[Dan Monro]

So are you selecting multiple clips (i.e. the incoming and outgoing audio around the trim) at the same time? If so, they’ll definitely be greyed out. You have to pair and/or link one clip at a time.

Does that make sense? If not, maybe grab a screen cap of what you’re trying to do…

Rob’s suggestion about mono’ing your audio in the timeline and then creating a new instance of the clip is brilliant. It only changes the metadata; it doesn’t create any new media.

D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Uh, pardon the duplication…

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Don’t know if you can do it at the bin level, didn’t seem to work for me just now.

I use the keyboard shortcuts to work with audio; I link and unlink as needed, and adjust each as it goes in. Its no big deal to go back and change things once you get used to it.

Select your two tracks and hit option L to pair and unpair. Its a toggle. I tend to keep actual stereo paired.

When selecting tracks that are linked, hold down option to just select a particular track, say just audio 2. Or (and this is how I usually work) turn linking off, and use option when you DO want to select all of a clips tracks.

On another note; I’ve started enabling and disabling audio clips (select, then hit control B) as opposed to muting and unmuting, or soloing. Sometimes its faster…

As an Avid editor myself, I really like the flexibility of linking and unlinking. It just takes some getting used to, like all of the other differences, some better, some not.

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Don’t know if you can do it at the bin level, didn’t seem to work for me just now.

I use the keyboard shortcuts to work with audio; I link and unlink as needed, and adjust each as it goes in. Its no big deal to go back and change things once you get used to it.

Select your two tracks and hit option L to pair and unpair. Its a toggle. I tend to keep actual stereo paired.

When selecting tracks that are linked, hold down option to just select a particular track, say just audio 2. Or (and this is how I usually work) turn linking off, and use option when you DO want to select all of a clips tracks.

As an Avid editor myself, I really like the flexibility of linking and unlinking. It just takes some getting used to, like all of the other differences, some better, some not.

Hope this helps,
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

I’ll second what Andrew says. Tell your story first, then trash it up. If your story is “this is going to be a great game!” then tell us why; what’s the drama? who’s the key player? what’s the history of these two teams?, etc. Keep in mind that if its a promo, your story needs to include when and where I can watch it.

Build your excitement with your cut, then worry about spicing it up with flashes, or film pops, or rolls, or whatever. Starting with your transitions is working backward, and it’ll slow you down.

I’ll put in a shameless plug for our editors at Turner Studios who work on sports. Insanely good cutters. The FX are brilliant, but they enhance the spot, not make it. If you look at the TNT website I’m sure you’ll find some examples.

ESPN does great work, too. Turn them on for an hour and you’ll see some really effective ads. And don’t get mired in Sports as a medium. Good cutting is good cutting. IFC, SyFy, AMC, any of the Scripps channels, NatGeo, all great places to see good promo work.

Hope this helps, Good luck.
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

I’ve never had a problem either, going back to version 3. I use auto save backups regularly. In fact, mine is set to every five minutes; we had some memory leak problems with huge projects, and FCP would crash often.

Just curious, what problems did it cause?

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Your timeline window is open, right? You just can’t find your actual sequence?

And you actually have autosave vault turned off in preferences? Its not that you just don’t pay any attention to it? Because its autosaving unless you’ve told it not to.

If you’ve told it not to autosave, surely you back your project up somewhere, right? Tell me you do…

Thumbdrive? Time machine? CD? Anything? ‘Cause if your sequence is highlighted and you hit ‘delete’ then its gone – unless you can undo. But once you’ve closed FCP you can’t undo your way back.

In which case, sorry. I hope you’ll turn autosave back on.

Good luck,
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Hey Jesus,

There is a third party plug-in by Edit Mule that will allow you to select specific filters for removal. Its $40, but that might be well worth it depending on how many clips you’re talking about, especially if you’re being paid for the job: time to remove individual filters at $x per hour vs. $40 for the plug-in…

That being said, I have never used Edit Mule, don’t know anyone who has, so take my suggestion with a caveat emptor. Maybe some kind soul will post here who has actually used it, with good or bad results. Or the Edit Mule folks themselves may chime in.

I’d try Andy’s XML suggestion. Nothing to lose, right?

Good luck with it.
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

How about saving your 180 flip as a motion favorite? I don’t know of a way to apply it to a group of clips at the bin level, but at least its a simple keystroke (control shift 5) once you call up a clip. If you do it prior to cutting, just apply the favorite each time you put a clip in the viewer.

Not a solution, but a workaround…

Cheers,
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Dan Monro]

Or choose “option L” to make them a stereo pair.

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6