This is lesson 8 for Final Cut Pro X from the Weyland certification book. Very helpful for individual and class purposes.

1. Lesson 8: Working
with Sound
Apple Pro Training
Series
Final Cut Pro X
Instructor: Sam Edsall

2. Working with Sound
• We ‘watch’ TV, but sound should never be
underestimated
• Dialogue, voice-over, sound effects, and music
when properly selected and combined, draws the
audience into a more immersive experience
The unsung hero
• Sound that’s too loud, too soft, poorly mixed will
make your audience restless and frustrated
On the other hand

3. Working with Sound
• Evaluate the current status of the audio in your
project
Before adding music and Sfx
• Is it at the proper level?
• Are the levels consistent from clip to clip?
• Is the nat sound from your B-roll too loud to
hear the voiceover?
What to check

4. Working with Sound
• Using the Audio meter and clip
waveforms as guides to correct
audio levels in the timeline
• Once you have optimized the
current settings, you will be ready
for the next steps in sound design
How to fix

5. Preparing the Project
Start up the FCP External
Drive:
Find your APTS FCP X
drive and double click to
start it up.

6. Preparing the Project
Load up Lesson 8:
From the APTS FCP X drag
the Lesson 8 folder to the
top under the external drive.
Put any other lesson back
inside the lesson projects
folder.
Duplicate the ‘Zero to Hero
Mix’ project to the hard drive
and open the project.

7. Audio Meters
• Small Audio meter in
the Dashboard
• Large Audio meter
pane that opens in the
timeline
Two choices
• Click on the smaller
audio meter in the
dashboard
Open Audio pane

8. Open and Adjust the
Audio Pane
In the toolbar click the
small Audio meter icon to
open the large Audio
meters pane to the right of
the timeline.
Increase the size of the
meters by positioning the
pointer between the audio
meter pane and the
timeline and drag left.

9. Audio Meters
• As audio approaches
0 dB the level color
changes from green to
yellow
• When the audio level
exceeds 0dB, the level
color turns from yellow
to red
• Peak indicators on top
turn red if the level
exceeds 0dB
Monitoring the level

10. What is a Good Level?
• No audio should
exceed 0dB or the
sound will be clipped
and distorted
• Set the primary audio
around -6dB
• Dialogue and
narration
• Set secondary audio
around -15 to -18dB
• Music and SFX
Shoot for -6

11. Monitor the Levels
Play through the project
and monitor the audio
levels.
Notice that the music gets
too loud around the 20
second mark so that will
need adjusting.
First, let’s get the primary
sound optimized before the
music.

12. Controlling Audio
• Focus on the primary audio
first and get that optimized
• Then work on secondary
audio sources like music
and SFX
One thing at a time
• Disable secondary audio
sources while you work on
the primary sources
• Once done, turn them back
one and optimize them
How

13. Controlling Audio
Turn off secondary
audio:
Command-click both of the
Battle lines audio clips and
press V to disable them.
Play the first Tony
Schumacher clip and
watch the audio meters.
--notice that the level
peaks during the sound
bite.

14. Controlling Audio
See what you’re doing:
Click the Clip Appearance
button and select the
second clip appearance
from the left to see a
bigger audio waveform.
Adjust the clip height to the
halfway point.

15. Controlling Audio
• Video and audio clips
will show yellow and
red audio peaks
indicating where the
audio is near or at 0dB
• This is the same color
coding displayed in the
audio meters
What you see

16. Controlling Audio
• Click on the horizontal
volume control line
and drag up or down
Fixing the audio
• Pop-up window will
indicate the current dB
setting
Indicators

17. Controlling Audio
Fix the audio:
Move your pointer over the
horizontal volume control
line.
-- shows you the current
dB setting of 8dB
Drag down 1dB to a setting
of 5dB and release.
Play the clip.

18. Controlling Audio
• Modify > Volume > Up
or Down
Menu options
• Volume up
• CTRL = (+)
• Volume down
• CTRL -
Shortcut options

19. Controlling Audio
• Set start and end
points in the clip that
needs adjusting and
change the levels
When part of a
clip needs work

20. Controlling Audio
Fix the audio:
Play the last Tony
Schumacher clip
-- first 2 seconds the audio is
low
After Tony says, “People
dream” press O to set an End
point.
In that range drag the volume
up from -2dB to 2dB.

21. Controlling Audio
• FCP creates four
keyframes, four white
diamonds, to ramp up
the volume and then
back down again for
the selected portion of
the clip
When part of a
clip needs work

22. Controlling Audio
• Isolates the sound
from one or more clips
so that’s the only
sound you hear
Sing a solo
• 2-finger (CTRL click)
the clip or select then
press Option S
How it’s done

23. Controlling Audio
Fix some more audio:
Select the 2 Antron Brown
clips and lower levels by
2dB
-- CTRL & - to get levels out
of red
Select both Battle Lines
music clips and lower levels
by -13 dB
-- CTRL & - to get levels out
of the red

24. Controlling Audio
Fix some more audio:
Raise the Crash clip level
by +10 dB (-17dB to -7dB)
Lower the JF hold trophy,
flame out and race start
clips by -20dB.
-- press CTRL – a bunch of
times (20)

25. Audio Sweetening
• Adding music and
sound effects to a
project
Sweetening audio
• Music and Sound
Browser has over
1,000 royalty-free
music and sound
effects to sweeten
your project’s audio
Content

26. Sweetening Audio
Sweeten audio:
In the toolbar click the
Music and Sound Browser.
Click on the dimple in the
middle and drag down
about half way.
We will add some SFX to
the crash clip

27. Music and Sound
Browser
• Folders and sub-folders of
music and SFX files
• Source folders from iTunes
library and Garage Band
Top window
• Files from the selected
folder on top
Bottom window
• Help you find a particular
file name
Search window

28. Sweetening Audio
Sweeten audio:
In the top window select the
FCP Sound Effects folder.
Scroll down to the
Explosion 6.caf file and
double-click the file to play
it.

29. Sweetening Audio
In the Event Browser,
create a new Keyword
Collection in the Zero to
Hero Event, label it Crash
SFX
Drag Explosion 6.caf into
the Keyword Collection.

30. Sweetening Audio
In the Search field, type ‘auto’
to locate Auto Crash
Concrete.caf and Auto Skid
1.caf
Click the Play button to play
them, then drag both of them
to the Crash SFX Keyword
Collection.
Close the browser when done.

31. Adding Sound to
Connected Clips
• Once connected clips
are where they are
needed, combine them
into the primary story
line
• Easier to see what you
are doing when
connecting music and
SFX clips
Make things
easier

32. Sweetening Audio
Select both Battle Fields
music clips and press V to
disable them for now.
2-finger click (CRTL click) the
crash clip and choose
‘Overwrite to Primary
Storyline’
Place the play head to the first
frame of the crash clip.

33. Sweetening Audio
In the Event Browser select
the Auto Skid 1 clip.
Drag to select the first 27
frames and press Q to
connect edit this SFX to the
Timeline.

34. Sweetening Audio
In the Event Browser select
the Auto Crash Concrete clip
and press Q to connect this
entire clip at the end of Auto
Skid 1 clip.

35. Layering Sound
• Rather than have one
sound finish before the
next sound starts,
overlapping the SFX
may provide a more
realistic overall sound
effect.
Overlap sounds

36. Sweetening Audio
In the Timeline park the play
head at 12:42.
In the Event Browser select
the Explosion 6 clip and
select about the first 2
seconds of the clip, and press
Q to connect edit this clip
Lower the volume of all three
clips to -14dB and check your
levels.

37. Grouping Clips
• Collecting separate
SFX clips into one
group by making a
compound clip will
keep you from
accidentally separating
or moving individual
clips
• Neatens up your
timeline, too.
Compounding
audio clips

38. Grouping Clips
Drag a selection rectangle
around the three sound effect
clips, then 2-finger (CTRL
click) and choose New
Compound Clip
--Option G
Select both Battle Lines clips
and enable them by pressing
V

39. Using the Audio
Inspector
• Another way to adjust
the sound of a clip
• Other features to add
effects and filters to
enhance and improve
the quality or style of
the sound
The Inspector

40. Using the Audio
Inspector
In the Project Library duplicate
the Delicious Peace_mix
project to your hard drive.
Shift Z to see the whole
project and play the timeline.
We will first focus on the
primary audio – Ed O’Neill’s
voice over.

41. Using the Audio
Inspector
Select over all the voiceover
clips and press Option S to
solo these clips.
Skim to the first clip VO_10
and press / to play the clip
and check the levels
-- a little hot – over -6dB
-- all these clips are a little too
high

42. Using the Audio
Inspector
In the toolbar select the
Inspector icon and click the
Audio tab.
Double-click the Volume field
and type 8
Look at the voiceover
waveforms in the timeline and
press Return.
--lowered levels by 2dB

43. Using the Audio
Inspector
Press Option S to activate all
clips
Select the 2nd xylophone music
clip and skim to the beginning.
In the timeline play the
xylophone clip and in the
Inspector drag the Volume slider
left and right and settle on a
volume level of -24dB
Set the other xylophone clips to -
24dB

44. Using the Audio
Inspector
• By dragging your
pointer in the Volume
field you can raise or
lower the absolute dB
level
• If you have 2 or more
clips selected you can
raise or lower the
relative dB level of the
selected clips
Up/Down Arrows

45. Using the Audio
Inspector
Skim over the woman picks
beans, man picks beans and
beans being hulled clips.
Check the volume controls on
each clip
-- each has a different dB
setting
Select all 3 clips and in the
Inspector click the Volume
field until the peak of the 3rd
clip is below the volume
control line.

46. Using the Audio
Inspector
• Directing the sound
from one speaker to
the other
• Like the balance knob
on your stereo
Panning

47. Using the Audio
Inspector
In the Audio Inspector, click
the Pan Mode pop-up
menu, and choose Stereo
Left/Right
In the timeline press Shift Z
to see the whole project.
Select the 2nd xylophone
clip and press Option S to
solo it.

48. Using the Audio
Inspector
Press / to play the clip.
In the Inspector drag the Pan
Amount slider right and left to
move the music to each
speaker.
Check the audio meters and
notice how the levels increase
the decrease depending
where you send the sound to.

49. Using the Audio
Inspector
To the far right of the Pan
Amount slider, click the
animation menu and choose
Reset Parameter to center the
Pan Amount.
Press Option S to enable all
the clips again.

50. The Four Steps of
Sound
• Speed at which the sound moves from silence to its peak
level
Attack
• Time a sound moves from its initial peak to the sustain level
Decay
• The main duration of the sound
• How long it lasts
Sustain
• The time it takes for the sound to decay back to silence
Release

51. The Four Steps of
Sound
• When editing clips, the natural waveform shapes
are often cut off at the beginning and end of a clip
The problem with A-D-S-R
• To fix the chopped waveforms, you change or
‘ramp’ the sound levels by applying fades and
crossfades
The solution

52. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
Open Zero to Hero_fades and
duplicate to the hard drive.
Place the playhead at the
beginning of the project and
zoom into this location.
Select the first 2 clips wall low
angle and crowd ots and solo
them – Option S

53. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
Select the fade handle at the
end of wall low angle and drag
left until the timecode window
above the handle reads -
00:00:00:30
Do the same to the beginning
of wall low angle and crowd
ots clips creating a 30-frame
fade up for each clip.
Option S to turn off solo and
play the new mix.

54. Fade Options
• The fade changes at a constant rate
Linear
• The fade eases in and out with a midpoint at 0dB
S-Curve
• The fade starts slowly and then moves quickly to the
end
• Default fade
+3 dB
• The fade starts quickly and then tapers off at the end.
• Good choice for a fast fade-out
-3 dB

55. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
Press Shift Z to see the whole
timeline.
Select both Battle Lines clips
and Option S to solo them.
Play the last few seconds of
the 2nd Battle Lines clip while
looking at the waveform
-- steep fade cuts into the final
beat

56. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
Place your pointer over the
clip’s fade handle to select
it.
2-finger click it to open the
shortcut menu and choose
+3 dB, then play the clip.

57.  T-TH

58. Audio Crossfades
• In order for two audio clips
to crossfade, they must first
be turned into a storyline
Transition = storyline
• Select the audio clips that
need crossfades between
them
• 2-finger click for the shortcut
menu or press Command G
How it’s done

59. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
While the two Battle Lines
clips are still selected, 2-
finger click one of the clips
and choose Create
Storyline from the shortcut
menu.
Click off the clips to
deselect them, then select
an edit point between the
two clips and Command T
to add a crossfade.

60. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
Option S to enable all the
clips again.
Move the playhead to 5:10,
select B for the blade tool
and cut Battle Lines at this
point.
Move the playhead to 18:40
and cut the clip again.

61. Adding Fades &
Crossfades
For the new clip that begins at
5:10, drag the volume control
down to -13 dB
For the last clip that begins at
18:40, drag the volume
control down to -16 dB
Select the last three Battle
Lines clips and press
Command T to add
crossfades to all the clips

62. Recording Voiceovers
• Allows you to record
straight to your laptop
• You can record several
takes of yourself
reading narration
• Using the Audition
feature, you can
choose which is the
best take
Record Audio
feature

63. Recording Voiceovers
• Laptop’s built-in microphone
• Not the best option since it will
pick up other sounds including
computer noises
• Hard drive spinning
• Plug-in USB microphone
• Good idea since the source is
focused on you and nothing
else
• Check them out in the
equipment room
Microphone sources

64. Recording Voiceovers
Go back to the Delicious
Peace_mix project you saved
to your hard drive.
In the Event Browser, select
the Delicious Peace Event.
In the timeline play the VO_10
clip at the end of the project to
become familiar with its
content, then press V to
disable it.

65. Recording Voiceovers
Turn down the volume of your
laptop.
Move the playhead to the
beginning of the disabled
VO clip.
Choose Window > Record
Audio

66. Recording Voiceovers
Set the following option:
Destination: Delicious Peace
Input Device: Built-in
Microphone (or your USB
mike)
Gain: 2-3
Monitor: leave off unless you
are wearing earphones

67. Recording Voiceovers
In the Record Audio window,
click the Record button and
read the CG in the Viewer.
Press the spacebar when you
are done
--you can also click the record
button again.
Your VO is saved in the Event
and attached to the primary
storyline.

68. Auditioning Voiceovers
• You can make multiple
takes of your VO, then
audition them to see
which one is the best
on the timeline
Choosing the
best take

69. Recording Voiceovers
Record 2 more takes
changing the emphasis on the
words in the CG.
When done you should have 3
VO’s under the original one.
Keep your first VO, but delete
the other two from the timeline
for now.

70. Auditioning Voiceovers
In the Event Browser, select
Voiceover 2 and Voiceover
3 and drag them onto the
Voiceover 1 clip.
From the shortcut menu
choose Add to Audition.

71. Auditioning Voiceovers
Notice the audition spotlight
icon on the clip.
Click the Audition icon to open
the audition filmstrip. Press
the left and right arrow keys to
select which voiceover to
audition.
Turn up your volume and play
each take then choose the
best one.

72. Correcting Problem
Audio
• Part of the Audio
Inspector
• Takes care to audio
problems like hum,
background noise and
loudness
Audio
Enhancement tool

73. Correcting Problem
Audio
Open the Project Browser and
duplicate Fairly Legal_hum to
your hard drive, then open it
in the timeline
In the timeline, click the 4A-2
110(B)_hum clip and play it.
-- how’s it sound?
-- let’s see if the hum has
been fixed yet

74. Correcting Problem
Audio
Choose Window > Show Audio
Enhancements and look at the
analysis of the clip.
Loudness and Background Noise
have a green checkmark = OK
With Hum removal off = Red !
--- there’s trouble
Turn Hum Removal off and on
and listen to the difference!

75. Correcting Problem
Audio
• The equalization pop-
up menu allows you to
enhance audio in the -
• High-end
• Midrange
• Low-end
Equalization

76. Correcting Problem
Audio
In the upper-left corner of
the Audio Enhancements
pane, click the arrow to
return to the Audio
Inspector.
Click the Equalization pop-
up menu and choose Hum
Reduction and listen to
your clip again.

77. Correcting Problem
Audio
• Create audio
envelopes to control
audio right on the
audio clip
Keyframing

78. Correcting Problem
Audio
Play the first clip 4B-
1_110(B) and notice the
audio level when the stack
of papers are dropped to
the desk.
We will fix this spike by
adding 3 keyframes and
then lowering the middle
keyframe.

79. Correcting Problem
Audio
Zoom into this clip so you
can see the peak clearly.
To set a keyframe on the
spike, Option-click on the
volume control line where
the spike is.
Move the skimmer to 1:00
and 2:05 and Option click
to set down 3 points.

80. Correcting Problem
Audio
Click on the middle
keyframe
--turns into a yellow
diamond
Drag the keyframe down
until the info flag reads -2
dB
Play the clip and check
your audio meters.

81. Shortcuts
• Raise the audio level by 1 dB
Control = (+) while
pointer on audio
control
• Lower the audio level by 1 dB
Control – while
pointer on audio
control
• Enable or disable a clip for
playback
V
• Solo selected items in the
Timeline
Option S

82. Shortcuts
• Create a keyframe
Option click on a
clip’s volume
control
• Create a new compound clipOption G
• Create a storyline from a
selection of connected clips
Command G
• Add a cross dissolve to the
selection
Command T

83. Homework Assignment:
Optional:
1. Select the last 3 clips in this project
2. Control-click one of the clips and choose Detach Audio
3. Drag a selection rectangle around the three detached
clips and create a storyline out of them
4. Apply crossfade transitions between the audio clips.
5. Share as an iPod video and post on iTunes U as (your
name) HW 8.m4v

84. Lesson 8: Working
with Sound
Apple Pro Training
Series
Final Cut Pro X
Instructor: Sam Edsall