Deleting quite sections

I use FCPX to create vlogs. Usually, I cut out the video areas in which I'm not talking, in which the audio is zero. This, however, takes hours of work, just scrolling and trimming out the areas with no sound.

Is there any automatic way of doing so? Selecting and deleting the quite areas?

zeyad.almadani wrote: … Is there any automatic way of doing so? Selecting and deleting the quite areas?

btmk, No.

But why 'hours of work'?
scroll in the Event-Browser with J/K/L, mark unwanted parts with I/O, hit 'delete'
To favourite or reject material is a blazing fast process ... at last for me.


And Welcome Zeyad to fcp.co

Or apply the Noise Gate audio effect to them.

If you see the browser view to show the audiowave form, you can quickly create ranges over the parts where the waveform are very low, then hit the delete key, this marks the range as rejected, then change the browser view to "hide rejected", you will then have only a browser showing "subclips" with only the parts you want to use.

The power of FCPX is in sub-clips, basically, most of the editing you do is not on the timeline, but in the browser, you use tools such as keywords, favorites, rejected, then once this part is one, you can quickly append to timeline and so on!

oooh...explain...sounds delish..noise gate... :oops:

help.apple.com/logicpro-effects/mac/10.2.3/#/lgcef1bececd

zeyad.almadani wrote: I use FCPX to create vlogs. Usually, I cut out the video areas in which I'm not talking, in which the audio is zero. This, however, takes hours of work, just scrolling and trimming out the areas with no sound...Is there any automatic way of doing so? Selecting and deleting the quite areas?

To delete quiet intervals, you don't even need to listen to the content since FCPX has such high-resolution audio waveform graphs and rapid scrolling & skimming. This could be done either in the Event Browser or the timeline itself.

Event Browser:

(1) Turn on waveforms in the Event Browser: View>Show Waveforms
(2) Adjust filmstrip length and height using the buttons at bottom right of the Event Browser.
(3) Skim the clip, and mark quiet ranges by click and drag.
(4) For each marked range, press Delete to mark it rejected. It is not really deleted.
(5) At upper left of the Event Browser, set the display to "Hide Rejected". All those you marked will go away, yet will still be available if needed.

Timeline:

(1) With content on timeline, set the audio waveform height and clip height using the buttons at bottom right of the timeline. Unlike the Event Browser you can adjust the audio waveform height independently.
(2) Ensure that Clip Skimming is enabled to you can hear the audio when skimming: View>Clip Skimming
(3) Skim through the timeline visually looking for quiet areas. If using a trackpad this is extremely fast since you can use "pinch to zoom" to spread/contract the timeline, two-finger swipe to move the timeline left/right. Swipe left/right also works on the Magic Mouse. Note: you don't even need to use the playhead for this. You can do it all with the skimmer.
(4) To mark a range for deleting in the timeline, press the R key to enter Range mode, then click and drag across the rate. Note: for *momentary* range mode you can press and hold the R key, then drag across the range. It will then revert to "Select" mode.
(5) After marking a range press the delete key. If any mistakes press CMD-Z to undo. You can also adjust the end points after the deletion since the content is not really deleted, just shown that way on the timeline.

It should not take hours to do this. In general most vlogs could use a lot more editing. Nobody wants to watch endless rambling. It is not that hard to delete the non-essential or slow-moving sections. Using FCPX it can be done very rapidly.

This is the way I currently use. But it is still time consuming. I can say that 80% of the time goes to highlighting and selecting the proper material, while 20% goes for everything else in video production, even with Motion editing and everything.

I was just wondering whether there was a special software or plug-in to help vloggers.

Thanks for your help anyway.

zeyad.almadani wrote: ...it is still time consuming. I can say that 80% of the time goes to highlighting and selecting the proper material, while 20% goes for everything else in video production, even with Motion editing and everything...I was just wondering whether there was a special software or plug-in to help vloggers...

Typical ratios of post-production editing time to program length can vary from 1:1 to over 100:1 for some documentaries. At a bare minimum you normally listen to it, set audio levels and exposure and cut out extraneous dialog, camera pauses, etc. Cutting out sections with little/no dialog is just one step of the many normally required for quality material, even by web vlog standards.

What you're essentially asking for is an automatic cut and delete of timeline sections (video + audio) where audio level is below some user-defined level. That is technically possible but I don't know of any plugin that does that.

IF that existed, you would still have to review each one to ensure it didn't make a mistake. I don't see how that would be much faster than swiftly skimming the clips in the browser, looking at the audio waveform and deleting the ranges by hand.

In the Event Browser you can mark all the ranges to be rejected in a single pass and delete them all in a single step. You set View>Show Waveforms, then stretch out the filmstrip length with the controls at bottom right of the browser, then visually locate each low audio sections in the waveform, hold down CMD and mark each section. When done, press DEL and they are marked rejected, then in the upper left select Hide Rejected and you are ready to place that on a timeline with all the cuts made. This works better if you have audio skimming enabled with View>Audio Skimming so you can sweep the skimmer around and hear the audio in addition to seeing the waveform.

Maybe some audio plugin exists which can mark a timeline or audio track based on some user-defined level. If that was an audio-only tool and it had XML capability maybe it could be imported into FCPX and at least the low-audio regions would be demarcated with markers.

joema wrote: …Cutting … is just one step of the many normally required for quality material, even by web vlog standards.
….

excellent summary, Joe, but what vblog standard(s)?? :silly:

generally spoken (to the OP, not you, Joe):
many, most, all blogs I'm aware of, are felt 220 minutes of boredom, uncut, someone's starring to a point above my head (=builtin cam), illuminated in pale blue of his screen, in the background a picturesque mix of to-be-washed cloths, a silly behaving cat and party leftovers, trying "äh, to tell äh me what he äh likes to äh tell me ... like" ..... arghghgh!

What about 'prepare yourself'? sort your thoughts BEFORE opening your mouth? A list of keywords? Why fixing in post when you could avoid it in the making? ......

I kick any 'unedited' YTvideo within split-seconds into Digital Nirvana, instantly! Basic editing, pre or post, is so easy to do ... and my lifetime is too limited to watch people thinking. Or, worse, listen to people finding a thought ...

:evil: :evil: :evil:

.… btw interesting concept, a plugin setting edit marks by audio-threshholds.... unfortunately beyond my skills, but should be possible …

Seriously, doing this manually really constitutes as madness. Looking into using a Noise Gate or Expander is really the best way you can handle this.

You will need relatively consistent audio format it to work most effectively and if you run into any "chattery" type of effect try altering your Hold and/or Hysteresis.

There are other methods that help you create more consistent audio if you need, namely limiting and compression. You can find these as seperate tools but they are also available as all-in-one style effects like the D5 from Waves. Interestingly they also have a product called Vocal Rider that is also great at levelling the voice.

www.waves.com/plugins/vocal-rider

Not sure, but this is the FCP.co forum...

I O Delete then hide deleted in the viewer menu, how hard can it be.. It is not madness...

Depending on the length and complexity of your project it could take a very long time to do this manually. Then there are times, many or them, where you don't want dead silence, it could be as obtrusive as the ambient noise you are replacing. In the end it could burn up so much of your time and energy getting it right, you may as well be mad!!!

So what's really needed is a quick and easy way to manage the noise level. Something that can be easily refined or undone completely if it's not working. The Noise Gate has been designed specifically with this job in mind. One even comes standard with FCPX.

The idea is to work smarter and not harder and it really was at the core of the question being asked.

Forgive me but I thought video editors had to be mad to be video editors..You do not become a video editor to be rich, to be famous, to be a fan of light and bright sunny things...

Video editors are like bats, work all night, sleep all day, staring at a screen listening to the same thing 450 times, then deleting and starting again!!!

Simon, would it not be advisable to make a short, less than 2hours tutorial, about that very point you are trying to get across.. Video of say 1:30:00:00 to 1:45:00:00 should be ok...

The same point could possibly be made in one of Steve's 5-min quick tip Ripple Training vids. Possibly.

There's not too much to it. Mostly it's practice.

simon.a.billington wrote: Seriously, doing this manually really constitutes as madness. Looking into using a Noise Gate or Expander is really the best way you can handle this...

The OP's question was not about noise control or dynamic range. His vlog has significant "dead air" sections where the subject is not talking -- probably thinking of the next thing to say. He wanted an automated way to cut out these A/V ranges based on the audio level. IOW he wanted the post production equivalent of sound-activated recording.

For reasons I don't understand he says selecting and deleting those ranges (even using the waveform, not listening) takes 80% of his editing time.

If it is that big a deal he should probably investigate using sound-activated recording.

Pre-editing in the fcpx browser is very fast, once you get the hang of doing it, with the wave form, and the j k l keys, it is not a slow process, then you are left with sections "subclips" you can then append to timeline, if you set the viewer to hide rejected clips.

I have not seen the vlog, but it cannot be very long, even 2 hours would not take a long time, once you do the pre-editing, a large chunk of work is done.

With the waveform you can see just what to range and delete.. If you want to talk about tedious, watch the ripple training video on "compositing in FCPX", that is frame by frame, adjusting, so if the OP is having a problem with audio, I cannot think of what he will feel about frame by frame, to reduce a wrong camera move..Which can be done, frame by frame, and if Ripple do not mention a plug in, and they only suggest frame by frame, then it is frame by frame.

It is not hard, tedious granted, hard, no, time-consuming, yes, necessary yes-if he wants a polished blog, some things take time to do, fact of life, nothing good is instant...Not editing, and instant coffee sucks compared to a slow brew filter!!!

Pre-editing in the fcpx browser is very fast, once you get the hang of doing it, with the wave form, and the j k l keys, it is not a slow process, then you are left with sections "subclips" you can then append to timeline, if you set the viewer to hide rejected clips.

I have not seen the vlog, but it cannot be very long, even 2 hours would not take a long time, once you do the pre-editing, a large chunk of work is done.

With the waveform you can see just what to range and delete.. If you want to talk about tedious, watch the ripple training video on "compositing in FCPX", that is frame by frame, adjusting, so if the OP is having a problem with audio, I cannot think of what he will feel about frame by frame, to reduce a wrong camera move..Which can be done, frame by frame, and if Ripple do not mention a plug in, and they only suggest frame by frame, then it is frame by frame.

It is not hard, tedious granted, hard, no, time-consuming, yes, necessary yes-if he wants a polished blog, some things take time to do, fact of life, nothing good is instant...Not editing, and instant coffee sucks compared to a slow brew filter!!!

It would appear that I misread the original post, it happens sometimes.

A Noise Gate would just manage the ambient noise levels, it won't edit a vid. It may be possible, however, to do a custom script.

Voice activation may not be quick enough to catch the opening transient or the first word which may lead to audible problems. But then it may be suitable for this kind of purpose. I just haven't come across any, but I'm sure there's something out there.

What is wrong with tedious drudge work? It is the "bad" part of editing, it is just part of the process of editing, like surgeons having to spend so much time scrubbing before surgery, when they are going to wear layers of gloves and surgical uniforms, it is a part of the process, no one enjoys it, yet they just do it, and move on...

If this was a 120 hour monologue, then maybe I would concede, but even 2 hours, it will take a while, how long, no idea, longer than 2 hours, if you are slow, maybe, but really...

This is just a part of editing, if you use a plug in, you might waste more time undoing the automatic selections made by the plug in, so doing it old school is cool... Like baking bread, sure you can toss the stuff in a machine, but it is still machine made bread...