How do you work with audio edits in FCPX?

I've been using FCPX for some projects lately and one thing that seems a bit clunky at the moment is working with audio in FCPX. For example, taking a piece of music and cutting it up to create loops etc... to use as a bed for videos.

What usually happens at the moment is that the music is either attached to a piece of video in the main storyline which is annoying when you want to move that video clip, or the other way i've been doing it is creating a secondary storyline to keep the music in but then if i want to copy and paste one of the loops, i can never seem to copy it into the secondary storyline, it always pastes it after and then i have to manually add it in.

I'm i missing a better way to work with this? How does everyone else do it?

Hold the Tilde key down (top right above tab key on a US English keyboard) to keep that connected clip in place when you move the Primary Storyline clip.

FCP is not a DAW, that's for sure. For this type of work, I take a proxy export of my video into Logic Pro. But in FCP, you're right, repeating an audio loop isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.

But if you copy the clip, use the up/down arrow keys to get the playhead at the end of it, paste over and over and they'll be back to back. You can then select them all and make either a Secondary Storyline or a Compound Clip.

Cool, cheers Ben. I'm interested as to how other people work with it. I like FCPX but this is one thing where i sorta prefer how FCP7 (or premiere does it). Definitely something where it could be improved. Even if it was a paste in secondary storyline command, that would be massively useful. Maybe i'll fill in the feedback form.

Agreed. I hope a solution finds it way into a future update. It seems so simple: just provide the option for audio segments to form a stationary, lockable "track" without having to create unnecessary compound clips. Would prevent a lot of headaches.

Yes I'm not entirely happy with the audio works in FCP X.
When I have to edit music I always put it into a compound clip first.
It's much easier in there.

Personally I just use Logic Pro (and recently I tried out Soundtrack Pro for noise reduction), Logic being a program I already had and have some familiarity with because I am actually a musician. So I figured if I know how to use it I might as well be using a sound program for my sound needs and exporting to (if music) or back to (if sound originally exported from FCP) FCP X when I've done what I need to.

matthewcarlin wrote: I've been using FCPX for some projects lately and one thing that seems a bit clunky at the moment is working with audio in FCPX. For example, taking a piece of music and cutting it up to create loops etc... to use as a bed for videos.

What usually happens at the moment is that the music is either attached to a piece of video in the main storyline which is annoying when you want to move that video clip, or the other way i've been doing it is creating a secondary storyline to keep the music in but then if i want to copy and paste one of the loops, i can never seem to copy it into the secondary storyline, it always pastes it after and then i have to manually add it in.

I'm i missing a better way to work with this? How does everyone else do it?

Luckily, I have made some seamless loops in FCPX. I use markers, tilde key, and tweak audio as my final step in my workflow. There's a guy on YouTube making Music with FCPX, . So with enough time, patience, experimentation & experience - you'll find ways to make great loops, music, etc with FCPX.