Workflows

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Step 4: Clean up the audio and add effects in Soundtrack Pro
In addition to using Soundtrack Pro to create an original soundtrack for your movie,
you can use it to work with existing audio in a variety of ways. Two of the most
common are cleaning up a clip’s audio and adding an effect to a sequence.
Cleaning Up a Clip’s Audio
Soundtrack Pro includes a Waveform Editor for working with a clip’s audio. The Waveform
Editor allows you to destructively or nondestructively apply a variety of actions to the
audio, making it easy to repair or enhance an audio clip. Actions can include audio
effects, such as EQ, compression, or reverb, as well as processes such as reducing noise,
adding ambient noise, inserting silence, or converting a stereo file to mono.
You can edit audio clips either nondestructively or destructively in Soundtrack Pro. For
repetitive tasks, you can also use one of the scripts included with Soundtrack Pro or
create your own scripts in the Waveform Editor.
See “Working With a Single Clip From Final Cut Pro” on page 18 for more information.
Adding Effects to a Clip or Sequence
You can also use Soundtrack Pro to add sophisticated audio effects to your movie. For
example, you can enhance a shot’s ambient sound, modify the equalization, or add
compression or reverb. You can work with a single clip, a set of clips you select in the
Final Cut Pro Timeline, or the entire sequence.
From Final Cut Pro, you send the selected clip or clips or the sequence to
Soundtrack Pro, where you work with the audio in the Timeline and Mixer. Once you
have finished, you save the Soundtrack Pro project and export a mix to use in place of
the originally exported Final Cut Pro audio.
See “Working With Multiple Audio Tracks From Final Cut Pro” on page 21 for
more information.
Step 5: Convert a video clip’s video standard
At times, you may need to incorporate a video clip into a sequence with a different
video standard. For example, if you are editing an HD 1080i project and need to include
an NTSC 480i clip, the NTSC clip must be scaled to the 1080i frame size. You can do this
in Final Cut Pro by adding the clip to the sequence and then rendering it, but for the
best quality, you should use Compressor to scale the video.
To use Compressor to scale a video clip, you need to add it to a Compressor batch and
assign a preset that matches the sequence’s video settings (video frame size, frame
rate, and format). You also need to configure the Frame Controls pane in the
Compressor Inspector, which sets Compressor to perform a high-quality scale change
on the video. Once Compressor finishes, you can import the scaled clip into your
Final Cut Pro project and add it to the sequence without needing to render it.