Sync with Timecode in Davinci Resolve - Creating Time of Day Stringouts

At the beginning of any edit project, one of the first steps is to sync your audio and video together. The easiest way to do this is using Timecode on set. This is a short video explaining how I create a Time of Day Stringout at the start of each project to visualise all the assets captured on the day.
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========== Chapters ==========
00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Update Timecode on Video
02:27 - Create a Time of Day Timeline
03:30 - Import Clips to Timeline Using Timecode
04:30 - Confirm Sync
04:59 - Wrap Up
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==============================
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[@kirbypfilms1]

Good Morrin Joshua Thanks great job 😎

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Thanks!

[@thewoodsphotography]

He's back 🤩

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Let’s not leave it 9 months this time 🫤

[@scotey]

As always, I love your clean, thoughtful workflows. Thanks for sharing, Joshua.

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Cheers mate appreciate that!

[@leochow6477]

Thanks for sharing Joshua. This is really useful. I just started to use timecode in my shooting with the exact Deity TC1 and man it's such a good way to sync footage.

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Yeah it's a lifesaver on complicated shoots. I love how this technology is so accessible now.

[@lookeast3047]

Great to have you back mate.

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Cheers! Will stick around this time :-)

[@nathanabrahams5305]

🔥🔥🔥

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

🙌

[@Alex-wt7dp]

This is such an excellent workflow, and so common across the industry outside Resolve. I wish we could create something more robust than a compound clip from a synced sequence (we call them sync maps) like this one, like the subclip function in Avid.
I'm an editor at a production studio that uses essentially this exact workflow, and without getting too deep into it; this sync map method is so helpful, but you can't actually make a "new clip" that you can view in your media pool from it, unless you make compound clips (but compound clips have their own host of issues). We even spoke directly to Blackmagic and asked if they had any solutions for us, and essentially nothing worth noting :/
Seems like it wouldn't be hard to make this possible on the coding side, but unless you have 1 video source and 1 audio source and near-perfect timecode or waveforms, you're in for some limitations.
Sorry for the mini rant, thank you for covering this Josh. Your doc workflow video was a life saver btw :)

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Hey Alex, yeah I hear you. What are you trying to do exactly with the compound clips? Or the sync Maps. You can create in and out points in the timeline and right click to create a new compound clip in the media pool with that selection. You can then open that compound clip in the timeline as a sequence, or convert that compound clip in the media pool into a regular timeline. If you drop the compound clip into a timeline you can always decompose the compound clip in place which reveals all the original sync.

[@Alex-wt7dp]

@@JoshuaKirkNZ The issue comes to the actual editing. When you edit you want to apply effects and volume adjustments and fades and whatnot to your clips, but when you decompose all of those disappear. However, you need to decompose in order to send the timeline to an external sound department. If decomposing a compound clip kept all your effects, there would be less of an issue.
However aside from that compound clips aren't perfect; they don't inherit the source media's timecode, I often have audio bugs when applying any audio effect more complex than volume and fades, and good luck with decomposing slow motion compound clips with sync sound (which are complicated to create in the first place), nevermind doing any kind of speed effects or ramps. And then losing all of them or having to redo them all when we lock picture.
When you have basically perfect timecode and one single audio source the process is a lot easier, because you don't have to use this method, you can simply "sync with timecode" and you're done; your very flexible and malleable clips have perfectly synced sound and all their metadata like magic. But doc is messy and timecode can drift inconsistently, so alas we often need to spend some time rectifying our sync, which is so so so much easier to do in a timeline than clip by clip.
My wish is for a user friendly sync method that covers all use cases; no matter what you have, as long as you know it can be synced, you can sync it properly.
Sorry, I'm passionate. I feel like this is the biggest step keeping Resolve from being industry standard as an NLE like it is as a grading software.

[@rickclise6883]

When you add the clips, both audio and video, using this method does it keep them in sync? Or do you manually link the video to the audio if you want to use the synced clip, or subsection of it, elsewhere? Like if you were editing a narrative video and needed to rearrange clips to script order from shooting order? Thanks for the great tutorials!

[@jordanswioklo4788]

Hello! I'm learning Resolve from an Avid/Premiere background and am wondering if you can make subclips/multicam clips from this sync timeline? Or is resolve more of a copy and paste workflow?
Thanks!

[@JoshuaKirkNZ]

Hey, Yes you can - I've just uploaded another video talking about this!