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Old 04-11-2018, 05:11 AM   #1
clarkleach
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Default How to sync video from multiple takes to master audio?

I'm a total noob with Reaper and DAW software in general. I'd like to make music videos with multiple instruments and takes. I need to know how to sync all these various video takes with the master audio.

One method that has come to mind is to have a click track "count off" at the beginning of the audio track and somehow record that audio along with the video. Then it's just a matter of aligning the clicks on the several video sources in whatever video editing software is used (I'm currently using Lightworks). It's the "somehow" that has me stumped at this point. So... is there a way to have the monitors on for only the first few bars AND still be able to monitor with headphones? Am I even on the right track here (no pun intended) ??

How do you do it?

I'm using a Focusrite 2nd Gen Scarlett 6i6 for audio interface to my Alienware Alpha PC running Windoze 10.
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Old 04-11-2018, 08:57 AM   #2
Eliseat
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clarkleach View Post
I'm a total noob with Reaper and DAW software in general. I'd like to make music videos with multiple instruments and takes. I need to know how to sync all these various video takes with the master audio.

One method that has come to mind is to have a click track "count off" at the beginning of the audio track and somehow record that audio along with the video. Then it's just a matter of aligning the clicks on the several video sources in whatever video editing software is used (I'm currently using Lightworks). It's the "somehow" that has me stumped at this point. So... is there a way to have the monitors on for only the first few bars AND still be able to monitor with headphones? Am I even on the right track here (no pun intended) ??

How do you do it?

I'm using a Focusrite 2nd Gen Scarlett 6i6 for audio interface to my Alienware Alpha PC running Windoze 10.
Hm? Why don't you use Reaper to make the whole video? Reaper allows to cut and arrange video clips the same way like audio files. I do it all the time. Mostly I use video clips or whole movie sequences and write a fitting score to it. As long as your videos don't have dancing scenes which have to be right in sync you can just arrange, cut and even fade ... or whatever you need. Watch these for a good start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHcjUEOfAA0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkYAAX4MS8A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-jAQCwDyMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anCtqrunv2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5ur_JDbqQM

If you are new in Reaper don't give up because of its a bit to much possibilities for a beginner. But in the end you will love your copy of Reaper because it will just fit your personality more than every other software.
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Old 04-11-2018, 09:09 AM   #3
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Ah and I forgot to mention: If you want to sync video to audio or audio to audio it is the best way to find the proper bpm of your media file. You can find out the following way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkqztQsoMNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DOdEHeVbU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FK4fb7FT_k

Basically you select a loop and let Reaper show you the bpm of it. If you want to fit it into your song tempo just divide it thru the measured value. For example: If you detect a loop of a dance video at 90 bpm and your project has 120 bpm just divide 120bpm/90bpm and you get the right quotient 1.333. In your media item properties (double click) put this value at the play rate and it will fit to your project. Its as easy as that. And I do it all the time.

Greetings from Cologne
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Old 04-11-2018, 02:01 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eliseat View Post
Hm? Why don't you use Reaper to make the whole video? Reaper allows to cut and arrange video clips the same way like audio files. I do it all the time.
The only reason I don't use Reaper for this is that I have yet to make it work right. The last time I tried to export the finished video file all I got was a green screen with audio when viewed with a media player. I also had issue with importing a file after it had been tweaked in Lightworks and saved as mp4.

Basically I don't know what I'm doing in Reaper or Lightworks.

Oh, and I DO want them synched as perfectly as possible since the video will consist of guitar playing and singing. I don't want it to look like Milli-Vanilli, if you know what I mean...
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Old 04-11-2018, 02:53 PM   #5
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There are some important steps to know before working with video.

1. You need a codec on your system which can be used by Reaper. Best and easiest way is to install VLC 2.. or ffmpeg https://www.reaper.fm/lgpl/ffmpeg-reaperdist.zip (just put it (unzipped) in your user plugin folder (Options-> Show Reaper resource path ...))

If Reaper is able to use them you can edit several video file types with ease.

2. If you load your video clips (per drag and drop from media explorer) you have to understand that overlapping videos result by default in only showing the video on top of the other track.

3. You can load an video processor as an FX into the media item or track to change color, size, position etc. of your clips. Also cutting, timing and speed are editable in the arrange window.

4. To export your video go to file -> render and choose an output format as your desired video format. Its super easy, because there are many presets to choose from. Under video ffmpeg are: avi, webm, flv, mp4 etc. (HD, Full HD, XGA etc.)

Please watch the tutorial videos i posted. They describe very well how to edit videos in Reaper. I was pretty astound how easy and stable it works and now its a new hobby. So give it a try and ask if you get stuck. Step by step!

Reaper community will help.

Edit: I forgot to mention, that if you got a green screen its a sign that you rendered an arrange area with no video item as a video file. Reaper was not able to render video. To make sure everything works fine on your system, follow the above steps (especially the codec thing) import a short video clip and an audio file. Put them on tracks and make a selection of the area where both play at the same time. Go to file->render-> choose: bounds -> time selection -> choose: output format -> video ffmpeg -> choose: format ... and hit render. If it works, you can start! Good luck!

Last edited by Eliseat; 04-11-2018 at 03:01 PM.
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Old 04-12-2018, 10:52 AM   #6
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Most of this is good info but not one bit of it addresses my question.
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Old 04-12-2018, 01:01 PM   #7
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Then you should specify your question a bit more because if nobody answers its a good sign that nobody has an idea of what your problem is. I' am not a native speaker so maybe i didn't get it.
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Old 04-12-2018, 01:44 PM   #8
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Let me first say that your English is far better than my German, so no problem there. My "problem" is basically this from my original post:

Quote:
Originally Posted by clarkleach View Post
... I need to know how to sync all these various video takes with the master audio.

... is there a way to have the monitors on for only the first few bars AND still be able to monitor with headphones?
Basically what I'm saying is that I want to have a click track at the beginning of the recording that is audible to the camcorder and then use these clicks to sync each new video to the master audio track very much like the common "clap" method. But I don't want the monitors on during the actual audio recording. I would still like to monitor with headphones...

Does this make any more sense?
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Old 04-13-2018, 07:19 AM   #9
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Lining up the start of media from two independently clocked devices may the least of your worries. You will probably have enough sync drift (recordings will be different lengths) that even with start lined up the end of the song will be out.
If you're lucky it may not be noticeable over a short song....if you're unlucky it could need re-syncing every minute or less.

Just put the time in and do it by ear/eye lining up in mid of song will keep any drift to half what it would be if lined up at start.
If you can somehow record to the camcorder the same thing you are monitoring over headphones (line input on camcorder?) then you can compare waveforms which makes it so much easier.
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Old 04-13-2018, 08:14 AM   #10
clarkleach
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella645 View Post
...
If you can somehow record to the camcorder the same thing you are monitoring over headphones (line input on camcorder?) then you can compare waveforms which makes it so much easier.
The camcorder does not have line in but will be recording audio at the same time via the built-in mic. Do you really think the drift would be noticeable? I guess I'll find out.
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Old 04-13-2018, 09:48 AM   #11
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Yeah....it may not be bad enough to be a problem. Just set Reaper recording a mic and the camcorder on and clap, wait 5 mins and clap again.

Import the video audio alongside reaper audio and line up clap one and see how far out the 2nd one is.

If it's not out enough to trouble you there's probably no reason not to use the 1st clap for all takes and make your job easier.
It doesn't have to be at count in....you can leave yourself plenty time to get settled at your instrument after clapping if needed.
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Old 04-13-2018, 10:34 AM   #12
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I still don't get it: As far as I know, you want to record various video takes to sync them later with a master track. But where is the problem? I mean, if you know the song - you know the bpm. And if a band plays the song, they only need to stay in the right tempo. Even if they are a little bit out of sync, you can easily fit them later in by adjusting the play rate of the clip. (stretch marker) And even if you just use one take from start to end, nothing would be easier than lining up start and end later in your video software or daw. At least in Reaper. And even (double even) if you wouldn't have a good starting point, you could just align a specific scene (A drummer who hits hard at the beginning of the chorus etc.) to line it up to the audio. And if you record the live audio with the video its even easier because you can align the peaks as another possibility. And so on ...


I do this all the time. Using various clips and sync them later in Reaper to a soundtrack. My clips vary from 95 to 130 bpm and i adjust the play rate by dividing the project tempo by the clip tempo. Sometimes I just sync a start point, set a marker where the end point should be and stretch the clip by holding alt-key to line up with the marker. I know this sounds difficult for a beginner, but its actually really easy.

Are you trying to make a music video for a (your) band? Do you plan to film the gig several times to cut it later to have clips from different angle? Than you shouldn't have a problem. Even without clap or sync. Because its easy to line up video to audio and its also easy to sync video and audio if they are a bit out of sync.

Maybe you are afraid of something which isn't a big problem? Or am I just to nerdy to understand it?
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Old 04-13-2018, 11:39 AM   #13
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It's just me making multiple takes with different instruments and vocals.
It looks like trial and error is the "official" method...
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Old 04-14-2018, 02:59 AM   #14
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No,it isn't.

Please describe EXACTLY what you want to do!

Does the master track (audio) already exist? If yes, just play it back and film yourself while playing the instruments or singing. So with that procedure the problem of syncing should be solved because you later just need to line up your clips by matching the recorded audio of your video clips with the audio of the master track. (But mute them after that of course.)

If its important to you to have a count in - maybe because its a soft intro or something - just export your song with some count in clicks at the beginning. I mean Reaper is a daw and is supposed to allow things like that. But it would be not important because you can align any point and it will align the rest automatically. If you line up the beginning of the chorus it lines up the beginning of the song too. (If the same bpm!)

Sorry, but i can't see anything problematic in your case. Video is as flexible as audio, or even more. Just stretch, cut, move and align it the way it fits. Or is there a fancy special trick you really need for some reason? What is it? I mean, if someone wanted a music video from me with several video takes of musicians playing the song, i just would start and putting them together. There is no magic. Its just work. And knowledge. (That's why i posted the tutorial links.)
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Old 04-14-2018, 09:16 AM   #15
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most times with these videos the audience is not hearing what they are seeing. You can use one audio track and many different videos.

It's not trial and error, it's production.

clap sync, click track in headphones, record a take. Change camera angle, clap sync, record again.

Here's how I do a clap sync in reaper
https://reaperblog.net/2015/09/dual-...nd-video-sync/
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Old 05-16-2018, 06:15 AM   #16
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The program you're looking for is called Plural Eyes. But its a two step process. You edit your video with the takes you want. Then as long as that video has ANY kind of audio, Plural Eyes will perfectly sync them. If you have multiple video angles, Plural eyes will sync all those together with your audio as well.
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