Most 'good' video processing software has the ability to strip the audio from the video. I agree that Vegas is kinda pain in the ass to learn, but worth it if you plan to do much video work in the future. My easy 'go to' software package is called DVD Lab Pro. It's got all the tools, but in spite of the name, it's not really a pro tool. I'd call it more of a very powerful ameteur software package. Even though it's not pro, it still does everything you want and is really easy to use and is still really powerful. The reason I say it's not pro is just that there are some limitations on the amount of creativity you can use to get a 100% pro quality production that looks like a pro DVD. My own patience doesn't have time for that anyway, so that's why I always end up opting for the ease of DVD Lab pro. So, the only time I personnally use Vegas is when I need to mix and then master multi-cam videos. But even then, once the video is mastered, I use DVD Lab Pro to compile the DVD and menu's and all that.
Anyway, it doesn't have to take hours to get a perfect audio synch on your video, like someone suggested, especially if there are no drop outs on either you video or your audio masters. Just do what I do.
Obvioiusly, the first you want to do is commit you audio and video to electronic format. Master up your video as you want it by removing the crap from the beginning and end. DO NOT remove the original audio at this point. Keep the original camera audio with the source video.
Again, it's easiest to synch aud and vid if there aren't any drops from the middle of either the master video (and for that matter, the master audio), but if you have to cut anything out of the middle of your video master, then just write down the approximate time location of these cuts. This will help you later to find the same spots when you're mastering up the audio.
After the video is mastered the way you want it, strip the audio off of the video but make sure you save this audio file onto your harddrive. You might need to use some third party software to convert the audio file format at this point.
Open this audio file in Audition (or whatever audio mastering program you use) and also open the master audio file in another window...or in a second track...it doesn't matter.
The goal now is to use your audio program to manipulate the master audio to exactly parallel the raw audio from the video. Obviously, once they are completely parallel, then when you mix the master audio to the video, it will align perfectly and the audio will be perfectly in synch with the video. This really isn't very hard to do at all.
Compare the master timing to the audio on the video by selecting two points in both audios that are exactly the same points...the longer the duration the better as long as there are no drop outs. Obviously, this is where the 'no dropouts' concept can really make this process much easier becuase if there are no drop outs on either the video OR the master audio, then you just need to select an audio cue from the beginning of the show and at the end. A sonic cue is any specific distinct audio point taht can be located specifically on both recordings...such as a specific drum beat, or the start of a guitar note.
Now use the stretch or shink function of Audition to make your recording the exact same length. Obviously this whole process compensates for any slight duration differences caused by differences in recording speeds.
If there ARE drop outs, then you will need to break the audio files up and sorta piece the master file together considering the drop outs. If the drop outs are on the video, then the master audio needs to have the drop outs cut from the audio also.
So, once you've gone through this process and have your master audio synched up, just mix the master audio back together with the video instead of your camera audio and, WALLA!
I personally don't think that the above process takes all that much time at all. If there are no drop outs, it can be done in about 15 or 20 minutes, although it will take at least that long or longer for your video software to strip the audio off from the video.
Hope this helps!
Topic: replacing audio on a video? (Read 11890 times)