[ This article was first published in the April issue of
Larry’s Monthly Final Cut Studio Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]
I was teaching a class recently and Pete, one of my students, discovered a trick that I want to pass on to you — how to automatically create key-frames for an audio filter.
For instance, let’s say you want to have your heroine walk into a large room and hear the echo expand as she gets further and further into the room.
Here’s how to do it.
1) Select the audio clip to which you want to add echo, then double-click it to load it into the Viewer. Leave the clip selected.
2) Open Final Cut Pro -> User settings and turn ON “Record Audio Keyframes.” Then, close that dialog box.
3) Select Effects -> Audio Filters -> Final Cut Pro -> Echo.
4) We are going to be adjusting the amount of echo in our effect. To give us some room to work, grab the gray bar separating the different filter settings with your mouse and drag it downwards.
5) Press Shift – i to move the Playhead to the start of the audio clip. Click the “Make keyframe” button (middle circle) to create a keyframe at the start of your clip (left circle). Drag the echo slider all the way to the left (right circle).
6) Place your mouse directly on the echo slider and press the space bar. As your clip plays, gradually drag the slider to the right until you hear the amount of echo you want.
Notice that keyframes were added automatically as you dragged the slider. If you want to change the effect, simply select Undo and try again.
This is a very cool way to listen to your audio effects change in real time. Unfortunately, this only works with audio, not video. Still, this makes setting an effect a lot easier.
