[Stephen Mark]

Thanks Zach and Pat.

That new iMac was looking tempting. Oh, well.

[Stephen Mark]

I’m thinking about upgrading my computer so want to be clear: your alpha channel problem only happens in Catalina? I ask because Avid Link updated my MC software to 2020.6. I’m still on Mojave. Yesterday I did import media with an alpha channel I’d created in After Effects. MC recognized what it was, offered me the choice of importing as either regular footage or as a matte key. I chose matte key and everything worked.

But I did come across this post and now am concerned about being forced to Catalina with a new computer purchase.

Thanks for clarifying, if you don’t mind.

[Stephen Mark]

I think the answer is if you plan to share bins between two different Avids, keep the font set to the default appFont.

I’ve only encountered this problem when the font has been changed in the system where the bin was created. For whatever reason (font ID?) the second system doesn’t see the change correctly. Even changing it manually in the second system won’t work as the bin reverts to whatever font it has chosen as a substitute.

For anyone wanting to bother with a possible alternative, you can try creating new bins in the second Avid, set the font there, and drag the material out of the original bin into the new one. But that seems like busy work to me — and I don’t guarantee it works, just think it does.

[Stephen Mark]

Amen.

[Stephen Mark]

I believe this is the second time in recent months that I’ve been stymied by some feature or lack thereof in the Production Suite where you have responded that the problem I’m having really is a problem with the software and not me. Thank you for at least keeping me sane.

[Stephen Mark]

Hi Jon. I encountered this thread while also trying to figure out how to mark a clip in Premiere Pro. I teach editing but don’t know this program. I was recently hired to teach a class at a school that uses it, however, and while I consider the teaching of editing and the teaching of software to be different topics, obviously students have to be able to work with the software the school provides. So I’m here learning what I can in order to stay ahead of them, but did want to comment on the question of editors “obsessed” with keystrokes.

I always teach students to learn to use the keyboard as much as possible as it is definitely the best way to work in a professional situation, especially when you have collaborators in a room with you asking for changes and wanting to see quick results. One reason mousing is slow is that in my experience studios set up editing stations with dual monitors and most editors place bins on one and the editing windows on the other. Anyone wanting to drag and drop has to cover a lot of real estate as well as risk the occasional premature release of an icon. Also, long and complex projects usually expand the timeline vertically and I want to dedicate as much screen space for it as possible to maximize the number of tracks I can see. That means reducing the number of graphic toolbars and limiting click commands to those I use only occasionally. Another issue is trimming, a process I encourage students do while watching their cuts loop in order to get the best rhythm. Trimming with a mouse usually stops playback. That may not be a big deal for any one trim, but getting in the habit of trimming without having to stop, trim, watch, trim again etc. is to me a long term time saver and leads to better editing.

What I find frustrating about being committed to Premiere specifically for teaching is that many schools protect their computer labs by installing programs that wipe from the boot drive any student added material each time the computer shuts down. That means customizing and saving settings is problematic. Thus I usually teach students to use the default settings in school and let them know they will have options when they leave to make these programs work faster in the future. The problem with Premiere from that perspective (admittedly a unique one) is that it has the fewest default keyboard shortcuts of any editing program I’ve seen and thus I am unable to practice what I preach. The good news is that schools usually have students working with only one monitor each and for that set up — and the fact it is a school and not a studio and projects are short and simple — the difference between mousing and stroking may be hard to perceive.

[Stephen Mark]

Hi Matt. I’m a terrible source for FCP info. My problem with the indy feature — which never did get resolved to my satisfaction — was that it had been completely shot before anyone gave any thought to a post production workflow. So my first general question for you would be whether or not your series is still in production. If it is, ask the sound recordist to dedicate one of his tracks to a mixdown of all the others. If you have that, then I believe you or your assistant can sync the picture to the recordist’s mixdown using just that audio track. I believe you can then drag that synchronized “sequence” from the FCP timeline into the browser window and you will have a merged clip. Presumably the mixed track would trace back to the other 7 master tracks. If you are out of production, then I have to say, no, I don’t know what to suggest other than examining each track to see if there are any empty ones and after you’ve synchronized the master audio but before you merge the clip, delete the empty tracks. Not as satisfying as you will still have multiple tracks, but perhaps you will have less than eight. (And BTW, although I think this last step is easier if you are working in Avid, in any production your best bet is to get to the sound person and let him or her know your needs off the top.) Good luck. Since you’re doing a sitcom, hopefully you’ll still get some laughs out of it.

[Stephen Mark]

Thanks Michael. That sounds promising — especially if there’s a Mac version (which I guess there must be if you’re telling me this on an FCP forum). I will definitely check out Wave Agent — at least for the next time. Had to turn that other project over so made it someone else’s problem. And I’m inferring from your suggestion that I look to a third party product that there is indeed no way to get that track cut in using FCP native functions. (Yeah, I know I could create 24 timeline tracks, splice the piece I want across, shift it up to one of the lower number tracks, delete the extra timeline tracks… but while I was doing all that, I would feel as if I’d gone mental.)

[Stephen Mark]

I appreciate your comments, Michael. You were clearly able to find work with people who gave thought to post-production while shooting. They understood that having a post supervisor is a good idea. They saw the benefit of relating picture and audio timecode on set. The sound man had the decency to generate a rough mix of his discrete tracks. And if the editor was using DNxHD files, I’m guessing he or she was working with Avid. This is the kind of professionalism I’m used to as well. I come to a forum like this when in moments of weakness I agree to work for folks whose budgets are in inverse proportion to their ignorance about editing workflows. The project that prompted my question here was underway before I arrived and its organization left a lot to be desired (by me, anyway). The audio had been shot onto a 24 track master. Whoever had been working on the edits before me had done something or other to reduce the working tracks — perhaps a mix down, perhaps an export and reimport — and since I wasn’t going to have to deal with tracing the work track back to the original sound, I didn’t ask whether that process is problematic. I did, however, come upon a case where the cleanest audio I could find for one moment of the show lived on track 24 of the master audio. It was not audible in the mix downs (which were already occupying about 8 tracks of timeline — way more than I want to be working with} I am not an FCP expert. I kept fiddling with that 24 track audio clip but could not for the life of me figure out how to get the sound I wanted into my sequence. (In Avid I would have just patched it to one of the pre-existing audio tracks in the timeline.) I kept thinking there must be a way to do this and a better general way to work with multi-track recordings within FCP, but despite clicking on everything I could think of while holding down option and whatever other modifier keys I found lying around, I never did figure how. Help sites and tutorials said nothing. And so I posted my question here. If anyone knows the trick of taking a few frames of good sound from track 24 of a 24 track master audio clip and getting it onto track 1 of an FCP audio timeline, please reply. Thank you.

[Stephen Mark]

I’m fascinated by your comment that working with several production audio tracks is “always done” in the professional world. I edit professionally and never want more than one production track per source clip unless there is no way to get a reference mix of the multi-track master audio. Patrick’s intuitive sense that manipulating 8 tracks of production audio while getting to picture lock is cumbersome is absolutely right by me. And since I checkerboard production audio while editing, using 8 track source would require a 16 track timeline. What I want is a single audio track that references via timecode or actually links to the multi-track original. That’s the track I would synchronize to my video. I’ve been a professional editor for 40 years, but what I’ve only recently found myself having to do is work with multi-track production audio in Final Cut Pro. And it is indeed a mystery to me how to import the multi-track production audio, sync it, and then create those single audio track working clips that I can manipulate until it is time to hand the project to my sound designer (or send it to an audio editing program). If there are no professionals other than me who work this way, I’d be amazed to find it out. On the other hand, if there is indeed someone who knows the best workflow for creating the kind of source material I want to work with in FCP, I’d very much appreciate having that information.