[John Fishback]

Are the spots in the imported clips, or do they appear after edit or render? More info about your workflow would be helpful. What kind of camera was used, what media (tape, P2, SxS, etc.), how you imported, etc?

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.6

Pro Tools HD 10 w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

This happened here, too. In our case there was a delay introduced by monitoring audio thru the Kona card, but viewing video on the MacPro. When audio pref was switched to audio line out everything was in sync.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.6

Pro Tools HD 10 w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

In line with what Richard said, the G3 has an Easy Setup that will scan the local frequencies for interference and give you choices of the best freqs to use.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.6

Pro Tools HD 10 w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

AFAIK, FCPX does not have tracking at the moment. You have to do it with keyframes which as you’ve discovered is not easy and almost impossible when you want a solid lock.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.6

Pro Tools HD 10 w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

You need to track the background to hold the videos in place. That can be done on Motion or AfterFX.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

FCP assumes a frame rate from the Easy Setup used at the start of your project. Try this advice from Jeremy Garchow, “First, delete the audio out of FCP and your timeline. Set FCP up in an easy setup for your project (23.98 , 25 ,etc.), then quit FCP. Now reopen FCP and reimport your audio.” This has worked for others and often is easier than pulling the audio up or down.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

This is all very handy, but I like to keep all assets used in a project in one place. And when the project’s put to bed, I archive all of it. My worry is what happens if a drive goes down? Your clips go red and you might not know where they came from. I also clone my RAID every night.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

Many thanks, Jeremy. That’s fixed it.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

Unshared mask from Alex4D. Works very well.
https://alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[John Fishback]

You should set audio keyframes following Loren’s suggestion. You can do this in the Inspector or in the clip itself. Zoom in and put your cursor over the clip. Move it slowly up & down and at some point you’ll see “0 db” pop up. That’s the starting point for every clip and it refers to the level or loudness of the clip. At the same time you see “0 db” you’ll also see a faint horizontal line light up. That’s your level line. When your cursor is over this line and you Option-Click you’ll set a keyframe. Play until the audio is too low or too loud. Back up to just before the level change and set a keyframe. Then play until the audio gets too loud or soft. Set another keyframe and by dragging it up or down you increase or decrease the volume. So go through your clip and adjust your levels using keyframes so they are consistent. Watch your audio meters as you do this. Just be sure you NEVER go above 0 on the meters. Note that “0 db” shown in your clip usually won’t produce 0 in the meters. It doesn’t matter what db is in the clip just what’s in the meter. Most recommendations are to adjust your levels so the meter reads around -12. Once you get keyframing your audio under control you should start investigating how compressors and limiters work. You’ll find them in the Effects Browser under Audio > Levels. Also, there are many free tutorials. Just Google “audio keyframing fcpx” and a bunch will pop up.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.5

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN