You may have heard about Off The Tracks, a documentary about FCP X that came out a year or so ago. It’s a a great story about the launch -and subsequent blowback against- what should be everyone’s favorite NLE. 😉

A free, abridged version was just released, and you really should check it out. It’s well balanced, and though the POV is that FCP X is a very good NLE choice. it’s not a “fanboy” take at all. Worth the 45 min or so to watch it, and the full length version can be found via Google.

Let’s talk about dissolves… Yeah, I know, boring right?  Well, today I was working in Premiere  – doing some fancy multiple dissolving shot sequences – and I realized how much better the Dissolves in FCP X are. In Premiere, it’s a pain to get a decent ‘look’. Changing blend modes on the shots and stacking them, or keyframing opacity… basically fiddling around endlessly to try to get a nice, smooth, soft effect. It’s do-able of course, but annoying AF.

You also have the option of “starting” your dissolve on the cut, or “ending” on the cut, or trimming one side or the other of the effect to get an “asymmetrical” dissolve. But all that actually does is move the midpoint of the dissolve without you needing to move the cut point. With one exception (see below) there is no such thing as an assymetrical dissolve in any NLE. Don’t believe me? Wade through this discussion for the explanation.

In FCP X, you just put the dissolve on the cut, pick the “Look” (blend mode) tweak the amount (mix) and adjust away. Much easier to get a nice, smooth look. Here’s the infographic!

If you want “real” assymetrical dissolves, the only way to do it is to get Super Dissolve for FCP X. 🙂

Hey, a post! 🙂 Just wanted to let folks know that a really great loudness measuring/adjusting/mixing plugin, Klangfreund Multimeter, is out. Those of you who’ve used LUFS Meter (which has also been updated to V.2) will recognize the interface, with a lot of additional features.

I’ve used LUFS Meter for ages, and the new Multimeter is a great addition to the toolset. The website has all the details, but the cliff notes are:

All the Loudness Measuring functionality of LUFS Meter Plus:

Additional Automatic adjustment functions (true peak, S-Max, M-Max)
Standalone app and plugin for… everything. Major NLE’s and DAW’s and Multiple OS’s
A/V File measurement.
Surround support (up to 64 channels)
A nifty “experimental” DAW Automation feature. 🙂

Lists, Test reports, and much much more. Again, check out The Website for the full feature list.

It also has a preset for pretty much any standard you can imagine.

Multimeter is $59, LUFS Meter is $39, and the discounted (no commercial use and a few less feature) LUFS Meter is still available for $19

There are a number of Loudness plugins out there, But the stuff from Klangfruend is, in my experience, the best priced and easiest to use. Also it works amazingly well. I have no skin in the game here, I just really like great tools like this. I use it exclusively to legalize my mixes from FCP X, but I haven’t even scratched the surface of what the plugins can do. Check ’em out. 🙂

If you wondered which NLE’s gracefully handle source files on disk being renamed, the answer is all of ’em. Well… all except for one.

FCP X vs. PR CC v.s Avid vs. Resolve vs. Lightworks. Apparently I had too much time on my hands today…  Here ya go.

EDIT: Actually, I tested again and Resolve wasn’t very happy either, so I’ll update the video…

For some reason (boredom) I was looking at my oldest App Store purchases. For what it’s worth, “Let’s Golf!2” is the first. 😉  And then, of course, there’s this:

As of right now, it’s cost me $42.86 a year. Pretty good deal huh? I’d say probably the best deal of any NLE.**

To be fair, let’s add in Logic Pro X, Compressor and Motion 5. That get’s me to $7 a month, and decreasing every day.

**Resolve isn’t really free. It’s 300 bucks, same as FCP. But… it has tracks, which considerably detracts from its value. 😉

I had to cut a Red band trailer into a Green Band this week. Not a big deal, but I had to keep all the mixed audio in sync while I cut. And there was a lot of audio to wrangle.

Audio sources were discrete stereo, and 5.1 DME’s, so 24 channels/files. 

Put the 6 L and R Stereo files into 3 Compound Clips, and the 18 5.1 files into another 3. Then put those 6 Compound Clips into a Compound Clip with the picture. Oh, audio was 24fps and pix was 23.98 so I had to slow each audio file down by about 2 frames. So…

My master was an A/V Compound Clip, containing 6 Audio Compound Clips, all of which contained 3-6 retimed audio clips. (Roles all properly set of course) Played fine as you’d expect…

A SIMPLE CUT LIKE THIS…

…WITH ALL THIS ALONG FOR THE RIDE

Edited out the R rated stuff, keeping all the disparate stems in sync, and today exported:

all the cut discrete stems (24),

an AAF,

an EDL,

and the master Video with comped audio in under 5 min. This app rocks. 😀