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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro X Replace a clip with a new version

  • Replace a clip with a new version

    Posted by Dave Smith on October 7, 2019 at 11:27 pm

    Hi, I’m wondering if there is a way to replace a clip with a new version and have all the different ranges and edits used in the project update automatically. (Similar to how one would link a psd in an ai or indesign file, then edit/resave the source psd after the fact and the updates automatically show up in the ai/indesign file).

    Long story: Now that I’ve done a bunch of editing on a long clip of a guy doing a seminar I decided to try improving the absolutely dismal audio in Adobe Audition. After applying some hard limiting, voice levelling, normalizing with more precision and better results than I think i could get inside FCPX… I imported the resulting wave file and created a compound clip from the original video file with the new audio. So far so good, except now I’m trying to figure out the best way to replace the original clip with the compound clip without having to search and find all the ranges and replace them in the timeline one by one.

    I probably should have just dealt with the audio in Audition before doing anything in FCPX but I wasn’t sure if this clip was going to be used at all and thought I could handle it with FCP audio tools.

    One thing I haven’t tried is exporting the compound clip as a mov file, rename it to the same as the original file, delete the original file from the library, then “relink” to the new file… is that the correct way to do this?

    Thanks!

    Dave Smith replied 5 years, 3 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Dave Smith

    October 8, 2019 at 12:32 am

    Well, I went in and did the replacement manually anyway. Would be good to know for sure if there’s a way to accomplish that task automatically with a new version of a clip though.

    As a side question… is it recommended to deal with audio as first step before importing footage to FCPX in order to avoid this type of problem? How do folks deal with audio changes outside of final cut pro after importing if it becomes necessary?

  • Joe Marler

    October 8, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    [Dave Smith] ” is a way to replace a clip with a new version and have all the different ranges and edits used in the project update automatically….Now that I’ve done a bunch of editing on a long clip of a guy doing a seminar I decided to try improving the absolutely dismal audio in Adobe Audition. “

    The proper way to do this is using a multicam clip. Multicam clip ranges in the timeline dynamically inherit changes from the parent clip. You can change color, audio, add new audio channels, etc, and this will appear in the edited timeline. When adding new audio to an existing multicam clip, that can be synced to the monitoring angle: https://support.apple.com/kb/ph12661?locale=en_US

    Because of these features it’s often best to use a multicam clip anytime you have external audio, even if only using a single camera. Sam Mestman described this several years ago: https://www.fcpworks.com/sync-or-multicam-clips/

    It is conceivable you might be able to relink to the new audio file, but there are various relink constraints (audio and video included below). Before trying this, duplicate your project within FCPX, plus shut down FCPX and in Finder duplicate the library. This provides two additional rollback options if something goes wrong.

    Relink constraints:

    – Files must have the same audio config (same number of channels), but sample rate can differ.

    – Pixel aspect ratio should be the same, but it may relink even if different. This could result in a squeezed or stretched frame.

    – Clip duration must be the same or longer. If longer, then later relinking to the original clip won’t work because the new target will then be shorter.

    – File suffix must be the same.

    – Codec need not be the same, e.g. you can create 720p H264 proxies and relink to those as original media.

    – After relinking to a different resolution file, the viewer may show a window-boxed screen. This is typically a cache issue and can be resolved by deleting the FCPX cache for that event, which is either stored in the library or outside as defined by the library inspector. The cache is a file bundle named LibraryName.fcpcache.

    If relinking the new audio file doesn’t work, you will have to import the revised audio clip and match timecode for each range in the timeline then do a replace edit on each one. I can’t tell from your description if the original timeline clip ranges are multicam clips, sync clips, compound clips, A/V clip with in-camera audio or just video with manually-connected audio.

    The general procedure is skim the timeline clip range, note the start/end points, skim the same range in the newly-imported clip, mark the range, then do a replace edit with OPT+R. This must be done for each clip range in the timeline. The exact procedure differs based on clip type.

  • Dave Smith

    October 16, 2019 at 4:05 pm

    Wow this is great, I hadn’t thought of that at all… I will have to take some time to re-read your post a few times and give it a try. Thanks a lot for taking the time to read through my problem and write back a full response…. it is appreciated immensely!

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