[ This article was first published in the September, 2006, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]
During one of my recent classes, Steve noticed a way to adjust Final Cut audio filters in real-time during playback. Huh! Certainly surprised me. Here’s how to do it.
1. I have a clip in my sequence to which I want to add an audio filter — in this case, Reverberation. But, I’m not sure of the best setting for the filter. That’s where real-time playback and adjustment comes in.
2. As an optional first step, I typed Option+Cmd+W to turn on waveforms. I didn’t need to do this, but it was the only way I could think of to mention this keyboard shortcut.
3. Select the clip and apply Effects > Audio Filters > Final Cut Pro > Reverberation.
4. Set an In and an Out to represent the duration you want to review. If you don’t set an In and/or an Out, Final Cut will play your entire sequence from beginning to end. Normally, I would set the In and Out at the beginning and end of a clip — but, to make my screen shot easier to read, I put it in the middle of the clip.
5. Double-click the clip to load it into the Viewer and click the Filters tab. This screen illustrates the default setting of the Reverberation filter, which has way too much effect (50).
6. This is the magic part. Go to the View menu and turn ON Loop Playback, so it’s checked. Then, type Shift+ (that’s the backslash key, immediately above the Return key).
Your sequence will immediately start to play from In to Out, looping over and over. Adjust the effect slider, in real-time, while listening to your clip, until you get the effect you want.
Very cool.
