Nuendo - multitrack audio sync to 2-track? Possible?

[stilus]

I’m sorry—I hope I explained it clearly enough the first time and that we understood each other correctly.

I’m also attaching a screenshot with an additional explanation of the situation.

In short, the only function I’m missing is something like this:

We have a multitrack recording. One track from that multitrack (for example 1st one) is edited freely—shortened, cut, and with individual parts moved left or right.

I would then need a function that allows me to select the remaining tracks—the audio events that originally had the same length and position as the edited track—and have Nuendo automatically apply exactly the same edits to all of them as were manually made to the first track.
If there is a timestamp in the file, it will remain even after editing, just at the moved locations. I assume it will be the same even if it is exported as AAF, edited elsewhere and imported back into Nuendo as AAF. Or I’m wrong?

That’s all.

If Nuendo doesn’t have this function yet, please consider doing it… Because I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs it.

[Fredo]

With all due respect, I think you’re overlooking the fact that this workflow wasn’t prepared for in advance.

What you’re asking for is essentially a feature where the DAW scans every file, identifies matching content, and automatically syncs it to the new edit. I’m sure AI will make that possible in the near future.

The reality, however, is that today’s DAWs need some form of reference data to identify both the source and the destination.

Nuendo already provides this functionality. It’s called Reconform.

All you need to do is ask the picture editor for an EDL. That file contains all the required information: source In/Out and destination In/Out points.

Another option is to use the Field Recorder Audio Import workflow. For that, however, the files need to contain the original production timecode in their metadata. You could have printed (or preserved) that timecode in your initial project, and after the picture edit Nuendo would have been able to automatically match the original recordings to the new edit.

Without any of the above, you will need Matchbox. An expensive tool which is designed for fixing that kind of problems.

So in the end, it all comes down to preparation. Welcome to the world of audio post.

Best regards,

Fredo

[henrique_staino]

Yes, Nuendo can do that in that case using Reconform.

When you have a multitrack recording in the most “musical” sense, meaning they were just a bunch of tracks in the same session that were recorded simultaneously, they will be in perfect sync and more than likely have the timestamps. That’s all you need.

Since it seems to be various different takes, you can’t start with a change EDL. First you export an EDL of one of the unedited tracks, then you export an EDL of the edited track. Generate the Change EDL from those and use that to reconform all your unedited tracks.

The Reconform per se doesn’t need sync between files at all. It will just chop the entire timeline block by block and take whatever is there and copy it to the new location. It doesn’t care if it is a long clip from production audio or thousands of foley edits. If it sits in TC XX:XX:XX:XX it will be moved to TC YY:YY:YY:YY and that’s it.

Alternatively, in your case specifically and in a time-consuming - but perhaps more straightforward - way, you can use the “shift+drag” alternative to substitute the edited tracks audio with the unedited ones.

Save a new version of your project. In this new version, leave only the edited track. Now, open you audio folder and shift+drag each unedited audio clip to their appropriate event. Nuendo will ask you if you want to replace all occurrences of that clip, you say yes. Now you have the previously unedited audio replacing the edited one perfectly (since they were all in perfect sync to begin with). You’ll have to do that of each one of the separate takes, since they reference different audio files.

Now you go to File> Import> Tracks From Project and import the edited tracks again, from that first project. Do the shift+drag again with the next unedited audio clips, take by take. Rinse and repeat until you have replaced all the tracks from your multitrack. Now re-import the edited track one final time and you’ll have your whole audio edited according to that guide track.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot one factor. For this to work without issues with TC from the editor, you must ask for the AAF without handles, meaning, referencing WHOLE audio files. This way you are sure that the files that come from the edit are the same length as your unedited ones.