Replacing an audio clip deleted from timeline, with an audio only clip from browser

[Bret Williams]

Do you mean it’s putting it on the primary storyline? That’s the only “track” per se and it’s neither a video nor audio track. It’s anything. But if you just mean it’s connecting the audio clip above where you wanted it, then simply drag it down into the position you’d like. Holding shift will keep it from moving horizontally. You could also just drag it from the browser directly to the position you want which is one less step.

[Adam Berch]

Hi,

Yes, When I put the audio down by pressing the “Append to Storyline” Button it puts it on the primary track, Where all of my video is right now. In other words it’s putting it above where I want it.

I know I can drag it down from either the browser or drag down from above, but is there any way to just press a button so it goes to the spot I want it to?

I could do this with FCP 7 with ease.

Thanks

[Bret Williams]

No. There aren’t any tracks. All you can do is put it on the storyline, put it at the end, or connect it above. You can put audio anywhere. No longer are there the limitations of audio on the bottom and video above. Quite liberating once you get over your old hang ups. You can have a graphic on layer 21 and place the accompanying audio sfx right above or below it. Or place video below the primary storyline so you can move the background video out of the way to reveal the clip below the primary.

If you wanted to replace a clip instead of deleting it and then putting a new clip in its place you can use replace. Highlight and mark the clip in browser. Highlight clip in timeline. Press option R.

If you’re a die hard keyboard only mark 3 pts, set patches, choose overwrite/insert then this isn’t that app. But even in 7 I never touched patching. Mark, Mark drag always seemed like less steps to me.

[Jeff Kirkland]

As Bret says, there are no tracks in FCPX, just the primary storyline and any secondary ones you might need to create. And storylines can contain audio or video.

If you have a clip on the timeline and you delete it’s audio, you can attach the new audio above or below that clip, it makes no difference to X. Or you drop the audio right onto the primary storyline and put the video clip above or below that.

Having said that, I’m something of a traditionalist and I tend to have video above and audio below so I’ll often ad a gap clip to the primary storyline, then connect the audio clip below that and replace the gap clip with vision when I, ready.

I recently had to work with another editor who insisted on trying to tackle his edit the same way he would have in fcp7. It was frustrating to watch as his edit got messier and messier and he was constantly fighting with the magnetic timeline. I was working on an alternate cut of the same thing but by embracing trackless editing and the magnetic storyline, I got to the same point in 90 minutes that he’d reached after four hours of frustration.

It’s really worth checking out some of the excellent fundamental training available from Ripple Training and others. You really do have to approach FCPX differently from other NLEs. But once you get it, there’s no going back.

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[Bill Davis]

In the Browser, elect the clip with the new audio you want.
Put your playhead at the point where you want the new audio to go.
Tap (Shift 3) to set an Audio Only Edit then tap Q to Connect your audio to your playhead as a connected clip.
Done.

ProTip: Immediately Tap Shift 1 to go back to Audio/Video editing mode so you don’t forget and do your next edit as audio only as well.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.