Audio popping. Argh!

[Walter Biscardi]

You just need to put some cross dissolves on your audio tracks. You’ll hear a pop often when there is no transition going into an audio track. That is, a cut in the audio. Simply add a very short cross dissolve like 10 frames.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Kat Nofs]

Even when I am using the same long stream of audio for the different shots of video? Or do I just splice where it pops and put a cross dissolve there?
Thank you

[Walter Biscardi]

[Kat] “Even when I am using the same long stream of audio for the different shots of video? Or do I just splice where it pops and put a cross dissolve there?
Thank you”

No, actually you should not hear any pops in the audio if there is no edit. I’ve not experienced a video transition causing an audio pop in FCP. If your video levels were too hot, then you could get a buzz in the audio, but I’m no sure how a video transition can cause and audio hit.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Uwe Klimmeck]

Maybe a strange audio format ? MP3, 32 or 44 kHz ?
I do convert everything to 48 kHz before importing into FCP.

Greetings
Uwe

FC Studio / DLpro / SDconnect / Dual 2.7 / Dual 1.4 / Dual iPod / http://www.fcpmunich.com

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Uwe Klimmeck] “I do convert everything to 48 kHz before importing into FCP.”

Same here. Everything that’s not already 48kHz gets converted, either in QT or iTunes. Also, doing an audio mixdown (look under the menu: Sequence>Render Only>Mixdown) typically solves this kind of problem.

Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com

[Bret Williams]

You can also just highlight the clip in FCP and render it. It will upgrade the audio file to your sequence settings, and utilize the new file (which it keeps track of) for all future renders and mixdowns with the file. This is not the same thing as a mixdown or a render. This was introduced with version 4.0.

[Andy Mees]

we’ve often seen this problem occur when the audio has been captured at the wrong sample rate and has then been resampled by FCP in the timeline, it doesn’t seem to do a very good job of resampling.

in our case, the issue was usually with audio tracks that were brought in at 44.1Khz and then used in a 48kHz timeline, although I imagine its a universal problem not limited to the original source.

for us, it was easily solved by always ensuring that the audio was captured, or recaptured, at the correct sample rate.

hope it helps

Andy

[Bret Williams]

FCP uses QT. QT uses QT. iTunes uses QT. It’s all exactly the same. Never had a single issue. It’s called item level render.

It’s all the exact same rendering engine. QT. When you mix down a track, QT. When you use iTunes or compressor it’s QT.

Even the FCP manual describes importing CD audio tracks the same way. Copy them to the hard drive. Then import and item level render if needed. All item level render does is run it through QT and upsample it. The sequence then utilizes that upsampled file for all further edits involving that clip. Even if you move it around, change the volume, trim it, add other clips above or below it, etc.

When you drop a differently sampled clip (like 44.1) into a 48 timeline, the clip is labeled with a green line. If you item level render it, the line becomes blue.

[Kevin Monahan]

Make sure you are properly monitoring the signal as well. Connect the speakers to your deck, and NOT the Mac. Many self-trained editors mistakenly do not monitor external audio or video. Audio coming from the computer port is downsampled from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz on the fly, which sometimes causes pops and clicks that aren’t on the source tape or the media file–especially on slower rigs.

Kevin Monahan

Kevin Monahan
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
fcpworld.com

[Andy Mees]

Hi Bret

Thanks for the clarification on item level render.
I’m thinking the reason we were getting the ocasional pop or click on playout to tape is because FCP was rendering audio on the fly, as opposed to pre-rendering as you illustrated (or via my more long winded method!)… does that make sense?

cheers
Andy