FCP 7: Making Short Audio Edits

[This article was first published in the November, 2010, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]

Andy Roberts asks:

Larry, I’m using FCP 6 on a Mac. Simple question: I’m trying to edit some footage that I grabbed off a DVD. What is the fastest way to delete curse words from audio. I’m used to working in Logic and simple editors like Fission where I can simply select audio and press delete. I’m working with one large file from the DVD (MacTheRipper and MPEG StreamClip) and I can’t seem to see the audio waveforms in the section I am in and key-framing seems a bit cumbersome to remove single words here and there. Of course I want to keep the files in sync.

Larry replies: Andy, thanks for writing!

Command+Option+W toggles waveforms on and off in the Timeline.

Use the Blade tool (B) to cut before and after the words you want to delete.

Select the portion of the clip you want to delete and press Delete.