QUESTIONS after using fcpx a few weeks

Hello,

Comming from Vegas to FCPX and after working with it a few weeks, I have some questions, most of them workflow related.

FREEZE TIMELINE

Sometimes, while editing I get a freeze timeline and the main monitor shows a striped arrow top bar. What does it mean this bar?

WORKFLOW BEST PRACTICES

I would like to know how other editors work because I think that I can always learn from other people. This is how I work in FCPX when editing a video from scratch:

1. I go through the footage in the brownser, select the good takes with IN-OUT and hit "F" Favourite
2. Once all the footage has been "favourited" I create a smart collection with the two following filters: (1) Favourites and (2) Not used in the timeline. So that I only get the favourite clips and once they are used on the timeline they disappear from the brownser so that I can concentrate on the clips that are left.
PROBLEMS: once a clip is dropped on the timeline, the smart collection is not updated immediatelly, you have to re-click in order to view the remaining clips. And, if I use a trimmed version of the "favourited" clip, the trimmed chunks appear again in the brownser and I have to "unmark" to get rid of them. Not a big deal but anyway.

What is your best workflow for trimming and organizing media?

AUDIO:

FCPX runs smoothly in almost every situation except when the audio izotope ozone plugin is applied to a clip. Then it slows down everything like the plugin is trying to update the waveform all the time. I always end up an edit applying some EQ & compression-limiting filters. This is annoying.

Is it possible to apply effects to roles?

Is it possible to have an audio rubberband across all the "track" or "role track" and adjust the volum by simply adding keyframes?


PROJECTS / COMPOUND CLIPS

Is there a way to put a project inside a project? Let's imagine that I have a project with all my edit and then I have another project with the INTRO. I would like to make incorporate the INTRO project at the beggining of my working project. I know that there are compound clips, but wouldn't be easy just to work with a project inside a project?

IPHONE SLOWMO FOOTAGE

When editing 120fps iphone 7 slowmotion footage I face a problem. The slowmo footage is imported as normal footage but I know it is slowmo because framerate says 120fps. But if I slow down the footage to 25% in a 30p timeline I get fluid video but the sound is awful. It has that metallic echo effect. On the other hand, the slowmo audio in the iphone sound way better. Is there any workaround to get clean slowmo audio in FCPX ?

Thanks a lot for your time!!


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iZotope Ozone (and RX) is quite a processor intensive plug-in and can bog down a project quickly as you've noticed...

FREEZE TIMELINE
Those are render bars, showing you'd have improved performance if you render the Timeline. But is rarely necessary to render, ignore them. Check in the Viewer menu and switch form Better Quality to Better Performance if you have playback issues.

WORKFLOW BEST PRACTICES.
That is one way to work. In your Smart Collection, which should update immediately, be sure it is set to ALL and not ANY in the upper left corner. Each situation is different, there is no one universally correct way to organize. FCPX offers more flexibility here than other NLEs. Smart Collections, Tags, Keyword Collections, Folders, Events, all allow for some very sophisticated and fast organization. The method you're describing is pretty basic, but works really well. You could also use the Browser Filter Menu (top of Browser) and set it to UNUSED. Be sure in the View menu, in the Browser sub-menu, you have "Used Media Ranges" checked, so you an see what is and isn't used at a glance.

AUDIO
I'd ask why you're throughout such a CPU heavy audio filter on everything immediately? What is the goal? May be a better way to do this.

You can apply effects to roles, when using Compound Clips, and Show Audio Lanes.

PROJECTS/COMPOUND CLIPS
This is why a Compound Clip is for, to "nest" things inside of other Timelines.

IPHONE SLOMO FOOTAGE
Once you place the footage in your Timeline, select that clip, go to the Retiming menu and set it to "Automatic Speed", which will re conform it to play all frames as shot and give you the in-camera slow motion.

CONCLUSION
You need to do a course from macProVideo or Ripple Training and really learn this NLE properly. Will save you tons of time and headaches just pressing buttons. Friendly suggestion.