Audio Cuts on in Timeline in FCP

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

There is a function in FCP that is often overlooked… and it can help with many audio and video “skipping”, “sticking” and “missing” problems.

You should “Mixdown” the Audio for playback before you dub out of FCP, or during the edit, if you have audio/video stuttering, drop-outs, sync-slippage, or freezes.

NOTE: Mixdown has even been demonstrated to help with slipping, skipping problems (or “missing” audio clips) for files being EXPORTED as QT (or similar) files out of FCP.

First, SELECT ALL of your audio tracks (highlight them) on the timeline, then:

Sequence Menu > Render Only > Mixdown.

You should see a dialog box telling you its rendering.

It might seem to make little sense that “Mixing down” even simple audio tracks will “fix” complex video “freezes” or random audio dropouts to tape or export, but it CAN.

NOTE: It does not matter of you only have one audio track, if there are random freezes during output, you should try the Mixdown.

[Pat Gilligan]

It didn’t work. The audio rendered but I still get this dropout. I have to use built-in Audio Playback to be able to hear what I’m doing. THis is really odd. Of all the quirks and bugs I’ve come across this is totally new. I’m wondering if it’s an issue with my hard drive, but the video plays back just fine.

[Chris Babbitt]

Does the audio cut out in the same places each time, and is it only through the firewire that you have the problem?

[Pat Gilligan]

only while set up to playback through firewire. Can be a full sequence or a single clip.

[Chris Babbitt]

Glitches in the video, even ones that are not readily visible, will cause audio to drop out, but only out the firewire. It will still read on your meters and will be audible over the computer speakers.

[Pat Gilligan]

I’ve been able to find a workaround, but this is really odd.

I have to go to Audio/Video stettings > A/V Devices and select Appl FireWire and uncheck the “mirror on the desktop” box.

The video and audio then play fine through FireWire. So I have the playback end worked out but this is going to be a pain in the butt for editing. The system I’m on is about 6 months old:
G5 2ghz Dual Processor
2.5 gb Ram
FCPHD version 4.5

It’s not a hard drive issue, since I isolated all the drives trying to figure this out. It’s not a question of glitchy source material, it happens with DVC Pro videotape digitized today or last month; and VHS source material produces the same problem. I have 2 different FireWire devices to acquire from (not ever connected at the same time). It’s a totally new problem altogehter, the odd part is why all of a sudden??