Audio Clicks and Pops appearing in clips

Get it. So the processing through AE really has nothing to do with audio problems.

I don't get why you're bouncing for audio connected to video. FCP will process it for you. The only time you need something outside of FCP is if you have separate audio tracks, which you should process before you bring into FCP. You can do it in the QT pro player, in Compressor, in MPEG Streamclip, in iTunes, and a host of other apps, most of which can batch process if you need to.

Any audio that comes into FCP as part of video can be optimized on import.

iMovie can do a lot of things professional cannot. It can worked with mxued video files like DV Stream. It can make trailers and flying maps. It's a different app. Why do they all have to work the same?

FCP is supposed to be a professional application. This is the way professional applications work. You use high quality, high data rate video and high quality uncompressed audio. That's how you get good results.

That's all perfectly fine, but just because FCPX is a "professional" application (which the jury is still out apparently with this new version with all the talk of it being "iMovie Pro") doesn't mean that it shouldn't be able to handle something as simple as this. If anything it should be able to handle anything that is thrown at it. Going by this, then it means that you can't use footage from an iPhone 4 (one of their own products) because it uses compressed audio and it isn't considered professional. Well without third party apps, you can't choose to use uncompressed audio when recording video on the iPhone 4. Being professional should mean it can handle ANY type of footage, not be an excuse to just pass over file types that are deemed "amateur."

then it means that you can't use footage from an iPhone 4 (one of their own products) because it uses compressed audio

Not so. As I said media from a camera has the audio decompressed when it's imported rewrapped into QuickTime. This happens with iPhone video as well. It is not compressed audio in FCP.

Tom, with all due respect, I thought we all agreed that FCPX introduces clicks and pops when importing clips with compressed audio (like the iPhone 4's AAC audio). The manner in which FCPX handles the audio and converts it to an uncompressed format is what is causing all these issues. Do you have an iPhone 4? If you do, I challenge you to drop a video recorded on it through its native camera app (no third party apps where you can select to record audio as uncompressed by using frame rates lower than 30) and see if any of these problems appear. I have a video on YouTube that does exactly that, and this is the problem everyone's been having. What I clearly meant by my statement is that you can't natively use iPhone 4 footage (or any footage that records audio in a compressed format) because FCPX destroys the audio when it's imported. Drop any footage from a DSLR that records as uncompresed audio and you have zero issues.

So to be clear: it doesn't matter that all audio is converted to uncompressed audio when imported, it will introduce clicks and pops if the ORIGINAL audio was in a compressed format. If it was in an uncompressed format, you're all good to go. I've spent days trying every imagineable combination of codecs and what not to see if I can replicate the results and that is my conclusion.

Try this for example: on a project that you know for certain is working fine (i.e., no clicks and pops since all the audio was originally in an uncompressed format), export it as an MP4 file (which uses AAC for the audio). Now import that clip into a fresh timeline and tell me that it doesn't produce clicks and pops in Lion. Depending on the exact AAC codec you use, you get slightly better results, but the clicks and pops are always there.

If you cannot replicate these issues at all with compressed audio and you're running on Lion, I welcome you to share with us all your secret since apparently Apple themselves don't have a fix as of yet. Very frustrating indeed. ;(

I thought we all agreed that FCPX introduces clicks and pops when importing clips with compressed audio (like the iPhone 4's AAC audio).

Who's we Kimosabe?

Correctly imported video from an iPhone doesn't have AAC audio.

Ok that's fine that it shows as uncompressed once imported, but do you have clicks and pops once it is on the timeline and FCPX does background rendering or analyzing of any sort? That's what the issue is.

Hey Tom, so here is a clip I had from my iPhone 4, showing how Finder and Quicktime view the info for the file, and finally how FCPX shows the info for the file once "properly" imported (no other transcoding done, just import the original clip in FCPX). Can you please explain to me what I'm doing wrong since I see AAC as the audio format for the video clip?

No clicks and pops in the Timeline or on export.

That clip was not imported into FCP from the camera. Imported into iMovie? iPhoto? Aperture?

Aperture; that clip has long gone been deleted off my phone after a clean software restore not from a backup. I'll try your method of importing clips directly from the iPhone into FCPX, and see what happens, but if this is the case, it's just another work around like what I've said before. FCPX should be able to handle any file type you throw at it, especially if it's cheaper cousin iMovie has no issues.

Can you try importing a file through Aperture/iPhoto that has AAC audio, and dropping it on the timeline and see what happens with the audio?

I'm sure it will click and pop. I've always said never use still applications to import video.

Awesome, we're all on the same page then. Now, with that being said, what excuse does Apple have when iMovie or Premiere can handle this workflow without a hitch? More importantly when there were no issues in Snow Leopard, only with Lion? This workflow which according to you is not professional (and I'll agree that it isn't, but it's the most practical) used to work just fine in SL.

And what about those situations when you have no choice in the workflow? When you get a file that was already imported in a program like Aperture. What then? It's just inexcusable. You and me are fine since we've both figured out ways to work around the issue, but what about the masses who encounter this issue and have no idea where it's coming from?

djoliverm wrote:

Awesome, we're all on the same page then. Now, with that being said, what excuse does Apple have when iMovie or Premiere can handle this workflow without a hitch? More importantly when there were no issues in Snow Leopard, only with Lion?

Most likely, Lion has changed task priorities with video/rendering being given the "Lion's" share of the resources. Decompressing an Mp3 usually only take's 1 or 2% of the total CPU available so you have to attribute it to bad resource (including RAM) management. Most alarming is something so obvious wasn't caught in Beta testing. Somewhat disconcerting is that it seems to be an acceptable procedure to sell beta software to customers.

It is clearly FCPX - the same files sound great and clear when rendered in FC7 and have scratchy clicks and pops when exported by FCPX. If they cannot fix this, the program is useless for anything with audio. I have tested it on many different types of content. The problem is always the same. Very sad. If any of you have an answer to this, that would be a big help.