Apple Final Cut Express 4 User Manual
Page 33
Chapter 1
About the Post-Production Workflow
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Step 5:
Mixing audio
Once your movie is edited and the picture is “locked,” meaning the duration of the
movie is fixed and you no longer intend to change any of the edits, you can begin
working more extensively on your audio. This involves:
 Cleaning up the dialogue with more detailed audio editing, balancing audio levels,
and applying equalization
 Adding sound effects, music, and voiceover on additional audio tracks in the
sequence
 Mixing the levels of all the different clips together to create a balanced sound mix
You can use Final Cut Express for each of these processes. For more information, see
Chapter 42, “
Mixing Audio in the Timeline and Viewer
Note: You can also sweeten your audio with another audio application, perhaps even
at another facility.
Step 6:
Adding effects
Creating effects tends to be more time-consuming than cuts-only editing, so it’s good
to focus on basic edits first and work on effects when the timing of your project is
finalized. Effects are any enhancements you want to make to your footage, such as
color correction, special transitions, animation, still or motion graphics, multilayered
images (compositing), and titles. Final Cut Express has a wide variety of video and
audio filters, each with parameters that you can keyframe to adjust over time in your
sequence, as described below.
Step 7:
Outputting
Once editing is finished, effects are added, and the final audio mix is complete, you can
output your movie to videotape or film. You can also export to a QuickTime format for
web delivery or use in a DVD-authoring application.