Mac OS X: matching audio with video in iMovie

[Jeikobu]

I have two versions of a small movie I'm trying to encode. The only difference is that the audio in certain places has been changed for the version I have on DVD. Therefore, what I want to do is take the superior video from the DVD-rip, and piece in the original audio from my VHS where it had been changed on the DVD version. The big problem is that even though nothing about the video has been changed in length, it seems to run at a different rate (when I take the audio and line it up at the correct place, by the time it's even 20 seconds in it no longer matches with what's happening in the video).

Therefore, what I was hoping to do was stretch the audio so it would line up with the video (I know it would probably alter the sound a little, but since the area I'm dealing with is only about 45 seconds long, I don't imagine it'd make a big difference), but iMovie Help and iMovie Support have been no help whatsoever.

[willndmb]

you can not stretch audio in iMovie

[terryj]

Here's a a simple and quick OLD SKOOL way to get video
and audio to sync up.

First, your audio and video must be in two seperate files,
perferably .mov for video, and .aiff for audio.
Your audio file will contain all the aduio you want in it,
exactly where you want it in. Amadeus II is a great program
for splicing together video and creating .aiffs.

Next, Open Quicktime Pro.

In Quicktime Pro, open the audio file, and then open the video file.

Select the video file, and perform a select all ( apple-a)
and then a copy (apple-c) command on the file.
then perform a close (apple-w) command on the file.

Select the audio file then, and in QT Pro 6.5 or earlier,
go to Edit-->Add scaled and in QT Pro 7.x, Edit-->Add
to Selection and Scale.

This will add the video to the LENGTH of the audio,
synchroizing it to the time of the audio.
Depending upon the quality of the video, a dropped frame here
and there may cause it to momentarily lose sync, but
if the video is good, then the sync will be near perfect.

Now, Export the file out as a self contained QT .movie.
(Save as-->QT .mov check self contained, give it a new name)

Now go back into iMovie, and reimport the QT .mov you just made.
The file will be properly lined up, both audio and video
available for you to do further editing.

If you didn't need to do any edits from that point, you could
then take the created QT .mov, and drag and drop it into
iDVD or Toast to burn to DVD.

[rumplestiltskin]

You don't have to export the movie back out as "self-contained"; rather, export it as a "reference movie". This is only a few MB in size and, as the name implies, references the original parts.

Either drop that back into iMovie for add'l editing or drop into iDVD or Toast.