Topic: matrix mixing please advise

[BayTaynt3d]

Once you get the hang of it, and if you have a good editor, it's actually a no-brainer, but I've used video editing software for a long time before getting into audio about a year and a half ago, so maybe I'm biased. You need a good multi-track editor. I use Sony Vegas.

1. Drop both sources into seperate tracks in your editor.
2. Find a pronounced sound (e.g., tom hit on the drums) near the beginning of the tracks
3. Sync up the two tracks just as you would normally at the "head" of the files (described above)
4. Move to the end of the files in the timeline, and find another pronounced sound (somtimes I use the final "thanks" section because it's super easy to hear the echo when someone is talking)
5. Here's the only tricky part, then sync up the "tail" at the end by stretching/compressing (compressing in this context mean making shorter, not lossy encoding) one of the sources. In Vegas, it's as easy as holding the CTRL key as I drag the end of the file. I usually have to zoom way into the timeline, and shorten then end of one of the tracks so I can "grab" then end of the file while zoomed in. Then I just loop it over and over as I CRTL drag until it sounds in sync. Then I extend the end of that one track I had to trim so I could grab the end of it back out until the end of the set. BUT, this will be a little different in each editor, and some editors will be a lot harder than others to do it -- like I said, Vegas makes it cake after a few tries practicing. In fact, this is how I sync double-system audio back to video, so it's a good skill to have if you ever shoot video. (See the first video on my blog right now, I used this method to sync the AUD to the VID, then I dumped the videos audio altogether.)
6. Once both tracks are synced, I prune whatever I don't want off the beginning and end, then render out and track like normal for a perfect sync the whole way through.