Thoughts on doing a big FCP X project

[T. Payton]

That was a fantastic write up. Thanks for sharing it!

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T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Oliver Peters]

You’re welcome, but sorry about the length 😉

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[T. Payton]

It was a prefect length 😉

So I noticed you said you didn’t like mixing audio in FCP X compared to FCP 7. I have had the opposite experience. I would never satisfied with a mix I did in 7, I always had to sent to ProTools or SoundTrack Pro. In FCP X, I’ve been very satisfied with the results. In fact the last spot I did I sent my draft mix to my audio engineer so he could get some ideas on how he would improve upon it and he said it sounded excellent. (this isn’t meant to toot my own horn, but to say that for a guy comfortable with ProTools and SoundTrack I was able to make a decent mix in FCP X).

With that said there is HUGE room for improvement, and I hope Apple gives us a much better mixing experience soon.

So I’m curious what you didn’t like. Could you expound on it?

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Oliver Peters]

Sure. As far as mixing, I’ve been able to get good sounding mixes in X, as well. I don’t like some of the physical differences, such as the actual real estate height difference in the mixing range between using the FCP 7 mixer panel versus adding key frames in the clip. X just feels to me like a very constrained working environment. I definitely miss live automated mixing with a panel rather than rubber banding with key frames. In FCP 7, if I need to go beyond the built in capabilities, then I typically send to STP and work there.

I also don’t like how some of the effects are applied to the clips. For example, adding a compressor or limiter directly to a clip doesn’t seem to give me the right levels. These work best on top of a compound clip, but then you don’t have the same kind of control as a mixer with the compressor applied to a sub group or the master mix.

So yes, I can mix with X, but I prefer other apps.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

“add final graphics and Bob’s your uncle!”

My favorite college band…

Nice article, Oliver. You are definitely in the fire.

[Mark Dobson]

Thanks Oliver,

Great description of how you tackled the job.

You mention that you had the client with you for some of the time and I’m wondering what their impressions of working with FCPX were.

I would also be interested to know the specification of the Mac you worked on as you seem to have had a relatively smooth edit in terms of crashes and performance issues.

[Oliver Peters]

Thanks.

You mention that you had the client with you for some of the time and I’m wondering what their impressions of working with FCPX were.

If they were aware they didn’t mention it. When I crashed, they were used to the recovering time after an FCP7 crash and took that as a cue for a smoke break outside. Of course, I was back up pretty much before they were outside of the building.

I would also be interested to know the specification of the Mac you worked on as you seem to have had a relatively smooth edit in terms of crashes and performance issues.

Mac Pro 12 core 2.93Ghz, 12GB RAM, ATI 5870 card, OS 10.7.3, FCP X 10.0.4, Fibre Channel SAN, BMD Decklink card

Most of my performance issues with the system were with the FC folders on the SAN. After moving them locally, this settled down. We’ve since installed a 4TB internal software RAID for these and will bump up the RAM to 32GB.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Mark Dobson]

[Oliver Peters] “If they were aware they didn’t mention it. “

I guess that as always what the client wants to see is the finished programme and is hiring a professional editor to get the best job done to the highest technical standard.

What a client is paying for is the end product, not the preparation, filming or editing. From their point of view these are just a means to an end.

And interpersonal skills rank as highly as technical skills.

[Oliver Peters] “Mac Pro 12 core 2.93Ghz, 12GB RAM, ATI 5870 card, OS 10.7.3, FCP X 10.0.4, Fibre Channel SAN, BMD Decklink card”

Well that’s a pretty beefy set up.

Thanks again for a positive and informative report.

From your blog it seems the complicated parts of the job were involved in getting the material in and out of FCPX in a way that other systems could also work on the material, color correction etc.

And that the actual edit itself went pretty smoothly apart from the SAN issues.

I don’t need to go out of house for anything now so these issues don’t crop up for me.

[Gerry Fraiberg]

Thanks for this very informative article. I’ve been waiting to read your latest experience with FCP X. Welcome to the fire pit 🙂

Gerry

[Herb Sevush]

Oliver, thanks for posting. One question – would you be as willing to attempt another big show on X if you didn’t have FCP7 installed? That is, do you consider FCP7 a necessary component to your FCPX workflow?

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf