← MalibuSync
MalibuSync Help

Getting started

This walkthrough takes one shoot day from a card dump to an FCPXML you can import into Final Cut Pro.

What you need

MalibuSync needs macOS 14 or later, and Final Cut Pro to import the result.

Timecode is read from MOV, MP4 and M4V picture files and from WAV and BWF sound files. MXF and BRAW files are scanned as picture files, but MalibuSync has no verified timecode reader for them.

Add your folders

Drop the folder of your shoot day onto Drop one folder containing video AND audio. If picture and sound live in different places, use Drop Video Folder or File and Drop Audio Folder or File instead. Those two zones also accept single files. If you drop several items at once, the first fills the zone and the rest are added as extra sources. Subfolders are read recursively.

Scan and match

Click Scan & Match. MalibuSync reads the timecodes and date of every file and pairs picture with sound by timecode overlap. No ALE file and no Lockit data are needed for this. When the scan has found clips, the window switches to the results.

Review the matches

The results have two pages. Match Results is the table of all clips. Sync Check shows the clip list on the left and the player with timeline and metadata sidebar on the right.

In Sync Check, press Space to play or pause, and J, K and L to shuttle. The left and right arrow keys step one frame, and Shift with an arrow steps five frames.

Correct and lock a sync

If a clip is off, click the waveform at the clap with ⌘⌥ held to set the clap point, or move the audio with the comma and period keys. When a clip is right, press ⌘L to lock it, and press Return, the shortcut for Mark Synced, to confirm it. The steps are in the guide "Correct and lock a sync".

Add metadata (optional)

On the Match Results page, Import ALE / CSV merges a camera or sound report onto the matched clips (once a file is loaded, the button shows its file name), and Sync Lockit pulls scene and take data from LockitNetwork. Both are optional; export works without them.

Export to Final Cut Pro

Click Export FCPXML in the footer. In the sheet, check Event Name, then click Export & Open in FCP to save the file and open it in Final Cut Pro, or Export FCPXML to only save it. The guide "Export to Final Cut Pro" lists all options.

Add forgotten files to a session

Use this when you forgot a folder or picked the wrong one, and you do not want to lose the work you have already done.

Add the folders

  1. Click Add Raw Files… on the import screen. The button appears once the session has clips. You can also choose Add Raw Files… from the overflow menu in the title row of the results. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session.
  2. Pick one or more folders.
  3. Read the summary alert titled Add Raw Files. It says how many files were added, and a run that found nothing new says so.

What happens to your work

New sound files are matched into the clips whose timecode they overlap. New picture files become additional clips. Sound that no clip claims is parked as Wild Tracks. Files the session already knows are skipped.

Locked clips, clips marked as MOS and Duplicate at Project Rate clips are skipped; sound that overlaps them stays a Wild Track. Existing clips keep their locks, offsets, anchors, approvals, exclude flags and clip names. A clip that receives new sound loses its manual channel selection and its Smart Audio result, which is analysed again.

The whole run is one undo step, so ⌘Z takes it back.

When the button is greyed out

Add Raw Files… is unavailable while a scan, a Smart Audio analysis or a Lockit sync is running. Wait for it to finish, then try again.

As a last resort: reset the session

If a session is beyond repair, click it with the right mouse button in the sessions sidebar and choose Reset Session…. This throws away all matches, manual sync adjustments, sync anchors, locks, approvals, clip renames and imported ALE and Lockit metadata, and imports the same folders again. It cannot be undone.

If none of the session's media folders can be reached, for example because the drive is unmounted, the reset is refused and nothing is changed. If at least one folder is reachable, the reset goes ahead and imports only what is there.

Correct and lock a sync

Use this in Sync Check when a clip's sound does not line up with the picture.

Open the clip

  1. Switch to the Sync Check page.
  2. Select the clip in the list on the left.
  3. Press Space to play. Press the right or left arrow key to step one frame at a time.

Set the clap point

  1. Move the playhead to the clap in the sound.
  2. Press Shift+C to set the clap point at the playhead. Alternatively, click the waveform at the clap with ⌘⌥ held.
  3. Press Option+C to jump back to the clap point later.

A plain click on the waveform only moves the playhead. It does not change the clap point.

Nudge the audio

Press the period key to slip the audio one frame later, and the comma key to slip it one frame earlier. Hold Shift to move ten frames at a time.

Lock and confirm

When the clip is right, press ⌘L to lock it. The clip's context menu has Lock Sync and Unlock Sync. With several clips selected, the context menu and the selection's action bar offer a Lock Sync menu with Lock Sync and Unlock Sync for all selected clips at once. The Sync Check transport button shows Lock Sync and, once locked, Locked. A later sync run does not recalculate a locked clip, and it accepts no new clap point until you unlock it. Press Return, the shortcut for Mark Synced, to confirm the clip. Return toggles the confirmation.

Check by looping

Press C to loop plus and minus 12 frames around the clap point. Press Escape to clear the loop.

Undo a mistake

⌘Z undoes the last edit. Reset all clips, in the overflow menu, clears every clip's manual offset, sync anchors, picture clap anchor, manual channel selection, lock and approval, and analyses Smart Audio again for the clips that were analysed. Automatic timecode offsets stay. ⌘Z undoes it.

Import an ALE or CSV report

Use this to bring Scene, Take, Tape and other columns from a camera or sound report onto your matched clips.

Import the file

  1. Scan and match your files first.
  2. Switch to the Match Results page, where the button is.
  3. Click Import ALE / CSV and choose an ALE, CSV or TSV file.
  4. Read the alert that follows. MalibuSync reports a file it could not parse, and it reports how many clips the file matched.

After the import, the button shows the name of the loaded file.

Choose how rows are paired with clips

Open Settings, then the Metadata tab, then ALE Matching.

Under Match by, Filename pairs a row with the camera file whose name matches the row. Column value pairs a row by a column you name, for example Tape, Camroll, Soundroll or Camera. MalibuSync first compares the video filename with the column value, and then the part of the filename before the first underscore. If you leave the column name empty, it matches by filename.

If few clips match, change this setting and import the file again.

Decide where each column goes

Every column of an imported file is exported to Final Cut Pro as its own named metadata field. The exceptions are Scene, Take and Tape, which already have their own fields. The Camera column goes to Final Cut Pro's Camera Name field by default.

To send a column somewhere else, or to leave it out, open Settings, then the Metadata tab, then ALE / CSV → FCP Field Mapping. Use Find column to filter the list, and set a column to Off to leave it out. This section lists columns only after a file has been imported.

Remove the imported data

Choose Clear ALE Metadata from the overflow menu in the results title row. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session. The item is available when at least one clip carries ALE metadata, and it asks for confirmation. It removes the metadata from the clips; the loaded file stays loaded. ⌘Z undoes it.

Sync metadata from LockitNetwork

Use this to pull scene, take and slate metadata from your shoot's LockitNetwork project onto the matched clips. It needs a LockitNetwork account and an internet connection.

Sign in

  1. Open Settings, then the Metadata tab, then LockitNetwork.
  2. Next to Account, click Sign In with LockitNetwork. A browser window opens for the login.
  3. When the section shows Signed in, the account is connected.

The access token is stored in the macOS Keychain and refreshed automatically. If Lockit shows an error or the data stops syncing, use Refresh Login. Sign Out removes the login.

Assign a Lockit project to the folder

Open Settings, then the Project tab, and assign the Lockit project to the production folder there. Every session inside that folder syncs against the assigned project.

When you are signed in and the session's folder has no project yet, a banner in the results shows a network icon that offers the same choice.

Run the sync

On the Match Results page, click Sync Lockit. The button is available when you are signed in, a project is assigned to the session's folder and no sync is running. An alert titled LockitNetwork Sync reports the result.

Choose which source wins

When Lockit, an ALE or CSV file, and the media file itself disagree about Scene or Take, Metadata Source Priority decides. The default order is LockitNetwork, then CSV / ALE, then File (iXML). If you changed the order, Reset to default (Lockit > CSV/ALE > File) appears and restores it.

Remove the Lockit data

Choose Clear Lockit Metadata from the overflow menu in the results title row. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session.

Export to Final Cut Pro

Use this to turn the matched session into an FCPXML file for Final Cut Pro.

Open the export sheet

Click Export FCPXML in the footer. The button is unavailable until at least one clip is matched; it opens the export sheet.

The small menu next to it has Export & Open in FCP, which opens the sheet and starts the export right away, Reveal last export, and Export Settings, which switches to the Settings page.

Name the Event and choose what to export

  1. Check Event Name. It starts as the session name each time the sheet opens, as long as the session has a name. When your clips carry scene numbers from an ALE Scene column or from iXML, a button with a suggested name appears next to the field; click it to use that name. The button is hidden while Split into one Event per Scene is on.
  2. Look at Project. It shows the frame rate the export will use. You cannot change it here; change it in Settings, then the Output tab.
  3. Under Output, Synchronized Clips is always included. Multicam Clips is on by default; click it to switch it off.

With Multicam Clips on, cameras whose timecodes overlap and whose shoot days are within one day of each other are merged into multicam clips. Two clips with the same camera letter are not merged unless you forced them together, and a clip flagged as excluded from multicam is never merged.

Export only some clips

  1. Lock the clips you want in Sync Check, with ⌘L.
  2. Open the export sheet and click Locked clips only. Its label shows how many of the exportable clips are locked, for example 3 of 48, and it is unavailable while no clip is locked.
  3. Export as usual.

Only the locked clips and their source media are exported. Unlocked clips, wild tracks and their media are left out. The option is off every time you open the sheet.

To export one Event per scene instead of a single Event, click Split into one Event per Scene. It is off by default.

Save or send

Click Export FCPXML to save the file where you choose. Click Export & Open in FCP to save it and open it in Final Cut Pro. Click Send to FCP to write the file to a temporary location and open it in Final Cut Pro without choosing a location.

The three buttons in the sheet are unavailable while an export is running, when no clip is matched, and while the Smart Audio analysis is still running. They unlock when the analysis has finished.

Choose how clips are trimmed

Open Settings, then the Output tab, then Trim Mode. The default is Common.

  • Common makes the clip as long as the overlap of picture and sound.
  • Video uses the length of the picture; sound that is longer is cut at the end of the picture.
  • No trim extends the clip to the longest of picture and sound.

Audio outside the synced window is marked with the Final Cut Pro reject rating when Mark non-synced audio as Rejected is on, which is the default.

Import in Final Cut Pro

Import the FCPXML file into a library in Final Cut Pro. The synced clips and multicam clips arrive in the Event you named, or in one Event per scene when Split into one Event per Scene is on. In Settings, then the Output tab, Also generate a raw Source Media event adds a separate Source Media Event.

Set up Smart Audio

Use this to choose the Voice Isolation and Loudness values that are written into the FCPXML for each clip.

Choose a mode

Open Settings, then the Audio tab, then Smart Audio. Under Mode, choose one of Off, Standard, Studio, Cinematic or Custom. The default is Custom. A line below the picker describes the selected mode.

Choose Off to write no Smart Audio adjustments.

Set the values

The sliders Voice Isolation, Loudness and Loudness Uniformity can be changed in Custom mode. They start at 50%, 40% and 30%. The other modes set their own values.

Let the analysis run

The analysis starts by itself in the background after a scan. The Analyzed column in Match Results shows which clips are done.

To run it again, for example after you changed the mode, choose Run Smart Audio Analysis from the overflow menu in the results title row. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session. It asks before overwriting channel selections you made by hand.

The buttons in the export sheet stay unavailable until the analysis has finished.

What ends up in Final Cut Pro

MalibuSync writes the Voice Isolation and Loudness values, with the Loudness Uniformity, as Final Cut Pro audio enhancements on the clip's audio roles. Final Cut Pro applies the processing when it plays the clip.

Choose which channels carry the adjustments

Three switches in the same section decide which channels are active and adjusted. All three are off by default.

  • Keep every audio track active in the export: every matched channel exports as active.
  • Automatically select the best channel per clip: Smart Audio narrows the active channels to its own pick. This switch does not change volume.
  • Apply Voice Isolation + Loudness to every channel, not just active ones: every channel where speech was detected carries the adjustment, including inactive ones. The setting can cost performance in Final Cut Pro on large multitrack sessions.

Reference

Requirements

MalibuSync 0.17 needs macOS 14 or later. It produces FCPXML for Final Cut Pro.

File types and timecode

Picture files that are scanned: MOV, MXF, MP4, M4V and BRAW.

Sound files that are scanned: WAV, BWF, AIF and AIFF.

Timecode is read from MOV, MP4 and M4V picture files, and from WAV and BWF sound files. MXF and BRAW files are scanned, but there is no verified timecode reader for them. AIF and AIFF files are scanned, but no timecode is read from them.

How clips are synced

A clip is synced by Timecode, Clap-based or Manual. Timecode is the default. Clips detected as slow motion default to Clap-based. MalibuSync does not match clips by comparing waveforms.

Timecode from a sound channel

In Settings, then the Audio tab, Read timecode from LTC audio channel makes MalibuSync decode linear timecode from one channel of a WAV or BWF file. The reading is used only when the file has no timecode in its header. The switch is off by default, and the channel defaults to channel 8. Change it with the stepper.

The two result pages

Match Results is the table of all clips, grouped by cluster. Sync Check is the clip list with the player, timeline and metadata sidebar.

Import ALE / CSV and Sync Lockit appear on Match Results only. Once a file is loaded, the first button shows the file's name instead of its label. The overflow menu appears on both pages. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session.

Overflow menu

  • Clear Lockit Metadata and Clear ALE Metadata remove imported metadata.
  • Add Raw Files… folds more folders into the session.
  • Raw Files… switches the Sync Check page to the list of raw files.
  • Run Smart Audio Analysis runs the analysis again.
  • Re-sync all recomputes the audio matches of every clip except locked clips and Duplicate at Project Rate clips, and keeps manual offsets, sync anchors, manual clip names, pickup flags and exclude flags. It discards all Smart Audio results; run Run Smart Audio Analysis afterwards.
  • Reset all clips clears manual offsets, sync anchors, locks and approvals; automatic timecode offsets stay.
  • Restart Matching… goes back to the import screen. Click Scan & Match there to run the matcher over the same folders again.

Keyboard shortcuts: playback

  • Space: play or pause.
  • J, K, L: shuttle reverse, stop, forward.
  • K held with L or J: slow motion scrub forward or reverse.
  • Left and right arrow: step one frame. With Shift: five frames.
  • Up and down arrow: previous and next edit point.
  • Home and End: start and end of the video.
  • A: expand or collapse the audio tracks.
  • F: send the video preview to a second display in fullscreen.
  • Plus, minus and 0: zoom the timeline in, out and to fit.

Keyboard shortcuts: sync

  • Comma and period: nudge the audio one frame earlier or later. With Shift: ten frames.
  • C: loop around the clap point. Escape clears the loop.
  • Shift+C: set the audio clap point at the playhead.
  • Option+C: jump to the clap point.
  • ⌘L: lock the current clip. ⌘⇧L: lock all cameras that share its scene and take.
  • Return: Mark Synced.
  • Right bracket and left bracket: next and previous clip.
  • ⌘Z and ⌘⇧Z: undo and redo. ⌘O and ⌘S: open and save a project.

Defaults

  • Trim Mode: Common.
  • Multicam Clips: on.
  • Split into one Event per Scene: off.
  • Locked clips only: off each time the export sheet opens.
  • Mark non-synced audio as Rejected: on.
  • Smart Audio Mode: Custom, with Voice Isolation 50%, Loudness 40% and Loudness Uniformity 30%.
  • Automatically select the best channel per clip, Keep every audio track active in the export and Apply Voice Isolation + Loudness to every channel, not just active ones: off.
  • Read timecode from LTC audio channel: off.

Settings tabs

Settings opens from the app menu with ⌘, and has the tabs Project, Output, Audio, Metadata, Keyboard, Models, License and Developer. The Developer tab stays hidden until you hold Option while Settings is open.

Trial and license

MalibuSync asks for your email address before first use, and checks your trial or license with the Studio Malibu license server. The trial length is set by the license server. When it ends, the app shows an alert with Quit MalibuSync and Enter License Key…, and the window behind it offers Buy MalibuSync and I Already Have a License. A license key is also entered with Enter License Key… in Settings, then the License tab.

Network connections

MalibuSync connects to the internet for the license check, for updates through Sparkle, for the LockitNetwork sync when you run it, and for feedback from the app when you send it.

On the Diagnostics page, Automatically save export diagnostics is off by default. When you turn it on, every export also saves a local copy with a manifest, and Send to FCP uploads a Diagnostics ticket automatically, without you sending feedback. The ticket contains the FCPXML with absolute media paths, session and clip names, and the macOS account name.

Troubleshooting

The export buttons are unavailable

Cause: in the footer, Export FCPXML is unavailable while no clip is matched. In the export sheet, the buttons are also unavailable while an export is running and while the Smart Audio analysis is still running. The sheet says when it is waiting for the analysis.

Solution: match your files first, or wait until the analysis has finished. The buttons unlock by themselves.

The export sheet says clips have not been analyzed

Cause: some clips have no Smart Audio result. A clip whose audio drive is not connected, or whose audio file could not be read, stays not analyzed. With Smart Audio Mode set to Off, no clip is analyzed. Re-sync all also discards every result. Those clips are exported without Voice Isolation and Loudness.

Solution: reconnect the drive, make sure Mode is not Off, then choose Run Smart Audio Analysis from the overflow menu in the results title row. That is the button with three dots and the tooltip More actions for this session.

A channel in Final Cut Pro has no Voice Isolation or Loudness

Cause: by default only the active channels get the adjustment. A channel that is inactive at export time starts unprocessed when you enable it in Final Cut Pro. A channel where no speech was detected never gets an adjustment. In the Standard, Studio and Cinematic modes, a channel gets Voice Isolation only when its ratio of signal to noise is below the mode's threshold. A clip that was not analyzed carries no adjustment at all.

Solution: turn on Apply Voice Isolation + Loudness to every channel, not just active ones in Settings, then the Audio tab, and export again.

Sync Lockit is unavailable

Cause: you are not signed in to LockitNetwork, or no Lockit project is assigned to the session's folder, or a Lockit sync is already running. The button's tooltip names the missing step.

Solution: sign in in Settings, then the Metadata tab. Then assign a project to the folder in Settings, then the Project tab.

Import ALE / CSV and Sync Lockit are not on the screen

Cause: both buttons appear only on the Match Results page. Once an ALE or CSV file is loaded, the first button shows the file's name instead of Import ALE / CSV.

Solution: switch from Sync Check to Match Results.

An ALE or CSV file matched few or no clips

Cause: by default a row is paired with a clip by filename. If the file names reels or tapes instead, no row matches.

Solution: in Settings, then the Metadata tab, then ALE Matching, set Match by to Column value and enter the column, for example Tape. Then import the file again.

Add Raw Files… is missing or unavailable

Cause: on the import screen the button appears only once the session has clips. It is unavailable while a scan, a Smart Audio analysis or a Lockit sync is running.

Solution: run Scan & Match first for a new session, or wait for the running task to finish.

Reset Session… says nothing was changed

Cause: the session's media folders cannot be reached, for example because a drive is unmounted. There is nothing to import again, so the session is left as it was.

Solution: reconnect the drive, or use Relink Media…, and try again.

Clips from MXF, BRAW or AIFF files are not matched by timecode

Cause: timecode is read only from MOV, MP4 and M4V picture files and from WAV and BWF sound files. For MXF, BRAW and AIF or AIFF files MalibuSync has no timecode reader.

Solution: there is no setting for this at the moment. For WAV and BWF files that have no timecode in the header, the LTC channel reading can supply it; see the reference.

A slow motion clip has no sound

Cause: for a clip whose sensor frame rate differs from the project rate, the sound found by the timecode match is not used by default. The clip stays without audio, because timecode cannot be trusted across the retime.

Solution: in the clip's Offspeed section in the sidebar, choose Clap or Manual for the audio, or sync the audio by hand. Audio you attach or adjust by hand is always played and exported.

Written for version 0.17.20.