GY-LS300 CH2 Audio issue in FCPX

[Dave Bittner]

Just had a bit of a panic, importing some footage from an interview where I had camera mic on CH1 and boom on CH2. After bringing the footage in to FCPX using the standard import window the clips showed up as mono, single channel, only CH1. It seemed my boom mic channel was gone, despite my seeing the meters moving while recording and monitoring during the shoot.

I played the clips back directly in the finder and discovered that CH2 is, indeed, there. So, disaster averted, and now the question is why FCPX is incorrectly importing the clips as mono, single channel, from CH1. I looked at the metadata in the XML files on the SD card and it's listing audio as "MONO_2CH".

If I drag the footage in from the finder, bypassing the import dialog, I get both channels. So, there's a workaround, but it's still an odd behavior.

[Steve Rosen]

Are you shooting 24P? I had that same problem (also in X) and it went away when I switched to 30P. I also use CH1 for the on-camera and CH2 for the boom or wireless, and was freaked out - in my case I never found the hidden tracks.

I also tried recording CH2 only at 24P and the clip had no discernible audio, but there was a waveform barely visible, greyed out, in the clip. Weird - apparently FCPX and JVC aren't playing well together.

[Steve Rosen]

Dave, I'm curious - how are you able to play the clip in the finder and then drag it into X? Are you using Clip Wrap or something similar to convert your files, or are you opening the clips from within the library after importing into FCPX?

[Dave Bittner]

I'm shooting 30P, 1080P, 50M XHQ, LPCM set to stereo. (I also set it to Dual Mono and got the same results.)

I did another test this morning. Importing via FCPX import menu gives me a single channel of mono audio from CH1. Drag and drop from the finder into the app gives me dual mono, both CH1 and CH2.

I can view the movie files in the finder, directly. Each QT MOV files has an XML file paired with it with the same file name.

Doing some more testing...

[Dave Bittner]

Making some progress, here.

In the FCPX import window, there's a checkbox option in the Audio section for "Separate mono and group stereo audio." Checking that box (and ONLY that box) results in both channels being imported, dual mono. Leaving that box unchecked results in only CH1 being imported.

[Steve Rosen]

Thanx, I'll try that...

[Duncan Craig]

Sorry I missed this thread. How did I miss it??

Anyway, I thought I'd try toggling the 'separate mono and stereo groups' option again and blow me down it worked! Great.

Then I tried a different clip from another card, and it didn't work.
In fact sometimes the imported clip shows it's one audio channel set to left. and sometimes set to mono.
And sometimes there's two clips with nothing showing or playing on Ch2.

I'll do some more digging.

On another note, I'm using 64GB cards and I when I'm recording very long clips I can't get FCPX to import them as a single spanned clip. Unlike long clips from any of my other cameras.

[Duncan Craig]

It's still not working properly.
I've tried switching the two relevant audio import option around a few times. No luck.

Try this: Import a long clip with two distinct audio tracks, import it but quickly drop it onto a timeline before it's fully imported and play the timeline.

(Non FCPX users need to understand that FCPX lets you import multiple clips from a card and start editing with them straightaway before the import is complete. There's no conforming or rendering, it just plays)

The clip on the timeline shows up as normal in the inspector with two channels, and you can switch between them while playing in the timeline or the browser , you'll hear the resultant individual audio playback changing and the waveform changes as you would expect.

You can even skim over the individual tracks and hear the difference.

Now, stop playback and let the import finish.
The clip should still have two channels, with distinct waveforms, the waveforms on the timeline change as you switch tracks, but you can only ever hear track one!!

I don't have this issue if I drag the .mov files directly off the SD card.
In fact the clip is shown as 'Auto-detected stereo' in the inspector.

This must be a bug in FCPX.

P.S. I'm using OS 10.11.2 and FCP 10.2.2.
I guess that the .3 OS update won't fix this?

[William Hohauser]

Originally Posted by Duncan Craig

On another note, I'm using 64GB cards and I when I'm recording very long clips I can't get FCPX to import them as a single spanned clip. Unlike long clips from any of my other cameras.

I can address this, sort of. The mov files from the JVC HM600 also don't import as one clip into FCPX which is difficult for multicam edits of long interviews or events. Just like you, my other brand camera files import properly spanned. Either JVC is not putting the proper info into the files to cue FCPX to span the clips or it's not possible to do this with mov files. I have not experimented with recording MP4 files instead, that might work with spanning in FCPX. I use EditReady to manually span the JVC mov files which doesn't take long. I like EditReady as I can use it to rename name the video files with more useful file names. Not sure if EditReady can work with the 4K files.

[Dave Bittner]

Let's make sure we all report the bug to Apple, so hopefully it will get fixed in a future version.

Apple - Final Cut Pro - Feedback

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by William Hohauser

I can address this, sort of. The mov files from the JVC HM600 also don't import as one clip into FCPX which is difficult for multicam edits of long interviews or events.

Same for Edius, I get 09:45 minute mov clips but there is no frameloss in video or audio for continuous recordings, it's not a big deal for me once I add them on the timeline.

[Steve Rosen]

I've had a variety audio import issues with other cameras as well. I'm afraid Apple just isn't interested in FCPX much anymore..,. they haven't updated it in over a year, and that's not usual with them.

[Duncan Craig]

Originally Posted by Dave Bittner

Let's make sure we all report the bug to Apple, so hopefully it will get fixed in a future version.

Apple - Final Cut Pro - Feedback

Feedback sent. But they don't give you much space to write it!

[Dave Bittner]

I've heard back from Apple support, and they've asked me to send them files for analysis.

So we seem to be getting somewhere.

[Duncan Craig]

Same thing here.
Perhaps the news of FCPX's demise is a little premature!! ;-)

Again the audio problem had only been an issue for me when setting the camera to 'Dual Mono' I'll be putting it back to 'Stereo' for the time being, then changing the files in the inspector to dual mono within FCPX.

The spanning issue is perhaps more difficult to pin down for them.
I expect that's a bug in the camera.