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Let's say I have two recordings (or more) of the same event. Maybe one has been recorded slightly slower or faster (different "pitch") than the other one and has been started several seconds after or before the other one.

Let's also say, for simplicity's sake, that there are no gaps in the recordings.

I can synchronize the recordings manually in a software such as Audacity by importing the different recordings as tracks and shifting/stretching them, but is there any way to do that process automatically?

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  • Not sure it's clear what you mean by "recorded slightly slower or faster (different 'pitch')"? Regardless, you will have to find very specific software (most likely a very specific plugin), because the most "automatic" such a process can get still requires several parameters to be defined. For example, how is a "match" determined? Even the "same event" (a gunshot, even a metronome blip!) will have different signatures. Similar waveform? Similar frequency spectrum? Both (a mix)? To what tolerance? From a theoretical standpoint I think you'll have trouble finding an out-of-the-box solution.
    – user2754
    Commented Aug 10, 2012 at 19:17
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    There's no silver bullet, I think. If you have video, you may set anchor points at sharp movements, and align tracks by those points. However, if the recording suffers jitter, and jitter is non-deterministic (random), it makes synchronization more difficult.
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Commented Aug 11, 2012 at 13:14
  • By "slightly slower or faster", I was thinking of a situation where two analog tape recorders were used to record the same sound/event from two different places and the tapes were not running exactly at the same speed.
    – Olivier Bruchez
    Commented Aug 12, 2012 at 13:42
  • Here are two examples of recordings that I might want to align/synchronize automatically: - several audience/soundboard recordings of the same concert (goal: make a "matrix recording" of the concert) - several versions of the same album (let's say one original, one remastered, one remixed, etc.) (goal: put version 1 on left channel and version 2 on right channel to compare the two versions; some remixed versions of old albums have elements that are added/missing from a version to another)
    – Olivier Bruchez
    Commented Aug 12, 2012 at 13:43
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    see benfmiller/audalign or protyposis/AudioAlign
    – milahu
    Commented May 14 at 20:38

6 Answers 6

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There is a plugin called vocalign that will do this. It is designed mainly for aligning vocal overdub and replacment dialog but it should work for what you are doing. You can use it as a VST in audacity. It isn't cheap but, if my memory serves me correct, it has a fully functioning demo.

http://www.synchroarts.com/index.php?PAGEID=products&ID=vocalign

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I have a theory it maybe works! It's a cheap solution ...

1st download the virtual DJ, second on the left and right you put those 2 recordings you want to synchronize, and you play it together, so the app can synchronize well these 2 songs for example for relative small differences, and if you use the button record, you can record the new mix of these 2 songs in one.

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You can do this in Adobe Premiere using the multi camera sync function. It works well.

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/how-to/multicamera-improvements-premiere-cc.html

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Final Cut Pro X has a very very easy-to-use feature that syncs up separately recorded audio tracks of the same event that. For those who are confused, recording the same event on two different recorders will yield files that don't sync up perfectly, especially if they are an hour long or more!

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Another option I am very impressed with is Plural Eyesno affiliation. It can sync multiple audio tracks with each other and export the timeline to your video editor.

I have used it for the following:

  • Sync DSLR footage with sound from multiple external recorders in an interview setting.
  • Sync multi-camera footage with sound from external recorder

I am not sure how it will handle soundtrack of differing pitch.

It's rather expensive, but there is a free trial to see if this fits your needs. If it does what you want, and you sync tracks often, this will save you a tremendous amount of time and frustration.

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You can try Ableton live and its wrapping feature.

To glue them together you can also use a bit of reverb and maybe some little compression.

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