Clip-level audio editing

You can make audio adjustments and edits to whole clips. At this level, audio adjustments and effects are applied to the entire clip, including any audio channels within the clip. Final Cut Pro preserves any adjustments you make to individual audio channels. This means that if you reduce the volume for a single channel but raise the volume for the whole clip, the volume of the single channel is raised but stays in proportion to the volume of other channels in the clip.

If your source media contains only one or two audio channels or you’re editing an audio-only clip, you’ll probably only need to make adjustments and edits at this level.

Advanced multichannel audio editing

Final Cut Pro automatically groups channels into audio components according to how the channels are configured for the clip. You can expand the audio portion of clips to reveal and edit audio components down to the individual channel level. This allows you to apply different effects to different components and streamlines the process for making quick sound cutouts to a single microphone input or other fine adjustments.

Keep in mind the following when editing audio components in Final Cut Pro:

• You view and change the audio channel configuration of your clips in the Audio inspector. You can change audio component names, add or remove audio components, and configure channels in mono, stereo, and surround formats. See Configure audio channels.

• With the Range Selection tool (the default editing tool), you can quickly select ranges within an audio component to target the audio you want to edit.

• You can edit audio components for synchronized clips, multicam clips, and compound clips.

• You edit audio components in the same way you edit whole clips. You can:

  • Skim individual components when clip skimming and audio skimming are turned on. See Skim media.

  • Adjust the volume of a component. See Adjust volume.

  • Mute a component’s audio by disabling all or a portion of the component. This is the fastest way to remove unwanted sounds from a component. See Solo, disable, and enable clips.

  • Use fade handles to fade audio in at the beginning or out at the end of an audio component. See Fade audio in or out.

  • Pan the sound for individual components. See Pan audio.

  • Assign a role such as Dialogue, Music, or Effects to a component in the Info inspector (or by using the Modify menu when the clip that contains the audio component is in the Timeline). See Use roles to organize clips and export audio files.

  • Add or adjust audio effects for individual components. See Add audio effects or Adjust audio effects.

  • Adjust audio effects for individual components using keyframes. See Adjust audio effects using keyframes.

  For examples of multichannel audio editing workflows, see Multichannel audio editing examples.