“Disabling” video of clip but not audio

[Ron Priest]

You could detach the audio from the video clip and then select the video clip and hit V. You could then select both audio and video and convert it to a compound clip if you’re worried about it getting out of sync. This way, you could always re-enable the video portion if desired.

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Charlie Austin]

[Neil Gowan] ” and there must be some better way.”

IF u want to replace the pix above the audio while keeping the original, just pop the clip below the primary.

————————————————————-

~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Robin S. kurz]

First off, it’d be helpful to know in which context you need that?

There are of course much easier solutions, since detaching is certainly not something I would recommend. Pretty much ever.

ONE would be to simply place the clip UNDER the primary (assuming it’s in fact a connected clip?)

The other and most likely actual solution (assuming that it’s something you only want/need to do temporarily) would involve that magic word: Roles. Simply open the timeline index and deactivate the VIDEO role (or whichever video related role the clip in question belongs to)… done. 😉 If that also deactivates the video you’re wanting to see, then simply set up another video role or sub-role and assign it to the clip that you want to deactivate. E.g. if it is (and others are) a connected clip, make a “connected” sub-role and assign it as needed.

[Robin S. kurz]

On the other hand, you don’t say if you need this permanently or just temporarily. If just temporarily, then see the above. But if permanently, then obviously you’ll simply want to do an “Audio Only” edit. (⇧3)

[Neil Gowan]

Yeah, not really asking how to cover the video with something else…I’m wanting to turn it off. I cut a lot of doc work and being able to turn off the visuals while leaving the sound byte playing has become a useful creative tool for me over the years.

I don’t want to detach the audio from the video, and I need the ability to “undo” this…turn it back on if desired.

I looked into the roles workflow. Definitely a solution…I just created a “disabled video” role and assigned sections of clips to it. However in my current project, it’s extra complicated because of how I set up my raw media.

Which brings me to a whole different question…was this a mistake?…I have 15-20 hours of doc footage shot with external audio. Lots of syncing to do just to be able to hear the footage decently. I couldn’t find a way to “bulk sync” footage in FCP X, so I used PluralEyes. Then, to avoid having audio files sitting in timelines as attached clips, I created compound clips of all my raw synced media.
Now I’m working with ALL compound clips. A little clunky…sometimes I’m just trying to roll an edit and I click on that stupid compound clip icon in the top left corner and go there instead. Plus it complicates things like trying to setup roles for a section of a clip but not the whole clip.
Is there a better way to sync such large amounts of footage and organize them once synced?

[Robin S. kurz]

No offence, but it sounds to me like you jumped into FCP X rather unprepared and are missing a lot of the basics. In which case I’m not surprised that you’re frustrated. To type out a better workflow suggestion would take *me* ages (especially since I’m not even entirely sure what is is you’re doing or need), but maybe someone else is willing and able. Otherwise I would highly recommend taking a break from the project long enough to check out some tutorials on the subjects in question first. Be it Ripple Training, Izzy or just plain YouTube, whereby I personally recommend Ripple the most.

[Neil Gowan]

Gone through Izzy, Larry Jordan, and a couple from Lynda. Couldn’t find any of them addressing bulk syncing workflows.
Totally respect your time so I wouldn’t ask for a tutorial in and of itself, but can you describe for me in a nutshell what you would do to sync all of that and begin your editorial process?

[Chuck Pelini]

Just scale the video track to 0%.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Chuck Pelini] “Just scale the video track to 0%.”

How is that more convenient or practical than setting the opacity to 0?

[Chuck Pelini]

To scale, you do not have to scroll down in the inspector as far. So I guess there is some advantage.