Final Cut Pro X Ripple 8 - Working With Audio Components - SOUND Flashcards
Lesson 8: Working with Audio Components
During production, audio is often recorded to multiple channels. Dialogue might be recorded on one channel, reference audio on another channel, and wild sound on another. In some cases the audio will be recorded as mono, stereo or surround channels depending on the requirements of the shoot.
In any case, the editor will need access to some or all of these audio channels for syncing purposes and/or building a multi-layered sound mix. With the L8 project open make sure all the split edits are revealed in the timeline.
Each of these dialogue clips contain multiple channels - what Final Cut Pro calls __________. By simply looking at the audio below each clip there would be no way for you to know this without taking some additional steps to reveal these separate audio components.
components
Expanding Audio Components
There are two ways to view audio components - in the timeline and the Inspector. In the timeline, skim to the last clip, then right-click and choose > Expand Audio Components or press _______ ______ _. A faster option is to hold down the ______ key and double-click the audio waveform to collapse or expand the components. Here, a Stereo channel and 2 mono channels are revealed.
CONTROL OPTION S, OPTION
Enabling Clip Skimming
When working with audio components in the Timeline, you’ll want to enable a feature called Clip Skimming - otherwise when you skim over a clip you’ll be hearing the combined output of all channels. From the View menu choose > Clip Skimming. Keyboard shortcut is: ______ _______ _.
OPTION COMMAND S
Enabling Clip Skimming 2
When working with audio components in the Timeline, you’ll want to enable a feature called Clip Skimming - otherwise when you skim over a clip you’ll be hearing the combined output of all channels. From the View menu choose > Clip Skimming. Keyboard shortcut is Option Command S. Move your pointer into the channel you want to preview then skim right or left. You will only hear sound from the channel you’re skimming over. To play the channel from your current Skimmer position, press the ________.
SPACEBAR
Enabling Clip Skimming 2
When working with audio components in the Timeline, you’ll want to enable a feature called Clip Skimming - otherwise when you skim over a clip you’ll be hearing the combined output of all channels. From the View menu choose > Clip Skimming. Keyboard shortcut is Option Command S. Move your pointer into the channel you want to preview then skim right or left. You will only hear sound from the channel you’re skimming over. To play the channel from your current Skimmer position, press the Spacebar. Our next step as the audio editor is to determine which component is the primary talent audio. If you skim over and play the stereo component, you can hear by the excessive wind noise, this is the reference audio recorded into the camera. Skimming and playing back the mono 1 channel reveals this channel is the good one. The mono 2 channel appears to have no signal recorded into it. This is because there was no mic plugged into the second _____ on the digital recorder.
input
Identifying and Naming Audio Components 3
When working with multi channel audio, I often name the channels to make them easier to identify and disable the channel or channels I don’t plan on working with. This can be accomplished in the Inspector.
With the clip selected, press Command-4. Make sure you select the clip and not the audio component otherwise you will not see the individual components listed in the Inspector. In the Channel Configuration section, you’ll see all channels associated with the selected clip.
Because the video and audio were synced using Final Cut Pro’s Synchronize Clips feature, the Inspector shows us both the Storyline audio and Connected audio. The _________ audio is sound that was embedded with the picture in the camera. The _________ audio is sound from the digital recorder.
STORYLINE, CONNECTED
Identifying and Naming Audio Components 4
When working with multi channel audio, I often name the channels to make them easier to identify and disable the channel or channels I don’t plan on working with. This can be accomplished in the Inspector.
With the clip selected, press Command-4. Make sure you select the clip and not the audio component otherwise you will not see the individual components listed in the Inspector. In the Channel Configuration section, you’ll see all channels associated with the selected clip.
Because the video and audio were synced using Final Cut Pro’s Synchronize Clips feature, the Inspector shows us both the Storyline audio and Connected audio. The Storyline audio is sound that was embedded with the picture in the camera.
The connected audio is sound from the digital recorder. As in the timeline, you can ____ over each component to identify them. Once you identify them, you can _____ them. Double-click the Stereo label and enter Camera Reference. Let’s do the same for the mono 1 component naming it Talent Mic. Notice the components in the Timeline are are also named accordingly.
When working with multi channel audio, it’s a good idea to disable the channel or channels you’re not working with. Uncheck the box next to Camera Reference and the empty mono 2 channel. When you disable a channel (or channels) in the Inspector, the corresponding channels in the Timeline will be hidden until you turn them back on.
SKIM, LABEL
Identifying and Naming Audio Components 5
The connected audio is sound from the digital recorder. As in the timeline, you can skim over each component to identify them. Once you identify them, you can label them. Double-click the Stereo label and enter Camera Reference. Let’s do the same for the mono 1 component naming it Talent Mic. Notice the components in the Timeline are are also named accordingly.
When working with multi channel audio, it’s a good idea to _______ the channel or channels you’re not working with. Uncheck the box next to Camera Reference and the empty mono 2 channel. When you disable a channel (or channels) in the Inspector, the corresponding channels in the Timeline will be ______ until you turn them back on.
DISABLE, HIDDEN
Creating Selection Ranges
When audio components are ________, whenever you move your mouse pointer over the waveform a _____ tool automatically appears. Moving your pointer over clips whose audio components are not expanded reveals the ________ selection tool. When editing audio components you’ll often create selection ranges over sections of your audio for the purpose of previewing effects and disabling parts of the sound.
I’ll drag out a range over this section of Nicole’s audio. With Loop Playback enabled in the View menu, you can press the Forward Slash key and Final Cut Pro will continuously play back the audio between your selection range until you press the Spacebar to halt playback. We’ll be using this feature quite a bit in the next few lessons.
expanded, range, standard
Creating Selection Ranges 2
When audio components are expanded, whenever you move your mouse pointer over the waveform a range tool automatically appears. Moving your pointer over clips whose audio components are not expanded reveals the standard selection tool. When editing audio components you’ll often create selection ranges over sections of your audio for the purpose of previewing effects and disabling parts of the sound.
I’ll drag out a range over this section of Nicole’s audio. With Loop Playback enabled in the View menu, you can press the _______ _____ key and Final Cut Pro will continuously play back the audio between your selection range until you press the Spacebar to halt playback. We’ll be using this feature quite a bit in the next few lessons.
FORWARD SLASH
Removing Unwanted Audio in a Component
You can also disable the audio _______ the selection range by pressing V on your keyboard.
BETWEEN
Removing Unwanted Audio in a Component 2
You can also disable the audio between the selection range by pressing V on your keyboard. Let’s look at a practical example of how you might use this feature to remove an unwanted sound in the dialogue. Press _______ _____ _ to open the Timeline Index, then select the Marker labeled Remove Noise to jump the playhead to the clip. Command-Shift-2 again to close it.
If we play back this clip, we hear a very strange sound in the background that distracts from the Man’s performance. Option-double-click the waveform to expand the audio components. Notice that the sound editor has already taken the time to name the component, and turn the others off. I’ll skim over the audio to locate the noise, then drag out a range.
Press the forward slash key to create a playback loop so you can verify if you’ve included all the unwanted audio. You can always contract or expand the range if you need to by dragging the selection boundaries. To remove the sound, press V.
The area between the range darkens to indicate that the audio has been now been muted. Of course when we now play back we have a noticeable audio gap because all the background ambience has been removed as well. Let’s use the range tool, and grab a selection of the background, in this area where the man is not speaking.
Make sure to select a region that’s slightly longer than the muted section. Press Command-C to Copy the background sound, then move the Playhead a few frames before the muted sound. Now choose >Paste as Connected Clip from the Edit menu.
The ambiance is pasted at the Playhead location. Let’s listen to see how the dialogue sounds.
SHIFT COMMAND 2
Removing Unwanted Audio in a Component 3
You can also disable the audio between the selection range by pressing V on your keyboard. Let’s look at a practical example of how you might use this feature to remove an unwanted sound in the dialogue. Press Command Shift 2 to open the ________ _____, then select the Marker labeled Remove Noise to jump the playhead to the clip. Command-Shift-2 again to close it.
If we play back this clip, we hear a very strange sound in the background that distracts from the Man’s performance. Option-double-click the waveform to expand the audio components. Notice that the sound editor has already taken the time to name the component, and turn the others off. I’ll skim over the audio to locate the noise, then drag out a range.
Press the forward slash key to create a playback loop so you can verify if you’ve included all the unwanted audio. You can always contract or expand the range if you need to by dragging the selection boundaries. To remove the sound, press V.
The area between the range darkens to indicate that the audio has been now been muted. Of course when we now play back we have a noticeable audio gap because all the background ambience has been removed as well. Let’s use the range tool, and grab a selection of the background, in this area where the man is not speaking.
Make sure to select a region that’s slightly longer than the muted section. Press Command-C to Copy the background sound, then move the Playhead a few frames before the muted sound. Now choose >Paste as Connected Clip from the Edit menu.
The ambiance is pasted at the Playhead location. Let’s listen to see how the dialogue sounds.
TIMELINE INDEX
Removing Unwanted Audio in a Component 4
You can also disable the audio between the selection range by pressing V on your keyboard. Let’s look at a practical example of how you might use this feature to remove an unwanted sound in the dialogue. Press Command Shift 2 to open the Timeline Index, then select the ______ labeled Remove Noise to jump the playhead to the clip. Command-Shift-2 again to close it.
If we play back this clip, we hear a very strange sound in the background that distracts from the Man’s performance. Option-double-click the waveform to expand the audio components. Notice that the sound editor has already taken the time to name the component, and turn the others off. I’ll skim over the audio to locate the noise, then drag out a range.
Press the forward slash key to create a playback loop so you can verify if you’ve included all the unwanted audio. You can always contract or expand the range if you need to by dragging the selection boundaries. To remove the sound, press V.
The area between the range darkens to indicate that the audio has been now been muted. Of course when we now play back we have a noticeable audio gap because all the background ambience has been removed as well. Let’s use the range tool, and grab a selection of the background, in this area where the man is not speaking.
Make sure to select a region that’s slightly longer than the muted section. Press Command-C to Copy the background sound, then move the Playhead a few frames before the muted sound. Now choose >Paste as Connected Clip from the Edit menu.
The ambiance is pasted at the Playhead location. Let’s listen to see how the dialogue sounds.
MARKER
Removing Unwanted Audio in a Component 5
You can also disable the audio between the selection range by pressing V on your keyboard. Let’s look at a practical example of how you might use this feature to remove an unwanted sound in the dialogue. Press Command Shift 2 to open the Timeline Index, then select the Marker labeled Remove Noise to ____ ___ ________ to the clip. Command-Shift-2 again to close it.
If we play back this clip, we hear a very strange sound in the background that distracts from the Man’s performance. Option-double-click the waveform to expand the audio components. Notice that the sound editor has already taken the time to name the component, and turn the others off. I’ll skim over the audio to locate the noise, then drag out a range.
Press the forward slash key to create a playback loop so you can verify if you’ve included all the unwanted audio. You can always contract or expand the range if you need to by dragging the selection boundaries. To remove the sound, press V.
The area between the range darkens to indicate that the audio has been now been muted. Of course when we now play back we have a noticeable audio gap because all the background ambience has been removed as well. Let’s use the range tool, and grab a selection of the background, in this area where the man is not speaking.
Make sure to select a region that’s slightly longer than the muted section. Press Command-C to Copy the background sound, then move the Playhead a few frames before the muted sound. Now choose >Paste as Connected Clip from the Edit menu.
The ambiance is pasted at the Playhead location. Let’s listen to see how the dialogue sounds.
JUMP THE PLAYHEAD
