sync sound

[Lazlo]

I was investigating recording sound onto a DAT recorder, and then syncing in post, but I have heard that people who have tried this find that since the DAT and camera run at different speeds it won't sync up. I'm not necessarily talking about recording onto a film camera, just digital or film. So... a very basic question: How does one go about making sure there are no sync sound problems in post? (beyond using the slate and all that)

 

[MarkG]

I shot a play for a friend a few years back using DAT for sound from their mixing desk and a DV camera, and it was only a few frames out over the course of an hour or so.

However, I had to copy the sound from the DAT to the DV camera and then capture by Firewire in order to get it to sync: I tried an analogue recording from the DAT direct into the PC, and it was way out by the end. I suspect the timing accuracy of the on-board sound card just wasn't anywhere close to that of a DV camera.

For shots of up to a few minutes, you certainly shouldn't have a problem, particularly if you can capture digitally from the DAT (my DAT player doesn't have a digital output).