How will it be done and what effect does it have on your workflow?

Will audio be recorded as a “single” or “dual” system, and will it be post-synced prior to delivery to you?

If you don’t ask this question, don’t be surprised if you get a box full of videotapes with no sound and a box of DAT tapes or digital WAV file discs, and are asked to post-sync all of the production sound to the video. This is not only a slow and dreary task, but it will take away from the valuable time you have allocated for editing.

In a single production system, the output of the sound mixer is sent directly to the audio inputs of the video camera so that whatever audio is recorded is presumed to be good enough to be used in a final mix. If they are shooting film, this process cannot happen, so a dual production system is always used, meaning separate recording systems for picture and sound. This means that, at some point, the DAT audio or digital audio files will need to be synced to the picture. (Sometimes dual systems are used in video shoots because of logistical difficulties connecting sound mixers to the camera. The same issues associated with film shoots applies in this case).

Normally, this process is done while the film is being transferred to videotape (either in the form of dailies, or as final color corrected transfer masters). This is called post sync, and requires the use of a SMPTE timecode enabled, RS-422 controllable DAT player (which is a rare commodity) and an editing system that can synchronize the DAT or digital audio files to the dailies/transfer video masters. Some low-budget productions will try to avoid the expense of doing post sync in-session at a film transfer, so they will attempt to do post sync in the offline edit. You want to avoid this for more than just that it is annoying to do, but if you have to, be sure that you have accounted for it in your budget and schedule.

Another thing to consider is that when you log and digitize a clip off of videotape or import an extracted QuickTime movie, you create a record in your project of where that clip came from. If you ever need to recapture that clip for some future revision or disk drive failure recovery, you will want the process to be as streamlined as possible. If you do post sync in the edit rather than prior to capture, then you may have to do double the digitizing work since you will have to do video and audio separately. Also, if the client wants to see dubs of all of the footage for their own viewing, you will have to output from the editing system rather than videotapes, which will further delay your editing time. Try to arrange for working with tapes that are post synced prior to being delivered to you.

Last, if you digitize on-the-fly from a non-SMPTE timecode DAT player, then there will be no possible way to recapture the audio exactly as you had done the first time if you lose the media, so you will have to do manual post sync all over again. Believe me, this is a bad situation to be in. Luckily, DAT recording is phasing out in favor of digital file recording.