Green vertical lines / Detaching FX and music audio tracks from video clip

Question

Level 1

8 points

Green vertical lines / Detaching FX and music audio tracks from video clip

iMovie 10.1 on El Capitan

This is NOT a simple Modify / Detach Audio issue. This is deleting an image only without deleting other unrelated music and FX audio tracks built under it (not the original audio shot with the image).

I've built FX and music tracks under a video which has many visual edits (with certain images timed to music). Now I want to change some images but when I cut the video image, certain FX and music tracks underneath it also disappear (tracks built under the image, not shot with it).

It seems the green vertical lines underneath the image (in the time line) are linking it to various tracks, even if these FX and music tracks run far beyond the video image and were not shot with the video image.

How can I remove these green vertical lines and detach these multiple audio tracks from the image I want to cut? Thanks.

MacBook Air

Posted on Dec 8, 2015 11:42 AM

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Answer 1

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Dec 8, 2015 3:14 PM in response to Nick Nation

Yes, if you delete a video or still clip with attached audio the audio will be deleted too. You need to move the attachment point (vertical green line) to an adjacent clip. To do this hold command and alt(option) keys down then click in upper half of audio clip (or in cutaway clip or title) where you want the connection to be moved to.

(If there are no syncing issues you can simply shift the audio so it is linked to another clip then shift it back after changing the image.)

Geoff.

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Answer 2

Nick Nation Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 9, 2015 9:44 AM in response to GeeD

GeeD,

Thanks for the info and taking time to reply. This definitely helped. I wish the program didn't link tracks that were never part of the original image.

Yes, syncing is an issue -- that was my whole problem -- I didn't want to lose sync with other images (cut to music) later in the project. Weird that this program attaches audio tracks that were never part of the original video.

At times, I'd have a 2 minute song with one 5 second image at the beginning that I wanted to change and when I deleted the image, the entire song would be gone. I know this program is often for novice users, but I don't see how deleting an audio track of FX and music because of deleting one short image would help anyone.

Same thing with "ducking". When doing V.O., it drove me nuts until I found out how to delete the automatic ducking of voice-over, which pushed down the sound/wave forms of ALL other audio (like music or FX) to some predetermined level.

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Answer 3

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Dec 9, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Nick Nation

You can't have completely 'detached' audio tracks (nor titles or picture in pictures) - they all have to be connected to the main timeline somewhere. Normally the attachment is at the start of the track to whatever clip is at that point in the timeline.

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