[Ben Balser]

There’s your problem, don’t use W, that’s in Insert (we call it a Wedge) edit. It splits the existing clip at the frame the playhead is on, and inserts the new clip in-between. If the playhead is on the last frame, it splits at the last frame. E is what you should be using to add a clip.

[Ben Balser]

If your playhead is not at the very end of a clip when you ad one, it’ll “insert” and that last frame can be left behind. Depends on what you’re doing. What happens just before this, how are you adding the clip at the end of the timeline? Hopefully not drag-and-drop but with the E shortcut.

[Ben Balser]

Well, I’m stumped…

But I would recommend posting this issue on FCP.co as that is a much more active FCP forum with some really knowledgable folks.

[Ben Balser]

Bit-depth won’t matter at all, it’s all about sample rate. Video is recorded in frames, audio in samples. HHHmmm… And have you verified the timecode actually matching in both files? I assume there’s no weirdness like some “offset” setting somewhere in the E or camera. hhhmmm… odd…

[Ben Balser]

Verify the sample rates being recorded on the TrackE and the cameras. 90% of the time for this symptom they won’t match. All audio sources used in video must be 48kHz sample rate.

[Ben Balser]

Yay! I sent you a message via your web site. I’d like to see it when it’s done if you post it. Glad it worked out!

[Ben Balser]

Just try it and see. It’s very little time. Bear in mind, 24 frames per second, one frame is 1/24th of a second, such a small amount of time, most folks won’t notice. Just try it. Worked for me, one frame, can’t hear it’s missing at all in the music.

If it’s actual “video” and not film, then it’s 30 (1/30th of a sec) or 60 frames (1/60th of a sec), even less time to cut out.

[Ben Balser]

Well, exporting a frame as an image, reimporting it back in, and wedging it between clips as a single frame, lot of work relatively speaking. Does it really show up that bad in playback, just one frame? I’d say just leave it. If you’re trying to clean things up, I’d just cut the frame out.

I just did some experimenting on various clips of folks in minor action including lecturers waving their hands around, and yes musical performances, and if you just cut out one frame, I’m finding it won’t be noticed. I’d just cut the bad frame out and leave it at that.

If you do see a jump, it’ll probably be only you (knowing what you did) who notices it. If you add a frame, you’ll get a freeze for that frame. If it’s noticeable, I’d rather the jump than the freeze. But again, I bet if you just cut one frame out you’ll be fine.

P.S. As a musician and composer, love Art’s work!

[Ben Balser]

AE costs more than it’s worth in the long run. You’d be better off investing in Topaz for this sort of work if FCPX and Compressor can’t do it. Compressor is super easy to learn and use, next to zero learning curve. I used to teach it in my college and corporate/broadcast classes.

But I see you’re starting off with SD video, which is the huge challenge, in which case I’d highly recommend investing in Topaz, or a pro who is very fluent in Topaz to contract the work for you.

Noise filters mostly suck in any app, in my experience, which is why I moved to Topaz.

[Ben Balser]

FCPX or Compressor (Compressor will do a slightly bit better job) both do great jobs with this. AE doesn’t do any better. When I was production manager for broadcast TV, we tried lots of options, FCPX and Compressor were both the cheapest, fastest, and nothing (aside from Topaz) did any better.

Red exclamation marks? Where exactly are you seeing that? What exactly are you doing to try to do this in FCP?