do stuff like that.

sorry.

[stuartg60634896]

Ok then, I tried it before and the lip sync seemed to match to my eye.

I‘m going to record later today and then try to sync later.

It it sounds like the sync you are looking for is quite a bit more advanced than the one I am looking for.

[Richard van den Boogaard]

I usually use Red Giant's PluralEyes for syncing up audio of multiple cameras. It usually works like a charm, but sometimes you need to go in a do things manually.