Apple Final Cut Pro X: Roles, Role Components and Audio Stems

Posted on by Larry

This article began, as many do, with a question. This one was from Raymond R.:

OK. I almost have the complete answer I need. I am working on a multicam project and need the following audio configuration:

Channel 1 – Dialogue panned Left
Channel 2 – Effects panned Right
Channel 3 – Music Stereo Left
Channel 4 – Music stereo Right

How do I do this?

Larry replies: I’ve written a lot about Roles, but not this specific solution. So, let’s tackle this. However, if you don’t know what Roles are, first read “Understanding Roles and Lanes,” linked below.
To learn more about Roles, read these three articles:

NOTE: By default, in Raymond’s example, stereo left and right are already panned into the appropriate channels. We only need to change dialog and effects.

GET STARTED

Here’s a project consisting of Roles for:

The Timeline Index looks like this, with both Titles and Dialog expanded to show subroles.

NOTE: Subroles are not necessary for this technique to work, but this was a project I had available so I’m using it.

When you click this icon next to a Role, you collect all the Dialog clips, in this case, into a group to make them easier to work with.

Like this.

This icon separates clips assigned to different roles, such as languages, into their own groups.

Like this. Notice the two different subroles – English and Spanish – are labeled on the left. (For this screen shot, I re-enabled the Spanish dialog which doesn’t make sense to listen to both English and Spanish at the same time, but makes the screen shot prettier.)

Clicking this icon shrinks the vertical height of all roles EXCEPT the one you clicked on. Here, I “focused” on effects, shrinking dialog and music.

Note the thin blue lines at the top for dialog and thin green for music. Focus can simplify the view of even the most complex timeline.

CONTROLLING THE MIX

To control the mix of our clips:

This displays all audio clips grouped into separate compound clips by role.

Select the Dialog role by clicking it in Timeline.

NOTE: You can also apply effects to each of these submixes. For example, add a Limiter filter to the Dialog role to help smooth out levels. You apply an audio effect to a role the same as a clip: drag it from the Effects browser on top of the clip, then adjust in the Inspector.

In the Audio Inspector, you can:

To adjust pan, using the Mode menu, change it from None to Stereo Left/Right.

Then, drag the pan Amount slider all the way left to create a mono clip where all audio is in the left channel. (Drag right to move it into the right channel.) By definition, this makes all the dialog mono.

You can verify this by playing the clip and watching the audio meters.

NOTE: To make sure you only hear the selected audio role, highlight each of the other roles and type V to make it inaudible. (Type V to make it audible again.)

Repeat this process, panning each role to the left or right channel as needed. To leave a stereo clip as stereo, leave the Pan Mode menu set to its default of None.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you delete this compound clip, all your audio settings will disappear. Generally, this step is the last thing before final output.

To bring the Timeline back into normal view, click Hide Audio Lanes at the bottom of the Timeline Index.

SUMMARY

The cool thing about Roles is that even when clips are collected into a compound clip, enabling or disabling specific roles still works. So, this means that you can still enable or disable specific languages, titles, music cues or… whatever.


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One Response to Apple Final Cut Pro X: Roles, Role Components and Audio Stems

  1. Loren says:

    Thank you, Larry, for the excellent Roles tour.

    Jeepers, those “lanes” look suspiciously like…well, tracks! With none of the convenience, unfortunately. All clips buried in compound streams.

    I am enjoying Premiere Pro CC for just that reason. And I can label my tracks. Thus far, no excuse to return to FCP. Yet, it seems like a simple fix for the veterans who sleet, arrange and pace material in tracks.

    I admire efforts to reinvent the wheel, but FCPX for all its power, still goes off the rails for me.

    Best, as always.
    Loren

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