Game Change: Avid Media Composer Advice for the FCP 'Switcher'

CreativePLANETnetwork.com by Oliver Peters

The new (or renewed) interest in Avid Media Composer is being fueled by Apple’s launch of Final Cut Pro X last year and aided by Avid’s discounted cross-grade price. Many experienced FCP editors are now investigating the nuances of what seems like a completely foreign interface to some. Tutorial DVDs like Steve Hullfish’s Avid Media Composer for Final Cut Pro Users from Class on Demand is a great start.

With experience, editors start to see more similarities than differences. Here are a few pointers to help you find your comfort zone.

Multiple Sequences
FCP editors like working with multiple tabbed sequences in the timeline window and find this functionality lacking in Media Composer. In fact, it’s there, just not in the same way. Under the pull-down menu in the upper right corner of the record window (Canvas in FCP parlance), Media Composer editors have easy access to any previously opened sequence. Although only one is displayed in the timeline at any given time, you can quickly switch to another sequence by selecting it in this menu.

Displaying Source Waveforms and Sequences Clips
In FCP 7 or earlier, having tabbed sequences makes it easy to use a section of one sequence as a source to paste into another sequence. In addition, when reviewing audio-only clips, the waveform is displayed in the Viewer, allowing you to easily mark in and out points based on the waveform. read more...

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