Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 877)

92 Part I Audio Mixing
There are several ways to add audio level keyframes to your clip items and modify
them in the Timeline or Viewer. You can:
 Manually add keyframes with the Pen tool
 Select the Record Audio Keyframes button in the Audio Mixer button bar, and then
do one of the following:
 Use the controls in the Audio Mixer to record fader and panning slider adjustments
in real time.
 Use a supported control surface with physical faders and pan controls. This allows
you to adjust multiple faders and panning sliders simultaneously.
Note: Although the steps described below generally refer to using the controls in the
Audio Mixer to automate your mix one track at a time, these steps can also apply to
using a control surface. For more information about using a control surface, see “
Using
a Control Surface with the Audio Mixer ” on page 100.
Specifying Audio Keyframe Recording Resolution
Before you start recording keyframes using the Audio Mixer, you must define the
frequency with which Final Cut Pro records audio level and pan keyframes. Final Cut Pro
can record every subtle movement of an audio fader and panning slider or a reduced
(“thinned”) number of those keyframes.
To choose the resolution for audio keyframe recording:
1 Choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences.
2 In the Editing tab of the User Preferences window, choose an option from the Record
Audio Keyframes pop-up menu:
 All: Records the maximum number of keyframes possible while you move a track
strip’s fader or panning slider. The end result is an ultra-precise re-creation of the
levels you set using the Audio Mixer. The drawback to this option is that you might
end up with an extremely dense cluster of keyframes in the audio level overlays of
the affected clips that can be difficult to edit later. Unless you are doing very fast,
precise audio mixing, you may want to avoid this option.
 Reduced: Records only a subset of keyframe information created when you move a
track strip’s fader or panning slider. The resulting audio level or pan overlay in the
Timeline or Viewer is still a fairly accurate reproduction of the levels you set, but the
number of keyframes recorded is much smaller than when the All option is chosen.
 Peaks Only: Records only the minimum number of keyframes necessary to
approximate the levels you recorded when moving a track strip’s fader or panning
slider. Keyframes recorded using the Peaks Only option reflect only the highest and
lowest levels that were recorded. This is primarily useful when you want to record a
minimum number of keyframes to edit later in the Timeline or Viewer.