Final Cut Pro HD | H•O•T Hands-On Training [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

1.

Open Hurricane, if it isn't already open. Then, double-click Seq Ready to mix to load it into the Timeline. This is a version of the documentary you've been working on earlier in this chapter. I've added room at the beginning for a title and additional shots at the end to bring it to 1 minute in length.

2.

Take a minute and play this sequence. Listen to all the elements carefully.

You started the process of mixing this project in Exercise 4 when you listened to the talking head clips and set audio levels so the Audio Meters were bouncing between 6 and 12.

3.

One way to automate your mix is to use keyframes. Keyframes provide a quick way to control audio levels. Zoom in to the front of the project and click the small gray-and-blue bar chart in the lower-left corner of the Timeline to expand the height of the tracks. What you need to do is start the music up full (that is, at full volume), then bring it down and under when the first speaker starts speaking.

This is a perfect opportunity to use keyframes.

4.

Select the Arrow tool and Option+click near the start of Hurricane.aif on the red rubber band to set a keyframe for the start of the music. Drag the keyframe up until the tooltip says the keyframe is at 0 dB.

The benefit to using the Option key with the Arrow tool is that it is a fast way to set keyframes. However, you can't get exactly to the edit point of a clip, because the Arrow tool turns into a trimming tool. If you need to move closer to the edit point, either zoom in closer or select the Pen tool (press P). In this case, we don't need the keyframe right at the beginning of the edit.

5.

Set a second keyframe just before the first sound bite. (Keyframes are set in both track A5 and A6 because these two tracks are a linked stereo pair.) Add a third keyframe just after the first sound bite. Leave the second keyframe unchanged and drag the third keyframe down to around 18 dB.

6.

Play the sequence. Hear how the music starts nice and loud, to get your attention, then ducks down so you can hear the speakers? Perfect.

Except, audio in Final Cut is all clip-based. This means that you need to go through every clip and set the level. This is only a 60-second project, but it has 25 sound files that need adjusting. There has to be an easier way!

7.

There is an easier wayit's called the Audio Mixer. There are two ways to find it:

Choose Tools > Audio Mixer.

Choose Window > Arrange > Audio Mixing.

270, is a more detailed look at the Audio Mixer. Please refer to it if you need an orientation before continuing this exercise.)

OK. Now it's time to get this sequence mixed.

8.

First, though, get rid of the keyframes you've already set in the music by double-clicking the music track to load it into the Viewer. Then, click the small red X in the circle. This removes all keyframes from a clip. (This is a very handy way to reset a clip back to its default setting and clear keyframes, not just for audio, but for any effect or filter that uses keyframes.)

9.

Next, go to the top-right corner of the Audio Mixer and click this small, insignificant little button. It's this button that turns on the real power of the Audio Mixer.

10.

Position your playhead at the beginning of the sequence and play the first few seconds to get a sense of when the first sound bite starts, relative to the music.

11.

Now, again, reset the playhead to the beginning, but this time, put your mouse on the slider for A5 and play the sequence. Just before you get to the start of the sound bite, drag the fader down to around 18.

Because A5 and A6 are linked as a stereo clip, both A5 and A6 faders move together. If there was no link, only the A5 fader would move.

12.

After the speaker starts talking, stop playing and look at the music clip. The Audio Mixer added keyframes to the audio clip every time you moved the fader. Best of all, if there are too many keyframes, as there are here, you can remove them by Option+clicking them with the Arrow tool.

13.

Remove all the extra keyframes until the start of your audio looks like this. (The audio level of the second keyframe is 18 dB.)

14.

Jump forward to the end section where there is a break between speakers. Here the music needs to come up full, then duck down in time for the last speaker, the woman, to be heard.

15.

Again, using the Audio Mixer, play the sequence, set the level of the music, and trim your keyframes until it looks like this.

16.

You can use the Audio Mixer to set the levels of not just one clip, but all the clips on a track. This technique is a whole lot faster than adjusting each clip individually.

If the Record Keyframes button is lit, every time you move a fader you'll set a keyframe. If the Record Keyframes button is not lit, every time you move a fader, you'll set the volume for the entire clip. In mixing, you'll toggle between these two options, depending upon whether you want to hear the audio change, or simply set a level for an entire clip.

For now, experiment with the Audio Mixer and mix down this entire sequence. The best way to do this is to mix one track, or linked pair of tracks, at a time. Remember to keep an eye on your levels. At no time should the clip lights blink; if they do, fix it.

17.

Mixing is an art that takes practice. Whether you adjust individual clip levels or use the Audio Mixer, the ultimate judge of which method works best is how the sequence sounds. As always, practice makes perfect.

This ends this exercise. Save your work and quit Final Cut. In the next chapter, you will polish this sequence some more by putting in some audio transitions to smooth out the cuts between speakers.