… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #576: Retime Audio to Match Dialog

Allen Rowell

Retime clips to match the pace of dialog.

Screenshot showing two alternate audio takes, running at two different speeds.

Topic $TipTopic

You can retime audio to match dialogue to a video clip that was recorded at a different time as shown in this example. The audio recorded with the video clip that I wanted to use had problems that the audio recorded with the reverse angle did not have. I had two good takes of the audio from which to choose but, while the actor’s delivery was pretty consistent, the pacing varied so that words came out faster or slower from one take to the next.

In the screenshot you can see the target clip in the timeline with the two alternate takes as connected clips underneath. By retiming these clips (Cmd-R), and dragging on the retime handles, I made the waveforms line up. The first take was sped up to 111% and the second take was slowed down to 92%.

Then, I played back the edit using Cmd-V and the Audio Inspector to turn off clips and isolate the audio that I wanted to hear under the video that I wanted to use.

Because FCP X does not pitch shift the audio, the result was delightfully usable.


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Tip #529: Add Keyframes with the Range Tool

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com
This tip originally appeared as an Apple KnowledgeBase article. This is an excerpt.

With Final Cut Pro, you can use keyframes to create simple changes to audio over time, such as fading the volume or an effect in or out in the middle of a clip.

NOTE: A “keyframe” indicates where a parameter, such as volume, changes. The minimum number of keyframes for any effect are two, which mark the start and end of the change.

You can also place keyframes at specific points in a clip to change the parameter value of an audio enhancement or effect at those points. For example, you can keyframe specific points for an effect such as reverb or distortion.

USE THE RANGE TOOL

When making volume adjustments to a clip in the timeline, you can use the Range Selection tool to add keyframes automatically across a selected range.

  • Click the Tools pop-up menu above the timeline and choose Range Selection (or press R).
  • Drag across the area where you want to adjust the volume or effect.
  • Adjust the volume or effect within the range by dragging the effect’s horizontal control up or down.

Keyframes are automatically created within the range.

EXTRA CREDIT

Tip #553 illustrates how to add keyframes to audio effects using the hidden Audio Animation bar.


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Tip #530: Enhance Audio in Final Cut

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Audio can be enhanced manually or automatically.

The Audio Enhancements section of the Audio Inspector.

Topic $TipTopic

This tip originally appeared as an Apple KnowledgeBase article. This is an excerpt.

Final Cut Pro includes several powerful tools for automatically analyzing and enhancing the audio in your projects, including:

  • Loudness: Improves the main audio signal and makes it more uniform.
  • Background Noise Removal: Reduces background noise.
  • Hum Removal: Reduces common electrical hum noise at either 50 or 60 Hz.

All enhancements are designed to correct most common audio problems automatically or with minor adjustments.

You can let Final Cut Pro analyze audio and adjust these problems in your audio clips automatically, or you can make manual adjustments in the Audio Enhancements section of the Audio inspector. You can also analyze and fix audio problems when you import a clip.

NOTE: When you import a clip with the “Analyze and fix audio problems” import option selected, only severe audio problems are corrected. If the clip contains moderate problems, these appear in yellow next to Audio Analysis in the Audio Enhancements section of the Audio inspector after the clip is imported. To correct these problems, you need to automatically enhance audio in the Audio inspector.

In Final Cut Pro, select an audio clip or a video clip with audio in the timeline.

NOTE: Audio enhancement works on the component level, not the clip level. If your audio clip has more than one audio component (for example, a dual mono clip), select an individual component, then proceed with the enhancements.

  • Choose Modify > Auto Enhance Audio (or press Option-Command-A).
  • If it isn’t already open, open the Inspector, then click the Audio button at the top.

In the Audio inspector, do any of the following:

  • Adjust equalization: In the Equalization section, click the Equalization pop-up menu and choose an equalization preset, or click the Controls button to make manual adjustments.
  • Change loudness settings: Drag the Amount and Uniformity percentage sliders in the Loudness section. The Amount slider increases or decreases the overall loudness (compression) of the clip, and the Uniformity slider increases or decreases the dynamic range affected.
  • Change the percentage of background noise removal: Drag the Amount slider in the Noise Removal section.
  • Remove hum: Select either 50 Hz or 60 Hz in the Hum Removal section.

To turn off an enhancement, deselect its checkbox.

EXTRA CREDIT

  • Blue. A blue checkbox appears next to each enhancement that was turned on to apply a correction. You can turn on additional enhancements by selecting their checkboxes (when an enhancement is turned on, its checkbox is blue).
  • Green. A green checkmark next to an enhancement indicates that the clip was analyzed and, if necessary, adjusted for that enhancement.
  • Yellow. A yellow warning triangle indicates potential problems.
  • Red. A red sign indicates severe problems.

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Tip #553: Add Audio Effect Keyframes in FCP X

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com
This tip originally appeared as an Apple KnowledgeBase article. This is an excerpt.

Tip #529 illustrated how to use the Range tool to quickly add volume keyframes to a clip. However, we can also use the Audio Animation editor to add keyframes for audio effects, such as reverb or distortion. Here’s how.

  • Apply an audio effect to a clip in the Timeline. (In this example, we’ll use Distortion > Telephone.)
  • Select the clip in the timeline, then choose Clip > Show Audio Animation (or press Control-A).
  • Select the effect in the Audio Inspector, then click the disclosure button (right red arrow) to expand that effect in the Audio Animation editor.
  • Use the Range tool to select the value you want to modify.
  • Drag the control line up or down to set keyframes.

EXTRA CREDIT

  • Drag keyframes left or right to reposition.
  • Drag keyframes up or down to modify the setting.
  • You can set keyframes manually in the Audio Animation bar by Option-clicking the line you want to modify.
  • Control-click a keyframe to delete it.

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Tip #524: Assign Multiple Shortcuts to a Menu

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Multiple shortcuts can be assigned to the same menu option.

Drag the menu option on top of a key to create a new shortcut.

Topic $TipTopic

I am a huge keyboard shortcuts junky. Except, sometimes I get confused about which shortcut goes with which application. A hidden feature in Final Cut is the ability to assign multiple shortcuts to the same menu option. Here’s how this works:

  • Open Final Cut Pro > Commands > Customize (Shortcut: Option + Cmd + K)
  • In the top left corner of the Command Editor, click the Default menu and duplicate it. (Assuming you haven’t created a personal set of keyboard shortcuts already. If you have, be sure it is selected in this menu.)
  • In the Search box in the top right, search for the shortcut you want to duplicate. In my case, I’m searching for the Blade tool to create a second shortcut.
  • At the top of the Command Editor, click the modifier keys you want associated with this shortcut.
  • When you look at the keyboard, all the keys that are gray do NOT have a shortcut attached to them for that modifier key combination.
  • For this example, I want to assign a single letter to the Blade shortcut. So, I turned off all the modifier buttons at the top.
  • Then, from the Command list in the bottom center, DRAG the shortcut name on top of the key you want to create a shortcut for. In the screen shot, I’m dragging the text Blade Tool on top of “C”.

Ta-DAH! In the Command List, I now have two keyboard shortcuts for the same Blade tool.


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… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #525: Replace Missing Audio – Fast

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Two keystrokes and done!

A video clip with missing audio in the Final Cut timeline.

Topic $TipTopic

Have you ever deleted the audio or video of a clip, only to realize later that you need it back? Yup, me too.

Here’s a blindingly fast way to replace the timeline clip:

  • Put the playhead in the clip you want to fix; you can use the skimmer, but I prefer the playhead. You don’t even need to select the clip.
  • Type Shift + F (This creates a match frame of the timeline clip in the Browser.)
  • Type Option + R (This replaces the timeline clip with the clip in the Browser, but matching the In of the Timeline clip.)

Literally, you can replace missing audio in less than 1/2 a second.

Wow…!


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Tip #526: Top and Tail Trimming

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

High-speed Trims!

Use the Range tool to trim both top and tail at the same time.

Topic $TipTopic

It seems I’ve gotten lazy and always trim my clips by dragging the In or the Out. However, there is a much faster way to trim the top or tail of a clip:

  • Put the playhead where you want to move the In and type: Option + [
  • Put the playhead where you want to move the Out and type: Option + ]
  • Using the Range tool (or set an In and Out) trim to the selected range, type: Option +

High-speed trims!

EXTRA CREDIT

You can use the Skimmer instead of the playhead, but I’ve found the playhead to be better for trimming because it is less easy to jiggle out of position.


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Tip #491: What is Broadcast Safe?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The Broadcast Safe effect clamps levels to keep them legal.

The left side shows the source image. The right side shows the results of applying Broadcast Safe.

Topic $TipTopic

“Broadcast Safe” refers to luma and chroma levels that are within long-established bounds required for broadcast, cable and digital cinema. The problem is that most digital cameras – both still and video – record levels in excess of these amounts.

Many of us create and post video for the web, which can easily handle any images recorded by a digital camera today. Web video does not require Broadcast Safe.

However, older distribution formats are limited in what they can transmit or distribute. For example, in this screen shot, the white levels in the left image exceed 100%, which is an illegal value for broadcast. As well, the black levels are below 0%, which is also an illegal level.

We have two options to correct this:

  • Color Board/Color Wheel settings
  • Broadcast Safe effect

Adjusting levels using the Color Inspector allows us to retain highlight and shadow detail. But, these filters also require us to adjust every clip to be sure it is safe for broadcast.

A faster way to work is to apply the Color > Broadcast Safe effect. This “clamps” white levels exactly at 100% and black levels exactly at 0%. The Broadcast Safe effect is very fast, but the limitation is that we lose all highlight/shadow detail in the clamped areas.

For some shots, such as at night with a distance street light, this is not a problem. For other shots, say the bride’s dress in the sunlight, clamping will lose all details in the highlights, which will turn the bride’s dress into mush.

There’s no perfect answer. When you care about texture in the clamped areas, use the Color Inspector. When you don’t care about the texture, use Broadcast Safe.

EXTRA CREDIT

For Rec. 709 footage, the default settings should be fine.


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Tip #518: Super-Secret, Super-Fast Export Trick

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The key to speed is to use the Browser.

Image courtesy of StandardFilms.com.
Set an In and Out first, then Command-drag to define multiple segments.

Topic $TipTopic

Imagine you need to get multiple highlights of breaking news/sports/weather/life up to the web like, ah, yesterday. Final Cut has a very fast way to make that happen. Watch…!

In order for us to export a segment from the timeline, we need to use the Range tool (or keyboard shortcuts) to set an In and Out. No problem – except that we can only have one In and one Out in the timeline at any time.

This doesn’t help us when we need to export a bunch of highlights as fast as possible.

But… there’s a hidden trick in FCP X that makes exporting segments even faster. Remember that I wrote: “You can only have one In and Out in the timeline?” That’s true for the timeline, but NOT true for the Browser.

Clips in the Browser support as many segments as you want. For example, in this screen shot, I have three separate areas in the same clip selected – all at the same time!

NOTE: This multiple selection technique applies to clips in the Browser, but not Projects.

To select more than one section in a clip, drag to set the In and Out for the first section, then press the Command key and drag to set as many additional sections as you want!

With the areas you want to export selected, choose File > Share and note that this menu now shows the number of clips you’ll export.

Exporting from FCP X has always been fast. But, when you need to break a movie into sections, it will be even faster – and at the highest possible quality – to export directly from the Browser.


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… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #519: Use XML to Archive FCP X Projects

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Data stored in libraries, projects, events and clips can all be exported using XML.

Data stored in Libraries, projects, events and clips can all be exported using XML.

Topic $TipTopic

Most of the time, the easiest way to move media, projects and data in Final Cut Pro X from Point A to Point B is to copy the library. However, there are four main reasons to use an XML file instead:

  • To archive a project. The only way to future-proof your projects is to export and save an XML file.
  • To move a project from FCP X to another NLE, for example, Premiere Pro CC.
  • To send project data to or from a media asset management system.
  • To transfer a project online between editors. Provided both editors have the same media, XML files are tiny compared to a library file and transfer very quickly.

Why use XML? First, XML is an open standard – like HTML for the web – that allows us to describe the specifications of a media file, metadata, event, project or library. It is ideal for moving media files between different software or systems. Second, Apple has always considered its Final Cut Pro file formats proprietary; without FCP X you can’t open them. XML provides the best way to archive and/or share your projects for the future.

The process is simple, here’s how it works.

EXPORT AN ENTIRE LIBRARY

To export the entire contents of a library – generally for archiving purposes – select the library, then choose File > Export XML.

In the Export dialog, notice that the Source indicates it’s the entire Library. Give this XML file a name and location, then select the highest version of XML this dialog supports and click Save.

This creates a portable XML file that can be read by a number of different software in case you ever need to access this library in the future.

NOTE: XML files do not include media. That needs to be archived separately.

EXTRA CREDIT

  • Here’s a link to my website that details different ways to export libraries and projects for archiving.
  • Here’s a link to my website that details different ways to export Browser clips and events for media asset management, note taking and archiving.

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