[This article was first published in the November, 2008, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]
Jonny Elwyn writes:
just a quick question, I’m about to hand over a DVD for IKEA, to a post house to be on-lined, and i have done a rough and ready sound mix (for client viewings) on the FCP timeline which involves 5/6 mics. To do the mixing quickly i have just added edits into the tracks, then adjusted the volume on either side as desired (so rather than keyframing anything, i’ve used the cuts to separate bits)
my question is – will the cuts (which are in continuous time code – with the little red triangles in FCP) translate into the OMF or will they essentially be ignored? But how will the differing levels operate on either side of the cuts?
Larry replies: Jonny, the answer to your question is not the answer to your question…
First, FCP 5.x ignores volume levels when exporting an OMF. FCP 6.x allows you to include both audio levels and pan as part of the export dialog.
However, that answer misses the point.
As my article earlier in this issue made clear, as soon as a mix is imported into an audio application, such as Soundtrack Pro or ProTools, the audio engineer is going to checker-board all the clips to make sure the same clips are on the same track, then remove all your keyframes so that they can adjust your levels with much more precise tools than exist inside Final Cut.
So, the REAL answer is that while you can include the levels if you want, they will be removed during the mix by the audio engineer.
