tracks out of sync

Hey all.
 
I'm farming out tracks for our new song, and so far two of them have come back out of sync with my project tracks.  IOW, when I drop the hired tracks into Sonar they don't line up with the project.  I've been doing this for years so it's not going to be the obvious things like, '...are you sure they start at 0.0.0?"  Yes they do.
 
I think it's got to be something I'm doing when I export the backing track.  When I select the tracks to export I always verify that I have 0.0.0 to 'end of selection' so that should not be it.
 
Now here's what's really spooky.  I drop the backing track and the newly cut part into a new project and even those two don't line up!  One would think that the new track and the backing track, (to which it was recorded), should line up even if they don't line up in my original project.
 
The only thing that makes any sense to me, is my hired pickers must be dropping my backing track in to their DAW and not aligning to 0.0.0.  Yes, I've asked.
 
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
Paul

davec69
I had sync issues once when importing audio files with a different sample rate.  Maybe check what sample rate your collaborators are using?
 
Have you made any changes to the import default settings?
 
How are you doing the import when you receive the new files?

Hi Dave.  Thanks for the reply.
 
One of the tracks was recorded at 24/48, (even though I had asked him to use 24/44.1).  I haven't checked the most recent one yet.  What's really interesting is this.  When I first receive the files back, I drop them into Audacity along with the stereo backing track to audition them and they were out of sync!  Even before I brought them into X3!  Assuming I had somehow screwed up the start time of the backing track on export, these two tracks should still line up, (in Audacity), and then be out of sync when I bring them into X3.  Not the case.
 
I questioned both players about dropping the backing track at 0.0.0 and they say they were.
 
This is very interesting.
 
Paul

Did you give your collaborators the tempo to your song?   maybe they just imported your backing track into their system at a random tempo and did their work.
 
Now when you try to import it back at the correct tempo, it's giving you this problem.
 
 
 

davec69
Did you give your collaborators the tempo to your song?   maybe they just imported your backing track into their system at a random tempo and did their work.
 
Now when you try to import it back at the correct tempo, it's giving you this problem.
 
 
 

Hi Dave.
 
Yes, I always give the pickers a tempo, key and meter although for audio it shouldn't make any difference.  As long as they record in sync to the stereo backing/reference track, project tempo is irrelevant.  Now for midi, that's different story...  If the tempo is out of sync on a midi track, start time wouldn't be the only problem.  The whole song would drift.
 
The advantage of them having their project tempo the same as mine would be for reference location within the song.  For example, "Hey, please try a different lick at bar 32".
 
Thanks for the input.
 
I have an idea I'm going to try.  I'll report back what I find out.
 
Any other thoughts?