syncing video clips with audio

Question

Level 1

8 points

syncing video clips with audio

I'm fishing for suggestions on how to sync audio and video in iMovie. I have a series of video clips and an audio track, and would like them synced at certain points in time. The sync points are in the middle of the clips, hence Snap to Beat Marker feature is of limited help. The alignment I'm after is:

audio: |-------+------------+----------+----|

clip1: |----------+------|

clip2: |-------+------|

clip3: |----+---------|

The main concern is to sync on the '+', I can adjust the boundaries betwen clips/audio later. Ideally, once the markers are set, I could reorder the clips. I would be happy with temporary gaps in video (to be filled in later), but if that's problematic, I can make sure there's always be enough extra footage to avoid the gaps.

audio: |-------+------------+----------+----|

clip2: |-------+-----|

clip3: |----+---------|

clip1: |----------+------|

gap (potential): |-|

Any suggestions welcome, many thanks!

MacBook Pro, iOS 6.1.2, iMovie 11

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 1:30 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

AppleMan1958

Level 7

27,492 points

Mar 7, 2013 5:51 AM in response to sdarnok

One suggestion would be to place Comment Markers at the sync points, then try to line up the Comment Markers.

More on Comment Markers here.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/imovie_09_stone.html#markers

You might also try the Beat Marker feature for the audio track. Try to line up the comment markers with the beat markers.

Also, my reaction is that this would be pretty simple in Final Cut Pro X. It will even create a "Gap Clip" for you that you can fill in later. If you do a lot of this, consider Final Cut Pro X. For one thing, you could lay down your audio track first in the Primary Storyline and then add the film clips on top of it. iMovie is video centric so you must start with the video clips and then add the audio (beat markers being the only exception).

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Answer 2

sdarnok Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 7, 2013 11:50 PM in response to AppleMan1958

Cheers AppleMan1958. Comment (or chapter?) markers definitely help in syncing video and audio, though I see no way to auto align comment and beat markers, nor to keep them "snapped" together. Makes it hard to replace video clips in the middle of the audio... Might give Final Cut Pro a go, they do have a 30 day trial.

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