Music Video Syncing

ASHREY

ASHREY

Hey everyone!

first of all its been a while since i've been on here! its good to be back!

I have a question regarding Music Videos.
I am in the midst of planning my current music video project (also my first music video), and i'm just wondering what methods are they to sync the performance of the band with music in post, other than by eye.

I know i can use a click track at the beginning of the song, but i would assume that means every take i do i will have to playback the song in full, even if the scene i"m filming occurs in the middle of the song.
and not only that, every scene i edit, will have to be synced up from the beginning, the edited from that point back.

there must be an easier way and i'm just not seeing it or not sure how to do it!
i really don't want to be sitting there, trying to get the music in time with the singers lips by eye for every take. i think my head might explode.

Cheers!
 
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It's best to always have the band play with the track, then you record the track with the footage and not any noise they make. The amps and what not don't even need to be on, but the ban needs to hear the track to keep sync. Especially lip sync. Then it's easy to line everything up. If you want to focus on the chorus, create a loop of the chorus or just play and rewind, you don't need to start from the top.

If you want to just let the band go, have them play to a click. The click can be generated from you or a metronome or whatever.
 
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Not just for syncing, but for believability of performance, I really think it best that the band ACTUALLY play/sing along to the recorded version of the song, and the recorded version that they're playing along to should be played LOUD.

Drums are very noisy, so anything you play would have to be loud enough to be heard over the top of the live drums. And for timing, it really is important that the band can hear what they need to play/sing along to.

That's if you're recording a full-band "performance". If it's just the singer, doing whatever, then you only need to play it loud enough for he/she to hear.

As for post, I think you're worrying too much about how long it will take to sync it. It's one of the easier things to do in editing. Even if you were to use a program like Pluraleyes, you'd still have to take into account the slight inaccuracies in the singers' lip-syncing performance. I think you basically have no choice but to sync manually, and that's actually not that big a deal. For me, what you capture is a whole lot more of an issue than how you edit it (in this conversation, anyway).
 
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I "ran sound" for several music videos. All that it entailed was setting up a fairly substantial PA system, cueing up the CD, and playing it VERY LOUD when a band or rapper/hip-hop artist was involved.

When focusing on just the singer the volume did not have to be quite as loud.

When the band is doing things that are not playing or singing related (walking down the street, etc.) it just needs to be loud enough so that they can hear it well.

The camera is ALWAYS recording the audio as a reference. The mic is fine, but a direct feed from the playback system is preferable.


BTW, have a roving camera person to record everything behind the scenes - it's a lot of fun and sometimes ends up in the video.
 
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Some great answers so far, here's another option that I've used a few times before…

mvipodslate.png


Obviously the display isn't 100% frame accurate, but it's more than good enough to sync to and allows you to jump to any point in the song.

(I've also used an iPad on its own as a slate/player for music videos; the big display is nice, but it's heavy and much more easily breakable.)
 
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