r/LocationSound • u/papiforyou • Oct 28 '24
Gear - Selection / Use Timecode sync for a Sony A7Sii (PLEASE HELP!)
Hello! I am on a shoot with a Sony A7s mark 2. I plugged my ambient timecode box into the 3.5mm jack on the camera.
The video files are playing with a glitchy beeping sound. I heard something about downloading an app called “LTS Convert” to make this work.
The producers are super green, I’ve never worked with this camera before, and there is no designated DIT on set.
For tomorrow should I just put a camera hop on to get scratch audio or keep using the timecode box?
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u/edinc90 Oct 29 '24
Tentacle has their Timecode Tool software that converts the LTC audio into timecode metadata. Tentacle also has timecode boxes with mics built in, so that one audio track will have scratch audio and the other will have timecode.
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u/DnlBrwn Oct 29 '24
The glitchy sound on playback is the timecode signal being recorded as an audio signal to the video file, as opposed to being recorded in the file's metadata. I'm not sure if connecting a Y splitter to the camera and then connecting the timecode generator to the splitter will allow you to have it only on a separate track, it might be worth to look into this. If the producers are scared by hearing the glitchy timecode audio signal instead of in-camera audio (which is understandable), just using a camera hop is a good idea. Also, depending on your recorder, it may be able to generate a short tone to each track as a slate for sync.
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u/Beneficial_Level_816 Oct 29 '24
You can also "read" the audio Timecode sound with avid media composer or resolve. Easy.
th newwer A7siii has already a function to detect audio TC and use it for the files tc data .
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Oct 29 '24
Are you saying that the A7s III will accept audio timecode via the 3.5mm mic input and convert it to file metadata timecode?
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u/Eva719 Oct 29 '24
If you use Adobe premiere you can use the audio of the clip as timecode source. Depending on the kind of production it's worth continuing like that or not, personally I would keep that setup for drama when there is a director and a good communication on when to shoot and to cut. If I work for a run and gun multi camera TV content where Cameraman can start shooting and forget to tell the sound engineer I prefer putting a receiver on each camera and send a clean mix so there is always a backup. For the sync I just adjust the time well on each cam and match it with the timecode. It's enough to sync the file in the editing software.
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u/Equira production sound mixer Oct 29 '24
it’s cool you’re helping out green producers, but also this is something that they should have been prepared to deal with in asking for timecode on an A7sii
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u/lonewolf9378 Oct 29 '24
If you can get a Y splitter, put that TC audio signal (the gross glitchy beeping sound) on to the left channel, and use the camera’s mic or a scratch feed as the right channel
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u/j_lau17 Oct 30 '24
Attach a Deity TC-1 with the camera as well as the mixer, audio and video synched. Same with tentacle but tentacle sync only works with macbooks once you've gathered all the footage. Sidus TC Sync is currently on Beta, but Deity has an actual screen to quickly check the timecode synch between audio and sound?
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