what exactly does crystal syncing do

[MovieStuff]

I heard Crystal Synch was in illegal street drug that made users uncontrollably copy everything others did around them. I heard Crystal Synch was in illegal street drug that made users uncontrollably copy everything others did around them. I heard Crystal Synch was in illegal street drug that made users uncontrollably copy everything others did around them.

Roger, Roger

[Matt Pacini]

The real reason for everyone being so obsessed with crystal sync, is not so much so playback will match the speed of the shoot.
It is because it's a freakin' nightmare to sync your audio to your picture, unless the audio recorder, and the film camera are running at exactly the same speeds, period!

If they are not, then when you try to sync up, you will find that your dialog starts slipping behind your picture, or the other way around.
If both machines are crystal synced, then when you set the same start points, your audio & video (or film) will stay synced all the way to the end of the shot, perfectly.
You can shoot without crystal sync, (like I did on Lost Tribes), but you will pay the price, as I did.
You will have to use software to digitally stretch or shrink your audio to conform to your film.
It takes much trial and error, and for a feature, like what I did, it added months to my already agonizing one-man post production nightmare.

Matt Pacini


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[8th Man]

Matt,
Do you know if Final Cut pro has the ability to stretch & shrink audio ?
I have it but I can't find anything on it in the book .

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PRM

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matt Pacini:
The real reason for everyone being so obsessed with crystal sync, is not so much so playback will match the speed of the shoot.
It is because it's a freakin' nightmare to sync your audio to your picture, unless the audio recorder, and the film camera are running at exactly the same speeds, period!

Matt Pacini

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Simplification is a good thing when it comes to crystal sync.

The idea of playing back at the same speed a real-life recording was made at is the simple way to explain crystal sync.

Of course we wouldn't want five different crystal speed standards, that would get confusing...

Bottom line is any device that performs a live recording function MUST play back, or have the resulting captured technology, playback at the exact same speed it was recorded at...

The fact different media all sync to each other is still based on the principal that all these media playback at the same speed the original media was recorded at.

-Alex


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[MovieStuff]

Previously, Matt wrote:

"You can shoot without crystal sync, (like I did on Lost Tribes), but you will pay the
price, as I did. You will have to use software to digitally stretch or shrink your audio to conform to your film. It takes much trial and error, and for a feature, like what I did, it added months to my already agonizing one-man post production nightmare."

It can be a headache. However, the mistake most people make when trying to synch their audio in post is approaching the clips as they come to them or in random order. The best way is to find the longest clip and formulate the speed change necessary for that clip. Make a note of that speed change then apply it to every clip.

When I shoot double system, I digitize all my field audio that I am going to use. Then I find the longest clip, which is going to give me the greatest synch problem. I figure out the speed necessary for that clip and make a note of it.

Next, I line up ALL the audio clips on the time line and export a new audio file that combines all the clips into one long, uninterrupted audio clip. I apply the speed change to that one audio clip (which is easier than doing it clip by clip) and export it as a NEW audio clip, with the speed change built in. This new clip I use to synch to my film clips. Since I calculated the speed change necessary for the longest clip first, the shorter ones line up fine, every time.

This only works if your camera batteries and/or recorder batteries are maintained freesh on location. If you have power drops and the such, then you will have to synch it one clip at a time, unfortunately.

Roger

[Alex]

I am periodically syncing dailies for a client...who is using a non-synchronous 16mm Canon Scoopic for shooting!

We lay the dat audio to BetaCam-SP, then insert it onto the picture master in sync.

I start about one frame ahead of sync, and stop once it's drifted out of sync.

then, we'll either drop a frame or two, or add a frame or two (during the quiet spots of course).

Usually, the sync holds for about 11-15 seconds...

One session, the film was holding sync for 45 seconds at a time!

-Alex





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[Matt Pacini]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MovieStuff:

"It can be a headache. However, the mistake most people make when trying to synch their audio in post is approaching the clips as they come to them or in random order. The best way is to find the longest clip and formulate the speed change necessary for that clip. Make a note of that speed change then apply it to every clip. "

Roger, I tried that, but with my particular setup, it didn't work.
You have to remember, I shot my film over a 3 1/2 year period, and (here's probably the big problem) with a Tascam Porta One cassette recorder.
So, I suspect that the recorder fluctuated at different speeds, depending on the battery level, etc., but one thing is for sure, the same time stretch/shrink did not work for me.
Also, I was shooting with 2 different cameras, and different non-synced cameras do not run at exactly the same speed.
So I agree with you, that what you suggest works under certain controlled circuimstances (one-camera shoot, more stable audio device than I used), but it's not going to work for everyone.
I should note, that now I'm going to record on minidisc, which WILL be consistent, so the only float I have to account for now will be the cameras.
By the way, on this subject, if anyone cares to know, I tested my Nizo 6080, and my Bauer 715XL-S, to see how far off they are from dead on.
The Nizo 6080 was 8 frames too fast over a one minute period, and the Bauer 715XL-S was 12 frames too fast over a one minute period.
Your mileage may vary.
So, I will still have to account for different stretch when I shoot using these two cameras!

Matt Pacini

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