Sync Cameras and Audio

How to line up footage from multiple cameras and recorders automatically, and what to do with files Sync can't match.

Sync listens to the audio of every file you give it, finds where the recordings line up, and places the clips on the timeline already aligned. It also works out which files came from the same camera or recorder, so clips from one device share a track. Use it for multicam shoots, separate audio recorders, or any session where more than one device captured the same moment.

Check what Sync needs

Sync needs at least two files, and every file must have audio. There is nothing to line up with just one file, and the matching is done entirely by ear.

If the Sync… entry in the Process menu is greyed out, hover it to see why. Sync needs 2+ items means you have fewer than two eligible files selected. Requires audio means a selected file has no audio track. A transcript is not required.

Launching, progress, and cancelling work the same as every other tool. See Run an AI Tool.

Choose the sync options

The run dialog states what the tool will do: Sync groups will be computed from audio across the selection. Below that are two settings.

2-pass sync is a checkbox, off by default. The caption under it explains it: On: a deeper but much slower search for clips the fast pass couldn't place. The first pass places nearly everything, so leave this off for normal runs. Turn it on when a run leaves files unmatched and you want Sync to try harder.

The Advanced section, collapsed by default, holds one setting: Video track order. It controls which camera type lands on which video track when the synced clips are placed. The dropdown has three options:

• My default order
• Longest first (ignore classification)
• Custom for this run…

Choosing Custom for this run… reveals a list of camera types you can drag into the order you want. As the dialog notes, the choice applies to this run, including re-placing its result from the menu, until the next sync run.

tip

You can set a machine-wide default for the video track order in Preferences → Sync, which also has a Reset to default button.

Read the result on the timeline

Sync places the clips for you as soon as the run finishes. There is no extra step, and no badge or marker on the clips. The placement itself is the result:

1. Clips are inserted at their synced positions, so the same moment lines up across tracks.
2. Clips from the same camera or recorder share a track. They only spill onto an extra track where two of them genuinely overlap in time.
3. New video and audio tracks are created as needed, named Video 2, Audio 3, and so on.
4. Video tracks follow the camera order you chose in the dialog or in Preferences.

A message in the corner sums up the run, for example how many clips were placed across how many groups. If some files couldn't be matched, the message is a warning instead, and the run's details name each file. See the next section.

Place the synced media again

If you've rearranged the timeline and want the synced layout back, choose Sequence → Place Synced Media on Timeline. It re-runs the placement from the last Sync result, using the same track order. The menu item is greyed out until a Sync result exists.

When files can't be synced

Files that Sync can't match are not dropped. They are still placed on the timeline as their own unsynced group, so you can line them up by hand. The run's error details list each unmatched file by name with the reason:

• "Could not sync <file>: no confident audio match found" means the file's audio didn't line up with any other file confidently enough.
• "Could not sync <file>: reading its audio took too long (over 30 minutes) — very large files on a cloud or network drive can exceed the limit. Copy the file to a local drive and run Sync again."
• "Could not sync <file>: its audio could not be read", followed by the reason.
• "Could not sync <file>: its only confident match would put it on top of another clip from the same recorder (impossible for one device), so it was placed unsynced — you can align it manually."

Two extra lines can appear once per run:

• "Some of these recordings share repetitive background audio (such as music playing in the room), which prevents reliable automatic matching. Files that could not be matched were placed unsynced — you can align them manually." Looped room music sounds the same everywhere, so Sync can't tell which part of it is which.
• "The deeper 2-pass sync search was off — turning it on may match more files." Re-run Sync with the 2-pass sync checkbox on and the unmatched files may find their place.

info

Running Sync on a single file counts as a normal success, not a failure. There is simply nothing to match it against.