Line up files that were not started together

A camera started a few seconds before the recorder, or a phone that began after the band: the files of one take rarely start at the same moment. When you create a project, FlowChord listens to every file once, in your browser, and places each one where its sound meets the recording the chords are heard from. When that is not right, or could not be found, you set it by hand in the Line up dialog.

Before you start

• You need a project with more than one file (several cameras and sound files).
• The recording the chords are heard from is the reference. It always starts at zero, and every other file is placed against it.

Steps

1. In the editor, open the Extra tab and then the Assets section.
2. Under Sync, read the line that says how the files stand.
3. Press Line up the files.
4. Press the name of the file you want to move. It is the one heard with the reference.
5. Press play, or Space. When the two meet you hear one sound; when they do not, you hear an echo.
6. Drag the file’s sound left or right until its beats fall under the reference’s. For small steps, use its − and + buttons instead.
7. Zoom in on a strong beat or a strum to check it, and play again.
8. Press Apply.

Options

What a file’s row says	What it means
Lined up by ear	FlowChord placed it when the project was created.
Set by hand	You moved it.
Could not be lined up by ear	FlowChord was not sure, so the file plays from its own start.
Starts together	It starts with the reference.
Use what was found	Shown once you move a file: puts it back where FlowChord placed it.
As uploaded	The same, for a file FlowChord did not place: back to its own start.

Moving around the lanes

• Swipe sideways, or hold Shift and turn the mouse wheel, to move along the song.
• Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and turn the wheel, pinch, or use the zoom buttons to see more or less.
• With a file’s number focused (between its − and +), the up and down arrow keys move it in small steps, and Page Up and Page Down in bigger ones.
• You can also drag the reference’s sound. It moves against every other file at once.

What lining up by ear does

• It runs once, when the project is created, and never again. Nothing in the dialog listens for you: it is your ears and your hand.
• It moves a file only when it is sure. A doubtful file is left at its own start, and its row says so.
• It does not stretch a recording. Two devices whose clocks run at slightly different speeds can drift apart over a long song.
• It needs sound the two files share. A camera too far away to hear the music, or a recording with nothing in common with the reference, cannot be placed.
• Projects created before files were listened to say Each file plays from its own start. You can still line them up here.

Tips

• Pick a moment with a sharp sound, like a hard strum or a count-in click, and zoom in on it.
• Line up the part of the song that matters most. If two devices drift apart, the start and the end cannot both be perfect.
• Where each file sits is saved with the project and used by both the preview and the export.

Common problems

There is no Sync part in the section. The project has only one file, or nothing that can be moved against the reference.

The line says some files could not be lined up by ear. Open the dialog and move those files by hand.

Play does nothing. A file that is switched off has no sound in the dialog. You can still move it with its − and + buttons, or switch it on first in Assets.

The files meet at the start but drift apart later. The devices’ clocks run at different speeds. FlowChord does not stretch files, so line them up where it matters most.

The chords or lyrics are early or late, not the files. That is the chords’ timing, not the files’ (fix chord timing).