The #1 Mistake You're Making Before Cutting Footage in Final Cut Pro

There aren't many editing mistakes that will annoy you more than this one, and it's not just beginners: plenty of advanced editors get this wrong too.

The scenario: you've edited a huge chunk of your video. Awesome, good job. But now you realize your color grade sucks. Or the audio on your talking head shot is actually horrendous and you can't believe you thought it sounded okay. Problem is, you've cut that clip into a million pieces spread across your timeline. So now it's: fix one clip, Command C, hunt down every other piece, remove attributes, paste attributes, and then discover you missed two clips anyway. This is the number one mistake I see people make BEFORE cutting their footage, and the solution is so simple. Two methods, depending on your setup.

Method 1: Audio attached? Compound clip first.

If your audio was recorded in camera and is already attached to your video, do this before you ever think about cutting: select the clip in your browser and press Option G (or control-click, New Compound Clip). For those new to Final Cut, this throws your clip into its own little house. Double-click to enter the house, and there's your original clip, nice and safe. Make your color grade and audio adjustments in there, then hit the little arrow to hop back out to your main timeline.

Why bother? Later, when your timeline is complicated and that talking head is in forty pieces, you don't select anything. You just double-click into the house, adjust the one original clip, hop out, and every cut piece updates instantly. Such a timesaver.

Method 2: Separate audio? Multicam, NOT synchronized clips.

Recording audio separately (external mic, screen recording, another device)? You probably know you can select the audio and video, control-click, and hit Synchronize Clips. In my opinion, you should basically never use that feature. What are you talking about, psycho? Here's what: if you treat a synced clip like the compound clip above (hop in, adjust, hop out), your changes DON'T propagate to the cut-up pieces on your timeline. It looks like it should work like a compound clip. It doesn't.

So pretend Synchronize Clips doesn't exist. Instead, select your audio and video and choose New Multicam Clip. Cut it up, hop back in to adjust the original, and this time every piece on your timeline updates properly.

One extra step with multicams, worth it for the flexibility: before cutting, go to the info inspector and set the active audio angle to your external recording. Or skip the menu and press Option Shift with the left or right arrows to cycle audio angles.

Set up the house before you start cutting, and future you will never again spend an evening re-pasting attributes across forty timeline fragments.