HELP! This is all new for me. Edit 2 separate minidv audio/video files.

[nexgraphics]

Hello,
This looks like a great place to get some help. I normally do basic DVD video/slideshows, and I have a DOOZY now. A client brought me some 16mm film with inter-lock (audio and video separately).

I decided to TRY and take on this challenge. I went to a lab who told me they can convert the audio file to a MINI DV and the video file to a MINI DV.

Now, I use basic softwares like Pinnacle, Cyberlink, etc. If I place the AUDIO min DV in my camcorder and upload into those types of software, can the audio file be placed into the timelines? I didnt think so because normally they only accept MP3? And if so can I match the audio video simply by sliding back and forth?

The reason I am asking is because the labs already charge $175/hour for theit ime to do this, and I have no IDEA if I can do the rest of it until I get it in my hands and play with it.

ANY SUGGESTIONS or routes to go with this PLEASE would REALLY HELP me take on this challenge. Thanks so much!

[lowellriggsiam]

Try downloading the trial version of Sony Vegas, it has a nice timeline feature and makes it easy to synch video and audio. It's worth a look.

[Cornucopia]

It's kinda weird to expect audio ONLY onto a MiniDV tape. I expect they will put a "dummy" video stream (MiniDV requires some kind of video--that's the point of the format), which could be BLACK, a color, a title slide, Bars, or anything they want to throw in.

Can you get these 2 separate tapes into Vegas? Yes, EASILY. OF course Vegas accepts (and probably PREFERS) DV audio and video over MPG/MP3, etc
Once they've both been imported into the Media bin(s), and either before or right after you put the MainAudio clip on the timeline, you'll have to Unlink/Ungang the Audio from it's Dummy video (or just leave the video portion there, but MUTE/INACTIVE). Then you'll put in the Video clip and done the reverse with it's complementary audio track (which might be Noise, Silence, or Tone).

Now, you'll start slip'n & slidin' until they line up.

The best possibility here would have been if they had been genlocked and with accompanying timecode which transfered to the DV and on to the file, and so you could have matched the timecode and be DONE. But that's a near impossibility.
The next best possibility is you've got a clapper and/or 2-pop (head and tails) on both video & audio. That's still fairly trivial to sync up. But this still isn't likely.
The most likely scenario is that there's NO syncing reference EXCEPT the subject matter itself. So you better hope there is a GunFlash/Pop, Visible Door SLAM, Closeup Handclapping, or some other material that you can line up the abrupt motion change with an noticeable audio transient. And you'll have to double-check throughout the program to make sure they STAY in sync.

If they don't, something is going to have to either be edited IN/OUT, or there's going to have to be some Stretching/Shrinking done in order for the 2 streams to stay lined up throughout.

Good luck,

Scott

[filmboss80]

Any timeline editor like Vegas or Premiere will do the job, but you really should have audio on a 48k 16-bit .wav file instead of .mp3.

From your description, I am assuming the original audio was a 16mm fullcoat magnetic source. If so, there should be some sort of synchronizing method involved. With unedited footage, the clapboard at the beginning of each scene will provide the exact frame to sync audio with picture (the clap sound matches to the frame where the top of the clapboard comes in contact with the bottom). If the project has already been edited, there should still be a blip early on, at the end of the countdown leader. That blip can be matched to a corresponding flash frame in the film at the end of the countdown leader.

I don't know why a separate minidv was required for the audio track, but it can still be captured as DV-AVI and synched. (You could even pull a .wav audio file out of the DV-AVI using VirtualDub. That's not really necessary, though, since you can just drop both picture avi and sound avi into the timeline of the editor you use; then delete the picture portion of the sound file and the sound portion of the video file.) But this is all elementary stuff.

I don't mean to be rude, but in thinking about what is best for your client, it might better if you could pass the project on to someone who knew what they were doing.