How do you lock a movie to position in logic

I'm working to picture, and have exported the audio from the movie to a track. It shows the SMPTE lock icon. When I change the tempo for the project, the audio stays in the same place, but the whole movie shifts. Is there a way to lock the picture so it won't move?

P.S. the audio I stripped from the movie, and the movie itself all being at -8 bars by the way, not sure how that happened. Just in case this helps figure out what dumb thing I've done.

Thanks again. Sorry to be such a pest.

Come to think of it, as this has been going on, Logic crashed and I had to save to another file. the file it saved during the crash when i opened it was 'read only'. And I had to change the name to be able to save it.

What should I do? Export all the tracks to a new project? Or do you think I'm okay?

Once that's all squared away,

1) how do I get rid of the negative bar problem.

2) how do I not do that (whatever it was that put the stuff there in the first place)

3) how do I lock the picture in place so it doesn't move when I change tempos?

thanks!!!

Okay, thanks for the warning. I don't know how those things got to negative bars, I didn't move them there. Gremlins did it. Now, how do I correct that, and how do I lock the picture so it won't move when I change tempos?

First off, never use the negative bar feature in Logic. You'll corrupt your song. So one of the keys here is to import your audio from bar 1 and never, ever, use the negative bar feature.

Movie Start: set to very first frame of timecode in the movie file

SMPTE Start: same number

Import Audio to Arrange: it will automatically be locked when it finishes importing

Thanks. Do you set the movie start as an import parameter, or do you do that once it's already imported? And where do you do that?

so I should dump the movie from this project (and the associated imported audio track from it) and reimport as you outlined.

then, do you think this project may be damaged and if you think so, should I open a new one and perhaps import the work i've done so far?

Movie Start: set to very first frame of timecode in the movie file

SMPTE Start: same number

Import Audio to Arrange: it will automatically be locked when it finishes importing

Whenever you import audio from a movie, Logic extracts it from the very very beginning of the movie file regardless of the movie start time value OR the SMPTE offset you make in the tempo window (or sync pane). I'm not sure if it's a shortcoming of Logic or if it's a QT thing. That aside, it's necessary to set the movie start time to the very first t/c number as seen in the film (as played outside of Logic, i.e., in QT) so that all other timecode numbers that Logic displays are referenced to it.

Hope that makes sense.

It does. So once this is done, should the movie be locked in position?If so, any idea what may have been causing the movie in my project to move when the tempo was changed? Changed the tempo in a project should not change the position of a movie in it, right?

Whenever you import audio from a movie, Logic extracts it from the very very beginning of the movie file regardless of the movie start time value OR the SMPTE offset you make in the tempo window (or sync pane). I'm not sure if it's a shortcoming of Logic or if it's a QT thing. That aside, it's necessary to set the movie start time to the very first t/c number as seen in the film (as played outside of Logic, i.e., in QT) so that all other timecode numbers that Logic displays are referenced to it.

 

Hope that makes sense.

if the movie was given to me with no time code on it (quite possible) could that be causing it to move around whenever I change tempos? If so, is there a way I can lock it in place until I get a copy with time code?

It does. So once this is done, should the movie be locked in position?If so, any idea what may have been causing the movie in my project to move when the tempo was changed? Changed the tempo in a project should not change the position of a movie in it, right?

 

Whenever you import audio from a movie, Logic extracts it from the very very beginning of the movie file regardless of the movie start time value OR the SMPTE offset you make in the tempo window (or sync pane). I'm not sure if it's a shortcoming of Logic or if it's a QT thing. That aside, it's necessary to set the movie start time to the very first t/c number as seen in the film (as played outside of Logic, i.e., in QT) so that all other timecode numbers that Logic displays are referenced to it.

 

Hope that makes sense.

I've never seen a movie file move because of a change in tempo, so I'm not sure what's going on here. Meanwhile, write down the number of your movie start time as well as the SMPTE number of your first tempo event when you have sync as a safety measure: if, after changing the tempo you find that either of these numbers change, put them back to what they were and see if you get sync back.

A timecode burn is just a video overdub onto the film. It's not any kind of digital sync signal. So whether or not a movie file has a timecode burn has no bearing on this problem. But for a situation like this (inexplicable as it is to me) having a timecode burn would be extremely helpful.

As far a "locking" the movie is concerned, if you don't have a timecode burn then you should do one of two things:

1) get a copy with a burn (or make one yourself), or...

2) make up your own numbers. For example, set your movie start time to one hour even and the SMPTE position of your first tempo event to one hour even. Any adjustments you make to the tempo event's SMPTE position relative to the movie start time will give you an offset into the movie. Of course, you'll have to deal with keeping the imported audio sync'd, but that's a separate issue from maintaining picture sync.

thank you! How do I:

1) tell if the movie has embedded timecode? theres no visual timecode

2) I don't understand how to accomplish your number 2.

As far a "locking" the movie is concerned, if you don't have a timecode burn then you should do one of two things:

 

1) get a copy with a burn (or make one yourself), or...

 

2) make up your own numbers. For example, set your movie start time to one hour even and the SMPTE position of your first tempo event to one hour even. Any adjustments you make to the tempo event's SMPTE position relative to the movie start time will give you an offset into the movie. Of course, you'll have to deal with keeping the imported audio sync'd, but that's a separate issue from maintaining picture sync.

Movies don't have embedded timecode, per what I mentioned above. A timecode burn is a visual sync device. There's no embedded sync signal like there used to be in the old days of, say, striping two 24-track machines with timecode and having a synchronizer read the code and resolve the speed between the two machines. Or, with video, having an actual timecode strip on a video tape which you'd play into the SMPTE input of your DAW's synchronizer box to get the DAW to follow.

Working without a timecode burn is only going to exacerbate the problem you're having. Suggest you request a copy of the movie with a proper t/c burn from the client, or, add one yourself (Compressor can be used for this, but you have to know what you're doing with that program. Otherwise you can create a copy that's going to have sync errors with respect to the original version).

Sorry, I wish I could give you the full tutorial on how all this works, but time and space don't permit. (You could take my film scoring workshop though ). Short of that, though, my best advice is to get a copy of the film with timecode so that you can handle this situation with the least amount of guesswork.

Movies don't have embedded timecode, per what I mentioned above. A timecode burn is a visual sync device. There's no embedded sync signal like there used to be in the old days of, say, striping two 24-track machines with timecode and having a synchronizer read the code and resolve the speed between the two machines. Or, with video, having an actual timecode strip on a video tape which you'd play into the SMPTE input of your DAW's synchronizer box to get the DAW to follow.

 

Aha! I didn't know that, thanks very much! That explains all sorts of things!

 

 

Working without a timecode burn is only going to exacerbate the problem you're having. Suggest you request a copy of the movie with a proper t/c burn from the client, or, add one yourself (Compressor can be used for this, but you have to know what you're doing with that program. Otherwise you can create a copy that's going to have sync errors with respect to the original version).

 

Sorry, I wish I could give you the full tutorial on how all this works, but time and space don't permit. (You could take my film scoring workshop though ). Short of that, though, my best advice is to get a copy of the film with timecode so that you can handle this situation with the least amount of guesswork.

I'll look into it, thanks. I will be requesting a quictime w/timecode burn, but he's out of the country and I need to get work done in the meantime. I wish I could figure out how to lock the movie to a posiotion. Thanks so much for your help!!!

I know this is an ancient post, but I was having the same problem - wanting to adjust the "movie start" point (File>Project Settings>Video), and then needing to move the audio track accordingly - but it was locked.

I found that you can Control click on the audio file, scroll down to "SMPTE lock", and choose "unlock SMPTE position".

And away you go...

I'm using MacProVideos, and I think I may have figured it out with their help. I think. I hope. Fingers crossed.

Hey Soundhound, can you please share your solution with us? Read Me Before Posting - Forum Guidelines (#7)