Let’s face it,
built in microphones on most cameras suck.
If you’re using them,
your audio probably sounds terrible.
One way to fix this is to get a dedicated mic
and plug that into your camera.
But even then,
depending on your camera’s placement,
your audio might still sound bad.
The best way to get good audio
is to use a dedicated microphone
plugged into an audio recorder,
such as the Zoom H1N,
and place the microphone as close
as possible to the sound source.
The problem is you end up with two separate files,
a video file and an audio file,
that you have to perfectly line up in post.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way
to perfectly sync your external audio
to your video in Final Cut Pro,
and today, we’ll take a look at how it’s done.
Hey guys, whats up.
My name is Serge and welcome back to my channel.
In this video,
we’ll take a look at a couple ways
to perfectly sync your video
and audio in Final Cut Pro.
Before we get started,
there’s a few things to keep in mind when filming
that makes this process much easier.
First, recording audio on your camera,
no matter how bad it sounds,
can be very helpful.
If your camera is capable of recording audio,
make sure that’s enabled.
Second, if you record multiple takes,
either use a clapper board and write down the take number on it,
or if you don’t have one,
say the take number right after you start recording.
If you have a large number of clips,
this will save you a lot of time
trying to pair the correct audio file
with your video clip.
And last, if your camera doesn’t record audio,
or if it’s placed too far away to pick up the audio,
either start or end your clip with a distinct gesture,
such as clapping your hands.
This way, you’ll be able to line up the waveform
with the action in your video,
to perfectly line up your audio and video.
So, let’s jump into Final Cut Pro,
and take a look at how to sync your audio and video.
The simplest way to sync audio and video,
is to let Final Cut Pro sync your clips for you.
In order to do this,
your video file needs to have sound.
First, locate the video and audio clips
you want to sync in the media browser.
Hold down the command key,
and click on each clip to select them both.
Right click on either one of these clips,
and select synchronize clips.
This will create a new clip in your browser,
so give it a name,
and select the event you want this new clip to go in.
Next, since we have audio on both clips,
select the Use Audio for Synchronization checkbox,
and because the audio recorded on your camera
is only for reference, and we’re not using it,
select the Disable Audio Components on AV Clips checkbox.
Click OK.
Final Cut Pro will analyze the audio waveforms
on both your clips, line them up perfectly,
disable the audio in your video clip,
and create a new clip with your external audio
perfectly synced to your video clip.
The new clip in your browser
will also have a link icon in the top left corner
to identify the synchronized clip.
Add and edit this synchronized clip in your timeline
just like you would any other clip.
Let’s compare the in camera audio to the external audio,
just to see how much better it sounds.
A quick tip.
You can hide the two original clips
so you don’t accidentally use them,
by command clicking both clips
and pressing Delete on your keyboard.
This marks these clips as rejected
with a red line near the top of the clip.
It doesn’t delete the clip,
just marks them as rejected.
You can now easily hide these rejected clips
by selecting Hide Rejected Clips
from the dropdown menu at the top of the media browser,
or by using the keyboard shortcut Control H.
This hides the original clips from your media browser,
so you don’t accidentally use one of them in your project.
Next, let’s take a look at how to sync your external audio
to video that doesn’t have sound.
This is where using a clapper board
or clapping your hands comes in really useful.
Let’s grab our video clip
and drop it down into the timeline.
Next, select the audio clip,
and drag and drop it under your video clip.
Skim your video clip,
and place the playhead right on the action in your clip,
in my example, the frame where my hands come together.
From the clip appearance menu,
select the audio waveforms view,
and find the spike in your audio clip.
Move the audio clip,
until this spike lines up with the playhead.
Zoom right in on your timeline,
and line up the spike in your waveform as close as you can.
Play back your clip and watch and listen.
You might have to move the audio ahead
or back a bit to line it up perfectly.
Once you’re happy with it, select both clips,
and press Option G to combine them into a compound clip.
Trim off the reference clap,
and the clip is ready for editing in your timeline.
So there you go,
two simple ways to sync your video
and audio in Final Cut Pro.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.