long FCP project won’t render

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

You can SET the number of REAL-TIME tracks that will play in FCP.
Final Cut Pro (menu) > User Preferences >
“Real-time Audio Mixing” (Number of Tracks)
“Audio Playback Quality” (High)

A “track” can also mean a “dissolve” and an audio Filter, so a “single” track with a filter equals TWO tracks and a dissolve from a clip with a filter directly to another clip with a filter (even on the same track) can result in the equivalent of 4 or more tracks during the dissolve.
So if you have 8 actual tracks and maybe a few filters or effects on one or all of them , you are starting to really use the equivalent of lots of realtime “tracks” of processing.

You also need to MAKE SURE that all of the “choices” are CHECKED (chosen) under the Sequence Menu:

Render In to End (Check all choices that you need)
Render All (Check all choices that you need)
Render Only (Check all choices that you need)

So, you SHOULD be able to RENDER your audio after these are correctly checked.
But actually, I would perform an AUDIO MIXDOWN when you have reached a “finishing point” in your audio.

That function in FCP is often overlooked… and it can help with many 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 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.

[Cameron Clendaniel]

Thanks…but unfortunately the problem has survived through all of those suggestions…I’ve mixed down the audio, and that hasn’t helped…and actually now when I try to mix down audio, it begins to render, but then I get a “general error (39)” message and the rendering ends. I’ve actually been getting this error message quite a bit, and can’t seem to find much on it online. I have all the options in the render menus checked…I’ve even made a new project and that hasn’t helped either.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Sounds like a DISK issue.

What kind of hard drive are you using for FCP renders (FW external, internal, same as your system disk or not?)

Is your disk getting too full?

Have you “Repaired Permissions” on your disk(s)?
APPLICATIONS > UTILITIES > DISK UTILITY
Select the system drive and then repair permissions.
————————————————————————

AND/OR have you
TRASHED YOUR FCP PREFERENCES?
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/trashing_fcp_prefs.html

Free Apple Scripts for Trashing Preferences:
https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/

[Cameron Clendaniel]

yeah…that sounds like a more promising cause. I’m using two very full drives for media (280GB on a 300GB internal SATA, not the system drive of course, and about 440GB on a 500GB LaCie external)…you think that could be causing this problem? Could the fact that I recently downloaded QT7 (still running 10.3.9) also be an issue (I read that elsewhere in this forum)? Also, have you ever used, or trusted, Norton to “repair” and defragment discs?

cam

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[Cameron Clendaniel] “Also, have you ever used, or trusted, Norton to “repair” and defragment discs? “

My g-d, man.
Get Norton OFF of your Mac!!!

It is a KNOWN causer of problems like you describe.
Make SURE you do NOT have any “automaitic” Norton Disk functions (such as “Auto Protect”) running.

If you want to “tune-up” a drive, use Alsoft Disk Warrior.

[Brendan Davis]

I have been struggling with this issue on and off for a while and had run out of workarounds to combat it, so I am glad I discovered this thread. I, too, have done the maintenance items suggested numerous times but what finally made the difference was deleting audio EQ filters. How and why they got corrupted just sitting there I don’t know, but they were just temp until I do the final mix (for which I will export OMFs to PT anyway) so it’s no huge loss.

Thanks again to everyone who offered advice and I hope other’s problems have cleared up by now, too.