Professional Documentary - Audio Advice

Hello all,

I'm just finishing my very first indie doc in FCPX. Very low on budget and now I'm planning to do some audio treatment on it. There's lots of VHS tapes, some room tones that need to be made, mastering, etc.

So, how actually do you do? Do you guys simply do it inside FCPX or go to Protools or Logic Pro X?
If you go outside, are there any intensive online course to try to learn a little bit of it? Remembering that since it's an indie film, there won't be any specific gadgets to play with. Just one guy and one headset and lots of good intentions!

Thank you.

Well for best results, you would take the audio to Pro Tools (or Logic or other DAW) so a sound editor can work on it, and then you'll have a separate session with a sound mixer on a mixing stage (99% likely to be Pro Tools). Since you sound like you're very new to this, it's not very practical to learn it all yourself. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it could take you a long time to master. Since your project is very low budget, it's probably not feasible to go the full route. But if you feel like your film is worth it, I would absolutely find a way to get finishing funds and do it the right way. Crowdfunding, etc.

All of this is to say you'll probably do fine with the audio all in FCPX. The built-in tools are actually pretty well thought-out and easy to use, although I would say that the noise reduction is the biggest weakness. Sub-frame editing is probably the best of any NLE. I would at least get a decent pair of self-powered studio monitors so you can hear your mix properly. A headphone mix can be very deceiving.