[Robert Withers]

I followed all the instructions on how to export an XML timeline in FCP 5 or 7 and import an XML file in Premiere Pro CC. It imported a 30 minute timeline but the second half of it was greyed out, inaccessible in Pr. Some clips were inserted twice or in the wrong place. Some weeks went by and I realized, duh, put the second half in a new FCP timeline and export that section as a separate XML. That worked correctly, I pasted the two sections together in Pr and voila.

But no problems at all just opening the FCP5 project in FCP 7.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

I made the transition from FCP 5 projects to FCP 7. FCP 7 opened the files with no problem. Later I exported some of these projects as XMLs (with a couple of hitches) and am editing the same projects in Premiere Pro CC, which points at the same original media files as did FCP 5.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

What I finally did was after looking at a couple of good Larry Jordan webinars (I mean old webinars), figure out how to open and edit the tracks in Audition, filter and equalize, and export back to a stereo mix track in the Premiere Timeline.
The Audition tools were very graphic and easier to work with; the only hitch was that when I applied an effect to one track or clip I couldn’t figure out how to copy it to the other, so ended up writing down the parameters and applying them again.
Back in Premiere I couldn’t figure out how to delete the submaster and master I’d created on the timeline, so had to set the submaster to -infinity db and the master to off, then mute the original tracks to be able to export only the mix track via AME.
It worked, but I’ve got more to learn.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

Thanks again, Richard,
I’m understanding that whatever you do inside Premiere, it’s set up in the project file and actually performed in the export, like through AME.
It was clearly a mistake to turn those stereo tracks into 2 mono. The camcorder recorded “stereo” and when I imported the clip Premiere put it in one of those single stereo tracks. But it’s edited in the timeline and I’m trying to deal with it. Losing one is an option, but they’re not _exactly_ identical. I guess I could filter/equalize one and then apply identical settings to the other–what I was trying to avoid by combining them.
I did try opening them to edit in Audition and saw two Audio Extract files with exactly the same clipname appear in the project panel. That confused me. Again, looks like I would need to perform identical effects on each track. Maybe that’s the simplest thing.
It seems simpler now than to mix them and import back into the project.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

Thank you, Richard. I’ll experiment with the new sequence idea. What I meant was, where is the OUTPUT of the mix? Where is the file that holds the mix? I’ve done mixing in recording studios and film mix studios and we always ended up with something–used to be tape or magnetic track–that contained the results of the mix.
When I play through the movie watching the levels in the Audio Track Mixer that is sending outputs to a submix track and master track . . . nothing appears in the tracks on the timeline or in the project panel.
This is obviously so basic I can’t find it in any documentation and I’m too dumb to figure it out.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

There is a preference setting to fix this. The default is something like “open project in new tab.
You can shut this option off. Sorry I can’t be more specific.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

I use Adobe Acrobat a lot professionally … what a buggy, clunky program . . . we writers have all learned workaround strategies to deal with regular crashes and freezes, and to make do with clumsy, unpredictable, semi-functional features … I’m always amazed that major medical advertising corporations build business workflows on this buggy software and that it’s the same company that purports to offer high-end photo and cinema software. Don’t expect too much from Adobe and you won’t be disappointed. Got to live with the bugs.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

Red Giant claims they fixed compatibility with CC 2014 as of June 19th
https://www.redgiant.com/blog/2014/06/19/creative-cloud-2014/
But their own Link software to provide updates isn’t compatible with the plugs I just purchased: Frames and Instant HD

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

Weirdly, today the problem disappeared.
In the Apple Info window I was able to set “everyone” to Read & Write with no error issues. (Admin and “staff” were already set to Read & Write.)
In Premiere, no error message, and I could set the Project Scratch disks.
IT folks always say, “Restart your machine.” I’d add, Restart a few times, Eject Disks and Relink a few times, and Wait a Day.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Robert Withers]

See this interesting discussion on the Linkedin Premiere list: https://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=157827&type=member&item=5885033007076622337&qid=9b4c9641-d8da-46bf-abde-d3a70f41c3d3&goback=.gmr_157827.gde_157827_member_5891739910234210305.gmr_157827

Apparently the Red Giant plugins are officially not working with Pr 2014 (per Red Giant).

I’ve gone back to using Pr CC 7.something from fall 2013.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City