How to Sync Audio in DaVinci Resolve

What syncing audio means here

In DaVinci Resolve, syncing audio means lining recorded sound up with picture so speech, claps and other hits land on the correct frames. The usual case is dual-system sound: video from a camera plus a separate audio file from a recorder or dedicated microphone. Resolve can also correct a clip whose sound is already attached but starts early or late.

This is post-production work on files you have already imported. It does not set webcam or microphone permissions, and it does not fix live delay in a video call. If picture and sound were captured together in one file and only feel late during a meeting, that is a capture or call-path problem, not a Resolve sync task.

Three situations get grouped under the same search, and they need different moves. Separate audio and video from the same take can be auto-aligned by waveform or by matching timecode. A linked clip that is simply offset can be unlinked and slid until a sync point matches. Sound that starts in time and then slowly drifts is a speed mismatch between devices; auto-sync at one moment will not hold for the whole take.

What you need before you start

Work in the Media Pool and on the Edit timeline with the actual camera file and the actual external recording. No input-level target in decibels is established for this procedure; waveform matching needs overlapping audible content on both recordings, not a specific meter reading.

• The video clip and the matching audio clip are imported into the same project and visible in the Media Pool.
• The files cover the same take, with overlapping time. A few extra seconds on either side is useful; a gap with no shared moment cannot be matched.
• For waveform sync, the camera file still has a scratch soundtrack (even a poor on-camera microphone) that recorded the same room as the external track.
• For timecode sync, camera and recorder share the same running timecode, typically after a jam sync, rather than unrelated clocks.
• A clear sync event exists somewhere in the take: a clapper, a hand clap, a tap, or a close-up of speech you can check by eye.

If the camera recorded picture with no audio at all, waveform auto-sync has nothing to compare. Use matching timecode if you have it, or line the clips up by hand on a visible clap.

Auto-sync separate audio to video

Use this when you have a video clip and a separate sound file for the same take. Menu labels move slightly between versions and between the Cut, Edit and Fairlight pages; look for Auto Sync Audio on a right-click menu after you select the clips.

• Import the camera file and the external audio into the Media Pool.
• Select the video clip and the audio clip that belong together. For several takes, select each matched pair, or select a group only when you are sure each video has one clear audio match.
• Right-click the selection and choose Auto Sync Audio.
• Choose Based on Waveform when both files contain the same recorded sound. Choose Based on Timecode when both files carry matching timecode.
• Let Resolve analyse the selection. When it finishes, the clips should be offset so their overlapping sound lines up, and they should behave as a linked pair when you edit.
• Edit the linked clip onto the timeline and play the first sync event before you continue cutting.

Waveform matching compares the shape of the camera scratch track with the external recording and shifts one clip until those shapes agree. Timecode matching ignores the sound and lines the clips up by the time stamps embedded in the files. Use timecode when the scratch track is silent, extremely noisy, or missing, and the clocks were aligned when you shot.

Fix offset audio already on the timeline

Use this when picture and sound are already in the timeline but the take is early or late by a constant amount. A constant offset is a single shift; it is not the same as drift that grows as the clip plays.

• Select the clip and unlink its audio from its video so you can move them separately. Resolve’s link control is in the clip or right-click menu; the exact wording varies by version.
• Find a sync frame: the frame where clapper sticks close, a clap peak hits, or a consonant is clearly formed on the mouth.
• Select only the audio and slide it left or right, or nudge it a frame at a time, until that sound lands on that picture frame. Zoom the timeline so the waveform transient is easy to see.
• Play around the sync point, then play a second point later in the take.
• If both points match, link the video and audio again so later edits keep them together.

How you know it worked

A successful sync is something you can see and hear at more than one place in the take. Auto-sync completing without an error message only means Resolve produced an offset; it does not by itself prove the take is in time from start to finish.

• On a clap or slate, the sharp spike in the waveform sits on the frame where the sticks meet or the hands connect, and the attack is not visibly early or late.
• On a talking close-up, mouth shapes match the syllables. Check a hard consonant (a P, B or T) rather than a long vowel.
• The same alignment holds at the beginning, a midpoint and the end of a long take. If the start is right and the end is wrong, you are dealing with drift, not a one-time offset.
• After a Media Pool auto-sync, moving the clip on the timeline moves picture and sound together. If they slide apart, they did not stay linked.
• Playback is a picture-and-sound check only. It does not test whether the original microphone captured clean dialogue, whether the recorder’s input clipped, or whether a live call would pick up the same device.

Limits and what to do next

Waveform auto-sync can fail or land on the wrong take when several clips share similar room tone, when one side is silent, or when the overlapping sound is too short to be distinctive. In those cases, sync one pair by hand on a clap, then treat that offset as the model for the rest of the scene only if the devices stayed in time.

If the take is tight at the first clap and late or early at the last clap, the camera and recorder ran at slightly different speeds. A single shift will not hold. Resolve can change a clip’s speed to stretch or compress sound against picture, but there is no verified percentage or frame-per-minute figure in the material for this guide; zoom the ends of the take and adjust until both sync points match, or split a very long take and sync each part.

Menu names, keyboard shortcuts and whether a command lives on the Cut, Edit or Fairlight page depend on your installed version. If you cannot see Auto Sync Audio, select both the video and the separate audio first; the command is easy to miss when only one clip is selected.

Once picture and sound agree, continue in your normal edit. Syncing does not set call permissions, choose a photo background, or prove that a microphone is the default input on your computer. Those are separate checks on the live device, not on the timeline.