Audio – The secret to a great picture. Audio can make or break a program. If you concentrate on the audio and make the adjustments discussed below, you will be on your way to creating a great audio track for your video.

Flow-

1. edit audio to the Timeline
2. trim the audio
3. add transitions
4. add effects
5. mix

Suggested levels and checkerboarding- Your mix should not exceed 0 db

FCP audio is clip based, but audio editing is usually track-based.

A1 - A2 Main "talking head" audio

A3 - A4 Organic sounds or b-roll audio

A5 - Narrator

A6 - A8 Sound Effects

A9 - A10 Music 01

A11 - A12 Music 02

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Total mix -3 to -6 db

Principal audio -6 to -12 db

Sound effects -12 to -18

Music -18 db

This can fluctuate

Viewing or Hiding Audio Waveforms on the Timeline

Go to Sequence > Settings > Timeline Options > Show Audio Waveform

or the shortcut on the lower left of the timeline. Or shortcut Command - Option - W to toggle.

You can use the Razor Blade to cut up Audio. Just lock the video track and you can take out unwanted audio.

The Audio Meter

Digital distortion

General idea for mixing:

• Principle Audio between -6 and -12
• Sound Effect between -12 and -18
• Background Music around -18
• Complete mix should be between -3 and -6

The Patch Panel

 

Linking and Unlinking Audio and Video

Typically, when you capture footage, one video track and two audio tracks are linked together. You can unlink all audio and video on the Timeline by clicking the Linked Selections button in the upper right of the Timeline or by using the keyboard shortcut Shift + L.

If a video and audio track are out of sync you will see numbers on the track. You can Control + click on the numbers to move the tracks back into sync.

 

Split Edits

J cut - The audio edit occurs before the video.

L cut - The video edit occurs before the audio.

 

Adjusting Volume/Levels/Gain

With toggle clip overlays on you can see the rubber bands and adjust audio as you see fit. You can isolate a track by clicking the Solo button or turn off or on the sound on certain tracks. You can also Control + click a clip and uncheck Clip Enable to turn off a single clip in a track.

Audio Formats

FCP likes Aiff and Wav files. You need to convert MP3 files to Aiff or Wav in order for it to be used in FCP. iTunes is a free software that can convert these files.

Voice Over

Tools >Voice Over will bring up the tool that allows you to record your own narrative for your program.

Audio Mixer

Tools > Audio Mixer will bring up the tool that allows you to see all your audio tracks at one time. You can record your adjustments and mix as you play.

SoundTrack

If you are fixing one error in one audio track you can select that track > Control + click and select Send To > Soundtrack Pro Audio File Project. Once you have saved the file in Soundtrack the file will be updated in FCP. If you need to do more work on that file you can Control + click on the file and select Open in Editor to make changes to the existing file.

You can do the same thing with all your clips by selecting them all and then Control + click, Send To > Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project. The project will need to be mixed and you will have to export a mixed down audio file. Then import that file into FCP.

 

Apply Normalization Gain

Modify - Audio - Apply Normalization Gain

Raises the level of the entire clip so that at no time does the loudest portion of the clip exceed whatever level you indicate. It raises the clip.

In Premiere

1. OFF - ignores any of the automation parameters for that track
2. READ - process automation data for all parameters for that track. During playback, each parameter that contains automation data is adjusted to match that data.
3. WRITE - overwrites any existing automation data under the playback cursor, unless that automation lane has been made "Safe During Write." For example: You have manually click some Mute on/off points, and in Write mode, attempt to record some Volume fades. If the playback section occurs where Mute nodes existed, they will be overwritten by whatever status Mute happens to be in at the time playback was started. If you click the "Safe During Write" button on the Mute lane, this lane will act as if it were in READ mode while you are writing the Volume data.
4. LATCH - does not overwrite any existing automation data UNTIL you make a change to the parameter, at which point it "latches" on to the new value until you make additional changes or stop playback. Upon stopping playback, it writes a final node and draws the envelope between that point and the next pre-existing node. If no pre-existing nodes exist, the parameter remains at this level for the rest of the session.
5. TOUCH - does not overwrite any existing automation data UNTIL you make a change to the parameter, at which point it gradually moves back to the level it was at before the change was made. For example: Track 1 Volume is set to +1dB with no automation data. In touch mode, if I drop the volume to -3dB during playback, when I take my finger off the knob (or release the mouse button) the volume level will linearly rise back to 1dB. (The time in which the return to the pre-existing parameter level occurs is modifiable. Click Edit > Preferences > MultiTrack and edit the Automatch Time setting. You can also modify the thinning parameters to reduce the number of edit point nodes captured per second.)

 

 

 

Work on final.