Final Cut Pro X Ripple 6 SOUND

Question 1

Audio __________ is anything you do to your soundtrack that makes it sound better.

Answer 1

sweetening

Question 2

By the way, whenever I’m working on a project and I’m at a stage where I know I’ll be making a lot of changes to the edit, I will duplicate the project so I can quickly return to a previous version of the project if I need to. To duplicate a project, select it and press _______-_.

Answer 2

COMMAND D

Question 3

Another step I recommend before beginning your sound work it to simplify the interface (UI) so as to remove all the visual clutter. From the Window menu, choose > Hide Browser or press _______ _______ _. The Browser and Library pane disappear to give maximum focus to the Viewer.

Answer 3

CONTROL COMMAND 1

Question 4

Often during sound editing, you’ll want to locate the source clip. With your Playhead over a clip, press _____ _ and the Library and Browser panes will reappear and locate the frame in the Source clip your playhead is currently parked over. Press _______ _______ _ to hide the panes.

Answer 4

SHIFT F, CONTROL COMMAND 1

Question 5

If the Inspector pane is open press _______ _ to close it.

Answer 5

COMMAND 4

Question 6

I also recommend expanding all the audio so you can see where all the audio split edits occur. From the ____ menu choose > Expand Audio/Video Clips > for Splits.

Answer 6

VIEW

Question 7

As you learned in lesson 3, split edits are an often-used editing technique to create overlaps in the dialogue for the purpose of making the conversation sound more natural. It’s also important to see the splits expanded so you can create _____ and make ______ adjustments.

Answer 7

FADES, TIMING

Question 8

If you click the Clip Appearance button, you’ll see several viewing options for displaying clips in the Timeline. Because audio sweetening requires focus on the waveform, I suggest choosing the audio-only button at the far left. This will give maximum focus to the audio. I also recommend increasing the clip size if you are working on a smaller display. If you hold down _______ and ______, then tap number keys from 1 to 6 you can quickly cycle between the various view options.

Answer 8

CONTROL and OPTION

Question 9

Before taking any steps to address the volume, we’ll need to play back the scene to get a sense of where the levels are averaging in the audio meters. As you can see, the levels are averaging around -20dBFS with occasional peaks at -12 dBFS. Since this project is destined for the web, we want the levels to average at ___, with occasional peaks at ___.

Answer 9

-12, -6

Question 10

I’m going to show you an even faster way to change the volume. With the playhead parked over the clip go to the Modify menu and choose > Adjust Volume > Absolute. The Dashboard in the center of the toolbar turns bright green prompting user input. You can enter positive or negative values. However, only negative values require you to enter the minus key before entering the number. Press 0 if you need to get volume to 0. The shortcut for absolute volume change is _______ ______ _. Like it’s name implies, the volume change is absolute which means it affects the entire clip or a selection range it’s applied to.

Answer 10

CONTROL OPTION L

Question 11

An absolute volume adjustment is also a fast way to change the volume on multiple clips at once. Select the first 5 clips, press _______ ______ _ enter 6, then press Return. All the selected clips receive the 6dB increase in volume.

Answer 11

CONTROL OPTION L

Question 12

You can also increase or decrease the volume in 1dB amounts. Let’s play back the Billy Shark Question clip while watching the meters. The level is a bit too hot compared to the other clip. With your playhead parked over the clip press and hold the _______ key and tap the _____ key 6 times to reduce his volume by 6dB. If you need to increase the volume by 1dB press the ____ key.

Answer 12

CONTROL, MINUS, PLUS

Question 13

Often audio sweetening involves removing unwanted sounds in the mix, boosting certain sounds or reducing sounds. Your go-to tool for performing any of these tasks is the audio keyframe. Move your playhead over the clip, press C to select it, then press the _______ _____ key to play the selection…

Answer 13

FORWARD SLASH

Question 14

If you look at the waveform of the preceding clip of the Man, his dialogue is louder. We’ll use a few keyframes on the woman’s dialogue to even them out. In the View menu, make sure ____ ________ and _____ ________ are enabled. Skim over the clip listening for when she begins and ends her line, then create a selection range to isolate it from the rest of the clip.

Answer 14

Clip Skimming and Audio Skimming

Question 15

In the View menu, make sure Clip Skimming and Audio Skimming are enabled. Skim over the clip listening for when she begins and ends her line, then create a selection range to isolate it from the rest of the clip. Press the _______ _____ key to play back your selection to verify you’ve selected the entire line. Now press and hold the control key, and tap the plus key 4 times to increase the volume within the range by 4 Decibels. By clicking in the gray area outside the clip you’ll see that Final Cut automatically created a set of 4 keyframes.

Answer 15

FORWARD SLASH

Question 16

In the View menu, make sure Clip Skimming and Audio Skimming are enabled. Skim over the clip listening for when she begins and ends her line, then create a selection range to isolate it from the rest of the clip. Press the Forward Slash key to play back your selection to verify you’ve selected the entire line. Now press and hold the _______ key, and tap the ____ key 4 times to increase the volume within the range by 4 Decibels. By clicking in the gray area outside the clip you’ll see that Final Cut automatically created a set of 4 keyframes.

Answer 16

CONTROL, PLUS

Question 17

Later in the clip the woman teases the man with the word man-eater. Skim over the clip watching and listening for where her word begins, then press and hold the R key and drag across the clip until she finishes speaking, then release your mouse. The R key temporarily turns the _________ tool into the _____ Selection tool, then upon releasing the mouse, returns back to the _________ tool.

Answer 17

SELECTION, RANGE, SELECTION

Question 18

Skim over the clip watching and listening for where her word begins, then press and hold the R key and drag across the clip until she finishes speaking, then release your mouse. Press the _______ _____ Key to verify your selection is correct. Now Press Control- Option-L, then enter a value of 10 and press Return. the volume within the range has been boosted to an absolute volume level of 10dB. To control how gradual you want the volume change to occur, drag the outside keyframes. Dragging outward creates a slower rate of change and dragging inward creates a faster rate of change.

Answer 18

FORWARD SLASH

Question 19

Skim over the clip watching and listening for where her word begins, then press and hold the R key and drag across the clip until she finishes speaking, then release your mouse. Press the Forward Slash Key to verify your selection is correct. Now Press _______ ______ _, then enter a value of 10 and press Return. the volume within the range has been boosted to an absolute volume level of 10dB. To control how gradual you want the volume change to occur, drag the outside keyframes left and right. Dragging outward creates a slower rate of change and dragging inward creates a faster rate of change.

Answer 19

CONTROL OPTION L

Question 20

To select keyframes for copying and pasting, hold down the R key, drag across them then release your mouse. Click in the Gray area to deselect them. Select the first two keyframes in the man-eater section, then press ______ _____ _ to copy them.

Answer 20

SHIFT OPTION C

Question 21

Select the first two keyframes in the man-eater section, then press Shift-Option-C to copy them. Move the playhead to the frame just before she makes that cute growling sound, and press ______ _____ _ to paste the 2 keyframes. In order to move a group of keyframes, just select them and drag right or left. To delete keyframes, right-click on any one of them and choose > delete keyframes.

Answer 21

SHIFT OPTION V

Question 22

What’s needed here is a volume adjustment tool that will allow us to increase or decrease the overall clip volume while honoring the relative volumes of the keyframes already in place. With the playhead over the clip you want to adjust, choose Adjust Volume > Relative from the Modify menu. Just like the Absolute adjustment we looked at earlier, the Dashboard prompts use input. Enter 2 and press Return. Moving the pointer over the volume bar, the sections that we’re formally 6dB have been boosted to 8dB and the sections that were formally 10dB were boosted to 12dB. So the volume of the entire clip was boosted 2dB while maintaining the relative volume of the all keyframes. The shortcut for this is _______ _. Reset the volume level for this clip by pressing Command- Z.

Answer 22

CONTROL L

Question 23

Because a large part of your time spent audio sweetening will involve keyframes, I want to show you a few useful keyboard shortcuts that will save you some time. Let’s move to the clip where the Man laughs at the woman’s suggestion he swim with a shark. Playing the clip back we hear her respond to a phone call coming from her purse. Her volume is a bit low and we need to boost it.
Park your playhead just before she begins her line, then press ______ _ to add a keyframe. Tap your left arrow key a few times to move the playhead back a few frames then press ______ _ again. To select the next keyframe, press Option Apostrophe, the with the Option key held down, tap the Up Arrow key 4 times to increase the level by 4dB. Now play back.

Answer 23

OPTION K, OPTION K

Question 24

Because a large part of your time spent audio sweetening will involve keyframes, I want to show you a few useful keyboard shortcuts that will save you some time. Let’s move to the clip where the Man laughs at the woman’s suggestion he swim with a shark. Playing the clip back we hear her respond to a phone call coming from her purse. Her volume is a bit low and we need to boost it.
Park your playhead just before she begins her line, then press Option K to add a keyframe. Tap your left arrow key a few times to move the playhead back a few frames then press Option K again. To select the next keyframe, press ______ __________, the with the Option key held down, tap the Up Arrow key 4 times to increase the level by 4dB. Now play back.

Answer 24

OPTION APOSTROPHE, OPTION