How to Use Sync Points

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How to Use Sync Points

Sounds are not like Legos, where one always fits into another at regular intervals. Sounds are intertwined. Trying to place sounds using a standard anchor point, such as the start of a region, can be limiting. Sometimes you need to make an anchor point where you feel the important aspect of the sound lies. This is where sync points come into play.

A good example of a sound that needs a sync point would be a "swoosh" type sound, such as that made by a sword swinging through the air. "Swoosh" sounds usually have a peak point, where the sound is the most intense , toward the endthe sound begins quieter than it ends. When placing such a sound, the action might be timed to this peak point in the "swoosh" and not to the very start of it. In such a case, nudging the starting boundary of the region to the key frame to which the sound applies might be an exercise in futility, as the frame of video you see at the start of the region is not aligned to the critical section of audio. You need to create a sync point within the region that defines the critical moment of the sound so that nudging this sync point will align the sound properly.

Creating a Sync Point

Creating sync points is easy. Here's how it's done:

  1. Decide what point in the region is the critical point. This should be the defining moment of the sound, the point that would sync up to a key frame of video.

  2. Place the cursor at that point within the region.

  3. Choose Edit > Create Sync Point (Command+comma). A small tab appears at the bottom of the region at the sync point, as shown in Figure 6.47.

    Figure 6.47. A small tab at the bottom of a region indicates that a sync point has been created there.


Using Sync Points and the Grid

Now that a sync point has been created, it can be used to align the sound with a key frame of video. In most editing commands, the sync point will act as the region's start boundary. You can nudge the sync point. It can be snapped to grid values. It can be copied and pasted.

If you move a region with a sync point while in Grid mode, the sync point will snap to grid points instead of the region start. A classic example of how to use this is with vocals in a piece of music. Many vocalists will take a breath before the downbeat of a new section. By using a sync point on the downbeat in the region that contains the vocal, you can copy that vocal part to any downbeat in the song and the breath will still be heard before that downbeat. Sync points allow regions to have start times in odd places but still be referenced to a grid location. The end result is similar to how the Relative Grid function works.

Once a sync point has been created, it will be used until it is deleted. In order to delete a sync point you must first select the region that contains it, then choose Edit > Remove Sync Point (Command+comma). The sync point will be deleted.

NOTE

RELATIVE GRID

The Relative Grid is new in Pro Tools Version 6. It allows you to move regions relative to grid points. In other words, it is as though each region has been assigned a sync point exactly on a grid point. When you move that region, the starting boundary is not automatically aligned with a grid pointthe temporary sync point is. If the region start was 17 milliseconds before the nearest grid point, then when you move it to another grid point, the start of the region will still be 17 milliseconds ahead of the new grid point. Figures 6.48 and 6.49 Show how one region moved in Relative Grid mode maintains its relationship to the grid. To use Relative Grid mode, select the relative option from the Grid button pull-down menu, as seen in Figure 6.50.

Region A starts at 1.347 seconds. The grid value is 1 second and Relative Grid mode is on.


After moving Region A 1 second to the right in Relative Grid Mode, the new start time is 2.347 seconds. Relative Grid maintained the relationship of the region to each grid point.


The Relative Grid mode can be selected from the Grid pull-down menu.


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PRO TOOLS R for video, film, and multimedia
PRO TOOLS R for video, film, and multimedia
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 70

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