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Unlink and DELETE audio and video from frustated FCPx newbie
Ugh! I’m an Avid user. My studio had Avid MC and anoher bay which has FCP 7 that th epther producer uses. My Avid needed an upgrade so meanwhile, Boss put me on FCP7 because he had an extra MAC. I hate MAc and wasn’t used to FCP7 but I forced mhyself to learn it out of necessity.
NOW boss decided to just go MAC for the whole studio rather than upgrade the Avid. But the othe r producer and I were constantly having issues editing at the same time because of the licensing thing. Either I had to work off line or wait until she wasn’t on her computer using it.
So his solution was to buy another version for me- FCPx. I just barely figured out FCP7 which wasn’t too bad, but FCPx take the cake. It takes way to many steps to do the simplest thing and I’m finding I cant do the most basic tasks.
Right now I’m trying to edit a simple 5 min news package. Its bad enough I hate how FCPx breaks up imported footage into clips but now I’m simply trying to unlink the audio and video so I can put B-roll over the audio.
How do I do that? I figured out how to “Unlink” them by just double clicking the clip but I cant delete the video. I found a you tube tutorial that said just to highlight the video and press delete but when I try, it deletes the audio beneath as well.
How do I delete just the video and keep the audio? Or, for future reference, is there a way I can drop ONLY the audio onto the timeline?
This software sucks. I would have been finished with this package days ago but I’m barely getting started editing because it took me a whole day to figure out this whole “New event” stuff.
ZombieCat
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23 Replies
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Clip / Detach audio. Also, try watching my blog video series right here on the cow. It’ll take about 40 minutes of viewing and maybe save you some headaches.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Clip / Detach audio. Also, try looking in the FCPX forum or watching my blog video series right here on the cow.
When setting an in/out and want to put video only, audio only, or both in the timeline, use this:
Shift+1 = Video and Audio
Shift+2=Video Only
Shift+3=Audio onlyJohn Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Thank God you answered so fast- I was pulling my hair out trying everything.
I did try Clip- Detach audio but that option is grayed out. I Double clicked the audio so that I could see the 2 channels and then found I was able to move the audio independent of the video. So I moved the audio as far over as it would let me (which was just to the end of the video and then tried deleting the video but it still deleted both of them.
Hey, is there a way I can just drop ONLY the audio from imported footage onto the timeline? Like in Avid and FCP7 it was easy- just deactivate the video track. But I don’t see a way to do that on here.
Once I figure this out- I’ll go look for your blog because I know I’ll be right back here with more questions before I finish this stupid package that should have been EASY. >:(
ZombieCat
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Oh, thanks for that tip- I just asked you this in my reply, haha. Its like you read my mind…
I’m gonna just do it like that for now since I can’t seem to separate and delete them once they’re on the timeline.ZombieCat
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The hardest thing to get past FCPX is its timeline paradigm – it’s completely different from what anyone is used to working with. I also am an Avid editor that went to FCP 7 then FCPX. I wanted to tear my hair out on many an occasion until I got my head around the new workflow.
To lay audio only and have b-roll over it, there are two methods:
One – just lay the video/audio clip in the main timeline and start adding B-roll by ‘connecting’ it to the main timeline with the ‘Q’ button. This lays video on top of your clip, obscuring the video track below. On an Avid you could just patch audio on A1 & A2 and start laying video on the V1 track.
On an Avid (and FCP 7), if you wanted a B-roll cutaway in an interview, you would lay it over the video on V1. FCPX doesn’t work that way – you have to connect the B-roll shot above the video (almost like putting it on V2).
Another way is to hit “shift-3” for an audio only edit and lay just sound in the main timeline. You would then hit “shift-2” for a video only edit and use the “Q” button to connect video above the audio in the main timeline.
Now the fun begins when you want to slip and slide those edits – you can’t! At least not until you create a ‘secondary timeline’ by selecting all those clips and hitting “cmd-G”. Then the trim tools will work.
At first blush it is counter-intuitive with way to many steps, but once you understand the workflow it does go faster without having to patch tracks all the time.
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With apologies to the original poster, I feel the irresistible urge to rant for a minute…
You wouldn’t expect someone who had never used Avid before to just install it and start editing a spot as fast as someone who’s used it for years. Nor can anyone expect to install something like FCPX and just use it. It’s especially true with FCPX where previous NLE experience doesn’t really apply.
Maybe I’m just turning into a grumpy old editor but I can’t believe how many people post “this software sucks” when what they really mean is “I’ve only been using it for a couple of days and I don’t have a clue how it works..”.
Read the manual, watch some training videos, work with FCPX for a few months and while there are plenty of workflows that Avid is probably better suited to, you’ll go back to Avid and see it for the dinosaur it really is.
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
+1 on that Jeff, try the “this software sucks” thing on the Avid forum and see what happens. Lucky there are better COW folk than me who are kind enough to answer his questions.
Steve Connor
‘It’s just my opinion, with an occasional fact thrown in for good measure” -
[Jeff Kirkland] “It’s especially true with FCPX where previous NLE experience doesn’t really apply.
Maybe I’m just turning into a grumpy old editor but I can’t believe how many people post “this software sucks” when what they really mean is “I’ve only been using it for a couple of days and I don’t have a clue how it works..”.
“And I feel compelled to respond. You are absolutely correct! 🙂 Though saying that “previous NLE experience doesn’t really apply” to X is a common statement, and it’s really not true. It does virtually all the same stuff, and more, it just works differently. I read some of the posts critical of X here and wonder if they’re using a different program than the one I’ve got installed. I work the same way on any NLE, i just push different buttons.
Anyhoo… +1 RTFM 😉
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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
You can slip and slide with the trim tools. Also, you can override clip connections with the grave key. Once you learn it all, it’s really quite awesome!
Tony Brittan
Island Shore Productions
Kill Devil Hills, NC -
How bout +1 for watch a damn tutorial in FCP X 101 already!
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