Recording audio keyframes.
By S Simmons. Filed in Editing |
Audio mixing is one of those necessary evils of the non-linear editor. If you aren’t sending the project out for a dedicated audio sweeting session then you must mix within your editing application. There is a nice tool to help make the fine level adjustments a little bit easier.
Click here to read about recording audio keyframes (in Final Cut Pro) and Automation Gain (in Avid).
This is the first in a series of articles looking at tools and techniques that are the same (or at least similar) in both Final Cut Pro and Avid.
After reading the article linked above, come back to the permalink and read my thoughts (and share your own via the comments) on the workflow between the two applications.
Which do I prefer?
If I had to choose which audio keyframing workflow I prefer I would have to choose Final Cut Pro. The simplicity and ease in which you can jump into recording the changes in real-time is a very strong feature. Editing is often a battle against time and by mapping the function to a keyboard button, I can toggle it on and off as I play the timeline, with one keystroke. Very powerful.
That said, the Avid workflow feels a little more “professional.” By following the more traditional audio sweeting approach, I don’t feel the need to be so exact in my mixing until near the end of the edit process. FCP’s ease sometimes makes me pay attention to a bit more detail before I really need to. And since you have to “record” the keyframes in Avid, by actually pushing a record button, it feels like this detailed level of mixing is a bit more targeted when doing it in Avid. But if I had to choose only one, it would be Final Cut Pro’s implementation.
Friday, November 21st 2008 at 4:01 am
Hi, I also was wondering if there’s any kind of functional mapping tool for selecting and deselecting audio trax that is mappable to the FCP Keyboard for source/record? FCP seems not to have this which makes it such a drag when loading clips with differing amounts of audio tracks into the viewer to cut into your sequence… also is there an auto mapping preference? Thanks. BTW, did you have Tom Quick for one of your Avid Guru’s? (Just curious because you called the ‘fast menu’ a ‘hamburger’)
x)
matt
Friday, November 21st 2008 at 6:09 pm
I’ve mapped my toggle for the tracks selectors to 1 – 9 for video and shift + 1 – 9 for audio. To do them all at once it’s command+keypad 0 for video and option+keypad 0 for audio.
No Tom for Avid, my teacher called it the hamburger menu as well. Makes sense!