08 - Syncing Audio

About this video

This lesson explains how to sync separately recorded audio, such as from a clip-on lav microphone feeding a separate recorder, to camera video so the cleaner, closer audio replaces the camera sound. The instructor recommends shooting with a clapboard because the clap creates a brief spike in the waveform and identifies the clip’s roll, scene, and take. In the manual method, he trims the camera clip (Camera A 101, scene one, take two) and the separate audio file, aligns the two clap spikes exactly in the timeline, checks playback for echo, then mutes or removes the camera audio so only the lav audio plays and lip movement matches. He then shows a faster automatic method: select both the video and audio clips, right-click, and choose ‘sync video to sound,’ which moves the video to match the audio. The same automatic sync is applied to a second camera, Camera B, using the same take and audio, so both angles are synced to the same sound for later wide-shot or close-up choices in the edit.

Key takeaways

• Separate lav or recorder audio usually sounds better than camera audio because the mic is closer to the mouth and picks up less echo
• A clapboard helps twice: its slate identifies roll, scene, and take, and its clap creates a waveform spike used as the sync point
• Manual sync means aligning the clap spike in the camera audio with the same spike in the separate audio, then muting or deleting the camera track
• Automatic sync is faster: select the video and audio clips, right-click, and choose ‘sync video to sound’ — the video moves to match the audio
• Repeating the sync for a second camera against the same audio track syncs a multi-camera shoot to one shared sound source

Episode details: published January 7, 2026 · 7:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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