Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Final Cut Express HD for Mac OS X

Editing Clips with Multiple Audio Channels

Final Cut Express 2 introduced official support for

merged clips a type of clip created in FCE by permanently linking up to 24 audio clips with a single video clip. Earlier versions of the program used workarounds to support clips composed of audio and video linked inside Final Cut Express, but "official" merged clips make it possible to reliably sync video with production audio recorded separately, while preserving separate audio timecode. Open the Item Properties window on any audio+video clip, and you'll see that each audio channel has its own data column (Figure 12.21 ).

Merged clips appear in the Viewer with multiple Audio tabs sufficient to accommodate the number of audio channels in the clip (Figure 12.22 ). When you open a merged clip in the Viewer, additional source track-targeting controls automatically appear in the Timelineone for each audio channel in the merged clip (Figure 12.23 ).

You can set separate source In and Out points for video and audio (Figure 12.24 ), but you can mark only a single set of audio edit points. Those audio edit points will be used on all audio channels when you perform the edit (Figure 12.25 ).

You can trim edit points on individual tracks in the Timeline by overriding linked selection (Figure 12.26 ). You can also exclude selected audio channels from an edit by disconnecting source track-targeting controls on the tracks you wish to exclude before you perform the edit (Figure 12.27 ).