Blog Archives

As our industry moves quickly to tapeless media and acquisition, properly archiving your footage can make the difference between happiness and heart-ache. In this article, I outline what you need to know about archive formats.

In this article Larry advises a subscriber who downloaded a beta version of Soundbooth and believes there may have been an error in his workflow.

Through edits are marked by red “bow-ties” which indicate cuts in a track where there’s no change in video or audio. This brief technique provides three different ways to get rid of these edits.

Here’s a very quick tip that describes how to display thumbnails in the Browser, how to create poster frames for a thumbnail, and how to scrub around inside a thumbnail.

It would be great if we didn’t have to render. But, since we do, what can make it go faster? This article explains what you can do to help and what won’t make any difference.

A subscriber writes in requesting info on a program that would be able to track time by client, as well as project and function. Larry refers him to a pair of very useful suggestions from other subscribers.

In this answer to a newsletter reader’s question, we look at the process of transcoding (converting) video from one format to another. We specifically talk about what is the right format to transcode into.

Travel mattes are a fascinating multi-layer effect with countless uses. Here, we use a travel matte to blur portions of an image to prevent identification, or to draw attention to the portions that are in-focus.

You can trim everything using the Arrow tool. But you can trim faster and more accurately using the Roll and Ripple tools. This article shows you how.

Handles are critical for transitions and trimming. In this article, discover what handles are and why they are necessary.

Save As does more than just give your file a a new name. It can also prevent problems, as this short article describes.

Nothing causes more confusion for video editors than trying to figure out how to size still images for video. I’ve written extensively about this in the past — which is referenced in this article — this is an additional follow-up.

Unlike video, which has a fixed duration, still images are assigned a duration when they are imported into Final Cut.

Audio distortion means disaster for your project. This article shows you a new technique in Soundtrack Pro that can guarantee to increase audio gain without distortion.

Way over on the left side of the Timeline are a set of gray buttons that very few people understand. However, when you know how to use the Patch Panel properly, you’ll be able to edit any clip to any track instantly. I use this ALL the time and can’t imagine editing without it. This tool is also essential when you want to make a video-only, or audio-only edit.

Final Cut does not like editing compressed video. However, what’s the best way to convert MEPG-2 video, which is compressed, into something Final Cut likes? This article tells you what you need to know.

Whenever you trash or delete Final Cut preference files, FCP will reset back to NTSC DV 48kHz audio. This reset happens whenever your preferences get trashed. I don’t think Final Cut inherently thinks NTSC, but that when things reset, FCP resets to its default settings which is NTSC.

Does this happen to you? The audio waveforms don’t display in a Final Cut Pro 7 sequence when they should. Hitting option-apple-W simply brings up a series of Xs instead of a waveform. How do you get these back? By reading this article, which explains the problem and what you need to know to fix it.

Monitors for HD video are not cheap. So why not just connect an HD television set via HDMI and let it go at that? In this short write-up, Dan May, president of Blackmagic Design, explains the potential problems with monitoring your HD video using this kind of setup.

Computers use square pixels to represent images, while video uses rectangular pixels. And this difference drives all of us nuts. This article describes pixel aspect ratio and helps you get your images looking great.

Probably the most reqested technique in my classes — how to add the same transition to multiple clips at once. Here’s how.

Probably the most reqested technique in my classes — how to add the same transition to multiple clips at once. Here’s how.

Multicam clips are new with FCP 5 and provide the ability to see multiple camera angles at the same time. However, while they are easy to use, they can be tricky to set up. This technique explains the steps you need to follow to get everything working smoothly.

In order to create a multiclip in Final Cut Pro, all the clips in it MUST match for codec, frame rate, and image size. They must also contain continuous, uninterrupted timecode.

Multiclips are new with Final Cut 5. This article explains how to use markers within a multiclip.

One of the more useful new goodies in Final Cut 7 is all the new functions that markers now support. Since we are talking about multiclips, I wanted to mention a specific marker feature you may not know about.

As you move into editing HD footage, you will quickly discover that there are many, many, MANY different HD formats. This article describes what you can do when you are forced to work with more than one HD format in a project.

This is a commentary by Larry Jordan on the announcements and background conversation at MacWorld 2006 in San Francisco, CA.

Nesting is the process of placing one sequence inside another sequence. There are many reasons why this technique is useful. This article highlights several of them, including ways to fix problems when your nested audio does not appear.

The debatable “nightmare” of offline editing is discussed, with Larry strongly recommending the creation of DVCPROHD 23.98 fps masters to keep the frame rate and image size constant and greatly simplify the final on-line edit.

Getting organized is always easier to say than to do. In this article, we discuss basic organization techniques and provide references to other sources you can use to organize even huge projects.

Panning balances audio playback between the left and right speaker to position the audio in space. In this quick technique, learn three ways you can pan multiple clips in Final Cut Pro.

With the release of Final Cut Studio 2, Apple created a new high-end codec entitled ProRes. With the release of Final Cut Studio (3) they expanded it from two variations to five. What is ProRes and how do you decide which version to use for your projects? Answering that question is the purpose of this article.

Not all video is, um, video. In many cases, we need to integrate PowerPoint or Keynote slides into our video projects. This article explains what you need to know to make this work successfully.

A good question regarding soundtrack transfer is submitted in this article and Larry explains the problem with how scripts process – or fail to process – clips

Lots has been written about the benefits – or lack thereof – in shooting 24 fps video. Here’s a quick look at a complex subject.

Final Cut Pro is, most often, used for editing after the recording is complete. However, there are some situations where you need to record live and edit as soon as you can. This article talks about that and provides options to consider. There’s also some relevant reader feedback.

When you are working with multiple tracks of video, trimming clips on several tracks at once is essential. This article shows you how to trim multiple tracks quickly and accurately.

In this article, various problems with playback are addressed and answered.

As you know, most versions of Final Cut Pro are tied to work best with certain versions of QuickTime. However, as time passes, it gets harder and harder to remember all the different permutations. Here’s a quick link to a website that has the answers.

One of the biggest challenges editors face is getting organized at the start of a project, then staying organized during a project. Here is a collection of tips and techniques from a variety of readers than can give you the system you need to get on top of your project.

Here’s a secret technique that allows you to add the default transition to any number of selected clips in the timeline — all at the same time!

The world of HD is awash in incompatible formats. Worse, it has eight different frame rates. And selecting the wrong frame rate in After Effects can make your video uneditable in Final Cut Pro. This article explains what you need to know.

I discovered this technique to be very useful when I want to make a shot-by-shot comparison between an existing movie and a sequence.

As we gear up for the 2010 NAB Show – where the Digital Production Buzz is the Official Podcast of the event – I thought you’d be interested in the gear we are using and how we are using it. Next month, I’ll report on what we did.

A reader writes that his 10-year-old daughter is interested in editing and wants to know the best gear to buy and how to get trained in FCP. This is a great question, but the wrong question. This article explains that it isn’t the gear, its her interest. Fan that first, then buy gear second. You can read how here.

Have you ever wondered what that thin green line means at the top of some of your audio clips? Well, this short article let’s you in on the secret.

Handles are critical for transitions and trimming. In this article, discover what handles are and why they are necessary.

HDV is the latest video format craze, but it isn’t like DV; or any other video format we are used to working with. This article explains how HDV is different and what you need to know to use it successfully.

Trying to get up to speed on HDV quickly. This article gives you a primer on the current status of HDV – what’s good, what’s bad, and what you need to know.