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reducing 8 track audio clips to 1 work track
I am not much of an FCP editor, being primarily Avid oriented. But I have been asked to help edit a feature in FCP 7 and am trying to figure out the best workflow for prepping the dailies. The audio was recorded with an 8 track recorder. I have no idea how many of those tracks actually have sound on them for any given take and in any event, I never want to edit with more than one audio track (other than panned stereo — which is irrelevant for dialogue). I want my assistant to synchronize the 8 track audio but then find a way to give me a synchronized clip that consists of one video and one mixed down audio clip for editing. My assumption is the audio time code of the mix down track will trace back to the original 8 track files. The question is how to create the working clip that has just one video, one audio, and all the metadata I need when I turn the show over to the sound designer. Thanks for any suggestions. (And yes, I know exactly how I’d do this in Avid — I’d sync the clips using auto-sync and then sub clip them while selecting only one of the audio tracks. Not sure there is a comparable FCP 7 function.)
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2 Replies
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Hi,
did you find a way to do this? I’m in the exact same boat with a sitcom. Scenes with several characters all with a different audio feed are a nightmare.
If you aren’t willing to change you shouldn’t be editing” – Richard Marks
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Hi Matt. I’m a terrible source for FCP info. My problem with the indy feature — which never did get resolved to my satisfaction — was that it had been completely shot before anyone gave any thought to a post production workflow. So my first general question for you would be whether or not your series is still in production. If it is, ask the sound recordist to dedicate one of his tracks to a mixdown of all the others. If you have that, then I believe you or your assistant can sync the picture to the recordist’s mixdown using just that audio track. I believe you can then drag that synchronized “sequence” from the FCP timeline into the browser window and you will have a merged clip. Presumably the mixed track would trace back to the other 7 master tracks. If you are out of production, then I have to say, no, I don’t know what to suggest other than examining each track to see if there are any empty ones and after you’ve synchronized the master audio but before you merge the clip, delete the empty tracks. Not as satisfying as you will still have multiple tracks, but perhaps you will have less than eight. (And BTW, although I think this last step is easier if you are working in Avid, in any production your best bet is to get to the sound person and let him or her know your needs off the top.) Good luck. Since you’re doing a sitcom, hopefully you’ll still get some laughs out of it.
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