wow
thanks Konradh and everyone involved in this thread.
forget google-I just had a crash course in something I was avoiding as I just didn`t know where to start.
 
cheers
tony 

mixmkr,
 
Yes they will be dancing to the song.  Here is the issue: Let's say we have video of several different sections of the song.  Then, in the video editor, we add the master music track.  Now, how do we align the little 10 second bit we recorded during verse 2?
 
The editor thinks he can do it just by scooting the video clip back and forth until it aligns with the dancing.  And , of course, we can zoom in and inspect the master audio wave and the live audio wave.
 
I was just looking for a more automated way to do it and a SMPTE clapboard would have been the way to go, but it is too expensive and not needed in this case (they say).  Here's how it works:
 
1-You make a copy of the audio with SMPTE on the left and audio on the right (or vice versa)
2-The SMPTE feeds the clapboard
3- At the start of the scene, the camera records the clapboard and has an exact timecode for aligning to the master audio.
 
That's a simplified explanation and I am no expert, but that's how movies sync dialog overdubs and other events.

konradh
Thanks everyone, and thanks, Karyn, for replying.  I understand what you are saying and why the thread was moved.  (Didn't bother me—just didn't get it at first. )
 
I was going to make a dub with SMPTE on one channel and mono audio on the other and use a SMPTE clapboard, but the video guy told me that was overkill for a dance video and he could slip the video clips into place.
 
We will record the audio onto the camera while shooting and then add a second audio track in Final Cut with the master audio.  Just to make myself feel better, I am going to put clicks on the front of the audio to ensure we the start of the camera audio with the start of the master audio track.
 
I guess I am so used to having everything locked in place by timecode that the thought of sort of flying stuff in horrified me; but apparently, except for close up lip-sync which won't apply here, it isn't necessary to lock this down so tightly.
 
 

You're welcome.
 
Sorry,, I didn't see your post until after I posted (we posted about the same time) LOL!
 
konradh: Video guy told me that was overkill for a dance video and he could slip the video clips into place.
 
Exactly!
 
Does appear your intended workflow is simple enough that it won't require much of a script (if any) other than personal notes and no timecode.  Like I said, syncing scenes to the music (digital format) of course is easy
 
.... though I can assure you its nothing at all like it was years ago when syncing video (tape) to audio (tape -beta) working with 50 scenes (more or less) without software nor hardware (video editor). That is exactly the workflow for my earliest co-produced music video that aired nationally on ABC TV (RAGE) and SBS TV (Street Noise) Australia. I (and the others in the band) were also interviewed on TV in regards to the song and making of the music video. One of the musicians who co-produced the video has it uploaded on YouTube, but its a poor copy and conversion (visual/audio quality is poor), if you want to see it? Send me a PM.
 
For writers/musicians, these are great times for the do-it-all (or just about all) yourself.
 
Everyone has their own mindset approach (workflow) for whatever they feel comfortable with. I always see forums as an Open House Policy lol  my posts included additional info' to cover just about all bases, intended for whomever happens to stumble on this topic :-)
 
Wish you great success!

konradh
mixmkr,
 
Yes they will be dancing to the song.  Here is the issue:.............SNIP
 
The editor thinks he can do it just by scooting the video clip back and forth until it aligns with the dancing.  And , of course, we can zoom in and inspect the master audio wave and the live audio wave.
 
I was just looking for a more automated way to do it...............SNIP

I thought that way was actually pretty easy.  Striping code and all that stuff, of course works well too.
 
 
I do that for dialog too.  ..basically on all my *homebrew* YouTubes.  The audio in the camera is my "SMPTE", which makes my "Sonar" audio easy to slide into its' correct sync.  Waveform zoom is my friend.  But I understand feeling comfortable with a personal system to do things as well.  Good luck with the dancers!  Hope they wiggle good!

Hi Konrad
 
You mentioned Final Cut again when talking about your video guy...  Final Cut will auto-sync the video clips, even if only 3 seconds long, using the camera recorded sound and the master audio.  It really isn't an issue.
 
If it struggles to tell the difference between chorus1 and chorus2 because all EDM sounds the same* then you just help it by moving the clip to roughly the right place and tell it to try again.
 
If you really want a SMPTE backup plan, you don't need a SMPTE clapper board.  You create your own by loading the audio into the video editor and outputting a video file of the whole thing, including 5 or 10 seconds lead in, where the video is simply time code in hh:mm:ss:ff filling the full width of the screen in BIG characters.
You then just use that on an iPad or other tablet for the audio playback and wave it at the camera like you would a SMPTE clapper.
When you come to edit,  every clip has a frame accurate reference regardless of where in the song it was started.  You just pick a frame where you can read the time code and slip it to the same point on the timeline.
 
 
 
* You know I'm joking I hope.

What a great primer this thread is for video production on this scale. Interesting thing is I think it would scale up to a much bigger production. Does that make sense?

It would make more sense to say this is a greatly simplified version of how big pictures are made,  but the methods are mostly the same so it does scale up.