FINAL CUT audio syncing

Question

I make videos about drums and music. I record audio separately to video.

when I align the audio with the video after the fact, I always feel final cut never gives me enough resolution in terms of aligning the two media. Also, just the visual of the waveform doesn't give me enough information for alignment (IMO).

example of a video I produced where I feel the visuals are minutely out of sync with the audio:

Is there a function to sync audio to a clip automatically (and with 100% accuracy)?

can i raise the resolution of the timeline in final cut? if not, what other options are there for me?

Answer 1

record the audio separately AND on your camera. Then in the editor, align the 2 AUDIO waveforms. Play them back both together. If you hear an echo then they are not exactly aligned. After you have them aligned, then turn off the camrea audio and keep the audio you want. Mark

Answer 2

IMHO your video is fine, and I didn't see a problem with the sync.

You cannot expect that FCPX is syncing 100%. No software is 100% for that matter. You, as the editor are the ultimate judge. You can give it the best chance by having clean sound recording on-camera and off. If that is difficult I would recommend using a clapboard, then you have a better visual queue. If you want to be as accurate as technically possible, you need to use synced timecode in camera and sound mixer.

The sync in FCPX is normally fairly easy. You select video and sound in the Media Browser and in the menu 'CLip' >> 'Synchronize Clips'. A window opens and you choose a name and the option for syncing. When the sync is done you find a new clip with the name you chose. You can double clip this synced clip and adjust the sync by nudging the video. IMHO nobody will see if the sound is a couple of subframes off. You might just see what isn't there because you had to watch the clip too often.