Insta360 and Sony ICD-UX560 Not Auto Aligning By Waveform

I am a beginner shooting on an Akaso Brave 6 Plus, a JVC Everio R GZ-R470-H, and recently, an Insta360 One R. I record remotely using either a Sony ICD-UX560 or a ICD-TX650. Both the Akaso Brave 6 Plus footage and the JVC footage are easily Auto Aligning by Waveform to the Sony audio. However, I cannot get the Insta360 One R footage to Auto Align by Waveform to the Sony audio.

The Insta360 One R audio has a strong signal and is easily visible in the waveform. The internal audio is good. I have tried the Insta360 One R with an external mic, and that audio is good, also. Manually syncing the Insta360 One R audio with the Sony recorder audio is not difficult. However, I would still like to have the option to Auto Align by Waveform.

I have a Zoom H5. I used the Zoom H5 as a remote audio recorder for my Insta360 One R. I COULD Auto Align by Waveform. No problems.

The Sony recorders record in MP3 192.kbps, MP3 128kbps, MP3 48kbps, and LPCM 44.1kHz/16bit WAV. I have tested each, but they do not Auto Align by Waveform. I have also tried changing the audio Clip Attributes. Whether I place the two devices in MONO, STEREO, Channel 1, or Channel 2, I cannot achieve Auto Align by Waveform.

I used the program MediaInfo to learn more about the audio files. Here are some specs:

Insta360 One R - 192 kb/s (48.0 kb/s), 48.0 kHz, 2 channels, AAC LC
Zoom H5 - 197 kb/s, 44.1 kHz, 2 channels, MPEG Audio (ver1)(Layer 3) (Joint stereo / MS Stereo)
Sony ICD-UX560 - 187 kb/s, 44.1 kHz, 2 channels, MPEG Audio (ver1)(Layer 3) (Joint stereo)

I also tried recording the Sony at MP3 192.kbps, MP3 128kbps, and MP3 48kbps with no luck.

Thank You.

My first thought is to switch everything you can to .wav files at 24 bit/48 kHz and test that.

Depending on how long your shots are, the audio on your two recording devices can slide out of sync. This is called "clock drift", and it's not something that DR seems to handle too well, even if the difference is something like 0.999977 speed.

Have you tried inspecting the waveforms after syncing manually to see if they remain in sync for the entire duration?

Thank you both for your suggestions.

Jim Simon,

Using Davinci, I exported ONLY the audio of my Insta360 video file.
That audio was already 48 kHz, but it was 16 bit.
I used Audacity to change it to 24 bit and imported it back into Davinci to replace the original audio. Next, I used Audacity to change the Sony 44.1 kHz audio to 48 kHz / 24 bit.
I imported that audio into Davinci and tried to Auto Align by Waveform.
Unfortunately, it was not successful.
I will reshoot / record external audio and use Audacity on the new files to check once more.

atmosfar,

I will look for clock drift. If it is happening, I will look for a way to compress or expand the Sony audio.

My first thought is to switch everything you can to .wav files at 24 bit/48 kHz and test that.

Thank you. I gave it a try.
I used the Davinci Resolve Deliver Page to export only the audio from my Insta360 video.
I used Audacity to convert it to 48 kHz 24 bit WAV. I re-imported it to replace the original audio.
Next, I used Audacity to convert my Sony audio to 48 hHz 24 bit and imported that.
Unfortunately, Auto Align Clips Based On Waveform did not work.
I will reshoot and try again just in case I messed up somewhere in my conversions.

Depending on how long your shots are, the audio on your two recording devices can slide out of sync. This is called "clock drift", and it's not something that DR seems to handle too well, even if the difference is something like 0.999977 speed.

Have you tried inspecting the waveforms after syncing manually to see if they remain in sync for the entire duration?

Thank you. I will explore this.
The clips I am using now are rather short.
I will run my camera and audio for a longer time, so that clock drift might be more noticeable.
I will give it a try and see what happens.
If the clips do not remain in sync, I will look for an option to compress or expand the audio.

Depending on how long your shots are, the audio on your two recording devices can slide out of sync. This is called "clock drift", and it's not something that DR seems to handle too well, even if the difference is something like 0.999977 speed.

Have you tried inspecting the waveforms after syncing manually to see if they remain in sync for the entire duration?

I made a new set of recordings.
I hit record on both the camera and audio recorder.
I clapped to make a start point.
I left the room.

Sony ICD-UX560
Wave: 1 016 MiB, 1 h 40 min
MediaInfo Specs:
1 411.2 kb/s, 44.1 kHz, 16 bits, 2 channels, PCM (Little / Signed)

Insta360 One R
MPEG-4 63.1 GiB 1 h 30 min
Video: 100.0 Mb/s, 4000*3000 (4:3), at 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Audio: 192 kb/s (48.0 kb/s), 48.0 kHz, 2 channels, AAC LC

I came back to find...
The Insta360 One R shut off at 1 hr 30 min.
I manually lined up the first CLAP and then skipped ahead to the 1 hr 30 min mark.

There, I found the external Sony ICD-UX560 audio waves to be out of sync a bit faster/earlier.
I switched to Fairlight and used Elastic Wave to pull back the Insta360 audio just a bit.
Both clips were now aligned.

------------------------

Clock Drift is the problem.

------------------------

Tomorrow, I will try to find a system/way/program to either stretch out the Sony audio or smoosh up the Insta360 footage.

Converting the Sony audio in Audacity to new kHz and bit rate did not work in my first try.
Maybe Handbrake can slow down my Insta360 footage.

I want that sweet Auto Alignment of clips by waveform.

Depending on how long your shots are, the audio on your two recording devices can slide out of sync. This is called "clock drift", and it's not something that DR seems to handle too well, even if the difference is something like 0.999977 speed.

Have you tried inspecting the waveforms after syncing manually to see if they remain in sync for the entire duration?

I updated to Davinci Resolve Version 17.3 Build 14.

I shot new footage using the Insta360 One R, the Akaso Brave 6 Plus, the Sony ICD-UX560, and the Zoom H5.
The Shoot was only 4 minutes.
I loaded everything into Davinci.
Auto Align Clips Based on Waveform.
SUCCESS! Everything Aligned.

After this success, I went back to my latest interview footage I shot using the Insta360, audio from the ICD-UX560, and audio from the ICD-TX650.
Perhaps the update of Davinci Resolve to Version 17.3 would fix my problem.

Auto Align Clips Based on Waveform.
Strangely, the ICD-TX650 Auto Aligned, but the ICD-UX560 did NOT Auto Align.

I will try a longer shoot next to check on Drift.
My 1 hr 30 min shoot from last night has already been deleted.

Good luck with your experimentation! I remembered the name of a program that was designed to help with this - it's called Pluraleyes. It is not free because it's aimed at commercial productions I think, but it might give you a place to start researching other solutions.

Good luck with your experimentation! I remembered the name of a program that was designed to help with this - it's called Pluraleyes. It is not free because it's aimed at commercial productions I think, but it might give you a place to start researching other solutions.

Thank you for your advice. Pluraleyes is highly recommended by people online. Recently, I have put off experimenting on this audio sync problem. I wish I could solve the problem, but I have to leave it hanging for now. I can now manually sync at the start and then squeeze the end to fit. I just have to worry about matching which audio clip goes with which video. I'll get back to it...at...some....future date.

There is so much to learn. Right now, I am learning about audio normalization, LUFs, and compression.
Thank you for your help.

Right now, I am learning about audio normalization, LUFs, and compression.
Thank you for your help.

This is great, you are immediately a step ahead of most people, to whom audio quality seems entirely negligible!