Apple Final Cut Pro X (10.0.9) - Manual (Page 158)

Chapter 9 Edit audio 158
Audio editing basics
About audio waveforms
Audio waveforms are visual representations of the actual sound. Audio waveforms appear in clips
in the following ways:
•
As the bottom portion of a video clip, colored blue
•
As a detached or an audio-only clip, colored green
Audio-only clip Audio portion of a video clip
An audio waveform’s amplitude and length change according to the underlying sound’s volume
and duration. A short, loud sound such as a drum beat has a sharp, peaked waveform, whereas
low-level crowd noise has a lower, more uniform waveform. These properties make it easier to
find specific edit points when trimming clips or keyframing effects.
In Final Cut Pro, audio waveforms change according to a clip’s volume level or applied effects.
The waveform appears larger when the volume is high and smaller when the volume is low.
You edit audio clips in the Timeline by first listening to a clip’s audio through playback and
skimming, and then applying changes to the clip, using the waveform as a reference.