Syncing Audio Using Sub-Frame Slipping

[This article was first published in the December, 2010, issue of
Larry’s Monthly Final Cut Studio Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]

Matt Cohn writes:

I hope you have a moment to answer this question. I’m trying to sync up audio to video using sub-frame slipping in the Viewer. I’m opening the audio I want to slip, hold down shift and move the playhead on the Timeline in the Viewer to the desired location, release the mouse and then the shift key and then type “I” to slip the audio. All this seems to be doing, though, is setting a new In for my audio in the Sequence without actually slipping the Audio. Is there a setting or a step I’m missing?

Larry replies: Hmmm… works for me. Here are my steps.

1. Load a clip from the Browser to the Viewer.
2. Set In and Out and edit to the Timeline
3. Double-click the clip to load it back into the Viewer.
4. Type Shift+I to move the Playhead to the In.
5. Type Cmd+[plus] to zoom all the way in.
6. Hold the Shift key down and slide the black bar (representing the duration of the videoframe) until it is positioned exactly where you want it. (Note, to avoid sync problems don’t move this more than 1/2 the width of the frame.
7. Let go the Shift key.
8. Type I to reset the in to the new position.

Hope this helps.