Hey Friends! I hope you found that useful? If you have a different way of doing this that you think is better then let me know with a comment, also are there other tutorials you would like me to do? drop me a comment and tell me! 👍🙏😎
This was very helpful, thank you for sharing! I have always done it the first way you showed, cutting, fading, etc. This method you demonstrated is much smoother, thank you!
Better way is to export to logic and use side chain to frequencies, so there is music left on a frequencies where voice is absent, maintaining the volume. I thought you’re going to tell how to use that in FCPX, honestly. It’s pain in the ass to manually decrease music volume for long videos, films, etc.
BRAVO!!!! I have been pulling my hair out trying figure out why Apple has this volume attenuating feature in their free iMovie but it wasn't in Final Cut Pro. I like this feature better in FCP. Thank you so much my brother!!!
For the first method - if you do the cuts, you can simply put a crossfade transition on the audio and it will be very smooth. Probably the quickest way to duck in FCP, actually. I used to use the range selector but it honestly takes longer and half the time, especially if you're zoomed out, you end up taking way too much time just trying to click the key point. With a crossfade on the audio slice you can easily drag the length of the transition to decide how smooth you want it to be. Happy editing, friends. :)
sub'd based on the intro quality/production/visuals. Very Awesome and quite promising of what I can expect from the channel in general. (and i need to know how to do this ducking too).
Hey Will, from the debt of my heart, I thank and appreciate you and your intelligence. With this short and concise lesson, I was able to surprise my boss at work. Take it, you are a genius! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This was SO helpful - thank you!! I've been doing the first technique and I knew there had to be a better way 🙈 This is one thing that makes me miss iMovie because this was automatically done for voice overs
Will, since FCP X was introduced I always wondered why it doesn't have audio mixer like FCP Studio 7 had, where you used sliders for individual tracks and could edit levels on the fly. Audio ducking was so easy.
It'd be great if FCPX supported actual "auto ducking" meaning that you can use the chat channel and the volume of the music adapts to when you are taking, sort of like a compressor would do. Filmora has this feature, although I really hate Filmora now, but was hopping FCPX would have offered the same pro feature, but it doesn't. Using keyframes is definitely not auto ducking, but I guess is a compromise. Filmora is damn slow on my Mac m1, on my iMac i7 and on my windows using a gaming card 1080TI, tons of ram, fast drive, etc.
yeah I really wish FCPX had this feature too, I believe there are a few plugins which offer this via side chaining but on looking last they all seemed a bit clunky to me. fingers crossed Apple add this in a future update 🙏👍😎
Hi Will, I'm a little late to the party on this one(!), but great tutorial. I'm trying to do this over a number of clips but it doesn't seem to be working for me beyond the clip I start with - am I missing something? Cheers, Martin
Thank you for this video! Going to put this in my saved folders and sub to this channel. I'm learning FCP. Do you record your screen when you are doing tutorials?
Hey Phillip, thanks for watching, glad you found it helpful. Yeah I record my screen for tutorials using QuickTime. Here’s a whole video of how I make my tutorials: th-cam.com/video/Crs6gcJp_Lc/w-d-xo.html
Adding captions/subtitles is really easy in FCPX. Edit > Captions > Add caption. Just make sure you define the type of caption you want to use before you add them all (Modify > Assign caption roles > edit roles) I generally use SRT as they play well for most platforms. Adding and editing captions is much like adding titles once you get the hang of it. Hope that helps, thanks for watching
@@WillChidlow I figured out the captioning and typing it myself, works a great! Appreciate your “like” and the reply as well. Great to know you’re active on here.
Almost impossible to remove background music/noise without messing up the sound of a voice so best to avoid this situation whenever possible, Sorry i cant offer a magic wand solution for that one
@@WillChidlow thank you there is one tutorial but I don’t know where they are getting their clips cause from the audio configuration says there are 6 dialogues and you are supposed to click on the bottom 2 and it takes the music away. The clips I have are all 2 and no matter which one you click music still there. At least now I know I’m not crazy
great video! fcpx is so fuckin' 90s in this regard--all they need is a compressor and some side chaining and this shit is ez pz; instead, it's like going back to the dark ages. NO idea how fcpx doesn't have side chaining option w/ the compressor = /
Oh this was perfect! Thank you. Came across you as was looking for how to adjusrment layer - so just watched that vid and downloaded it - thanks for the free download. And am now bingeing on all your other videos. This use of the range tool just makes it so much quicker sorting out sound - so a great little tip. Right....off to watch more haha. Cheers 👍🏼👍🏼 Stuart
Thanks a lot Will. Very helpful. I'm new to FCPX so would you mind telling me how did you get the volume display to show in the bottom right side of the screen (seen from 1:09)? I've tried clicking on everything and I can't get it to show on mine. Also, what do the two little green channels under 'audio configuration' on the far right correspond with? Which is the active one?
Glad to help! Audio meters are turned on using the drop down menus at the top of the screen, I can’t remember exactly but I think it’s in window or workspace and you are looking for audio meters. The green tracks are the stereo audio tracks you should be able to expand them and there is a tick box to turn them on/off. I normally record external audio and sync in post so I would have 2, 1 original timeline audio (disabled) and then connected audio enabled. Hope that helps, sorry if my explanations are slightly vague I’m not in front of my Mac right now. Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Too bad I didn't come across this video before I uploaded my latest video!! smh, I needed some music in it but didn't know how to do this, but I know, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this helpful video!
Dragging the audio level down is rough. It's hard to fine-tune the level. What will help a lot is to hold the Command key as you drag the audio level and your drag is 'geared down' so that you can easily find the right level with finer tuning. Also, just range-select a little before your narration to a little bit past your selection so that the music ramping occurs before your first words of narration and the music ramping picks up after the end of your narration.
Will, Instead of dragging each individual keyframe (say at the beginning of the range), why not drag the line BETWEEN the two keyframes, allowing you to drag both at the same time? Might save a step or two.
Yep you are quite right, although this only works if you are happy with the created curve, selecting key frames manually allows you to steepen or shallow the curve to your desired settings. I often find the default a little steeper than I prefer. Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Just an FYI, this is not ducking. This is mix automation and while they accomplish the same thing, they are completely different in practice. Ducking is done with a compressor and a side chain input. You apply the compressor to the music background track, and then you patch the output from the track you want to hear (usually a voiceover) to the input of the compressor's sidechain (and in this case the compressor plugin would be assigned to the music track). When that audio (from the VO) passes the threshold set on the compressor, it will compress or in this case "duck" the audio (in this case a music track) by a ratio set on the compressor whenever it sees audio on the input of the sidechain. You'll want a fast attack (10 to 15 milliseconds) and a slow release (80 milliseconds or more). The settings for the threshold, and your compression ratio (these two things interact with one another) will determine how much the audio (in this case the music track) gets cut. Unfortunately, in Apple's infinite wisdom, they neglected to make it possible to actually set up a signal path that allows for ducking (which is baffling as it's simple to do this using the EXACT same plugin in Logic Pro X). They do give you the sidechain input monitor on their AU compressors, but... the dropdown that is normally there to select the input channel is gone. The only way you can do proper ducking in FCPX is to use the Export XML feature, open up the project in Logic Pro X do your mixing an ducking there, bounce down to a stem and then import that back in to FCPX. Pretty friggin' lame considering ducking is probably one of the most common patches someone would setup for mixing audio for video. You can of course manually automate it like you've done here, and if it's just a short clip... not a big deal, but if it's a long clip it's going to get REALLY tedious AND, if any of your VO clips move in time relative to the music clip, you're screwed, you have to start from scratch. With a proper compressor and sidechain signal path, you literally have to do nothing.
@@aaronbazil I’m going to nitpick on calling it ducking. While it accomplishes the same end result, it is mixing, not ducking, and to understand why you need to know the history, as well as the analog roots which have been the foundation for how DAWs are laid out. All of it predates DAWs. The history of the sidechain input and ducking goes back to the 1930's when audio engineers in the film industry needed to tame sibilance from an actor's dialogue. They were able to do this by multing the dialogue signal, EQing the multed signal to accentuate the esses with a bandpass filter (sibilance frequencies vary for male vs. female voices), and then using that EQed signal to trigger the compressor's detector circuit (which is known as a side chain input, in most compressors the detector circuit is normalized to the audio input, the side chain input bypasses that signal path allowing an alternative source to trigger the actual compression). This allowed them to "duck" the signal whenever a sibilant 's' was present in the dialogue. It's also worth noting that mix automation didn't exist in 1930 (the first automation systems were VCA-based and showed up in the 70's but VCAs degraded the signal quality so Neve came up with NECAM which had a motor that physically moved the actual fader itself thus getting around the signal degradation issue). Ducking quickly became adopted in the broadcast industry. The music mix would go through a compressor, and it was triggered via the side chain input by the DJ's voice. This allowed the DJ to talk over a track without having to ride a fader. What differentiates mixing and ducking is that mixing (at least in this example where the "fader" is being automated) is *timecode based* and ducking is *audio based*. The mix level depends upon specific fader moves recorded in a database at a specific timecode stamp. That is how automated mixing works (I used to be a software engineer for a major console manufacturer). Ducking by contrast responds in realtime to whatever the audio stream is doing. It works independently of the timecode (timecode doesn't even need to be present). This is advantageous in this particular application where you want dialogue to duck an audio track because you don't have to worry about the integrity of the automation database and a ducker takes about 10 seconds to setup vs. what FCPX requires due to their lack of a ducker which requires a lot of manual labor.
This might be a viable solution. There’s a video in the link that explains everything. This is not a free tool BUT, if you do a lot of editing that requires ducking and you don’t want to do the Logic Pro workaround, this may be a time-saver. www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/2018/7/21/if-you-want-to-auto-duck-audio-fast-in-final-cut-pro-x-now-its-possible-using-this-great-new-plug-in?format=amp
Hey I finished my video but when I uploaded ti youtube as unlisted , to watch it I realized the Total volume of the video is too low. I had to bring volume to max to hear it normally. Is there a way to raise everything at once? Like a master volume?
Once you are satisfied with the way you "duck" the audio you can copy the keyframes by selecting them and use the short cut -shift -option C and shift -option V. Now you only have the change the duration. That is very easily if you click between two key frames. It will then select both, so you can easily move them without changing the fade out/in.
Hey Friends! I hope you found that useful? If you have a different way of doing this that you think is better then let me know with a comment, also are there other tutorials you would like me to do? drop me a comment and tell me! 👍🙏😎
This was very helpful, thank you for sharing! I have always done it the first way you showed, cutting, fading, etc. This method you demonstrated is much smoother, thank you!
Better way is to export to logic and use side chain to frequencies, so there is music left on a frequencies where voice is absent, maintaining the volume.
I thought you’re going to tell how to use that in FCPX, honestly.
It’s pain in the ass to manually decrease music volume for long videos, films, etc.
new to your channel but it really is a bomb man, keep it up
Where there's a Will there's a way :). Thank you! That's been very helpful!
😂😉👍🙏
i have been trying to figure out how to do this for YEARS. appreciate this video.
🙌🏾 so many of us “tubers” will benefit from this video.
Hi, thanks for watching! I aim to please!
BRAVO!!!! I have been pulling my hair out trying figure out why Apple has this volume attenuating feature in their free iMovie but it wasn't in Final Cut Pro. I like this feature better in FCP. Thank you so much my brother!!!
For the first method - if you do the cuts, you can simply put a crossfade transition on the audio and it will be very smooth. Probably the quickest way to duck in FCP, actually. I used to use the range selector but it honestly takes longer and half the time, especially if you're zoomed out, you end up taking way too much time just trying to click the key point. With a crossfade on the audio slice you can easily drag the length of the transition to decide how smooth you want it to be. Happy editing, friends. :)
Thats a good shout too, thanks for sharing 🙏👍😎
sub'd based on the intro quality/production/visuals. Very Awesome and quite promising of what I can expect from the channel in general. (and i need to know how to do this ducking too).
Thanks Gerald! Welcome to the channel! 👍🙏😎
Thanks! So much better than the other way and I finally know what the range tool does. ✨
Glad it helped!
You're the first to show this to me....Thanks.....I needed this...
Glad i could help! 😄
You shot the duck bro and won a prize with this vid. Thanks man!
😂👍
Best and easiest video on this I could find. Super simple
Fab! thank you
Oh my gosh I've been making my life so much harder doing the blade technique and fading in and out the music. THANK YOU! I subbed :D
Awesome! Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
tq bro
🙌🙌🙌
just upgraded from imovie to final cut, this is so helpful!! thank you
Great! Enjoy the upgrade, you’ll love it! Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Hey Will, from the debt of my heart, I thank and appreciate you and your intelligence. With this short and concise lesson, I was able to surprise my boss at work. Take it, you are a genius! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I appreciate that! Thanks for watching
@@WillChidlow may I have your email address please?
This was SO helpful - thank you!! I've been doing the first technique and I knew there had to be a better way 🙈 This is one thing that makes me miss iMovie because this was automatically done for voice overs
Glad to help Veronica! Yeah iMovie does make this easy but it’s also a little unpredictable at times 👍🙏😎
Dude, I hit like before you even started explaining. That intro was 👌
Ah thanks! 👍🙏😎
Ahhh finally haha! I knew this sort of thing had to be A Thing that I could do, but I couldn't figure it out myself. Thanks for the video!!
Glad I could help! 🙏👍😎
Thanks for the help! its so simple
Cheers for teaching me how to do that! Simple and to the point. Love your green background accent lighting too, btw!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Will, since FCP X was introduced I always wondered why it doesn't have audio mixer like FCP Studio 7 had, where you used sliders for individual tracks and could edit levels on the fly. Audio ducking was so easy.
I agree, it’s a shame they don’t have side chaining like other programmes 👍😎🙏
Brilliant exactly what I was looking for and explained very well, you've earned my subscription
Thank Ian and welcome! 👍🙏😎
Thanks Will, great tutorial
Cheers Dave 👍🙏😎
It'd be great if FCPX supported actual "auto ducking" meaning that you can use the chat channel and the volume of the music adapts to when you are taking, sort of like a compressor would do. Filmora has this feature, although I really hate Filmora now, but was hopping FCPX would have offered the same pro feature, but it doesn't. Using keyframes is definitely not auto ducking, but I guess is a compromise. Filmora is damn slow on my Mac m1, on my iMac i7 and on my windows using a gaming card 1080TI, tons of ram, fast drive, etc.
yeah I really wish FCPX had this feature too, I believe there are a few plugins which offer this via side chaining but on looking last they all seemed a bit clunky to me. fingers crossed Apple add this in a future update 🙏👍😎
Very strange FCPX has no ducking feature, as I remember even the iMovie had this many years ago.
Thank You! Was looking for this for a long time, time to take my editing to the next level!
Nice one 👍👍😎
I finally know how to do it and I know what the feature is called. Thanks so much :)
Happy to help Shadey! 🙏👍😎
Thank you! Perfect how to on t his and straight forward.
Thanks Roddy! 👍🙏😎
2021 and this video is still GOLD!!Thank You
Awesome to hear, thanks for watching
Thank you, Will. This video helped me a lot. Have a good day.
finally, a video that is actually doing what I m looking for. geeez, thank you.
Glad I could help! 👍🙏😎
GREAT VIDEO! EXACTLY THE INFO I NEEDED!!
thanks a lot man , exactly the video title i was searching for
Glad it helps! thanks
And once again Will saves the day! Thanks for the amazing tutorial and keep up the great work! Love from Miami
Thanks Gustavo! Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
Thank you! Very helpful! :)
OMG thank you so much for making this tutorial. I've been racking my brain trying to figure this out.
Happy to help!
*Perfect thank you! Working on this new channel and now I need my work to improve!*
👍🙏😎
most iconic tutorial ever. THANK YOU!!!!
You're welcome! Thanks Daniel
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED
Glad it helped! 👍🙏😎
Awesome video! You made it so easy to understand and follow along. Thank you so much.
This is exactly what I was trying to figure out, thanks!
Awesome to hear, thanks Tom! 👍🙏😎
Thank you! Just what I needed to know. Great video.
Glad it was helpful!
Wish I'd known this at the start of the last project ... 😃👏 Great tip, thank you.
Glad it was helpful! 👍🙏😎
OMG so easy haha I've been doing it like your first method all the time. Thanks!
Glad I could help! 👍🙏😎
Great video. I'm surprised you're not more popular. Well done.
Thanks so much! Haha I’m working on it 👍🙏😎
brilliant, well that was easier than what I thought it would be, thank you.
Glad it helped
This was so helpful. Thank you Will! 👍
Glad it was helpful!
omggg thank you so much for this quick and straight-to-the-point video! i've been looking for a short tutorial for this~
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks I just started editing my first video and I’m still very new to final cut.this help I pray to be this big someday
You got this! 💪
Thanks for the great, easy way to do it!
Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
Thanks for the video. Exactly what I needed!
Ahhhh so helpful. Thank you so much!!!
Awesome video, straight to the point.
Glad you found it useful! 👍🙏😎
This is gold for me. Thank you sooooo much!!
You are very welcome! 👍🙏😎
Hey Will, new to final cut... what is that target thing a 0:11 called and where can I get things like that???
Anyone have thoughts to point me in the right direction??
Hey Dylan, I bought that asset as part of a pack from video hive (envato) they have loads of cool packs in various styles for final cut 👍
@@WillChidlow Amazing thank you I'll have a look
Very helpful! Many thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Good god! Thank you. I’ve been doing it wrong all along. I did it how you did it first, plus some other thing... not as good, definitely
Thank you Will. I've just started using Final Cut and that was my main problem to solve.
Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
Awesome thank you i was looking for this for a while.
Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
This helped me! Subscribed! Thanks mate!
That video was AWESOME!
AWESOME TO HEAR!! 👍🙏😎
nice exactly what i needed to learn!
Glad I could help!
This is super helpful! Thank you so much.
You're so welcome!
thank you thank you thank you - months later...this video saved me!
Great to hear!
Thank you!!!!!!
Very welcome! 👍🙏😎
Thank you for this! I died laughing at first because I did it EXACTLY the way you did not recommend we do this lol
Awesome! Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Hi Will, I'm a little late to the party on this one(!), but great tutorial.
I'm trying to do this over a number of clips but it doesn't seem to be working for me beyond the clip I start with - am I missing something?
Cheers, Martin
Hi Martin, you’ll need to nest multiple clips into a compound clip for that to work 👍🙏😎
This is excellent. Thx for posting!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you ! Great video, straight to the point.
Thanks Moe!
New subscriber!
I love your energy, way of explaining, editing and how amazing your videos are.
Thanks so much for being you and your epic creations.
ah thank you, thats made my day!
Great intro and info! Keep up the amazing work!
Thanks Stephanie! 👍🙏😎
Will, you're a star! Thank you so much for this video!!!!!
My pleasure! YOU are a star!
Thank you for this video! Going to put this in my saved folders and sub to this channel. I'm learning FCP. Do you record your screen when you are doing tutorials?
Hey Phillip, thanks for watching, glad you found it helpful. Yeah I record my screen for tutorials using QuickTime. Here’s a whole video of how I make my tutorials: th-cam.com/video/Crs6gcJp_Lc/w-d-xo.html
@@WillChidlow thank you for replying! Going to check it out!
Great video, thank so much for this! Very useful! Now... how can I get captioning in the video?!
Adding captions/subtitles is really easy in FCPX. Edit > Captions > Add caption. Just make sure you define the type of caption you want to use before you add them all (Modify > Assign caption roles > edit roles) I generally use SRT as they play well for most platforms. Adding and editing captions is much like adding titles once you get the hang of it. Hope that helps, thanks for watching
@@WillChidlow I figured out the captioning and typing it myself, works a great! Appreciate your “like” and the reply as well. Great to know you’re active on here.
I should have said this is a “Ducking Cool” video! 😂 🦆
What if the voice audio and the music are in the same track? How would you be able to lower the music and still hear the voice audio?
Really helpful. Now, how did you get that volume dial effect you had at the start of your video?
Glad to help Matthew! I may do a video about that intro technique so make sure your subscribed so you don’t miss it!
This is great. I actually didn’t know about this option in FCPX. Thank you!!
Great to hear Myles, glad I could help 👍🙏😎
Thank you brother 🙌🏼
Thanks for watching 👍🙏
Thank you, great tutorial. Directly to the point with prime examples where a cut could go wrong
Thanks very much, glad you found it helpful! 👍🙏😎
This was great! Thank you so much
You're so welcome! Thanks Wesley
ok that fine and dandy but what if you have the music on the actual clip on top of the music that you have selected. how do you just have dialogue?
Almost impossible to remove background music/noise without messing up the sound of a voice so best to avoid this situation whenever possible, Sorry i cant offer a magic wand solution for that one
@@WillChidlow thank you there is one tutorial but I don’t know where they are getting their clips cause from the audio configuration says there are 6 dialogues and you are supposed to click on the bottom 2 and it takes the music away. The clips I have are all 2 and no matter which one you click music still there. At least now I know I’m not crazy
Just the tutorial I was looking for! Perfectly explained!
Great to hear! 👍🙏😎
Thank you so much!
Glad it helped! 👍🙏😎
great video! fcpx is so fuckin' 90s in this regard--all they need is a compressor and some side chaining and this shit is ez pz; instead, it's like going back to the dark ages. NO idea how fcpx doesn't have side chaining option w/ the compressor = /
I know right! id love a better solution for this
Oh this was perfect! Thank you. Came across you as was looking for how to adjusrment layer - so just watched that vid and downloaded it - thanks for the free download. And am now bingeing on all your other videos. This use of the range tool just makes it so much quicker sorting out sound - so a great little tip. Right....off to watch more haha. Cheers 👍🏼👍🏼 Stuart
You're very welcome!
Thanks a lot Will. Very helpful. I'm new to FCPX so would you mind telling me how did you get the volume display to show in the bottom right side of the screen (seen from 1:09)? I've tried clicking on everything and I can't get it to show on mine. Also, what do the two little green channels under 'audio configuration' on the far right correspond with? Which is the active one?
Glad to help! Audio meters are turned on using the drop down menus at the top of the screen, I can’t remember exactly but I think it’s in window or workspace and you are looking for audio meters. The green tracks are the stereo audio tracks you should be able to expand them and there is a tick box to turn them on/off. I normally record external audio and sync in post so I would have 2, 1 original timeline audio (disabled) and then connected audio enabled. Hope that helps, sorry if my explanations are slightly vague I’m not in front of my Mac right now. Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Too bad I didn't come across this video before I uploaded my latest video!! smh, I needed some music in it but didn't know how to do this, but I know, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this helpful video!
Awesome! Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
Dragging the audio level down is rough. It's hard to fine-tune the level. What will help a lot is to hold the Command key as you drag the audio level and your drag is 'geared down' so that you can easily find the right level with finer tuning. Also, just range-select a little before your narration to a little bit past your selection so that the music ramping occurs before your first words of narration and the music ramping picks up after the end of your narration.
Really great additions Don! Thanks for watching and adding 👍🙏😎
What if the talking is intermittent and part of the main clip, can the background music get quieter automatically like in i-movie?
Great explanation. Very useful! Thank you!!
Awesome to hear, thanks 👍🙏😎
Hey why is my green music bar so tiny how do I resize it?
Great video by the way.
Thanks! 😎
Perfect! Thank you!
Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
Will, Instead of dragging each individual keyframe (say at the beginning of the range), why not drag the line BETWEEN the two keyframes, allowing you to drag both at the same time? Might save a step or two.
Yep you are quite right, although this only works if you are happy with the created curve, selecting key frames manually allows you to steepen or shallow the curve to your desired settings. I often find the default a little steeper than I prefer. Thanks for watching 👍🙏😎
THANK YOU
👍🙏😎
Just an FYI, this is not ducking. This is mix automation and while they accomplish the same thing, they are completely different in practice. Ducking is done with a compressor and a side chain input. You apply the compressor to the music background track, and then you patch the output from the track you want to hear (usually a voiceover) to the input of the compressor's sidechain (and in this case the compressor plugin would be assigned to the music track). When that audio (from the VO) passes the threshold set on the compressor, it will compress or in this case "duck" the audio (in this case a music track) by a ratio set on the compressor whenever it sees audio on the input of the sidechain. You'll want a fast attack (10 to 15 milliseconds) and a slow release (80 milliseconds or more). The settings for the threshold, and your compression ratio (these two things interact with one another) will determine how much the audio (in this case the music track) gets cut.
Unfortunately, in Apple's infinite wisdom, they neglected to make it possible to actually set up a signal path that allows for ducking (which is baffling as it's simple to do this using the EXACT same plugin in Logic Pro X). They do give you the sidechain input monitor on their AU compressors, but... the dropdown that is normally there to select the input channel is gone. The only way you can do proper ducking in FCPX is to use the Export XML feature, open up the project in Logic Pro X do your mixing an ducking there, bounce down to a stem and then import that back in to FCPX. Pretty friggin' lame considering ducking is probably one of the most common patches someone would setup for mixing audio for video.
You can of course manually automate it like you've done here, and if it's just a short clip... not a big deal, but if it's a long clip it's going to get REALLY tedious AND, if any of your VO clips move in time relative to the music clip, you're screwed, you have to start from scratch. With a proper compressor and sidechain signal path, you literally have to do nothing.
Whoa, this is a lot of great info, thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks for this. I was just trying to figure out if one could properly duck in FCPX similar to logic. Saved me a pile of time.
@@aaronbazil I’m going to nitpick on calling it ducking. While it accomplishes the same end result, it is mixing, not ducking, and to understand why you need to know the history, as well as the analog roots which have been the foundation for how DAWs are laid out. All of it predates DAWs. The history of the sidechain input and ducking goes back to the 1930's when audio engineers in the film industry needed to tame sibilance from an actor's dialogue. They were able to do this by multing the dialogue signal, EQing the multed signal to accentuate the esses with a bandpass filter (sibilance frequencies vary for male vs. female voices), and then using that EQed signal to trigger the compressor's detector circuit (which is known as a side chain input, in most compressors the detector circuit is normalized to the audio input, the side chain input bypasses that signal path allowing an alternative source to trigger the actual compression). This allowed them to "duck" the signal whenever a sibilant 's' was present in the dialogue.
It's also worth noting that mix automation didn't exist in 1930 (the first automation systems were VCA-based and showed up in the 70's but VCAs degraded the signal quality so Neve came up with NECAM which had a motor that physically moved the actual fader itself thus getting around the signal degradation issue). Ducking quickly became adopted in the broadcast industry. The music mix would go through a compressor, and it was triggered via the side chain input by the DJ's voice. This allowed the DJ to talk over a track without having to ride a fader.
What differentiates mixing and ducking is that mixing (at least in this example where the "fader" is being automated) is *timecode based* and ducking is *audio based*. The mix level depends upon specific fader moves recorded in a database at a specific timecode stamp. That is how automated mixing works (I used to be a software engineer for a major console manufacturer). Ducking by contrast responds in realtime to whatever the audio stream is doing. It works independently of the timecode (timecode doesn't even need to be present). This is advantageous in this particular application where you want dialogue to duck an audio track because you don't have to worry about the integrity of the automation database and a ducker takes about 10 seconds to setup vs. what FCPX requires due to their lack of a ducker which requires a lot of manual labor.
This might be a viable solution. There’s a video in the link that explains everything. This is not a free tool BUT, if you do a lot of editing that requires ducking and you don’t want to do the Logic Pro workaround, this may be a time-saver.
www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/2018/7/21/if-you-want-to-auto-duck-audio-fast-in-final-cut-pro-x-now-its-possible-using-this-great-new-plug-in?format=amp
That's gonna be helpful. Cheers.
Glad to help! 👍🙏😎
Your intro to this video had me LOLLing
Haha thanks! 👍🙏😎
Hey I finished my video but when I uploaded ti youtube as unlisted , to watch it I realized the Total volume of the video is too low. I had to bring volume to max to hear it normally.
Is there a way to raise everything at once? Like a master volume?
Once you are satisfied with the way you "duck" the audio you can copy the keyframes by selecting them and use the short cut -shift -option C and shift -option V. Now you only have the change the duration. That is very easily if you click between two key frames. It will then select both, so you can easily move them without changing the fade out/in.
Great tip! 🙏👍😎
Nice one Willy
Cheers Timmy 👍🙏😎
Thanks Will. Much respect bro
Any time!