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Odd music playback issue/glitch
Hello,
I have a very odd problem that I can’t understand or fix. I’m editing a film in FCP, shot in HDV 1080p 25 (let me know if you need more info), and I have been editing without major problems up until now.
Today I noticed that a music track in my timeline (which has been playing fine thus far), is now playing back incorrectly. By that I mean, that when I move the playhead to the beginning of the music track and hit play, it actually plays back the sound from the middle of the track.
I opened up the audio in the viewer and the waveforms are as they should be i.e. the start of the track – which begins softly – shows very small waveforms which get bigger as the music kicks in. But even when I play the track from the start in the viewer (not the timeline), the music that plays back is from the middle of the track. I’m guessing this is simply a playback glitch, but I don’t know why it’s happening.
I’ve tried closing all other tabs and even chaining the playback settings on the timeline, but I can’t resolve the issue. I’ve also closed and reopened the whole project but it doesn’t fix the problem.
Any idea at all? I have a deadline coming up very soon and the track needs to be in the sequence I submit for a funding application, so I’m desperate for a solution!
Thanks in advance for your time and help.
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9 Replies
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Just to clarify, it’s though the music has gone out of sync, and the start of the media actually snatches sound (music) from later on in the track and plays it at the start… I hope I’m communicating this clearly. I don’t know how else to describe it! The playback is as though the music track has been cut off at the start – but the waveforms show that the full track is actually there, but just not playing correctly for some reason….
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Make sure your music matches your timeline’s audio specs. They have to match. If you have audio elements that are 44K or MP3 etc. and your timeline is 48K, this is exactly what will happen, things will get out of sync.
What you need to do is convert all your audio elements to the same settings.
Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com -
Thanks Ernie,
I will look into that. It’s never been a problem before on this project though, which I’ve been working on for months on end, and I haven’t altered any settings. But perhaps they never matched in the first place. I will check and return here if it doesn’t solve the problem.
Thanks again.
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I’ve checked, and yes you are right, my project audi setting is 48khz, and the tracks I am using are 44. Can you advise me of the best/easiest way of converting these tracks to 44 khz, on a mac? Thanks.
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I found out how to do it.
For those who may have the same problem: I went to iTunes > Preferences > Import Settings > I selected Custom from the Setting drop-down list > select your desired Sample Rate.
Thank you Ernie!
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I just remember going though exactly what you described. I use an separate program like ‘Episode’ that can quickly convert files to other formats. There’s many different programs that can do this. Also, it’s the type of files. MP3’s are horrible inside Final Cut Pro. So, I always convert them to AIFF at 48K (same as timeline rate).
Glad I could help.
Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com -
You can also do this in Compressor. There is a preset for this. 48k 16 bit aiff.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group -
I’ve had the same issue several times myself – it has happened to me even when the timeline settings and audio file settings match. It’s a bug that sometimes just happens.
Obviously you’ve done the right thing in changing the settings of your audio files, but if you have the issue again and you have all the same settings there are a couple quick workarounds. If you match-frame the audio clip that’s causing you problems within the timeline, you should find that when it loads in the viewer the in and out point are still actually in the correct place that you wanted – insert the media back into the timeline, copy and pasting any audio filters/attributes you may have had, remove the ”faulty” clip leaving just what you replaced it with. What’s in your timeline should now be the portions of the media you actually wanted.
Another method would be to trash any audio render files associated with your project, and re-render. However, I’ve usually found that the method of re-inserting the media works best.
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Adam is right, it’s just an (unbelievable) bug. I add that if you’ve created automations on the segment, I suggest you copy the segment before matchframing the clip, so you can paste the automation (paste attributes) when you insert it again.
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