[David Lawrence]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “don’t you miss proper waveforms at all in FCPX? I detest those small, vector style interpretations of the waveform data.”

Spot on. The FCPX waveform display is a joke. Utter garbage. Another example of the engineering mindset oversimplifying something it doesn’t fully understand. At least have a preference for proper waveforms. Sheesh!

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[David Lawrence]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “I do this a lot to clean up scratch VOs – you’re killing a pop there aren’t you? that setup – me knows well.”

Yep, exactly right. Simple, fast, and subframe precise. I thought everyone worked this way. Guess there’s still a few advanced audio tricks in legacy for people to learn. 😉

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[David Lawrence]

[Carsten Orlt] “You have even more possibilities in FCP7 by holding shift when setting in or out in the viewer. What happens though is that FCP7 shifts the audio samples to fit your selected subframe back into the 1 frame grid.”

This is not exactly right. Holding shift enables subframe scrubbing with the time indicator. This allows you to hear the waveform at a subframe level so you can precisely set keyframes.

Shift has no effect on In/Out points which must always line up with the frame. Shift also has no effect on the offset of the waveform. The audio object itself can only move in single frame increments. Frankly, this has never been an issue for me. With subframe volume control, I have all the precision I need to do anything I want.

FCPX definitely has some cool audio features, but I just can’t get excited about subframe editing. I’ve been doing that in legacy for years just fine. 😉

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[David Lawrence]

[Chris Harlan] “Sounds good. I do an extreme amount of dialog cutting and replacing. Its a shame I didn’t know about this earlier.”

Here’s another tip – you can scrub at a subframe level in the viewer by holding down the shift key. Here’s an example:

Note that the time indicator is in-between frames. This lets you isolate the exact place in the waveform to keyframe.

I’m surprised more people don’t know about these features. They’re really good, especially for dialogue.

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[David Lawrence]

[Chris Harlan] “Dang! I almost never rubber-band with in FCP. I didn’t know that existed. Whenever I have to get in there like that, I just send it to Soundtrack Pro. I’ll have to try that during my remaining stay in FCPville.”

I’m telling ya Chris, you’ll be amazed how much control you have with this technique.

My dialogue cutting sounds completely seamless. I can fabricate words with this method and you won’t be able tell. I didn’t start using SoundTrack Pro until just a couple years ago and even today, I only use it when I need to fix specific problems. Ninety percent of the time I can do everything I need with audio right in FCP.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

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[David Lawrence]

[Carsten Orlt] “Being restricted to 1 frame at a time was always a big problem, specially once you done some editing in an DAW and saw how much more control you have there.”

You’ve never been restricted to one frame if you know what you’re doing. Here’s an example of a sub-frame audio edit:

I’ve been using this technique for years. It’s especially handy for dialogue cutting.

Don’t get me wrong, FCPX does have more precise control, but it’s simply incorrect to say that you’re restricted to one frame. Sub-frame audio control has always been possible in Final Cut Pro via volume keyframes and it works well.

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[David Lawrence]

[Herb Sevush] “How can linked clips get thrown out of sync? Markers are needed only for un-linked elements.

And one of the really great things about Legacy was the way the sync markers could re-sync, with options for how you wanted it done. Invaluable. “

You can option-click on one of the linked elements and move it separately, throwing it out of sync. Both elements are still linked but they display markers showing the offset. You can option-click on a sync marker and you get a drop down that lets you either move the element back into sync, or slip the content into sync.

The markers dissappear if you unlink. But if you re-link again, they re-appear. It’s workable, but I agree that Legacy is much better.

Re: Multicam – I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think once you get your hands on it.

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[David Lawrence]

[Herb Sevush] “I know what Symphony is and can do, I’m still not sure what PPro is, hence the uncertainty. I’m not a big AE user, I like having Symphony’s CC right in the Ap, but I’m not crazy about Avid’s stodgy timeline style. PPro is much more similar to FC in terms of actual cutting in the timeline, and if they have added the right features, like Legacy’s sync indicator, and if their multi-cam is flexible enough, then they’ve got me. Otherwise I know Avid can handle my workflow, and while I’ve been avoiding them for almost 20 years, if it’s got to be, so be it.”

Audio sync markers are there, but they’re at the top of my list of things needing improvement. Currently, they only display when linked audio and video are thrown out-of-sync. They disappear as soon as you unlink audio and video. It’s easy to select linked audio and video elements separately — just option select. But I don’t think this is a scaleable solution. Like FCP, audio and video elements from the same source should always show sync markers if slipped, regardless of whether the elements are linked or not.

Also, even though I don’t use multicam and haven’t tried it, I know it’s important to you. From what I’ve seen in demos, it looks like the PP’s multicam needs a complete redo. The whole paradigm of a separate window and needing to record a multicam session feels off to me.

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[David Lawrence]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Curious, David Lawrence. What kind of footage are you playing back?”

Nothing too aggressive — ProRes 422, XDCAM EX, and H.264, the kind of stuff I normally work with day-to-day. I have the same 4K Red sample footage as my bro and will fool around with it later today. His machine is a couple years newer than mine. He says he was playing full 4K source files, but at 1/8 resolution.

For my ProRes test I used this guide to set up an end-to-end workflow and was happy with the result:

https://blogs.adobe.com/VideoRoad/2011/08/a-prores-workflow-end-to-end.html

[Jeremy Garchow] “It could stand to use a DI codec as well, but maybe that will come later.”

Very true. I’m told they’re well aware so hopefully we’ll see something soon.

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[David Lawrence]

I downloaded the trial yesterday via a link in the RedUser forum and played with it all afternoon and evening.

Mind. Blown.

Believe the hype, the Conan boys are right. It really is Adobe’s Final Cut Pro 8.

I was positively giddy playing with the trim tools. They are now easily among the best in the industry. Avid users will jump for joy and at the same time, FCP users will be completely comfortable.

It handled native footage like butter with real-time playback and no rendering on my 4-year old Macbook Pro. I felt like I had a new machine! Chormakey, color correction, whatever I threw at it — it never blinked. My brother in LA had no problem cutting 4K Red footage, again on a Macbook Pro.

Is it perfect? Nope. I’ve started my list of things that need improvement, but nothing so far is a show stopper.

Make no mistake, Premiere Pro CS 6 is a game changing release. Once the masses get their hands on it, I predict you’ll see a huge shift to Adobe. Definitely from FCP users and also from Avid users who will now find PP very compelling.

Hat’s off to the Adobe team for not only listening, but for delivering the goods. If they continue like this, by version 7 or 8, they will truly have the Photoshop of NLEs.

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