Post‑production, explained properly
Reference guides on timecode, dual-system sync, proxies and editor handovers. Written for working editors, assistant editors, DITs and small crews — useful whether or not you ever run our app.
Offline and online editing explained: proxies, conform and reel identity
Cut on light media, finish on heavy media — and the bridge between them is identity, not file paths: filename, start timecode and reel. What a conform actually rebuilds, the EDL/XML/AAF routes it travels, the pre-online checklist, and the ways a conform dies.
ReviewClient video review and approval workflow: versions, statuses and sign‑off that stick
Immutable versions — v3 with one fix is v4 — review encodes that play on a phone (110 MB, not 2 GB), burned-in timecode for precise notes, one consolidated round per version, a single named approver — and approval as a record, per version and per format.
WorkflowDailies workflow for small crews: from card to editor-ready in one evening
Checksummed offload vs a Finder copy, the 3‑2‑1 rule scaled to a one-bag crew, why cards are read-only until two verified copies exist, same-night sync, proxies as triage — and the timed reality of a 1 TB day: two attended hours, most of it verification.
SyncAudio sync in Premiere Pro: syncing external recorder audio, step by step
Merge Clips, Synchronize or a multi-camera source sequence? What each tool produces, when timecode beats waveform, sample-level slipping with audio time units — and why material that will ever leave Premiere should be synced as sequences, not merges.
FormatsFCPXML vs Premiere XML: what each interchange format actually carries
Rational time vs frame counts and the ntsc flag, first-class sync clips vs nested sequences, who reads which dialect — there is no direct XML path between Final Cut and Premiere — version dialects, and the classic ways an interchange XML dies in transit.
FormatsThe ALE file format explained: inside Avid Log Exchange
A tab-delimited file from the nineties that still labels your dailies: the Heading block whose single FPS line governs every timecode, the canonical columns, Tape vs Source File identity, how Media Composer merges rows onto master clips — and how good ALEs die.
WorkflowSearchable footage: transcribe your rushes and find any sentence in seconds
A one-hour interview is nine thousand words nobody can scrub for. On-device transcription at ingest, mapping Whisper timestamps onto real timecode, which channel to feed the model, the paper-cut workflow — and where text search lives in Premiere, Resolve and Avid.
TimecodeTimecode drift: causes and fixes — why jammed devices stop agreeing
How fast real hardware drifts — 1 ppm is two frames a day, a consumer clock a frame every 27 minutes — what temperature and power cycles do to a jam, the head/tail measurement that separates drift from a rate mismatch, and the fixes on set and in the NLE.
ProxiesProxy workflow for RAW footage: BRAW, R3D and CinemaDNG without breaking the conform
Why RAW needs proxies, the codec and bitrate numbers — ProRes Proxy at ~20 GB per camera-hour — the filename/timecode/reel identity triple, what each RAW format demands from the render, and how proxies attach in Premiere, Resolve and Final Cut.
Frame rates23.976 vs 25 fps: why your sync drifts — frame rate mismatches explained
The 0.1% pulldown family with real drift numbers — 1 ms per second, a frame every 42 seconds — mixed 25 fps devices, 48.048 kHz audio, a diagnosis method that separates mismatch from clock drift, and the fixes per NLE.
FormatsBWF and iXML metadata explained: what lives inside a broadcast WAV
The bext chunk field by field, the 64-bit time reference with worked numbers, why the frame rate lives in iXML — scene, take, track names, SPEED — and which of it Premiere, Resolve and Avid actually read.
WorkflowMulticam sync in DaVinci Resolve: the complete workflow
The two things “multicam sync” means in Resolve, how timecode and waveform each decide an offset, folding in dual-system sound as an angle, angle naming, the Sync Bin, and refining offsets and drift the automatic pass leaves behind.
TimecodeWhat is LTC timecode? How audio timecode works — and how to read it
SMPTE linear timecode from the signal up: how biphase mark encoding works in plain language, what lives inside the 80-bit frame, why LTC breaks, and how jam-sync and clock drift really behave.
SyncHow to sync external audio to video without a clapper
The three routes to dual-system sync — file timecode, LTC on an audio track, and waveform matching — plus multicam grouping, drift in real numbers, and how to verify a sync before anyone cuts on it.
WorkflowThe editor package: what your editor actually needs from a shoot day
FCPXML vs Premiere XML vs ALE, multicam groups, a proxy strategy that survives RAW, a folder structure editors won't curse at, and why the sync report belongs in the delivery.