Multitrack recorders: multichannel WAV and iXML
A multitrack recorder writes several channels into one file and puts the scene, take and track names inside (iXML). MultiSyncer Studio reads this data, checks every channel separately, syncs by the sound of all channels and lays out the recorder sound in the sequence the way you choose.
What a recorder writes inside the file
A multitrack recorder writes several channels into one WAV file (BWF, RF64): for example, a boom and two lavs. Besides the sound, it puts iXML metadata into the file: scene, take, circled take, roll, the sound mixer's note and the track names. Some recorders write scene and take into the file description (bext). MultiSyncer reads both.
| What | Where you see it in MultiSyncer |
|---|---|
| Scene, take, circled take, note | In “Footage”, in the day report and in the edit project |
| Track names | In the sound report of the day report, with the sample rate, channel count and the sound mixer's note |
| A new file for another scene or take | On export with “A sequence for each take”, a take ends where the recorder started a file for another scene or take |
A different number of tracks per take. A recorder writes as many channels as there are tracks armed in that take. MultiSyncer recognises it by model and sample rate, not by channel count, so takes with a different number of tracks stay one device on one track.
Every channel is checked
After the copy the app listens to every channel separately and finds: clipping (the digital ceiling), silence and dropouts, a dead channel (empty for the whole file), clicks, mains hum, rumble, radio mic dropouts, and two channels in opposite phase.
The issue names the channel, for example clipping on channel 3. In the edit it arrives as a marker on the sound, each channel on its own track.
Sync
- For sync the app takes the sound from every channel and track, and channels in opposite phase do not cancel each other.
- If a track holds timecode, a hum or an empty channel, you can turn on “Don't search this track's sound” for it: its files go by their recording time.
- Master is the track the others are aligned to by clock. Usually it is the recorder that ran the longest.
Sound in the sequence
| Export setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Recorder sound | “Under the video only”: only the pieces of the recorder and lav recordings where a camera is rolling remain; “Whole”: the recordings run in full, including between takes. The files do not change |
| Pauses | “Keep pauses while a recorder runs”: a break while a recorder is running is not shortened, and the talk between takes stays whole |
| Camera sound | “All channels”: every camera audio track, each separately; “One track”: one channel of each camera (the first with signal); “None”: the camera sound was needed only for sync |
| Clock drift | The recorder sound is fitted to the camera's speed in the sequence; the originals do not change |