Been in the videography and marketing scene for roughly 23 years. This is the most clear, detailed, and simple video I have seen about the topic. Zero "Bro" and 100% informative. Thank you.
Chadwick, I love this video... I've watched it half a dozen times and keeping getting more out of it everytime. Your generosity of knowledge is greatly appreciated. I hope the move to NYC has gone smoothly. Thanks once again for helping make me a better video editor.
Hey, thanks so much! Your kind words are not taken lightly, and it means the world to me the tutorials are helping. It has been a big transition for us since moving, but I have over 40 new videos outlined and some partially shot to start releasing soon all around Resolve. Stay tuned! I even have a new one on with more advanced timecode tricks coming with a few tricks I didn't know when I did this tentacle video.
Thank you for breaking this down so perfectly. I'm a director trying to finish a commercial and you just launched me into being able to finish it :). Cheers.
My pleasure! (now if only the chip shortage would end so I could buy a few of these :) ) - Hey quick question - are you a DaVinci Resolve guy, or Final Cut? As new versions release later this fall I want to make sure to tailor my tutorials as best as possible.
@@CreativeVideoTips yes, I feel you! I will be next in line, haha. ;-) I'm coming from Premiere Pro but did a lot of grading in DaVinci for quite some time. I switched to 100% DaVinci a few month ago and never went back. So that's why your channel is a highly demanded resource for us DaVinci guys, who switched.
I knew this once (well, not some things), but it's so great to see it again as I had forgotten most of it. Thank you for the refresher, you gem of a person! :D
This was incredibly helpful. Not the tentacle part but getting those recorder tracks with multiple channels from set was confusing to work with and I definitely exported bad audio to a couple clients as a result lol.
Thanks, - now this is kind of a worse case scenario and in my latest multicam video on the speed editor I try to simplify the linking unlinking process - but YES, I sure hope blackmagic makes this easier in the future.
I've been learning, and re-learning, a lot from you (with new knowledge on what I thought I knew). I've been on your playlist binge. :D Thank you for an amazing resource for Da Vinci Resolve.
One of the best tutorials and still it is too overwhelming and difficult to remember each step.Davinci needs to make it better especially audio separation and stuff
This is such a great video! Thank you for publishing the best video on timecode syncing in Davinci with multicam setups! You've saved me so many hours! Also love the extra tidbit on selecting 1 and 2 for the different camera setups. I used to cut out the clip using the razor tool and drag it to a new timeline then find the sound. This is a transformative video for me! Thank you doesn't seem enough.
OMFG!!! My poor head is spinning, but dang it I'm gonna put final cut on hold, and give Davinci a go. And yes I 100000% agree doing the clap thing to sync audio blows.
I think that is an excellent idea. When you are looking at audio recorders - look for devices that accept timecode this way they will convert in camera to metadata timecode like the sound devices mix pre 3 in this tutorial. Thanks for watching!
Topic idea: can you go over the new Flexbus system in resolve? You have a superb teaching style and I can tell you research each video well to deliver dense info. Thank you!
Great suggestion! This hasn't been covered very much from what I can tell and it's a pretty cool feature. It's not something I use very much yet, but happy to try to dive in more and share what I learn. Thanks!
@@CreativeVideoTips Things to explore would be: How to understand the flow of the signals (sending tracks to buses, buses to buses, and buses to tracks) How to create Submixes (sending one or more tracks that belong to the same category, such as dialogue, to a single channel) that can be controlled with a single fader and or dynamics processing. How to send a Submix signal to another channel for use in Sidechain compression so that a music bus or track can interact with a dialogue track/submix
Great to hear! My hope - especially when I talk about some sort of product, is never to sell it but just show how it has solved a problem for my workflow and hopefully how it integrates back into the computer when you edit. Thanks for your support!
Nice video, clear and comprehensive, as usual from you (me great fan!) - but works only with recorders with dedicated timecode channels When you do have an audio recorder without a dedicated timecode channel (metadata) you have to take a few extra steps. I.e.Zoom H5, Tascam DR-44 WL or Zoom F3 are recorders having no extra channel for timecode metadata. So, the core problem is that these SW (daVinci, Premiere and Final Cut) are video cut SW and in the end an audio recording ain't a video clip. (Remark: I dislike when they always try to blame daVinci Resolve, only. As per my knowledge this is a known shortcoming of all (!) video cut software daVinci or Final Cut - and Premiere Pro ain't an exception, neither.) With these smaller recorders you have to use one of the audio channels for capturing the timecode. Zoom H5 or Tascam DR44 have 4 channels (or i.e. Zoom F3 has 6). So, you have to "abuse" one of the audio channels (preferably for recording the timecode. Usually, these recorders produce one file for stereo channel 1+2 and seperate files for channel 3 and 4. All 3 "channel-files" (1+2, 3 and 4) are absolutely in sync and have exact the same length. Basically, we have to produce a video clip with the audio recording. How to achieve this? Step 1: create an audio track and load audio recording (ch 3 or 4, depending where you 've recorded the timecode) Step 2: create a video track and load a photo (any photo or even a empty title will do it) Step 3: adjust the photo to the length of the audio track (begin and end) Step 4: render the thing as - let's call it - a "Helper Clip". (since we are digital, you won't loose audio information). The remaining audio recording (stereo ch 1+2) do have the same length as our newly produced "Helper Clip". Step 5: read in your (multi cam) video clips (as you pointed out in your video - incl. the "Helper Clip") Step 6: read in the audio stereo file (ch 1+2) at the start of the Helper Clip (should have exactly the same length like the "Helper Clip"). Step 7: mute the audio track from the "Helper Clip" Admitted, some extra steps - but, for an INDE it might be a temporary solution until one can afford a recorder with dedicated timecode. p.s.: I've suggested this process to daVinci Support - but, they did not come back on this. Anyway, would be cool to have a macro/plugin doing this automatically, wouldn't it?
Holy Crap. What you call the "Sync the Daillies" workflow is exactly what I've been dying to do but could never figure out nor find from a Google Search. Thank you!!! Any chance there's a way to "Update Timecode for Audiotrack" from a audio file? (I'm recording a Tentacle to one channel of a non-timecode recorder, then actual audio to another) This would save a trip to the dedicated Tentacle App. Either way, Thanks a bunch! You've given me the final key to my workflow I've been missing.
great video but why u would want to use all those tracks, instead of just the master audio track once its synced. im confused on the extra steps of bring all that audio in...
Thanks Ted - having all the tracks let’s you as an editor decide which microphone to use and if different peoples mics, you can mute one while the other person talks and go back and forth. This cleans up your overall mix drastically.
Fantastic tutorial…fits a crucial gap for modern Resolve (v17+). Note: I set the A7S3 to 24 fps and the Tentacle syncs to 24, not realizing that the A7S3 , 24 actually means 23.98 . Also if you. Use Mix Pre as the master TC source, it doesn’t burn LTC? Trying to get my head around that
Thanks for watching, yeah on the sony's 24 is really 23.98. On blackmagic you have both 23.98 and 24. You don't want to use the Mix Pre as a master TC source until it's the Mix Pre 10. If you have a 3, or 6, you need to feed it a tentacle sync e too. This will convert in the device to metadata tc for the audio.
It's such a simple add on to all audio and video recorders when manufactured a sync with WWV Corrifnsted time. All so called ATOMIC watches have the capability. Depending on accuracy needed it can sync to a Millionth of a second or finer. The actual world wide time at the start of every frame for video and some time interval for audio.Eventually every recording in the world would would have embedder Universal Coordinated time stamp.
I sure wish we were there now with having good clocks built in like you mention. When you think about it, it's kind of funny how we don't have it seeing how much tech advancements we have in other areas of filmmaking. I guess it must still be seen as a fringe type of feature.
Hello there, thank you for all the content you create this is really helpful. Do you know, or someone in the comment section, if it's possible to run with your camera while using the Tentacle Sync with an Atomos's device like the Ninja V?
Thank you for your video, but wow, that looks like a very large amount of work arounds and adjustments to get to usable data. Have you tried the tentacle software to sync prior to importing, or has BM improved the workflow since your tutorial?
Hi Ben, workflow hasn't changed since I released this but you might be getting hung up on the last half that deals more with editing individual audio channels. I really wish this would simplify but it's not always a necessary step for everyone. Regarding the timecode sync, it doesn't get much easier than this. I am currently testing the new Deity system and will follow up with a video on it since it has some nice benefits that tentacle doesn't have. I haven't used the tentacle software but if you use Resolve there really is no need for it.
Chadwick, you've given us another amazingly useful tutorial! I will need to view this video a couple more times, but you've shared some very important tips regarding "jam synch", but just as important-- how DaVinci Resolve nests the audio in Multi-cam mode. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Glad it was helpful Keith. Yeah that nested adaptive audio in multicam is always a bit tricky to work with so I'm glad you are finding that part useful. I hope this is something they simplify in the next version of Resolve. As always, I appreciate your support and comments.
Great tutorial! Thanks for making these wonderful resources. Do you have a suggested workflow for synchronising clips when some of the clips don't (or can't) use Timecode, like clips from an old GoPro for action footage while the rest of the clips do use timecode? Can you do a stepped sync process, perhaps first doing the sync using Timecode for the majority of the clips, then using the synced clip plus the GoPro clips using Audio Waveform to complete the process?
Thank you so much! I had been pulling my hair out trying to sync single camera w/audio tc, mix pre 6,and 2 track E tentacle recorders jam synced to mix pre which also provides tc for camera. Your video is the only source I have found on the internet that has helped. I am still having trouble keeping all the track E tracks it seems that Davinci resolve tends to want use the mix pre audio exclusively and I find myself having to add the track e tracks back manually.I am probably missing something. I have limited editing experience
Hi Rufus, this is a tough one. If I'm understanding correctly you have multiple sets of good audio. Because a Multicam only wants to use 1 audio source (angle), you will need to duplicate and manually stack up your multicams in a regular timeline so you can choose the correct audio angle to get all the good sound present. After this is done, you can proceed to flatten the Multicam on the audio, convert to linked group, unlink the group and edit as normal. Let me know if this makes sense. It sounds like you're mostly on the right track (no pun intended). I wish there was a clean way to take multiple audio sources and mux them virtually into a single clip so this wasn't the workflow. But I don't think there is without baking new files, which is a waste and time consuming.
Chadwick, thank you for taking the time To explain this. Yes I was figuring da Vinci was doing something like that just having confirmation that this is a limit and not some thing that I am just missing is helpful I’m still struggling a bit mainly because after years of shooting and handing the footage off I’m learning a new skill and the old brain is not quite as good as it used to be. I go back-and-forth from your videos until it clicks you are by far the best source I have found for Davinci Resolve
I’m using wireless go2 for sports and sometimes the audio cuts in and out and I have to try and sync the internal recording. Now that plural eyes is gone it’s been harder. Anyway I can use tentacle sync in this situation I don’t roll the camera all day just few plays
Awesome video Chadwick! Very concise and informative. I have two tentacle sync E's for cameras and have been attaching them using velcro on the camera cage. I just noticed you have some sort of mounting hardware on the units shown in this video. What are you using to mount your Octopodes to your gear?
This doesn't show how you put the sync with the GOOD audio? I get the 3 cameras are sync'd but how is that now syncing with your audio recorder/good audio??
Very good work man, thanks for info. Really appreciated it! Question: when Syncing a Multicam and and Cutting one take (such as interviews) .... then all is good. But how would you approach the same things for something like a music video, in which case you have 3cameras angle (A,B,C) but you are recording with a click track/music track and then if you do 4 takes you end up having 12video tracks that need to be synced (3camera angles per take) ...yet label them in a way that the director can refer to the individual videos as Take1-CamA, Take2-CamB and so forth. Sync Based on waveform does work well - but there is always that one video that will not and it's hard to figure out what's going on. kind of a loaded question. Thanks in advance!
There are no tentacle Sync devices to be bought for love or money in the market for quite a few months now... So thanks for the video but a bit frustrating for those that do not own this device . There is certainly a large gap in the market for a similar product in a similar price range that can deliver such timecode functions
I agree. However I noticed BH has recently received several just a few days ago. I’m not an affiliate with them and I know they have limited hours because of holidays but I would check them out.
Ultrasync one, Ambient, Betso and a couple others have tc boxes. Use and ambient are transceivers, so constantly jam (vs tentacle that you jam and leave) USO and ambient have some other cool master clock options and ambient will soon have a full on rf analyzer master.
Love your video style. Thanks for making these. May I ask where you got the little female thread-to-velcro adapters you have underneath each device? Mine didn't come with one of those.
at 8:43, I dont have half the options you have when I right click a file, and I do not have "update timecode from audio track" is that something that requires the full paid version of resolve?
Do you also have an option to sync audio to clips that are already in the timeline ? When you do DIT work at movie set you get the video footage at a different time than audio. Workflow would be grading the video footage when you get it and add the audio later when you get it at lunch break or when the day is over. Is there and Option for that ?
Yep, I totally get that. I remember always waiting at the end of shoot days to have the mixer copy his files for the DIT. And yes, in the timeline if you select one audio clip with one video clip you can right click and say auto align clips based on waveform or timecode. You can them link them together with command option L. Just know they are only linked on the timeline, not like a merged clip.
@@CreativeVideoTips Yes but that only works if the clip in the timeline already has audio. If you work on a movie set having Alexa or Red camereas. These cameras usually don´t record audio. And no operator wants an extra micro attached to his camera. All you have is timecode. And you begin the QC and pregrading once you get the video footage. Sound comes at lunch and at the end of the day. Can´t wait so long with QC and grading and I don´t want to redo the stuff. Woraround is also possible but super complicated.
So once you "bake" in the timecode, (which I assume is just pulled from one of the channels) You can then retrieve, then sych? So you don't need to use the Tentacle sync software then. Correct?
Absolutely - that's one of the unique joys of Resolve. No need for the tentacle software when you edit with LTC timecode in Resolve or Avid. The tentacle software is good, but it's an extra step that's not required.
yes, but the way I would do that is right click on clips in the media pool - "insert to timeline using timecode", for each new camera angle, patch the orange destination box up 1 video track and repeat. After they are laid, out remove the big extra space at the start of the timeline and right click to the timeline to convert into a multicam clip
On my deity video I show this setup with the FX3 which will be similar. It does require a special usb cable and you'll want it always plugged in. The internal clocks on the sony won't hold very long by themself.
@@CreativeVideoTips Thanks for the clarification as to why and how one needs to have a special usb cable with the FX3 and/or FX30 for timecode sync. 😎😎
Tried numerous codecs and different containers with LTC signal on the left channel.Still no acurate read out. Could you maybe share a short 5 second sample clip with Burn-in timecode so i can test? Thx for any help!!!
Chadwick,.....nevermind i found the fix.....maybe a duh moment signal was to low for resolve to get accurate read out. The reason why i was blinded ...a had another program that readed the files just perfect !!! so that's why i was mislead.
When you update the timecode metadata ,you're clicking 'update timecode from audio track' however what if the Sync E is connected using the flash sync port in the case of the Panasonic S1H? Is this step still needed and if so will that work as the sync port is not an audio track
@@CreativeVideoTips that's awesome dude. I don't understand why they only sell one unit and two units of tentacles on line? How about if I need four tentacles? Can I still match those other two extra units without hassle. Sorry I'm starter for all of this. Thank you so much for your answer. I appreciate you for educating me.
Question: I have 3 of 4 items synced perfectly. My Blackmagic 6K (+Sync E), Tentacle Track E, Zoom F6 (+Sync E) all take in the time code metadata, but my Sony A1 I have a Tentacle Sync E constantly plugged in and it's recording "audio timecode". So when I drop it in, everything syncs up immediately except for the Sony. Expected. I did what you suggested using "Update Timecode from Audio Track" and everything synced! My only problem is in my footage I'm holding up the Tentacle "Timebar" app which basically is a digital slate. I noticed that the Sony is off by 2 frames. Is there something I can do to fix this?
There is no such thing as smpte timecode for 60 fps, so you really can't use timecode for this purpose. If sync matter on the slow mo and you could record sound, I would sync them by the waveforms.
Hi at the 8:28 segment you update the time code using the audio track, as the Tentacle puts the time code on the audio track when you go into the mic input. On the URSA 12k you get a TC in via a BNC connector. I used that instead of the xlr mic input because that is a weird adaptior (xlr male to 3.5mm male) The TC IN does not put a sync sound on the audio track, it looks like it just puts the TC numbers in the metadata. How do you update TC without the sync sound on the audio track? Thanks!
Hi Mark - this is such a good question and misconception with the Blackmagic cameras. With Blackmagic or any other camera that has a real timecode input - you do not need to do anything with updating timecode from audio track like demonstrated at 8:28. Your metadata tc should already be correct over your bnc connector.
I'm new to Resolve (coming from Final Cut) but your videos have made the transition much easier...Thank you! Question about Auto Sync Audio Based on Timecode on the Media page: what happens to the camera scratch audio tracks? I can't see them in the Edit page, just the external audio recorder tracks. Does Resolve just assume you don't want to use scratch audio and throw it away?
you can choose auto sync and append tracks instead - this will let you still be able to use your original scratch audio if needed. Great to hear this channel has been helping the transition - its a fun appication.
You can simply line up reference waveforms on a. timeline by eye, or on the studio version you can align by waveforms with one audio and one video clip, by clip and right clip to "align by waveforms". Hope this helps.
Can Premiere do this??? I want to sync clips and audio without creating a multicam clip. I want to be able to grab clips as needed with all of the sync audio tracks.
Yes and no. Both premiere and Final Cut can't convert audio timecode to metadata timecode - but there are 3rd party paid tools that can do this - I just haven't used them. Only Avid and Resolve can natively take audio timecode and make use of it. However, Premiere can sync by using the audio waveforms - either as a Multicam or merging the good sound on a clip by clip basis.
@@CreativeVideoTips It is going to be interesting to see where these underlining policies will get us…. Keep up the killer work. I’ll try to get my Hands on some if they ever show up again :)
Hi Chadwick, thank you for the nice tutorial! I have a question for fps setting. So I got video in 29.97fps(set in 30,but dropped?), audio file in 25fps but ZOOM F6 can set timecode fuction in 29.97ND, should I set Tentacle's timecode in 29.97(DF)?
what about for say a 1 hour continuous clip on a GH5s where the cameras own timing drifts by a frame per hour? the video will not match the audio timecode after an hour so will resolve drop frames to fix it?
Hi Jeff, for a one frame drift per hour - I can guarantee nobody will ever notice the sync being off. I wouldn't sweat it. However, if you plug a tentacle device into the GH5 and keep them going it "should" not drift. It's a matter of always feeding it the timecode during the shoot. There is a feature called elastic keyframes on audio that can stretch it out, but I have almost never done that for AV sync.
@@CreativeVideoTips I am looking forward to elastic key frames on audio! Sounds useful for me. Out of sync audio bugs me even by 50ms - it’s distracting.
Near the end of the video, after you have synced the dailies, you jump to the source tape to mark in/out points to append into the timeline. When I do this, the sync bin is using the old audio of the clip, not the newly synced audio. But once the clip is in the timeline, it uses the new audio. In the video here, I can't tell if yours is also doing this because you have the audio off. Is there a way in the sync bin to use the newly synced audio while selecting clips?
Hi, there! Our crew just got a Tentacle and used it for the first time on a shoot last month. When we brought the audio into Resolve, we noticed some pretty severe drift that started just a few seconds in making the dialogue not only move ahead of the camera audio, but also behind it, so it was as though the audio was "breathing". Any ideas what happened? Even our post sound guy couldn't figure it out! Thanks!
Ever so often I get a comment that stumps me. Lesley, you stumped me! I honestly have no clue why that might have happened. First question was everything synced with a Sync E system, or the newer mic devices, I forget the name? What audio recorder was used and was a sync e, always plugged in and jamming the metadata tc to it? Or was sound only recorded to cameras? I'm not sure I will be of help here but would love to troubleshoot as best I can.
@@CreativeVideoTips Sorry for the late reply! Unfortunately the only info I have is that the audio was recorded to a Zoom H8. The sound person was a freelancer and she's unavailable right now to ask specifics.
Cheap is kind of relative I think in film gear but you’re right it’s no tiny amount of cash. I didn’t mention the price because that can always change and I’m more interested in showing the value of the tool and workflow. However to my knowledge this is the least expensive way to jam multiple cameras together. A great editing system is key too, but I can tell you many times I’ve been stuck matching up lip smacks and weird visual environmental cues to sync manually where no fancy computer would have helped at all.
@@CreativeVideoTips And to add to this, it can be helpful to think of budgets as percentages both in terms of time and money. In a small scale project with e.g. two or three cameras with audio recorded directly to the cameras, timecode makes little sense in time savings as syncing audio and cameras in this case is extremely simple and fast (granted you pay attention when shooting). Smaller budgets might also mean less takes in total. If the budget is in the range of 5 cameras and multiple audio channels / recorders starting and stopping sporadically, manual syncing can be nearly impossible without timecode, so the time benefit is pretty much infinite. In addition, this solution would be peanuts in a >20000 €/$ environment.
