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CAF Audio File Challenge
Hello All,
This is my first post (likely not to be the last).
I purchased Final Cut Pro Studio this week. I’m just learning how to use it. Taking some of the video clips that come with it, some stills that I already have, etc. and compiling sequences to get an understanding of how it all works.
The one big challenge thus far has to do with audio. The studio software comes with some discs that have .CAF sound files. I can import these, or drag and drop just fine. I can scrub and hear the music, or play it on the viewer just fine, but when I try to hear it with the canvas (timeline), I either get a metronome type electronic pulsing, or just one beep.
I see that there is a red line indicating the need to render, but when I attempt to highlight the file, and call for that action, nothing happens. Can someone help me through this?
Second issue regarding sound. I put a music CD (Tracy Chapman) in the drive and imported it to iTunes. I also dragged and dropped this file to my desktop. In both cases, I cannot get the music into Final Cut Pro. Either the files are greyed out in the case of iTunes, or when I attempt to place the file from the desktop in a bin, I receive a message saying the file type is not recognized. Once again, can someone help me.
There’s a lot to learn, but this hang up with sound is holding back my exploration.
Thanks
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3 Replies
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Aha! Just discovered this same “problem” this evening.
The .caf (Core Audio Format) files are capable of storing 5.1 audio. And other amazing things, apparently, according to Apple’s specs:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CAFSpec/CAF_overview/chapter_2_section_2.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001862-CH209-BCGDADFAAt any rate, you’ll need to render this file for playback before it’ll play in Final Cut — converting it to an AIFF-ish format.
Drag the .caf file into your timeline. Go to the “Sequence” menu, “Render Only,” and select “For Playback.” It’ll render, and then it should play back fine.
If your final destination is stereo only, it would be best to get rid of the 4 extra audio clips — sub, center, and rear — and just keep the first two stereo tracks. To unlink the 6 clips, select the music clip, go to the “Modify” menu, and deselect “Link.” Then you can select the 4 bottom audio clips individually to delete them.
To get music off of a CD, open up the CD in Finder, select the track you want, and copy it to your hard drive (desktop, Music folder, scratch disk, whatever). That process converts it to an AIFF file. You should be able to drag that new AIFF file into FCP and directly into the timeline without rendering it. Or, you might have to, depending on the sequence settings. But it’ll work.
Hope that helps.
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To rip songs off of an audio cd just use itunes. Go to the preferences then to the advanced tab. Select the destination for your ripped files and make sure your “importing” options are set to .aiff…drag and drop in FCP – no rendering required.
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Thank you! I’ve been importing into sound production software, saving in .aiff, then exporting to Final Cut. A lot of steps. Too many steps. I’ll give your idea a whirl.
Since I’m new to this software, I just want to say – Absolutely Awesome!
DG
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