I was thinking this was the only solution but was not sure about the
anolog audio-vs- dv audio, and if my thinking was correct.

Any other thoughts

Analog audio tape doesn't have a frame rate, so there won't be a problem with that. Your main problem might be that since the tape is analog, there might be sync issues due to stretching of the tape, the playback rates of different machines, etc. These issues will probably be able to be addressed after you digitize the music and bring it into Vegas. I would just make sure you watch the singer's lips when he is on screen (use dynamic ram preview so that it isn't choppy) and make sure the words match the lips. If they don't, you might want to try some of the time stretching features. You might want to see if the artist would use a digital recording format, like DAT or Mini-Disc, or even hook up another digital camcorder to the soundboard.

Sounds like fun! Good luck and enjoy yourself!

Corey

Bear with me as I try to help out, cuz I'm actually learning as I suggest these things. :-)

The DV-Audio isn't an issue since you're using the "main" recording that's analogue. Then you'll use just the video part of your recordings and create, basically, just video "montages" that are synced with the one long audio track.

Does that sound about right?

Mario

If the musician does record to analog tape, you should strongly suggest that he use the same tape deck to play the tape back when digitizing it.

Another option is to use a laptop computer to record direct to a .wav file from the mixer. However, it sounds like he's planning on making a multitrack recording and remixing in the studio, so this may not be applicable. Of course, having another stereo audio recording direct from the live mixer couldn't hurt, just in case the other audio recordings go bust.

Yes - these ideas are both what I was expecting, but multi- cameras over 3 hours will be a nightmare edit to lip sync, and I'm practilly doing this for free; so I want as less complexity as possible. Is there any timecode ways around it either on the cameras or in Vegas.

Corug7 - you suggested plugging a camera into the sounboard to capture the audio - will this work forum people as a sync reference?

Thanks very much for the suggestions

It won't work as a sync reference unless you have some reference event to tie all the sources together. This is why Hollywood uses a clapboard at the beginning of each take. If you have high-end enough equipment that they can all lock to and record a common timecode then this would work too. I doubt that's the case though.

The suggestion of recording to a digital camcorder is based on the (hopefully correct) idea that the camcorder will record the same speed as other camcorders. It would most likely be accurate enough for the job as compared to analog recorders that can drift quite a bit.

How much drift do you think would occur on a 1 hour DV tape - to 1 hour of the anolog audio. If it's not too bad I can deal with that, but if it's off by a couple of minutes at the end of a one hour tape that sounds like tough editing.

GLAD I HAVE VEGAS - imagine premiere or any other editor.

My very first use of Vegas 4 was a two camera 1.5 hour shoot with the only available sound recording source being a high quality analog cassette deck.

The biggest problem was not the drift, but the changes in drift rate during either the recording or playback. Let's say I spent a lot of time synching the sound on close ups.

You may want to encourage the producer to rent a decent digital recording device. You can't be expected to provide quality work with a suspect source.

My 2 cents. I've recorded two projects using a DV Cam and a Hi-8 (analog) cam and I had to use the sound from the analog camera. ( the digital one was distorted). The first time I had big 'sync' issues. But I stretched the shorter one to match the longer one and that worked fine. The second time, I discovered, in my settings properties of VEGAS, to switch my 'ruler' to SMPTE. My next project stayed perfectly in sync the whole time. The real trick, is to have some audio from the original video source and you have reference points whereever you want. Just line both audio tracks up and listen (or zoom and look) and match the sound up so that there's no phase shift or flange or echo and you still might have to time stretch, but I doubt it would be much. It's easier than it sounds. More of a pain to switch camera angles a million times.

Forgive my naivete but how does changing the ruler's 'format' help correct audio-video sync issues?? I have been trying over a week now to sync DAT audio to a MiniDV. I even flew the DAT audio in as 48Khz from SPDIF and matched all peaks and valleys perfectly. Rendering to DVD NTSC template as well as the DVDA-AC3 option.

The only thing that may be wrong is that there are occasional drop-outs in the audio of the MiniDV track, but I still match both audio up correct..are those audio dropouts linked invisbly to the video and over time 30 of them can be 1 second of lost sync?

I can't answer your question correctly. I was fed up because I would try to dub new music to go along with the video and it seemed like it was in a different 'space/time continuum'. I could understand that maybe I would have to move the track a little to get it in sync, but it would seem to drift out of sync, not matter what. I didn't discover this forum for a full year after I bought the Software. So I experimented, to solve my problems and changing my ruler to SMPTE, solved that problem, and now whenever I put video in, it stays sync'd up even if I have to put one track down in patches, (because the camera was turned off and on) I can line the sound up, and it doesn't drift. I've done 3 projects using a Hi-8 canon camera and a Sony Digital and the sound now stays in sync and I'm not complaining. I use the 'SMPTE non-drop 29.97 fps' setting, and I've seen people here start counting frames and wondering if this or that will happen. All I know is, it stays sync'd up for me and I have'nt discovered a reason to change yet. I still consider myself a beginner though, and maybe I'll discover that reason soon.

So you START the project like that.....mine has already had the 'old' ruler format when I dropped the AVI into it...you are dropping yours into the non-drop brand new...me, I am just changing the ruler format AFTER the fact.

Don't think it will matter though, this sucks! Same project been stuck in my PC for over a week now. It's gotta be fixed, it seems to be in the top3 complaints of all-time.