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It's often recommended that we cut portions of a program into separate sequences and then assemble them all into a master sequence. What I can't find any suggestions on are about sound clips that span the edit point between two separate sequences. How should I deal with these clips that have portions in two different sequences when working in Soundtrack? TIA
Kent
Mac Book Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2.53 g intel, 8 g ram
who says you're supposed to work this way? How long and complicated is your master sequence?
If you do have to work this way, I'd simply delete the audio that spans both sequences and edit in onto the containing sequence.
Thanks Michael,
No one says you are supposed to work this way. I've read documentation that mentions it as a possibility. As a neophyte, I decided to work this way to learn the advantages & disadvantages.
My master is very basic: 12 minutes long, 10 sequences. You say "I'd simply delete the audio that spans both sequences and edit in onto the containing sequence." But if I'm sending individual sequences to Soundtrack Pro for a mix, how would you suggest getting pieces to span several of the sequences? Put them into the containing master after the mix has been sent back from Soundtrack Pro? In which case they haven't been mixed in Sountrack... TIA
Kent
I don't think there's really a good reason to divide your show up when your total duration is just 12 minutes. There are reasons to divide up a feature length sequence into "reels" but even that can cause trouble. Happy to discuss all of this in greater detail if you like.
If you feel you need to work this way, simply have overlap in the "subsequences" that you send to soundtrack pro that you will trim out when you put the "subsequences" back together, leaving overlap in the audio where ever necessary.
If you choose to work in smaller sequences and then combine those sequences to complete your project, you normally break the project into the smaller sequences at places that don't have continuous media.
Example: If I were working on a 60 minute show with 10 commercial break positions, I would do each segment of the show individually, then combine them all into the final sequence.
If you have continuous media at the point at which you want to break your larger sequence into a smaller one, it is a good indicator that you should look elsewhere to place your break point.
And if you have media that runs the entire finished sequence - say a music bed that runs for 12 minutes - you would place that in after you have combined your segment sequences into the final, and do the mix then.
MtD
This is what I was looking to hear from someone.
It appears as if I've found out one of the disadvantages of using nesting. OTOH, it has been convenient to cut the program without having to load and rerender the entire piece. Working with the smaller chunks of sequences seemed to make sense to me.
Kent
This makes sense - hadn't thought of that! I was using the natural division of the change in scene in the picture, and not thinking about the sound.
Is there a rule of thumb for suggested lengths of sequences? I'm working w/ a 15" MBP (w/ external monitor as 2nd screen).
Kent
I try to break the project down into logical units for final assembly -
If it were a baseball game film, maybe each inning in separate sequence; a concert broken down song by song, each in its own sequence; a drama - act by act, a documentary divided into separate sequences each containing a separate interview, etc.
Then it makes it easy when assembling the final to place the sub-sequences and work on the transitions (if any) between them.
MtD
My program is short, but has distinct jumps in the picture from scene to scene. I'm trying to tie them together w/ the sound. Should I have started the edit w/ a single sequence that contains the entire program, and sent it to Soundtrack?
What about in your example of a concert broken down into songs? Might you have some ambient sound that runs across the break in the songs/sequences? Should that be applied to the master sequence? In which case it's outside any mix you might have built in Soundtrack.
Kent
97% of the time sound work last comes last.
1) Ingest materials
2) Rough cut for content
3) Refine cut to client approval
4) Lock Picture
5) Audio Work - Fix and Mix
6) Refine Audio to client approval
8) Lock Audio
9) Output Master with Locked Picture and Locked Audio
In the example of the concert, between song #1 and song #2 will be crowd applause/reactions shots, or wide shots of the stage. I can use any crowd applause audio to cover the transition.
MtD
Meg The Dog wrote:
In the example of the concert, between song #1 and song #2 will be crowd applause/reactions shots, or wide shots of the stage. I can use any crowd applause audio to cover the transition.
MtD
Right. But would you apply that sound in a track in the master, or have a break in it between the two sub sequences?
Kent
I think Meg would let the audience applause (or since Meg is a dog maybe that's audience appaws) be the outpoint from one sequence and the inpoint to the following sequence.
If Meg were editing a final audio mix in STP he would add audience appaws to a separate track and adjust the levels for a seamless sound.
If Meg were editing a final audio mix on a FCP timeline with all sequences connected he would take his mud encrusted paws and use an audio transition by selecting the transition point and using the keyboard shortcut option-command-T
Now I know what you're thinking. How could a dog use a three-stroke keyboard short cut? Well that's why Meg has such a good nose for this business, he uses that nose to press the "T" key.
Okay. I get it. The point that I'm trying to get across, is that I have two adjacent sub sequences with sound that crosses the edit point between them. I want to send each of the sequences to STP to do mix. When do I put in that piece of ambience/music bed/EFX that spans two sub sequences? Break it so that two pieces can be mixed in STP, or add it post mix back in FCP?
Actually, I think MtD answered my question farther back when he said to break the subsequences at a point where the sound is NOT continuous.
Thanks for your ideas, folks.
Kent Wiley
my two cents says put both "subsequences" adjacent to one another in a new sequence.
send that to STP
add music, sfx etc., there and produce a final audio track that runs the length of the final project.
I like that option. Unfortunately, I've already added most of my sound in FCP - prior to learning anything about using STP. But when I create a new "master" sequence that contains the two subsequences, the eight different sound tracks that are in the subsequences gets mixed into two tracks. I'm looking now for a way to change that. Can you point me at a setting that affects that? I know I've read something about the number of tracks exported for various functions, but not sure about sequence to sequence copying. Thoughts?
Kent Wiley
Rather than bringing a whole sequence into another sequence you can alternatively copy all your video and audio tracks from one sequence and paste then into a new sequence. This will preserve each of the audio and video tracks
A basic question about FCP 7 sequences and sound:
