Since PluralEyes uses very good audio analysis tools and audio normalization to aid the process, the camera audio does not have to be pristine. PluralEyes 3 analyzes and matches audio waveform shapes to accomplish this, so without belaboring the obvious, all camera files have to include an audio track recorded in the same general environment. This is all done by comparing the audio tracks against each other without the use of timecode, clapsticks or other common reference points. This means that PluralEyes 3 supports two basic processes: a) synchronizing camera files with external audio, and b) synchronizing multiple cameras to each other or to a common sound track. It encompasses all of the features of both the original PluralEyes and of DualEyes. Now that Sharpe’s Singular Software products are part of the Red Giant Software family, PluralEyes is available as the new and improved, standalone PluralEyes 3 (currently in version 3.1). In a very short time period, PluralEyes went from an unknown to a brand name synonymous with a product or process, much like Coke or Kleenex.
PluralEyes expanded from a plug-in for Final Cut Pro to add the standalone DualEyes, used to sync double-system sound projects. It became the easiest way to sync 5D clips with double-system audio recorded using low-cost devices, such as the Zoom H4n handheld digital audio recorder. With the unanticipated popularity of the HDSLR cameras, like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in late 2009, PluralEyes gained a big boost. The first version was designed to sync multiple consumer and prosumer video cameras by aligning their sound tracks in the absence of recorded timecode. The concept of synchronizing clips by sound seems so obvious in retrospect, but when Bruce Sharpe showed his first version of PluralEyes at a small NAB booth, it struck many as nothing short of magic.