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Recording audio keyframes / automation gain
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in Avid & Final Cut Pro
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| Audio mixing is a task best left to a dedicated audio professional. As nice as non-linear editing software is, the tools available to a dedicated audio professional usually trumps the plug ins most non-linear editors have. Not to mention the fact that audio mixing is all many of them do. But when time and budget mean the video editor must to the mix, there is a handy tool and a final step that I always employ along the road to the final mix. |
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| In Final Cut Pro, if you look in the upper right corner of the audio mixer you will see a button called 'record audio keyframes.' |
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| With this enabled, the app will record the level adjustments that are made by adjusting the faders on the mixer as the timeline plays. This is reflected in the "rubber bands" that are displayed in the timeline when overlays are turned on. Option+w will bring up the overlays and the pink rubber bands in the timeline. I always like to make a pass and adjust these levels in real-time to account for the wide variations of levels that can occur within a single audio clip. It is also handy to dip music under a dialog segment. Basically, it is realtime mixing.
FCP has three sensitivity settings for this tool which are adjust in the Editing tab of the User Preference.
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All is just as it says... it records every keyframe it feels as you adjust the faders. This leaves you with a LOT of keyframes.
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Reduced is the setting I use as it leaves you with enough keyframes for smooth level changes but there are few enough so you can readjust them manually if need be.
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Peaks only will add a keyframe just at the high and low peaks. This doesn't feel as smooth to me.
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| If you have applied an audio filter and have enable record audio keyframes, you can adjust the filter parameters in the filter tab of the viewer as the timeline plays and FCP will record them as well. |
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| Avid works a bit differently. It uses both 'clip gain' and 'auto gain' for audio level adjustments. This is a more traditional audio sweetening paradigm in that the clip gain is the main overall level adjustments applied to a clip during the early part of the audio mixing and the auto gain is applied more toward the final stages when you are being more exact. In a sense, they are like having two separate audio levels on a clip. |
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On Avid Xpress Pro, if you look under the fast menu (or the hamburger menu as my Avid teacher in film school called it) in the bottom left corner of the timeline you can check (or turn on) Audio Clip Gain and Audio Auto Gain. This brings up black rubber band lines in the audio tracks of the timeline. Clip Gain is for the main levels you adjust with the Audio Mix Tool and Auto Gain is for the keyframed level changes that you mix in real time. To get this realtime mixing in Avid, there is an extra step.
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You must access the Automation Gain tool under Tools > Automation Gain. Then you must RECORD the adjustments you want to make. This is achieved by hitting the big red record button in the Auto Gain tool. The app will then playback and the red record light in the tool will blink to indicate it is live.
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Hit escape when done and the keyframes are recorded. The Auto Gain tool has many other options as well, like the ability to set pre and post roll and the ability to bypass the gain with a single click.
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| Which application is better at this particular task? That debate is one for the ages. Which editing application is better overall, Avid or Final Cut Pro? Both tools have their advantages and disadvantages and they are both just that: tools to help you achieve an end result. I'm just happy that both apps allow the realtime recording of audio level changes at all! Happy mixing. |
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