How do you slate video when you're recording direct?

Krakit

Krakit

Rzzzzz!
I plan on doing a lot of video with keyboards recorded direct to a multitrack. Without adding a microphone to my rig, how can I sync the audio with the video?
I've considered playing a "clap" sound with one of my keyboards to get a nice spike but then there are no visual cues to help align the video with the audio.
What is the standard operating procedure for getting direct recorded audio to line up with video?

Should I just slap a piezo pickup to the clapboard?
 
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Are your hands visible in the shot(s)?

I do a lot of videos and I generally don't bother slating them. I sync the videos (as in half a dozen cameras) together visually, typically using a cymbal hit on the drums. For the angles without drums, I'll use a guitarist's hand, looking for a moment when it reverses direction. As for the audio, I'll generally just nudge it around until it looks and feels right. Just don't make the mistake of using a Bluetooth device to sync audio since they often have a bit of latency.

Is your playing audible in the room? If so, the camera mic should pick it up to give you a reference for rough placement of the finished audio, then nudge.
 
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For single camera videos it will just be on a static tripod with my hands in the shot yes. Otherwise I might use up to three cameras on tripods and at least one of them will have my hands in the shot. Yes the sound will be audible in the room BUT (but but but) the cameras that I plan to use do not pick up audio well at all. Cheap action cameras with terrible mics. I am seriously thinking that sticking a piezo on my clapboard and giving it it's own track on my Zoom R16 is the way to go to get a visual and audible reference. It wastes a track but at least it should get the job done. Please help me figure out another way if possible.
 
Surely you are listening to your recording while you are making it. If so, just the the crappy audio from the camera. Make a quick note, and use that to provide a sync point for the other tracks. I have done this with recordings I've done with my R24. A single drum strike gives me a nice transient, and you simply mix down the audio to your satisfaction, then align the two audio tracks, turn off the internal camera audio and add the new audio to the published video.

You just need a point on each.

The only other potential issue is if the two devices don't keep perfect time. You could lose sync. In most DAWs, you can compress or expand an audio track without changing pitch. You might only need a tenth or two if you have a long video. Anything 5 mins or under usually will be plenty close.
 
Keeping in mind that at normal frame rates, sync is actually easy, as long as the audio always lags not leads. Drums are easy as you see the hits, and a bash on a note on a keyboard works fine. a simple clap is probably still the best. I’ve also not used a clapperboard for years. Voice is more useful. One thing I do do, is just not stop the recording. With my kinds of video I will end up with perhaps four tracks of video on the timeline with up to six audio tracks. First job is to find the sync point, align the video tracks and then the audio. I then trim all the tracks so they start at the same time, in case I mess up later. If I forget the clap which I often do, there’s always something in the long shot that appears on ever track. The waveforms even make a cough or other local noise usable. Pianos are easily synced by waveform, and oddly, a frame either way can’t be detected.

sync doesn’t need plural eyes or other clever app, with timelines zoomed in, it’s easy, and being able to slip a frame at a time is plenty enough accuracy.
 
Just hit a quick high note with an obvious hand motion. The camera audio doesn't have to be good, it just has to be there so you can get a rough alignment of the finished audio, then mute it.

I use two GoPros and four Sony Handycams. The audio is good enough to get everything close, then I fine tune the video by eye using some obvious kind of motion. After editing the video, I fine tune the audio sync until it feels right.
 
All of those ideas would be fine if the action cameras I am using weren't so terrible audio wise. I don't mean bad quality I mean hardly audible. I haven't looked at the waveforms for the cameras yet, but after playing them back I doubt they will be very legible. I would need a significant hit to get a nice spike I think. The big problem with them is that you need to put them in their waterproof housing in order to mount them on tripods. The housing has no holes (obviously since they're waterproof) and the sound is beyond muffled. It's muted.

Thanks for chiming in one and all.
 
There's usually a clip, or an alternative transparent cover with slots to let audio in?
This YouTube track has lots of cameras and the drum camera was totally distorted by the volume, but the sync is still simple to do.
live clip
 
Yeah, the waterproof housings really block the audio. I have older GoPros that use housings, but I got open frames for mounting them. Funny thing is, for the rock music I've been doing, the audio tends to overload, so a closed housing would actually remedy that. But I have open frames so I can access the USB ports and power them with external batteries or plug-in power supplies so they can record whole concerts or long studio sessions. The overloaded audio is fine for rough sync.

Note that you can't use the audio for the fine synchronization. It can be off by several frames either way, which can add up across multiple cameras. Here's a screen capture of the audio from the project I'm working on now. This is the audio from the count off (stick clicks). The top is my final audio mix carefully matched to the video. The bottom six are the camera audio tracks after visually matching all the video. There's a 5+ frame spread across all the camera audio tracks, which is more than enough to be visible if I used them as my final video sync.

Audio sync.png
 
I bought super cheap-o action cameras. I think I paid $50 each for four of them. I have been trying to 3D print some open cages for them because they're proprietary and only the housing that came with them will fit. Alternatively I could go real caveman and just tape them to mic stands or something.

I'm just playing keys by myself for YT content and I'm not blasting the roof off. I tend to keep things kind of mellow. I really need a good visual cue (clapboard which I own) to line up the spike with. I'm still thinking that putting a piezo mic on the clapboard and giving over one of my 8 tracks to it is the answer. I think I can spare it, I'm playing four keyboards (all stereo) but think I can get away with putting two of them through a mixer.

Anyone else?
 
Muffled or muted, it wouldn't make much difference. Clap your hands once or twice. It doesn't matter if the waveform is super small. You can always zoom in on the wave form to find it and line it up. You're just looking for the transient peak. Its really not that difficult. I've done it a dozen times. Even if you can't find the wave form, you've got the hand clap visual to work from.
 
TalismanRich said:
Muffled or muted, it wouldn't make much difference. Clap your hands once or twice. It doesn't matter if the waveform is super small. You can always zoom in on the wave form to find it and line it up. You're just looking for the transient peak. Its really not that difficult. I've done it a dozen times. Even if you can't find the wave form, you've got the hand clap visual to work from.
Click to expand...
If I weren't recording my keyboards directly into my multitrack recorder the handclap would be the way I do it. But unless I put up a room mic there won't be any sound from the clap on the audio recording to sync to. It is looking like I have to devote a track for just that and if I'm gonna do that I'll use my clapboard instead of a handclap.
 
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