File Management Advice for New User.....:) Workflow for Youtube channel basics.

Hey guys,

I'm a big audio guy Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton and took the dive and got final cut pro to make some vids. Actually going to start a brand new youtube page I've got financial backing for and want to get everything setup right from the get go. I know how meticulous I am with my audio file management.

My main questions would be the workflow I should use for filming all of my youtube content?

What is the optimal file type I should do the final render to for a youtube video assuming I am 1080 24fps?

How can I most effectively keep my 2TB external glyph drive lean and not bloated from unnecessary file storage?

Are there any settings in FCP I should enable that are not done at default settings?

Can I automatically setup new projects straight from my external drive? I basically want nothing but my apps and OS on my Macbook pro. This is how I run all of my audio projects.



I guess this would be a good place to start.

And if you don't mind, can you give me your thoughts on my setup for this type of basic work? Below are my specs.

Mid 2014 Macbook Pro on 10.10.5....2.5ghz....16gig ram....NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M.....500G SSD....with a 2tb Glyph external Drive.

Cameras: Cannon Elph 300.....Go Pro Hero 3+


Thanks for all of you help. I feel like such a newbie again. haha. But in this world you have to have the video too. This is gonna be fun!

Read what honorable board member and FCPX sensei Tom Wolsky have to tell about managed and external media:
www.fcpxbook.com/articles/managed-and-external-media.html

two Qs:
Why 24fps?
That's an odd value imho for web-content ...

How do you do screen-capture?
Screenflow is the undisputed #1 in tools for that purpose... includes a complete editor, specialized for screengrabs & tutorials (all sorts of highlights, mouse magnification, automatic display of keyboard strokes etc) ..... rippletraining offers a training just for Screenflow .....
... for sure you can export, for further refinement (e.g. live action), in FCPX ..


And Welcome, Gilbert, to fcp.co

Are you sure you're on 10.5.5? Or did you mean 10.11.5? Don't think the latest FCPX runs on such an old OS (and don't think your machine does either, so I'm assuming a typo)

Also, 2TB goes rather quickly when working with video. If your drive is for your audio work as well, I would suggest getting a drive just for the video content.

Hey guys,

thanks for the tips. yes, I did mean 10.10.5...sorry about that. I will most definitely check out screen capture software. Sounds really cool. And can you guys tell me a good FPS to work in for youtube videos?

I feel like such a rookie again. Looks like I will need some more Glyph drives.

Thanks for the info guys. Will check out the screen capture software. I really don't know what is a good FPS setting for youtube vids. You guys tell me. lol. Oh, and yes, I fixed the mistake for the OS. I meant 10.10.5 Yosemite!

Anyidea what the best final rendering would be for a youtube vid?

As far as hardware goes, there's plenty of computer there for what you want to do.

For format, I find exporting a master file in H.264 to be the best balance between quality and upload time.
You may be able to get better quality buy tweaking the setting to better match YT's specs, or uploading a ProRes version, but I haven't found either of these options worth the time.

To keep your drive lean, once a project is complete, delete all unused render files at a minimum, and If you never intend to open it again, all render files. Also consider turing off background rendering if you don't need it.

For settings, as audio will be a key part of you videos, make sure that the sample rate of your project, matches the audio files you will be importing, as default is 48.kHz, and you are presumably working with 44.1kHz files.

To keep projects and associated files on the external HD, simply create (or move) the FCPX library(s) there. As long as you are using managed media, (copy to library on import) FCPX will take care of everything for you.

Hope this helps,
-Mark

Gilbert13 wrote: …can you guys tell me a good FPS to work in for youtube videos?
…

you can use any fps for YT, my question was why you use 24?
24fps is ~80 years old standard for projection... many believe it will give a 'cinematic' look, which isn't true.

plus, 24fps and a short shutter speed will give under artificial lights flicker/moving bars.... so, for convenience, most use 25/30, according to local electricy freq.
for action driven content, more and more use 50/60fps ...

And YTcontent is watched on 'compuer displays' (count smartphones as computer ), which use rates of 60, 75, 120fps ...

So, if you don't have artistic reasons (and cinemtatographics skills) for 24 I would use your 'local' framerate....
(ScreenFlow doesn't care for framerates....)

MarkNelsonMovies wrote: As far as hardware goes, there's plenty of computer there for what you want to do.

For format, I find exporting a master file in H.264 to be the best balance between quality and upload time.
You may be able to get better quality buy tweaking the setting to better match YT's specs, or uploading a ProRes version, but I haven't found either of these options worth the time.

To keep your drive lean, once a project is complete, delete all unused render files at a minimum, and If you never intend to open it again, all render files. Also consider turing off background rendering if you don't need it.

For settings, as audio will be a key part of you videos, make sure that the sample rate of your project, matches the audio files you will be importing, as default is 48.kHz, and you are presumably working with 44.1kHz files.

To keep projects and associated files on the external HD, simply create (or move) the FCPX library(s) there. As long as you are using managed media, (copy to library on import) FCPX will take care of everything for you.

Hope this helps,
-Mark

This definitely helps and is great advice. Yeah, I usually record everything at 44.1 16 bit, but will create any youtube content at 48k to keep it streamlined for FCP. I always deleted unused files in my PT sessions too to keep the HD from getting too bloated. I will check out everything else you metioned as well. Thanks!!

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

Gilbert13 wrote: …can you guys tell me a good FPS to work in for youtube videos?
…

Thanks for the tips. I'm not sure, but I thought my cannon Elph300 shot at 24FPS? I will have to check that. Please pardon my ignorance for now.lol. I'm acutally very technical, so learning FCP will be a lot of fun for me. I have a decent chunk of change invested into my YT channel, so learning this at the highest level is a must. I had the Cannon camera already, and see that they are quite popular for entry level video on YT. Let me know what you think what would be a good next step up.

Thanks for all the help. This forum is quite cool!!!!

you can use any fps for YT, my question was why you use 24?
24fps is ~80 years old standard for projection... many believe it will give a 'cinematic' look, which isn't true.

plus, 24fps and a short shutter speed will give under artificial lights flicker/moving bars.... so, for convenience, most use 25/30, according to local electricy freq.
for action driven content, more and more use 50/60fps ...

And YTcontent is watched on 'compuer displays' (count smartphones as computer ), which use rates of 60, 75, 120fps ...



So, if you don't have artistic reasons (and cinemtatographics skills) for 24 I would use your 'local' framerate....
(ScreenFlow doesn't care for framerates....)

24fps works find if you don't have too much action. It does contribute to a cinematic look "IF" you also light, frame, and do other things like a film camera. Other than that, for live action productions, well, mostly stay away from it.

But if you're just doing screen shots of an app, for a tutorial, 24p works great to keep your final size small.

Other than app tutorials and talking heads, I'd stick with a minimum of 30p. As Karsten says, lots of "action" or florescent lights, go with the higher frame rates.

Record audio as 48, video standard, as previously mentioned, to avoid issues later. Recording at 44.1 won't save you any drive space, as the file size delta between the two is negligible, you won't notice any advantage to 44.1 audio.

One weird thing, even though 48kHz is broadcast standard, from what I could find, YT apparently resamples everything to 44.1kHz.

Not about YT, about editing long before you hit YT. To keep quality, and reduce potential headaches.