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Software to sync multiple tracks

mmbongo

mmbongo

I have too many basses.
Inactive
Aug 5, 2009
25,372
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Upstate, South Carolina
#1
I have some recordings taken from various sources (recordings of all the same thing...different mic placements and such) and am looking for an easy way to sync them up and combine them.

For example I use PowerDirector for videos and it has a great audio sync function just by click the desired tracks and telling them to sync, and would like something like that for multi-track audio.

If Audacity can do this, I have missed how so please let me know. Otherwise, please recommend another software. Thanks!
 
#5
byacey said:
I don't know how this can be done automatically; the software doesn't know the distance between mics, which would be the first factor needed in determining the offset for syncing, that and the phase difference too.
Click to expand...

Well maybe I'm explaining it wrong as to what I'm trying to do, it's nothing that complicated. I'll try again, and maybe 'sync' isn't the right term...maybe 'align' makes more sense?

Let's say I have two audio tracks. Two recordings of the same thing done by two different recorders. One of them is off by a small time increment, maybe because one recorder started a few milliseconds after the other. I just need those two tracks perfectly aligned.

Here's a visual aid. These two tracks are a recording of the same thing, but as you can see the bottom track is shifted to the right. It needs to be aligned back up with the top track by moving to the left. Yes I'm fully aware that this can be done manually by dragging it (that's how I made it not aligned for the purpose of this graphic) but when dealing with large files or 6-8 tracks, that is very difficult to do and very hard to get them all perfect.

tracks.PNG


PowerDirector does this very simply by looking at the peaks and matching them up. Two clicks and you're done. But like I said, that is a video editing program with no audio editing capabilites. So I just assumed there would be an audio editor that also would do this, as it seems quite simple.

Here's how PowerDirector does it so you can see what I'm talking about. You only need to watch about 30 seconds.
 
Last edited:
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#8
You mentioned audacity so check here: How to Align Tracks in Audacity

But - after you time align you still need to work out phase as mics are separated.
You can try a demo of any plugin that does this, for example
Waves InPhase

There are others like those from Isotope that can automatically correct phase issues but they can be pricey.

You'll get Much Better results than just manually mixing tracks.
 
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#9
And I said:
If you want to do it visually and align the peaks, just zoom way in and move the tracks so the peaks line up. Do you have like hundreds of these alignments to do? If so I can see why you'd want to automate it. If not, doing it by hand is easy and a better choice to ensure a natural sound.
Click to expand...

Ehh not hundreds, but I'm going to have 4-5 tracks to do for 15 or so songs so it's quite a few. If I was getting paid by the hour (or even paid at all!) I wouldn't mind taking all day to do one song :)
 
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#10
seamonkey said:
You mentioned audacity so check here: How to Align Tracks in Audacity

But - after you time align you still need to work out phase as mics are separated.
You can try a demo of any plugin that does this, for example
Waves InPhase

There are others like those from Isotope that can automatically correct phase issues but they can be pricey.

You'll get Much Better results than just manually mixing tracks.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will definitely check into those.
 
#11
for 6-8 tracks per piece/project:
0000.jpg

And I said:
doing it by hand is easy and a better choice to ensure a natural sound.
Click to expand...

seriously: it's done in a few seconds per track, wouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to align a half dozen tracks, properly. your eyes and ears will save you time and money.

good luck with your track alignment! :thumbsup:
 
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#13
What is the goal? Are you trying to line up all audio tracks and play more than one or two at the same time? You're probably going to wind up with comb filtering problems if so. If you're just looking to sync high-quality audio with a video then I usually make a good audio mix in a DAW and then manually sync them to something obvious in both the audio and video, like a drum hit or something that has a strong audio spike and a visible event on screen.
 
#14
sawzalot said:
What is the goal? Are you trying to line up all audio tracks and play more than one or two at the same time? You're probably going to wind up with comb filtering problems if so. If you're just looking to sync high-quality audio with a video then I usually make a good audio mix in a DAW and then manually sync them to something obvious in both the audio and video, like a drum hit or something that has a strong audio spike and a visible event on screen.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you need to average the peaks time-wise, depending on the musician's sense of time. Generally, if it's the same guy playing on the various tracks, it'll be very close to consistent.
 
#19
Seriously, with just a little bit of time spent you can do this by ear/eye and then find out firsthand all the filtering problems that can occur when trying to mix the same source from different distances.
 
#20
Aligning by hand is quick and lets you sort out all kinds of phasing problems at the same time (or rather, listening and selecting which phase issues are the least noticeable). So I agree with most responses above, just do it!
 

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