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Anyone think of a better way to do this..?
Hello,
I’ve got my picture locked sequence, with my sync video and sound on V1, A1 & A2. However the dubbing mixer wants me to put back all associated audio for all my cutaways as well (even though I’ve included room tone / wildtrack already). So now I find myself in the tedious position of having to match frame and paste the audio for every cutaway in a 47 minutes sequence.
Here’s my system, can anyone suggest any way to speed this up, even by a few keystrokes…
Arm V2
“T” to mark clip on V2
“match frame” first frame of clip
Disarm V2
Arm A3 & A4
“overwrite” audio onto A3 & A4This might seem trivial but there are many hundreds of clips to do this for so any advice would be appreciated. Back on FCP7 when you “match frame” it retains the in and out point of the timeline segment, so to do this I would literally just have to match frame, then overwrite and it would give me the correct duraiton of audio segment. Any way to replicate this in MC?
Thanks,
Chris -
14 Replies
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Nope…that’s what you have to do. Often assistant editors on shows I work on are tasked with doing this, as many editors don’t include b-roll audio in their cuts. Gotta include that audio.
And this is why it’s always best to add in this audio while you are editing. ALWAYS include the audio…and drop the levels down so that they are distracting, but you still need to hear it. It’s very odd to see a car drive by, but not hear it. See industrial equipment working, but not hear it. See people talking, but not hear them, even low. See an airplane land, but not hear it. When we have b-roll that comes in without audio, we need to add audio…foley the shot…so it doesn’t seem out of place.
But yeah…that’s what you do. park on the clip, press T to mark IN and OUT. Match frame, disable the video track, enable the audio tracks. cut the audio in.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks Shane,
I guess I’ll just have do it the long way.
I see your point about always including the audio, and when the audio from the cutaways is useable I will include it, it’s just that often you’ve got the presenter/contributors mics on the audio, or if they’re proper cutaways, often the presenter mic is out of range and so there’s just a load of radio distortion on the track, so it’s useless for wild track. That’s why I go through my cuts and add looped wild track to fill the dead air.
Seems like a hassle including all this junk audio in my timeline when I’m cutting. I can’t be bothered to be breaking out the audio mixer and zeroing clips that have mic audio on them everytime I paste a cutaway into the timeline, seems like that would ruin my flow. But then is it worse than spending an hour pressing =,-,7,t,F2,esc,7,-,=,b over and over again? Not sure…
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Yup, we include all the audio from all the mics on the reality shows I cut. and I zero out all the unused mics. Because in the mix, they need all the mics, in case there’s interference on one or better audio on another, or the editor pots up the wrong mic.
When we don’t do this, our poor assistant has to go back and do what you are doing right now. And that eats into our online time. Makes the post super grumpy.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Fair enough Shane, that all makes sense.
Guess I need to get used to cutting with a busier timeline.
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I’ve done it using macros before. Ahk on windows and butler (or karibiner has been recommended) on osx
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I’m not in a position to try this now, but I’d thought I’d mention it as it may get your or another reader’s brain going…
I wonder (because I thought I’d done something similar years ago) if you could do something like:
Copy your Sequence.
Simplify the vision to cuts only, no graphics etc, one video layer, no audio.
Export EDL.
Modify (with text program) the EDL to change V to A or AA – so it’s an audio only EDL.
Bring the EDL back into Media Composer (I think through EDL Manager?)
Modify those master clips, as necessary, Relink
Cut that Audio only Sequence into yours and work from there, deleting excess segments, extending others etc.
Just wondering…
Neil. -
I have a G13 programed for this exact purpose.
I usually cut without ambience, and then spend 5 mins putting it in once the cut is locked, so I had to streamline my workflow.
I have a macro programmed into the G13 that takes my position on the timeline, turns off all tracks, turns on V1, marks in to out, goes to in, match frames clip, selects the record side again, turns off all tracks, turns on Audio 1 and 2, selects the source side, turns off all tracks, turns on Audio 1 and 1, performs an edit. I have another that is set to write to Audio 3 and 4.
All this happens in the push of a button. I can basically sit with one hand on my mouse, and one on the G13 and go Click, Click down the timeline…pretty much as fast as I can move the blue bar.
Was well worth the 50 bucks or so I paid for the G13. Of course I use it for other things as well. Don’t know that I could run resolve without it either.
Glenn
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Sounds pretty sweet Glenn, I’ve been hearing a bit about these G13s, maybe I’ll take a look.
Thanks also to Neil for your suggestion. I’ve gone and done it the laborious way now but I’ll look into macros when I get a chance and see if I can avoid having to it this way again in future.
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What I usually do is duplicate my sequence, strip the audio tracks, then create a macro that makes an audio cut for every picture cut. I call it “Audio-follows-Video”. I AAF that along with the actual cut. It gives the dialogue editors sync sound to every frame of the sequence, even if it has been replaced by another take. It allows them to steal sighs, sniffs and what not.
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[Christopher Travis] ” I’ve gone and done it the laborious way now but I’ll look into macros when I get a chance and see if I can avoid having to it this way again in future.”
Personally I think you have the wrong approach. For many, editing is not a mechanical process that should be sped up at every point, but a creative, felt, organic, creative process that requires many different thought and felt processes, a large part of which are the sounds that come with the origonal shots. Losing the audio of the rushes means not listening to them, not listening to what the whole of the given material can contribute to your final product.
What I’m saying is: cut your film with all the material you have at your disposal. If it doesn’t contribute, then get rid of it at the end, not the beginning of the process.
That, to me, is the better way!
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