[Nary Von]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for helping me with this issue.

[Jeremy Garchow] “Look at the audio mixer (option-6). If it’s a stereo clip, I am sure ch1 is -1 and ch2 is +1, i.e. a stereo clip.”
You are correct, ch1 = -1 and ch2 = +1

[Jeremy Garchow] “When capturing you can usually choose to bring them in stereo pair or dual mono.”
When capturing I use Final Cut’s “Log and Transfer” utility. How can I choose to bring the clips in as dual mono? The options on the L&T utility come in the form of 2 buttons, “Logging” and “Import Settings”. I don’t see any dual mono settings in either one. “Logging” consists of Reel, Clip Name, Scene, Shot/Take, Angle, & Log Note. “Import Settings” consists of a “Video” checkbox and “Audio (Audio is mixed down to stereo)” checkbox.

The only place I found “dual mono” is under Final Cut Pro – User Preferences – Audio Options tab, I found “Stereo Monitoring L+R” preset checked. I duplicated it as a new custom preset, and edited my new custom preset as “Grouping = Dual Mono” instead of “Grouping = Stereo”. I left everything else as the default, which is Outputs=2, downmix (db) = -3 for 1 and 2 (I think that is referring to each channel). The new custom preset is now checked.

After configuring the new custom preset, I still run into the same problem after I import clips, so I’m missing something. This issue also happens when I bring in any other audio, like music or voice over audio clips. So it’s not just happening to clips that go through “Log and Transfer”

After searching the internet and playing with Final Cut for awhile, I’m not sure how to unpair an exsisting audio clip and make it dual mono. However, if I can configure Final Cut to bring all my clips in as dual mono, I guess I don’t need to worry about how to unpair and make a clip dual mono. I can stick to dragging the Pan = 0 until I figure this out.

[Nary Von]

Thanks for the replies.

After reading your comments, my initial plan is to keep two things:
1. disc images of every disc I sell to clients, for a minimum of 5 years (4-5 GB each) backed up on and off site with external hard drives. In case the customer wants to buy another copy down the road.
2. original .mov video that was transfered to the computer with Final Cut Pro, with .fcp file for 1 month. In case changes need to be made to the video. Then I’ll delete these files forever after 1 month.

Here’s the wording I use in my contract, so my customer’s are aware of this:
“Changes to the DVD(s) and its contents must be requested within 1 month following receipt. Due to our archive procedure, change requests made after 1 month are not guaranteed possible. DVD(s) are archived and are able to be reproduced for a minimum of 5 years from your wedding date.”

I’ll delete all FCP rendered files, exported .mov from FCP, Compressor files .m2v & .ac3. I can always recreate these from the original .mov and accompanied .fcp file. That should free up a lot of space, I can handle 5-20 GB of .img files for each project after a month rolls by.

The 2 things I’ll keep will be on my 2TB external drives (I said 1TB before by mistake). I also keep a copy on my redundant onsite 2TB hard drives. In addition, I keep a copy offsite as well, in case I have a fire or something. So each disc image is saved in 3 different places. I’ll fire up the drives occasionally and replace when they go bad down the road.

@Amir: I don’t think media manager would work for me, if it’s my videos, I like to keep everything anyway. If it’s a client, I offer raw footage DVDs, so all the footage is used and nothing would be weeded out. I’ll take your advice on keeping only DVD files….like in my case, .img disc images

@Ben: Yeah, I like the .img idea…

@Kris: Why didn’t I know that drive docks existed? I just dropped $170 on a bunch of 2TB external hard drives. I haven’t checked yet, but buying standard hard drives that you can stick in your closet and pop in a dock sounds a lot easier and maybe cheaper than what I’m doing now with external drives stacked on the other side of my wall out of sight with cables coming through the wall. I need to look into drive docks next time I need to purchase some storage.

@Walter: Yes, I agree, they will fail, someday. I have them in 3 places (one of them is offsite). I’ll take your advice on checking the drives from time to time.

-Nary