hi,
yes, this is a very good suggestion and would work.
i would still ideally like to find a way of doing it in maya, as it would be better to lip sync with action, but you have given me a good back up plan. thank you (both).
it is not just the mouth i am animating in this way, so doing it seperately in premiere would involve a little guesswork to coincide with other movements.
are there any other suggestions?