How to sync audio and video in DaVinci Resolve with a clapperboard

Before you start

These steps follow Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve 21 manual (July 2026). The sync tools work in the free version. The only related feature that needs the paid Studio version is the automatic slate detection.

Import your camera clips and sound files into the Media Pool, ideally in the same bin, and keep silent shots out of it. You'll be matching the first frame where the sticks close (or the first white frame of a flash) with the start of the clap's spike. New to that? Read how to sync audio and video with a clapperboard.

Auto Sync Audio by waveform

This is the fastest option when the camera's own mic heard the clap, because Resolve matches the two recordings of it.

1. Select the clips

   Select the camera clips and their sound files in the Media Pool, or right-click the whole bin.

2. Open Auto Sync Audio

   Right-click and choose Auto Sync Audio. The wording of the menu can differ slightly between versions; look for Auto Sync Audio.

3. Choose Waveform

   Set Synchronize Using to Waveform. If the camera and recorder shared timecode, Timecode is quicker still.

4. Decide about the camera's sound

   By default the synced sound replaces the camera's own. Tick Retain embedded audio if you want to keep the camera track as an extra.

5. Sync and check

   Click Sync. Synced clips show a small audio icon on their thumbnail. Play one and watch the clap.

Sync by the clap you marked (no camera sound needed)

1. Mark the picture

   Open the camera clip, step to the first closed-sticks frame or flash frame, and press I for an In point. A marker works too.

2. Mark the sound

   Open the sound file and put the same kind of point, an In point or a marker, at the start of the clap's spike.

3. Sync the pair

   Select both, right-click and choose Auto Sync Audio. Set Synchronize Using to In (or Marker, if that's what you used) and click Sync. This works one pair at a time.

Sync by hand on the Edit page

1. Lay out the clips

   Put the camera clip on V1 with its sound on A1, and your sound file on A2.

2. Find the clap frame

   Step with the Left and Right arrow keys. Zoom with Cmd+= and Cmd+- (Ctrl on Windows); Shift+Z fits the whole timeline.

3. Nudge the sound into place

   Select the sound clip and press comma or period to move it one frame. Shift+comma or Shift+period moves five.

4. Link them

   Select both clips, right-click and choose Link (Option+Cmd+L). A chain icon shows they're linked.

Turn off the camera's scratch audio

• Waveform sync replaces the camera's sound automatically, unless you ticked Retain embedded audio.
• If you kept it, click the track's Mute button, or select the clip and press D to disable it.
• Option-click selects just the audio half of a clip, so you can delete it without touching the picture.

Questions