[Gary Hughes]

I completely agree with Matte. However, you may be able to improve it slightly (doubt it though with the on camera mic). There is a plugin from elemental audio that I have reduced reverb effect with. The recording was good to begin with, but the room was not. It was a highly reverberant room. This can be done with many compressors and expanders, but this one makes it easier to understand and tweak than others. https://www.elementalaudio.com/products/neodynium/index.html The idea is to compress all the audio above a certain volume and turn it up to a maximum loudness, then expand all the audio below that same level and turn it down as much as possible. With a really poor recording, don’t expect a miracle, but the plugin has a free trial, so give it a shot.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I got tired of always changing iTunes settings for work and back to play for my iPod. I found the coolest little $10 app. https://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/ It’ll convert just about any type of audio file to any other type, fast. It’ll also convert stereo and mono, sample rates, bit rates, data rates, and more. Never use iTunes for conversion again. It’s free to try, $10 to keep. Well worth it.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Try zipping the file before attaching it.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Most people here will tell you not to archive the original media that was captured via timecode. They are completely correct in their thinking, and it works for them, but for me, like yourself, I don’t mind keeping it for a while. My archive method serves me well and I keep the media archived for 3 years, so outdated technology isn’t really an issue.

I have a firewire drive enclosure that I bought off of ebay for about $25. When I finish a project, I buy an ide drive that’s slightly larger than I need, put it in the enclosure, format it and copy all the project files, image files, media, everything… to it. Then I take it out of the enclosure, label it, and pack it away, along with a copy of the master tape of the finished project. I haven’t implemented off-site storage, but I keep this separate from the original tapes.

In addition to the hard drive, I burn everything except captured media to DVD-R for redundancy. I store the DVD along with project notes, scripts, and original footage.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

In no specific order:

Ditto on a few things, with some additional comments,
–Multi-codec timelines. Pinnacle (now Avid) has been doing this via software, for a while, with Liquid Edition.
–Capture window with more feedback (timecode/record indicator, etc…)
–Capture window with live audio meters!!!– again, more feedback.
–Introduce external hardware for color correcting and plugin parameter changes (MIDI or USB based).
–Better native handling of image sequences- you should be able to treat one like a clip in both the browser & timeline. Most NLEs I’ve used do this at the import stage. You pick the first file and tell it that it’s an image sequence. It assembles, renders, and imports the clip, in one step. I suspect FCP doesn’t do this because of the question, “which codec do you use to import it?” If they add multi-codec support, that won’t be a problem anymore. You just set it in preferences and use it on the mixed codec sequence.
–A curves-based color control similar to the one in Photoshop.
–A preference to turn off ripple effect when speed changing a clip in the timeline. Actually, make it the standard. Rippleing should be my choice, not the software’s.
–A better way of showing clips in the browser that have been used in the timeline. Make it a column in the browser.

And for some new ones,
–Turn on the GUIs that come with audio units plugins
–Add a set of sequence options for showing timecode overlays. They should be timeline based, not a generator. The current method is a workaround for the lack of a true feature, at best. You should never have to fill all the holes in your video and create a new sequence in order to show your client, on TV, playing timecode. On my Discreet system, I leave this on most of the time while editing. It’s so much more usable.
–A titleing tool that is directly in FCP that allows you to see your video in the background as you layout your titles. Plus, the ability to create simple and custom shapes with solid color as fills and strokes, gradient fills and strokes, imported images as fills and strokes, and all with gradient on transparency as well. Think Inscriber Title Motion, inside FCP. I know this isn’t important to feature film editors, but don’t leave out those of us who do training, marketing, corporate videos and commercials. I just finished 16 pages of titles for a 28:30 infomercial.
–A way to reassociate a clip on a sequence to a master clip in the browser. (Maybe there’s a way already, I don’t know.)
–The ability to do volume or pan changes on a selected range of clips or an entire track at once.
–The ability to add filters to an entire track. My desire is for audio, but others will want this for video as well, I’m sure. (Don’t suggest “paste attribute”. It’s just not the same.)
–The ability to add a compressor and/or a peak limiter, post master volume control in the audio mixer. It should be the absolute, very last thing in the audio chain, just prior to the meter.
–The ability to name your tracks.
–A true numerical dB readout including peak hold readout, in the audio mixer is fine. Icing on the cake would be a real-time RMS readout along with Peak.
–A better keyframe editor with useable Bezier curves. Add Bezier curves to everything that is keyframable.
–Tick marks at -3, -9, and -15dB on the peak meters, plus tick marks at 1dB increments on the master meter in the audio mixer.
–A way to search for the loudest peak in your timeline. It could automatically add a marker labeled “Peak” also.
–The ability to stretch the peak meter window. My standard view has about 3/4″ wasted below the meter. Why not let me use it?
–When adding a clip to a sequence via the drag to canvas method, auto-select the timeline window so I don’t have to.

I’m sure I have more. That’s all I can think of now.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Yes, but having a used/unused column in the browser would be nice, and easy for them to program.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Be sure you actually have transparency in your image in photoshop. (Be sure you can see the gray/white checkerboard.) Save it as a png or if you want to save it as a tiff or tga, be sure that you put a check by “save image transparency” in the save dialogue. I do it all the time. Works great.

The magic wand can leave artifacts depending on what you’re working on. Don’t use it! Instead, if you wish to use Bryce’s method, command+click on the thumbnail on the layer itself. It’s a true selection without tolerance for antialias artifacts, unlike the magic wand. It will select all non-transparent pixels. It will even leave something that is 50% opaque, 50% opaque. If you have more than one layer, you can either merge them before selecting, or you can command+click on one, then shift+command+click on the others to add them all together for an overall selection.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

That’s true, but the quicker, and better, fix for the timecode burn issue is to make it like Discreet’s was. It wan’t a generator or an effect, it was a sequence setting that you turned on or off. It had nothing to do with the contents of the timeline at all. It just very very simply, displayed the timeline’s timecode. It even had options. You could have it also display the clips timecodes if you wished, and even the clips descriptions, and more. I can’t even remember all of the options right now. To display timcode while playing your timeline, should be as simple as displaying it in the viewer or canvas is now. I find it really strange that in order to display your sequences timecode, you have to apply an effect to a clip. That alone is a little disturbing to me. Add to that, the clip has to be a nest of the sequence that you want to see timecode for. It’s one of the least thought out things in FCP, in my opinion.

The job I’m working on now is broken into 4 very defined sections. So, I have a section 1 sequence, section 2 sequence, section 3 sequence, and section 4 sequence. Then I have a full length sequence which contains each of the 4 sections plus a temporary visible phone number title. Then I have a completely new full length sequence just so I can display timeline timecode in my exports that I upload for my client to see online. With discreet, the second full length sequence isn’t needed. You simply click on a button at the top of the timeline and turn on “Show Timecode”, and hit OK.

Back to your original statement, the earlier versions of Discreet had a DVE track that you could stretch out a DVE on and it would effect everything under it, even if there wasn’t anything there.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

If you have CS2 and a firewire device connected to your broadcast monitor, you can view the image directly from photoshop. Just go to “File” then “Export” then “Video Preview”. I’m sure EchoFire is a much better solution though.

My use of gamma correction in photoshop is not technical. I choose the gamma correction based on artistic choice. However, there is a wonderful artical by Graeme Nattress on Ken Stone’s site. He touches on gamma correction, but more importantly (for me anyway), he covers “White” and “Super White” with FCP. This is something that got me when I first got my FCP system. https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/video_levels_nattress.html If nothing else, at least read the “Things To Remember” section at the bottom. That alone should help a lot. But basically, no matter how much effort you take to be sure you are seeing your photoshop image on your TV and through your scopes while you correct it in photoshop, if you don’t have your timeline setting in Final Cut Pro, called

[Gary Hughes]

I’m with you there. There are a few stock things on Discreet Edit that I really miss here, but otherwise, I really love my FCP.

Thanks,
Gary