There's a bad batch export bug with Final Cut Pro, Compressor and macOS Monterey.
Let's first up say that Monterey has been the flakiest macOS that we have used for a long time. Although Final Cut Pro seems to work ok, we get general freezes, beachballs and the odd random restart. (This is without mentioning Safari!) Only this morning we had to do a reboot as a machine had refused to wake up from sleep. Not impressed.
So when we received this information from an FCP.co reader, we thought it was worth sharing.
'Basically, if you submit a batch export from Final Cut Pro X to Compressor, it will usually, though not always, have every video in the batch fail out with “Unknown Error -9074”.
'Prior to experiencing this error for the first time in October, there was almost nothing about this error on the internet. Now there are numerous posts on Apple’s support site, where people are getting the same error although no one seems to know what it means.
Apparently Apple is aware of it but the issue persists. And yes, I’m not a dummy, I’m cautious when upgrading to a new macOS. I have two systems and I always update one of them first, use it for a couple of weeks and once I find the system to be stable, I update the other system.
In this case, the only thing I hadn’t tested was batch exporting from Final Cut to Compressor and, well, it got me lol. I should add - if I have say 30 mp4s that I need to transcode to ProRes, Batch Exporting in Compressor works fine. It’s something about when you send a project from Final Cut to Compressor that the issue occurs.'
So a word of warning here, if you are using Monterey you might experience the same problem. We believe it might only affect Intel based Macs, please leave a comment below if you know otherwise or have any more information to add.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
