Recording from Allen & Heath console to use in video editing

CQ CQ General Discussions
1

Hi,

I’m using an Allen & Heath mixer in live/podcast setups and trying to streamline my post-production process.

Typical flow I’m thinking:

  • Live mix on the console

  • Record clean stereo or multitrack output

  • Import into capcut Windows

  • Sync audio with video and cut short clips for social/media use

Has anyone here worked with a similar setup? Mainly curious if there are any common issues with sync drift or preferred ways to prepare recordings so they drop cleanly into video editing without extra fixing.

4

Which mixer are you using? I’ve moved this from AHM to CQ in the mean time - I can relocate it once you’ve let me know!

5

I would recommend to record video together with the audio signals in one place.

1 Like
6

I agree with Steffen. The best way to ensure that there is no drift between the audio and the video is to record them together. In this case, that would mean taking the broadcast output from the CQ and injecting it into the video system before recording it. You might do that by injecting the audio into the camera’s audio inputs (assuming only one camera is being used), or directly into the video switcher’s audio input if you are using more than one camera.

Then whatever your recording method is, the audio and video should be in sync and stay in sync the whole time even with future video edits/cuts, etc.

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7

I accepted you ppls advice and started working on that. Let me process with it then can say anything

8

My workflow is to record multitrack. Mixdown to stereo after the fact (I use Reaper), then combine video and audio in Davinci Resolve. I keep the stereo constant throughout the project and shift video ahead or behind to keep in sync. If things go out of sync, I’ll cut the video and resync each section (I’m usually recording multi-hour concerts). About 1 cut every half hour keeps things nicely synced. Using a clapper board, or a hand clap can help you get the sync perfect. Davinci resolve’s free version is up to the task.

9

If you also record the LR mix to a USB stick and also send it to your camera, Davinci can automatically sync the two.

10

Now I’ll add my two cents.

I would think it could be simpler to adjust the playback speed of the audio tracks so that everything is sync at the beginning and end, and therefore throughout the entire playback time.
To my knowledge, many video editing programs can do this - some even automatically - but okay, maybe not necessarily the free versions.

11

Unless the audio was recorded at more than twice the final playback sample rate, playing back at a different rate will result in resampling artifacts in the audio. This is not usually a problem for voice, but for music with high frequency content, for highest quality, it’s best not to change the playback rate by small amounts.

12

But I wasn’t referring to time-stretching with its complex algorithms where the pitch remains constant, but simply a “speed adjustment”.
I, for one, have already used this method with the tiny speed changes to synchronize countless shows with music without getting any audible artifacts.