Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 432)

432 Part VI Rough Editing
Viewing Audio Tracks in the Viewer
Clips with multiple audio items have a separate tab for each mono audio item or pair of
stereo audio items in the clip.
The way audio clips appear in the Viewer depends on whether they’re mono or stereo.
 If audio clip items are mono, they’re represented by individual mono tabs in the
Viewer, called Mono (a1), Mono (a2), and so on. Each mono tab displays the
waveform for one clip item, and levels applied to one are completely independent of
any other. Mono clip items are also referred to as discrete audio.
Discrete mono audio is useful when you recorded to separate channels with
independent microphones. (For example, separate lavalier and boom microphones
are often used during interviews to capture the same voice two different ways—
providing a backup audio track in case one microphone records poorly.) Using
discrete audio allows you to adjust levels and pan settings independently for each
audio clip item. You can also trim the In and Out points of each audio item separately
in the Timeline.
 If two audio clip items are linked as a stereo pair, they’re represented in a single Stereo
tab that contains the waveforms of that pair’s left and right audio channels. Level
changes applied to one item are automatically applied to the other. Editing audio as
a stereo pair is useful for intrinsically stereo material, such as music mixed in stereo
and built-in stereo camcorder audio.
Zooming In or Out of the Waveform Display Area
Navigating through audio clips in the Viewer is largely the same as navigating through
video clips in the Video tab. There are some additional features, however, that you
should be aware of.
When you navigate through a clip in the Video tab of the Viewer, you only see the
frame at the location of the playhead. Zooming in to this frame enlarges the visual
image, but doesn’t change your position in time. Waveforms in an audio tab work
differently. Since they represent your entire audio clip, you can navigate through a
waveform as you would a clip in the Timeline. As you move through the waveform,
you’ll notice that the playhead in the scrubber bar under the waveform display area
moves in conjunction with the playhead in the waveform area.