How can I save time in this case?

Hi!

We have a setup with:

3 RED cameras and 1 Sounddevices audiorecorder for corporate videos (mainly interviews and conference talks).

We import files (R3D and wav) into FCPx 10.3 using latest top spec iMac and a very fast Areca RAID - but a typical shoot will take us:

- 2 hours to import the files to our disk
- at LEAST 1 hour to sync files but more than often it takes longer
- also at least 1 hour of logging the footage

It is often hard to make the clients understand why they should pay for 4-6 hours of "housekeeping" before we even start editing and I feel it makes us less competitive. Also, unfortunately, it's a step that can take very long if anything goes wrong - like yesterday, where the sync took much too long, as we had to do parts of it manually.

I've begun looking into how to speed these three steps up and would like to know if any of you have thoughts on this:

1 FASTER IMPORT => instead of using the USB3 REDMAG reader, I'm thinking of getting the G-tech thunderbolt RedMag reader as it's also a two-card-solution, so we can import 2 cards at a time

2 FASTER SYNC => it seems there's ALWAYS different things that makes syncing from audio a bumpy ride. Instead we'd like to go for timecodesync, and we're looking at www.betso.eu/tcx-2 to make syncing multicam as easy as possible

3 FASTER LOGGING => using Lumberjack on set instead of logging manually after import.

Are there any better ways of speeding up our workflow when we'd like to stay in R3D as long as possible.

You clients don't have to know how much time you take ingesting and managing media.
How much raw footage are we talking about?

I know it is popular to record to separate recording devices, but at our station we stopped doing that. We're using wireless lav's and such, so we can record directly to a camera. Saves us tons of time in post.

But to the point, how much raw footage are you ingesting?

FCPX.guru wrote: You clients don't have to know how much time you take ingesting and managing media.
How much raw footage are we talking about?

Yes they do, as we bill them hourly and also as we like to be transparent, which is often a good learning experience for our clients so the budget better and more precise for future films. Even if they didn't have to know, I'd be interested in optimizing our workflow anyway .... we prefer to spend the time on the creative output instead

FCPX.guru wrote: I know it is popular to record to separate recording devices, but at our station we stopped doing that. We're using wireless lav's and such, so we can record directly to a camera. Saves us tons of time in post.

As we appreciate the better audio results from using Sounddevices and other similar recorders, multiple mics etc. we are not interested in going straight to camera for the sound.

FCPX.guru wrote: But to the point, how much raw footage are you ingesting?

6 to 8TB per work week and it is only heading one way ..... much more data.

well I never tried it but from what people say Sync N Link is great if your video and audio are timecode synced so that will help with that amount of time

odedh wrote: well I never tried it but from what people say Sync N Link is great if your video and audio are timecode synced so that will help with that amount of time

Well, we do have PluralEyes already and Sync-n-link is in the same category, so I don't spot a time saver in that area.

The reason why autosync from AUDIO (not timecode) is often problematic, is that there's a lot of barriers. Yesterday, when I imported files from a recent shooting, one camera had very bad scratch audio, so none of these recordings would "pass" in PluralEyes ...... not to mention, that RED in general and Red Raven specifically, is often problematic for this type of syncing...... try recording HDR, slowmotion and other RED-specials, and you're up for trouble (manual sync)

Also, if you have a shooting with variety in cameras like throwing in iPhone, GoPro etc. You're just asking for trouble when trying autosync in PluralEyes, FCPx, Premiere etc.

That's why we're heading for timecode-sync instead.

I actually think Sync N Link should be much faster then Plural Eyes since it doesn't need to analyze and compare audio, just takes the timecode, while plural eyes was meant for comparing audio.

Plus Sync N Link lets you name roles and subroles I don't know if it's also in Plural Eyes

Exactly my point: timecode-sync is faster

Living Smart TV wrote: ...Also, if you have a shooting with variety in cameras like throwing in iPhone, GoPro etc. You're just asking for trouble when trying autosync in PluralEyes, FCPx, Premiere etc.

That's why we're heading for timecode-sync instead.

There is no simple answer. For a higher-end studio production, wired or wireless timecode is best. Lower-end field production often includes devices like Tascam audio recorders, iPhone, GoPro, DJI drones and Osmo -- that do not usually support SMPTE timecode. Even the Tascam DR-680MKII and Zoom H4 do not support this. They display a "pseudo timecode" but this isn't SMPTE metadata.

Often even professional network productions use these devices. Here is a frame grab of a recent Fox News story on commercial flight simulators where they use a DJI Osmo and a GoPro: joema.smugmug.com/Photography/Fox-News-u...I-Osmo-and/n-pbrJHC/

There is supposedly a timecode "back" for GoPros; I don't know how well it works. In my doc group we have about 15 GoPro and DJI devices, and I'm sure it would only work for some of them.

Probably the least expensive timecode solution that handles the most cases, including non-SMPTE devices, is the Tentacle: www.tentaclesync.com

For non-SMPTE devices Tentacle and some other solutions can record audio LTC timecode on one channel of stereo, but neither Premiere or FCPX support that (Resolve does). So you have an additional step in post for some utility to convert the LTC audio timecode to SMPTE timecode the editing software understands.

Any external device you add to you camera fleet increases complexity and is an additional failure point. There are batteries, firmware, cables, etc. to deal with. If all your cameras and recorders don't have these, then you still must sync those via audio or manually.

It is within technical feasibility for mainstream camera manufacturers to add GPS and ability to jam-sync timecode to this or zero free run timecode at a user-specified time-of-day. Increasingly they have GPS anyway for geo-tagging. Even without continuous correction this would be good enough in many cases to assist the audio sync or expedite manual sync. Alas that does not appear a priority. Here is a video Dave Dugdale did showing how to zero timecode on several Sony A-series cameras simultaneously: www.learningvideo.com/a7sii-and-a7rii-tutorial-jam-sync/

Manufacturers don't even universally support an IR remote code or button to zero free-run timecode on several cameras. Just doing that would solve a lot of cases as shown in Dave's video. Even with expected drift it would narrow down the audio sync search where it would be more reliable.

Sometimes a few procedural steps will help an audio sync, such as using a clapper board and making sure all camera operators don't do short takes -- just leave it running. OTOH with 4k and esp. ProRes or RAW, that burns through a lot of card space.

I can totally vote for the tentacles.
They can cover both, devices with an dedicated timecode input and recording to one of the audio tracks.
I also had to learn the hard way. 2 years of documentary shooting. 1st year syncing with plural eyes : 3 weeks. 2nd year with tentacles and 4 days...
And Sync´N´Link is the way to go.

One sidenote: As Joema pointed out when timecode is recorded to an audio track you have to convert the video. Tentacle comes with a software which will read the TC on the audio track and write it to an TC track. Unfortunately it will write a new video so this takes some time for a large amount of data.

The OP didn´t specify which flavour of RED cameras but probably all of them have a dedicated TC input?!

nils.dettmann wrote: The OP didn´t specify which flavour of RED cameras but probably all of them have a dedicated TC input?!

Oh, it's Red Scarlet and Red Raven so they can record timecode (not just on audio track)

Are you shooting this in 4K? If so, do you really need to be?

smg669 wrote: Are you shooting this in 4K? If so, do you really need to be?

Raven is 4.5k
Scarlet is 5k

We want to do that for several reasons so we're not going down to 1080p - instead, we want to make a workflow, that supports this.

Also, just a practical thought: when using RED, if we go from 5k to 1080p, the cropfactor will grow a lot, so it's like adding a zoomlense

I think you have answered some of your questions yourself.

Shooting multicam and external audio with synched TC hugely improves your workflow indeed, and Sync-N-Link is without any question the best and fastest tool for creating synchronized clips in FCP X if you have synched TC.

Lumberjack will also hugely improve your workflow, as long as the person doing the on-set logging knows what kind of keywords you need to facilitate your logging and, most important, what kind of keywords you don't need. That's why on-set logging is best done by an assistant editor, or at least by someone who is really familiar wth the way the program will be edited. Because they know best how the footage will need to be organized for the edit.

- Ronny