IMX four channels audio export

[T. Payton]

Welcome aboard. You can accomplish that with Roles in FCP X. You’ll assign a “Role” for your different elements, and then create a Role export present (stored in the root of your events folder) to do what you like.

Here is the timeline, with viewing roles:

Here is what your Role settings will look like for export:

(now obviously you can name and arrange roles as you like, this was just a quick example.)

Since you are just getting started, I would highly recommend that you get some training that covers the basics for FCP X even though you are an experienced editor, it will be well worth the few dollars you’ll spend. Ripple Training’s is excellent and so is Larry Jordan’s training. It will help you get up to speed quickly on the methodology of FCP X, which can at some times see foreign to experienced editors.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Michael Sanders]

Hadn’t thought of doing it that way but it would still be really handy if Apple provided a way of selecting the mix in the roles export window.

Michael Sanders
London Based DP/Editor

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Thank you!
I could export the 4 audio tracks ProRes file. That worked great, more or less the same as it used to work on FCP7. On FCP7 I used to export a ProRes422 file just as well, slip it onto an IMX four channels sequence within FPC7 and export using current settings. it seems I can’t do it now within FCPX as I can’t find any IMX preset and I need to pass it to Compressor. Now I’m trying to find the settings on the new Compressor to get the IMX with 4 channels, so far I only got a stereo pair with full downmix.
Regards

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

OK, I found the old way is working on FCPX as well.
I imported a correct IMX with two stereo pairs file in the project event folder. I launched a new project with “automatic settings based on the first clip” and slipped the IMX clip in the timeline. Then I added the exported two stereo pairs ProRes file, assigned roles to the stereo pairs after detaching the audio channels and exported again choosing the IMX preset within FCPX. No need to fiddle with Compressor settings. The exported file is what I need, so far so good :-).

Thank you

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Michael Sanders] “Hadn’t thought of doing it that way but it would still be really handy if Apple provided a way of selecting the mix in the roles export window.”

What do you mean by “selecting the mix”, exactly?

[Michael Sanders]

Basically the full stereo or surround mix that you woul get if you just hit export normally and not export audio as roles.

Just nice short cut thats all.

Michael Sanders
London Based DP/Editor

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

I could export IMX 625/30Mbps PAL choosing 4.1 as an audio option from the Compressor settings sending the FCPX timeline. The destination channels play correctly following the roles I assigned in FCPX, I’ll see if it passes the Quality Check at the satellite channel, I guess it should. To see the four channels in FCPX I only found the way of breaking apart the clips items. Curious, while the whole clip is PAL 1080i, once broken apart, the audio tracks are labeled as NTSC 1080p and it seems I can’t modify them. I have to study some more to find a way to reverse the “break apart clips items” in case I need it. By the way, in these three or four days of getting acquainted to the new editor I met two complete crashes on my 2011 15″ MBP, maybe Compressor related or graphic card related, with the screen showing crazy lines and of course the MBP becoming irresponsive. Everything was back in place after the restart, however I had about the same number of crashes in the last two years and about 30 documentaries produced with the old FCP7 and SL. Also I had rare dropped frames during playback, but nothing serious.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “I could export IMX 625/30Mbps PAL choosing 4.1 as an audio option from the Compressor settings sending the FCPX timeline. “

Did you try “pass through”?

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “To see the four channels in FCPX I only found the way of breaking apart the clips items. “

Yes, multichannel audio support in FCPX is a bit limited at the moment, supposedly the next fix will
address these issues.

[Fabrizio D'Agnano] “I have to study some more to find a way to reverse the “break apart clips items” in case I need it. “

You could compound the clips back together, or if you’re able, hit undo. You could also replace the orig media back in the Project, but that’s limiting and potentially destructive. Unfortunately there’s no way to restore to its original state unless you can undo. Hopefully this gets addressed in the next update as well.

As far as the crashes, yes, they happen. Fcs3 is mature and stable, FCPX still needs work and time before it will stabilize. The latest release is much better than the earlier releases, at least for me, but there is still lots of work to be done and bugs to squash.

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Thank you Jeremy.
Where do I find the “pass through”? When I create the Compressor IMX setting I can’t find it in the audio options.
Regards

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Jeremy Garchow]

In the Compressor “inspector” window, set the Audio to “Pass THrough” where ti says “Enabled”.

Screen grab here:

passthrough.png

Jeremy