[Jim Giberti]

[Fredy Schwerdtner] “Maybe a nice video tutorial about sound mixing in FCPX ?”

If it was worthwhile to people I could do something on my approach, after I get these projects out. Plus it will give me some more time to work with it.

For starters, if you haven’t already – make sure you get a copy of Apple’s Logic Effects Reference pdf. It’s a great overview, and for people that have never used Convolution reverb before, understanding that is worth it in itself – the Logic Space Designer is a world class reverb.

The Channel EQ is great too as is it’s counterpart for mastering, the Linear Phase EQ. Having the Analyze and FFT features right there on a Master Out CC is really nice.

The bottom line is that Compound Clips are the way to make use of the Logic element of FCP X.

[Jim Giberti]

[steve knattress] “I have done exactly what Margaret was doing with FCP7
I was just commenting that it would not work as well with FCPX”

Yeah me too Steve, I’m importing the footage from a 3 part TV campaign started in7 into X as I type, all h.264 footage. I’ll certainly post if I have any problems.

Regarding luck, It’s also as/more likely that you’ve got some corrupted files than I’m just lucky. I haven’t had a single glitch and I’ve been pushing my system sometimes 16 hour days. What are you running?

Did you see Timothy’s post where he used FCPXML to identify the corrupt files?
Just a thought.

Jim

[Jim Giberti]

[steve knattress] ”
Yes you could do that in fcp if it will import the files in the first place without crashing! ( see other thread)”

I have no problem importing footage this way Steve.
And I haven’t had a single crash since using X, yet. What thread are you referring to?

This obviously isn’t “what’s the best way to handle media” thread. Margaret had a unique situation with an existing project not started in X and I gave her “one approach” that you she could also do directly in the Event Browser, for now or in the future – more options are good.

[Jim Giberti]

I can’t offer a comparison but I can say that I’ve been pushing X pretty hard for a week on an iMac i7 and haven’t had a single crash or glitch.
Much of time it’s been running with Motion, PS and several other apps open.
I have several iMacs running in my studios and bang for the buck, they are the best systems I’ve ever run.

[Jim Giberti]

[Timothy Payton] “Humm. Sounds like your footage may be corrupted. However, why don’t you send me the your fcpxml, I’ll take a look at it if you want. Send it to “t” and-then-that-little-at-sign-then onecreative and then a dot an”

A nice guy and a smart guy.
I like you already Timothy.

[Jim Giberti]

Hi Margaret,
I’d have to know a little more before I say this absolutely but I think you can get where you want a lot easier without involving Compressor and that whole process.

How much footage are you looking at?
Are they selects or just raw footage?

Just a quick example.
In X , you can select a clip in the event browser, right click it and transcode it right there.
Once you drop that into the timeline it will establish ProRes as your project setup.
Then you could select the footage as you want to use it, right click and add to the edit.
You could then remove all the unused footage after your cut if you want to streamline your Event.

Just as one “for instance”.

[Jim Giberti]

Hey Bill,
Right now, the projects I’m starting in X are all from existing folders so I had the same head scratch as Timothy.
In fact, if you watch Larry Js section on media and Events he states flatly that you should copy any folder of files directly to your desktop before starting the ingest process.
I really should contact him and tell him how misleading this is for the countless people using Canon DSLRs (maybe the actual core of X users right now?)

So when I come back from my first shoot next week where I’ll start an X edit from scratch, If I use a Disk Image, I will be able to use the “camera Import” function in X and do selects?

I was greatly disappointed with the inability to do this based on the documentation and LJs overview.

The obvious advantage being: store a 16 gig card for posterity. Transcode only, perhaps, 2 gigs to Pro Res for your actual edit.

Hey, glad you liked my audio ideas.
I’ve been enjoying your cogent explanations for a while.

[Jim Giberti]

[gary Tompkins] “thanks Jim for posting this. As someone with FCS looking at the field of replacements with a background in audio myself, the way FCPX deals with audio is a concern for me. I’m still looking at how FCPX might be useful so I appreciate your insight.”

Hey, anything for a guy in a paper hat.

The thing I want to make sure doesn’t get lost in my post – I don’t know of any NLE that’s handled audio post well enough to replace a DAW. Regarding Andy’s point above – I’ve never even opened the mixer in FCP, but I don’t do any real time work, it’s all narrative, doc and spot work where we’ve got the time to do a real audio mix.

Given how good I found the Logic integration in X, I was determined to see if I could use the new paradigm to replace round tripping, and I was delighted to find that Compound Clips are not just very different from tracks and sequences but are a brilliant way to manage audio and easily mix sources with quality EQ, verbs and dynamic control.

The fact that all audio can be quickly organized and manipulated sonically at the clip level, group level and master out was a real eye opener for me.

I think the people who can step away from the mixer metaphor will get a real advantage if they want to post directly in fcp X.
Given what I’ve learned so far, if they put a mixer into the next version, I can’t see why I’d use it.

Put it this way.
If I could open a complex mix in Digital Performer right now and just grab random tracks with my mouse and instantly group them with a single click and apply whatever processing I wanted.
If in the process I now had easily identifiable subs of all relevant material that I could see at a glance, open and close instantly and master just as easily – I don’t think I’d spend much time at my 48 track mixer.

I’m just getting going with this, but I think audio people should shake off their existing conceptual prejudice and spend some time working with some audio in X, they might come away with the same sense.

I can think of a bunch of shortfalls already that would be easily improved, but the compromise so far seems inconsequential given the fact that I can do a mix faster than in DP or Logic and with the same sonic quality.

I think they’re onto something good enough that it should get incorporated into DAWs.

[Jim Giberti]

[Andy Field] “Thanks for sharing your techniques.
“

You bet Andy,

It’s hardly a one size fits all editor. We’re a creative shop that handles the concept, production and post and distributes to networks and clients without their presence ( I just realized how strange that sounds after I typed it). We were talking about it the other day here – Our studios are on a mountain top in VT and I haven’t had client sit in on a project…well, ever really.

[Jim Giberti]

[Andy Field] “So are you saying that in the master volume for your SECONDARY Story Line — you can control this volume in real time while the track is playing and it records keyframes on the fly so you can “duck” music under narration etc and then bring it back just like the mixer in FCP 7?”

No Andy, can’t record the moves that I’m aware of (and the fader’s way to inaccurate for any reasonable move anyway.)

But, FWIW, before automated consoles we use to have a couple of engineers rehearsing complex moves like that when going to master.

Then we got automated consoles that would record those moves and play them back with motorized faders.

As soon as we got DAWs and virtual mixers where I could run my faders from an SSL Nucleus or Mackie type controller I immediately began to do less and less because it’s much less accurate for critical work than just drawing a curve in a sequence window.

I would never use a fader to duck music under a VO especially now in X because I can see the waveform and hear the track instantly mark my fade points, use the R tool to select the range and in one step create a four point keyframe fade up and down. Option click for a minute and you’ve got it perfect.

If I’m ducking something for film or broadcast I could rough it out with a fader move but there’s no way I’m not going to refine it with a curve. With this technique you go right to the fade and smoothing with a simple drag and pull.