4 channels of audio?

[Scott Hepler]

Why does 4 channels of audio show up in FCPX from the FS5? And more importantly can you record to all 4?

Thanks

[Doug Jensen]

You're not going to like this, but there's nothing you can do onboard the camera to reduce the number of audio channels, and no matter what you do, you can only feed audio to two of those channels. The other 2 channels are there so the files conform to Sony's XAVC specifications. I don't use FCPX, but with Premiere it is very easy to strip off the unwanted channels at the time of import. There might be something similar in FCPX.

[Scott Hepler]

Thanks Doug, it isn't a problem in FCPX at all, you just uncheck them or ignore them since nothing is on them anyway. I just had the thought that maybe there was a way to record 4 channels via the xlr inputs and possible the hotshoe with sony's fancy receiver, or some combo that I hadn't figured out yet. They are there just to tease.

thanks again

[Peter Brinkman]

Would be nice to have the internal mics continuous record on 3 and 4 as a backup. Think the Canon cams do so.

[Doug Jensen]

The FS7 and F55/F5 can do four channels of audio.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Scott Hepler

Thanks Doug, it isn't a problem in FCPX at all, you just uncheck them or ignore them since nothing is on them anyway. I just had the thought that maybe there was a way to record 4 channels via the xlr inputs and possible the hotshoe with sony's fancy receiver, or some combo that I hadn't figured out yet. They are there just to tease.
thanks again

I'm curious to know what you actually see in FCPX. If you uncheck tracks or choose to ignore them do you still have to see them? In other words, do you still have to deal with 4 tracks when you put a clip on the timeline? In Premiere you can strip off any (or all) of the tracks of clips while they are in the bin so you never even see them. Its like they never existed at all and you can apply the change to all the clips at once in 2 seconds. For example, when I drag a clip to the time line I just see one stereo track. Can you do that with FCPX?

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

no matter what you do, you can only feed audio to two of those channels.

-and

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

The FS7 and F55/F5 can do four channels of audio.

Are those statements contradictory?

[Alfred Okocha]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

-and



Are those statements contradictory?

No, he never says you can on the FS5. (Maybe you misread F55?)

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Sure I did - sorry, I stand corrected.

[Doug Jensen]

No problem. As someone with dyslexia I mix up FS5 and F55 all the time when I read them. I really have to stop and look carefully sometimes. It is a terrible choice of product names by Sony.

[Olof Ekbergh]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

I'm curious to know what you actually see in FCPX. If you uncheck tracks or choose to ignore them do you still have to see them? In other words, do you still have to deal with 4 tracks when you put a clip on the timeline? In Premiere you can strip off any (or all) of the tracks of clips while they are in the bin so you never even see them. Its like they never existed at all and you can apply the change to all the clips at once in 2 seconds. For example, when I drag a clip to the time line I just see one stereo track. Can you do that with FCPX?

You can have FCPX not import silent tracks. It is just one of many import options. You set this up in the import window and it will stay for subsequent imports until changed again. I always strip silent channels.

With this setting you will just get 2 channels from the FS5 if there is audio on both. If only one had audio you just get 1. This makes life simple...

[Doug Jensen]

Thanks, Olof. That sounds like a great feature.

[Scott Hepler]

Doug,

Since FCPX isn't track based the silent audio it doesn't show up at all in the timeline. But under the audio adjustments in the channel configuration all four will be displayed. That is where you can disable or change stereo or mono etc. But Olof nailed it, just don't have them import.

learn something everyday.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

I'm curious to know what you actually see in FCPX. If you uncheck tracks or choose to ignore them do you still have to see them? In other words, do you still have to deal with 4 tracks when you put a clip on the timeline? In Premiere you can strip off any (or all) of the tracks of clips while they are in the bin so you never even see them. Its like they never existed at all and you can apply the change to all the clips at once in 2 seconds. For example, when I drag a clip to the time line I just see one stereo track. Can you do that with FCPX?

[Olof Ekbergh]

Originally Posted by Scott Hepler

Doug,

Since FCPX isn't track based the silent audio it doesn't show up at all in the timeline. But under the audio adjustments in the channel configuration all four will be displayed. That is where you can disable or change stereo or mono etc. But Olof nailed it, just don't have them import.

learn something everyday.

Thanks

As you probably know FCPX has a system that can separate different audio channels (or video channels) into roles. This is very nice as you can export to a track based audio editing app like ProTools, turning roles into tracks. You can also display different roles in the timeline color coded, and turn them on or off individually or solo just one.

Typically I have roles for SOT (nat sound recorded in cam), Live voice, V/O (can be multi languages), Music bed, foley 1-3 sometimes more.

Once you get used to roles it is a really cool way to work.

[Doug Jensen]

I'm sure glad there are alternatives to FCPX because it would not fit my way of working or thinking at all. :-)