Audio nightmare

Hello:

I've got an audio nightmare. I recorded a four person interview with two different cameras. Each person was miked with a separate lavalier. Unfortunately, I miked to the wrong cameras so that the sound of the two people who appear in one camera went to the other camera. In FCP, I have correctly aligned all the video and audio in two separate video tracks and four separate audio tracks.. My questions are the following:

1. Is there anything I can do to link each video track to its corresponding two audio tracks?
2. The levels of all four audio tracks played together is very loud and has a slight echo effect. It sounds better when the tracks of the people who are not talking are turned off. What do you recommend I do to bring the levels down and remove the echo?
3. I want to include a music track with the dialogue, and I want music and dialogue to come evenly through both channels. What is the best way to mix all of this together?

Thanks for your help!

Outdated Mac user

1) Yes, it's a Merge clip operation. Up to 24 audio tracks can be carried with one video. Check your manual on how to create a Merged clip, which will act like any linked clip and show you when your audo is out of synch with video.

2) If your audio is overmodulated and clipping there sn;t much you can do, just bring it down to safe levels and live with it.

3) Worry about music and effects after your cut is complete and all the synch audio is attended to.

- Loren
Today's FCP 4 / 5 keytip:
Do a virtual Audio Mixdown to lighten playback load with Command-Option-R!

The FCP KeyGuide?: your power placemat.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

In addition to what Loren recommended:

2. you've answered your own question - cut the audio on the folks not talking. Whenever you use the statement "it sounds better when...", then there's your answer. That's pretty much what the professionals do. There are numerous ways to control the levels of individual tracks.

3. Mixing audio is similar to cooking food. When you cook, you don't use equal amounts of everything - i.e., one cup of oil, one cup of sugar, one cup of salt, one cup of pepper, etc. And as cooking is about taste, so is audio mixing. If you have music playing along with dialogue, but you can't hear the dialogue clearly, then bring down the levels on the music. When you watch TV or a movie, really listen to the audio and try to figure out how they did it.

One general rule of thumb, as you set your levels, is to look at the Audio Meters on the righthand side of the timeline. You want your playback levels to average around -12db (this is separate from the levels on your individual clips).

Also, set your computer system's speakers to a level that works for you and then leave them there. If a clip is too loud, adjust the volume of the clip, not turn down the volume on your speakers. The opposite is true, if you can't hear something on the clip, don't turn up your speaker volume, adjust the level of the clip.

As Loren mentioned, I'd worry about polishing the audio until after the cut is complete. However, I find it distracting to have too much variation in my audio, especially when I can fix some of it in seconds. Also, dropping in temp music tracks early on can help with pacing and rhythm and mood, which I find helpful.

I'd recommend, at a minimum, checking out the Volume III of the manual (access it through the Help Menu). It has good information on audio mixing.

Thank you, Loren and BoydMCC, for your helpful answers. An update;
1. I used the Merge Clip feature, and it works well.
2. The sounds of the two voices that I don't like averages -15 db and they are still crunchy. When I bring down the level, the crunchiness is still there. The audio did not sound that bad when I hooked the camera up to a TV set and listened. Now I am using M-audio speakers to hear the sound. The mics were set to peak at -12 db,,,go figure.

Someone suggested that I use EQ and bring down the highs and mids. Do you have any recommendations on audio filter settings I should use?

3. I will follow your recommendations and wait till cut is complete.

OMU