Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 381)

46 Part I Organizing Footage and Preparing to Edit
In Final Cut Pro, you can create merged clips so you can work with video and audio from a
dual system production together, in sync. Most clips refer to a single media file on disk,
and each clip item refers to a track within that single media file. In a merged clip, each
clip item can refer to a different media file on disk. For example, a merged clip
simultaneously refers to a video track in a QuickTime media file and audio tracks in one or
more separate audio files. You can merge one video clip and up to 24 audio clip items.
When you create a merged clip from two or more clips, it becomes a new master clip,
with no affiliation to the clips from which it was created. For more information on
master-affiliate clip relationships, see Volume IV, Chapter 4, “Working With Master and
Affiliate Clips.”
Using Synchronization Points to Create Merged Clips
Before actually merging clips, you need to find a synchronization point between them.
There are different ways of doing this, depending on how you shot your footage:
 If the timecode of your video and audio clips isn’t identical, and you slated all your shots
at the beginning with a clapboard, you can use In points to line up all the clips you
want to merge.
 If the timecode of your video and audio clips isn’t identical, and you have one or more
shots that you tail-slated at the end, you can use Out points to line up all the clips you
want to merge.
 If the timecode of the video and audio recorders used on the shoot was synchronized, you
can use the timecode of both the video and audio clips to synchronize them.
Use Accurately Captured Media to Create Merged Clips
It’s always important to make sure that the timecode captured with your video and
audio media is accurate before creating merged clips.
When capturing audio for use in a merged clip, make sure that your audio deck is
synchronized to the same video timing signal used when capturing video. A
blackburst generator (also referred to as house sync) can be used to supply both video
and audio interfaces with a common timing signal. For more information, see
Volume I, Chapter 15, “Connecting Professional and Non-DV Equipment.”