*real* graphic EQ in FCP?

Z

zstowasser

Member
Hello! Does anyone know of a Graphic Equalizer (EQ) that actually has "Graphics" - meaning you can actually see the bands and it visually changes on a graphic as you turn the knobs?

I come from a music background and would like to use that style, I work faster at it to visually at the same time.

I know there are plugins in Soundtrack Pro, but I would like to do it within FCP. Thanks.
 
yeh there is one.

Its buried in one of the effects in sound track pro so roundtrip the file u need to there
then apply the effect channel EQ. Click the analyze button on the left then let it play

It's a little bit of effort to get your file over there but her - its free with the suite
 
J Davis said:
yeh there is one.

Its buried in one of the effects in sound track pro so roundtrip the file u need to there
then apply the effect channel EQ. Click the analyze button on the left then let it play

It's a little bit of effort to get your file over there but her - its free with the suite
Click to expand...


He was asking if it was available in FCP.

There are several EQs in STP including the Channel EQ and Linear Phase EQ - but there's no way to see their interfaces in FCP, just the values sadly.
 
dialing_wand said:
He was asking if it was available in FCP.

There are several EQs in STP including the Channel EQ and Linear Phase EQ - but there's no way to see their interfaces in FCP, just the values sadly.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly.

A Graphical EQ inside of FCP would allow me to copy/paste filter settings to different audio clips.

This would allow the most flexibility when being creative.

I come from a Music Production background (I wrote and DJ electronic music - www.stillwaterrecords.com is the label I started).

I love how Ableton is designed.. anyone else familiar with that program. It is so much fun to use!! :)
 
FCP simply sucks at audio. All the plugs are numerically adjusted, so you have no GUI to give you the visual feedback you are used to when adjusting parameters. Also you can's adjust on the fly, so you have to stop playback, change the sound, start playback. It's disgusting. They think that since you have STP there is no need to improve audio in FCP, but who wants to go out of your NLE for a frickin' round trip just to add a little EQ? Vegas has the best audio of any NLE, because it started as a DAW, then added video later. And you could turn off the snap-to-frame, which allowed for exact audio adjustments. FCP is really nice for video, but it's a joke for audio.
 
I just sent them my rant, and I suggest everyone else does too. They need to hear that we're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more.
 
But the underlying fact is that FCP is not a sound editor and trying to have it do so is a bit like using a screwdriver to pound nails.

That said they should have a better UI if they are going to make the filters available. It's ironic that you need more sound knowledge to be able to use the FX in FCP than you do in something like Pro Tools. Even someone who knows nothing about EQ's can prasp whats happening with a decent interactive transfer graph.

What Apple really wants you to do is work a traditional post work flow. Picture sends to sound. If you do a send to STP you get a decent work flow and a decent UI, AND a whole lot more control.

Beter yet OMF it to a sound person ;~)
 
That's true Noiz2!

But simply allowing the GUI of audio plug-ins to appear would save a lot of unnecessary running around when all you want to do is put a limiter/maximizer over the whole mix, or add EQ to one track. FCP IS a sound editor, because there is sound in almost every video, and sound almost always needs to be edited. They give you tools to edit audio already, they just cheaped out on their implementation.
 
Chad - you get it!

We don't need a full blown audio editor inside of FCP - yes that is what Soundtrack Pro is for -

what chad and I realize is that simple audio plugins like EQ/Compression/Limiting do wonders to improve quality and they are relatively simple to use and technically implement into the program.

Maybe people aren't requesting it..

I left my feedback to them last night.

Please everyone do the same, if you care!
 
Actually no FCP is not a sound editor that is why they included one in the package. That is like saying ProTools is a video editor because it is possible to cut video in a time line. You can in a pinch pound a nail with a screwdriver but that doesn't make it a hammer.

But I agree with the rest. IF they are going to have EQ in FCP it ought to have a decent UI.

Personally I wouldn't have put any audio filters in FCP. But then I would also like to see people need a license to buy a power planer for basically the same reason. Power in un skilled hands can do more damage in less time than just about anything I can think of. I can "fix" or mitigate many location sound problems, I have almost no chance with tracks mangled by picture editors. It's not so much that they are bad with sound or incompetent as that they are working, generally, in the worst possible environment for sound and have limited tools. Plus they are generally visual people.
 
dialing_wand said:
Yup. All we need are the AU GUI interfaces and we'd be set for basic work!
Click to expand...

See the problem in using audio filters in FCP your either your doing all of it or you should be doing none of it. You can't do "basic" work and pass it on because everything you put in gets burned into the audio you export.

I know why they need to have some in there, even videographers are a big part of their market and they are not going to go to post audio.

So despite the fact I wish there weren't any audio filters in FCP (from a post sound perspective) I agree with the rest of you that the filters should have a more usable GUI.

However I don't think your going to get it. Their argument will be "We have one it's called STP, use it". But ya never know.
 
Noiz2, not everybody passes on their work. I am an audio engineer but my primary income is from video. Often I'll shoot something that I just need to touch up with a bit of EQ. But instead I have to export the audio, make a new project in my DAW, mix, then master the audio, bring it back into FCP, then export a fnal video file. If I could put a channel strip plug-in on an audio track, and an ultramaximixer on the main bus of FCP I would be set. Well, I can, but I have to know the numeric values of all the parameters to o it. Just because some people would misuse audio functions in FCP isn't a good reason to keep the app hobbled. That's not fair to the people who know what their doing. That's prohibition. Idiots get drunk and drive, so lets outlaw alcohol! I think STP is buggy. I didn't like the round trip-ness, and changes I made in FCP didn't always reflect in STP. When I work in a 6 hour DVD of math seminars, I can't listen to the whole thing in STP just to see if everything worked wthout a glitch.

Oh well. I don't expect Apple to do anything anyway. Rumor has it that they are abandoning pro video. I've got better mics now anyway, and I don't have to EQ a lot of stuff. But that need to go outside of FCP is a deterrent to better quality on budget jobs. The time a frickin' GUI would save me would give me the time to sweeten audio where I don't now.
 
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