Hi all,
     I recently had to get a new digital workstation because my old one died; I used to use a Boss BR 1180CD, but now I have a Boss BR 800 instead.  With the old one, I had no problem getting video and audio to sync because I could precisely time the "record" buttons on both my camcorder (Fujita Bullet Xtreme HD Lite II) and digital workstation, so assembling them in Windows Movie Maker was a breeze...they both started at the same exact split second. 
 
     Although I've been trying for weeks to learn to sync pressing "Record" on both my camcorder and the new BR 800, I haven't been able to figure out the timing; I'm hoping to learn how to sync them up in Sonar (it came with the BR 800) but so far I have absolutely no clue how to do it.  
 
     So can anyone give me simple directions (the simpler the better!) on how to sync video and audio tracks in Sonar?  When I try, I get a confusing mess of buttons, tip tools and so on, with no clear indicator of where each track starts, so I have no clue how to edit excess time off the front end of the audio.  
 
     Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much, sincerely, "Mac" Leahy

Hi. I do not know which version of SONAR you have, but maybe this will be of help.
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ITotJIx8eA
All the best.

Make a sharp noise at the beginning of the film recording.  This way you can line up the visual with the audio transient after you import both in to Soanr.  There could be other factors regarding frame rate sync issues,  but this might be all you need.

@ Zargg71"Hi. I do not know which version of SONAR you have, but maybe this will be of help."
 
According to the "About Sonar" tab on the "Help" draw-down menu, it's "Sonar LE 8.5.1.17"  Even when I press "record" on the camcorder half a second after pressing "record" on the workstation, the video always seems to be ahead of the audio recording.  
 
I'm thinking I should just keep trying 'till I finally figure out the timing.  This process was much easier with my previous DAW (Boss BR 1180-CD) because all I had to do was start the camcorder the instant I took my finger off the "record" button on the DAW, and the video and audio would always be perfectly sync'd once I imported them to Windows Movie Maker.  
 
 
@ LPMike75; "Make a sharp noise at the beginning of the film recording.  This way you can line up the visual with the audio transient after you import both in to Soanr.  There could be other factors regarding frame rate sync issues,  but this might be all you need."
 
My Fujita Xtreme Bullet HD Lite II sports action camcorder (basically it's a "helmet-cam," similar to a GoPro, only cheaper) records 720 p video @ 60 fps.  The video is always crystal-clear and brilliantly sharp, but the audio recording level is extremely low; when I'm playing guitar through my Boss BR 800 and have my home theater system turned up enough to feel the bass, the sound input from the camcorder is so weak that it sounds like I'm playing unplugged.  
 
I'll just keep plugging away 'till I find the right timing, I guess.  So far, I haven't been able to make heads or tails of this Sonar LE stuff; even though I've been working with computers since the late 80's, I'm not that proficient with software...if you gave me a pile of parts, I could probably built you a working computer, but programming is just beyond me. 
 
Thanks for your input, guys!

Maybe I am confused, I thought you were trying to sync audio and video together, but you were taking them from different sources (you explained you had to hit record on two different sources, causing the recording to not line up perfectly.

What I propose it to press record on both sources....then in front of the camera, make a sharp crack, or snap.  Heck, even a hand clap might work.  This was you can just trim the audio "clap" to line up with the visual clap later on in Sonar.  Thats what the clapboard thing above was designed for ..."..scene 1 take 3 ...and /whack".  This is so you can line up that "whack" later, so the audio is in sync with the picture.

Mac Leahy
I have no clue how to edit excess time off the front end of the audio.  

If you are trying to move the audio to a point before the first measure, you're right; it's not set-up to allow you to slide a clip back further than that.  You may need to move both the video and audio far enough into the timeline so that you have the flexibility to move the audio both earlier and later (left and right).  Once the two are synched, you can simply delete the unused portions or cut the volume where you don't want to hear it.
 
Does that make sense?  Have I understood your problem?
 
-- Rick

The "audio clap" won't be audible on the video because the microphone on the camcorder is a dud, and there won't be any "audio clap" on the DAW because I'm recording an instrument, not vocals.  I can't do instruments/vocals at the same time.  (Or at least not without sacrificing that most sacred of all aspects of music..."tone.")  

@ Rick; I'm not recording anything with Sonar; I'm trying to sync audio and video from two other sources, my DAW (Boss BR 800) and camcorder.  There is always a gap on the audio before the first sounds (drummer count in) are heard.  
 
I can't record ANY audio with the camcorder, because the microphone is a total and complete dud.  Even with my sound source turned WAY up (the neighbours can feel the bass) the audio on the camcorder barely even picks up the acoustic sound of the electric guitar, and that's all.  (That's why the previous comment about "using an audio click" simply can't work.)  
 
Thanks for the efforts, guys, but at this point you might as well just forget it.  I'll just have to keep struggling to master the timing between the camcorder and new DAW, rather than learning a whole new program from scratch.    

When you say "sync" do you mean triggering the record function of both recorders simultaneously? Or maybe the playback of both?  
 
I think most of us think you're looking for the precise alignment and maintenance of video with audio timing.   But if you don't need to precisely lock the timing, then I'm not sure I understand your dilemma. Maybe we're looking at the wrong problem.(?)
 
If you record the video (with or without audio) you can then bring it into SONAR using File>Import>Video and specifying the file name and type.  If you want you can have your action performed along with the sound from your monitors or a rough version of the soundtrack, but don't worry about the tone because you can replace the sound recorded in your camcorder with the sound from SONAR.  Once you've imported the video, you can place SONAR tracks exactly where you want them on the video timeline. And you can tweak to your heart's desire.
 
Does that help?
 

Mac Leahy
The "audio clap" won't be audible on the video because the microphone on the camcorder is a dud, and there won't be any "audio clap" on the DAW because I'm recording an instrument, not vocals.  I can't do instruments/vocals at the same time.  (Or at least not without sacrificing that most sacred of all aspects of music..."tone.")  

The audio of the video plays no role in this. It's not needed. It's the visual that you need to sync with the recorded audio.
Can you not make a sudden sound with the instrument with a sharp movement of hand that shows on the video??
Why would it have to be vocals? Any sound will do, if you can produce it so that the action can be exactly seen on the video. If it's a synth with a slow transient sound, you can change the sound to a, say, a clap, when starting the recording, and change back to the original sound while recording. Then later you edit out the unnecessary beginning.