A few questions, help is greatly appreciated

Question

I'm in the beginning phases of starting my own production company. Video taping weddings and other special occasions. My question is with continuity. Say I shoot a scene with more then one angle, and there is music going on in the background. Do I need to purchase a switcher, or is there something on Final Cut pro that will help me with syncing clips from two different camera's perfectly?
Any links to helpful sites for starters? Thanks a bunch

Answer 1

But how do you make sure you have a moment that you can use to lock all the multi-cam video and audio into sync? Simple. Used an old tried and true method from film production.
Buy a clapboard and shoot a slate at the beginning of each reel of tape.
I use one that cost me $25 from a wholesale magic supply place. You don't need one of those expensive ones with the built-in timecode display. Just a simple old-fashioned clapboard works fine.
If you never have seen this done, someone stands holding the clapboard where all the cameras can see it (and the audio can hear it), you roll tape in all cameras and audio, then all the cameras and audio record the person snapping the bar of the clapboard down. This is called "a slate" or "sticks."
As I said, shoot a slate at hourly intervals to allow for simultaneous tape changes in all cameras. Once you start the cameras (and audio recorder, if are doing that too) rolling, NEVER TURN THEM OFF until it's time to change tapes. This way, you will be able to sync all audio and video to the event of the clapboard strike, and then have everything stay in sync for the duration of those reels.
Build tape change times into your shooting schedule, and remember to shoot a clapboard slate at the start of each new recording period.
Just like we use to shoot film in the old days. Same principle exactly. For you old-timers who remember, here's how we can mimic using "crystal sync" to tie all the speeds together in the digital age.
Run all cameras and audio recordings at 48khz, 16-bit audio settings to standardize sample rates, and therefore "speed." The camcorders lock their video "speed" to the audio sample rate. So if you have all the cameras set to record audio at 48khz, then that will lock all their video into recording at the same "speed," too. If recording separate audio into a computer or digital recorder, make sure you record it at a 48khz 16-bit sample rate, too, for all the same reasons.
When you then bring each roll of tape into FCP for editing, you will be able to find the frame where the clapboard bar hits the board. Drop a marker in that track. Then line up all the markers for all tracks from each camera and each will then be in sync time-wise with each other.
Do the same with the audio. You will be able to see the spike in the waveform when the bar hitquite clearly. Drop a marker. Then slip that into sync with the video. Voila! You have multiple cameras locked into time sync with each other, and with the outboard audio. As I said, just like we used to do with film in the old days.
This method works. I've shot several music concert shoots and some "instructional" programs that need multi-camera coverage this way. Eliminates the need for a switcher and all that stuff.
It works flawlessly. Just remember NEVER TURN OFF A CAMERA ONCE YOU START RECORDING AFTER SHOOTING THE CLAPBOARD until it's time for tape change. If you follow that rule, you will be fine.
If you do accidentally stop one camcorder during the shoot, just shoot "double-sticks" - have the camera that stopped and at least one that didn't shoot a second clapboard event. Then use that to pull the "orphan" video segment into sync with rest of the content. No worries.
This info should get you started down the right path.
Good luck in your venture.