Forum Discussion
URGENT || Audio lag in large file
I think you may have multiple (different) problems here:
"Overlapping Audio: On slides with multiple audio tracks on different layers, both tracks sometimes play simultaneously."
This is normally a problem if you haven't used triggers to 'Pause Media" or "Stop Media" when you open another layer which has audio on it. You can normally control multiple layers with audio by setting the layer properties correctly:
So if you select "Pause timeline of base layer" when you open a layer which has audio on it, any audio on the base layer will be paused until you close the layer. If you use "Hide other slide layers" when you open a layer it will close other layers that may be playing audio. This, plus the triggers I mentioned earlier mean you can easily fix this problem and get the audio to play nicely - one track at a time.
"Timeline Mismatch: The slide timeline continues to play after the audio narration has finished."
Just shorten the slide timeline to end shortly after your audio finishes. If the slide timeline is longer than the audio, then it will continue to play after the audio finishes.
"Synchronization Drift: Animations and on-screen elements lose synchronization with the audio."
This is a little trickier and you may need to do some more detailed testing BUT, if any of the media files (especially MP4 video or audio files) were exported from software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Camtasia with VFR (Variable Frame Rate) instead of CFR (Constant Frame Rate), the playback engine in Storyline cannot consistently synchronise timeline events to the media. This will cause synchronisation 'drift' on longer media files exactly as you describe.
If you can't re-record those elements with a CFR setting then there are free utilities that can be used to convert VFR to CFR media - I've used one called Handbrake and it does the job really well.
Some people will, undoubtedly telll you that 180 slides is too many (which it is) - but I would try converting your audio and video files to CFR first before you start looking for other reasons the Storyline playback engine gets out of synch with the media.
Hope that helps - give me a thumbs up if it does 😀