I’m Dylan John and welcome to my channel where I cut out the fluff and get straight to the point.
Tip number one. Let’s say you created your video and you have layers of sound
effects underneath and you realize that after watching the video,
every medium whoosh sound is way too loud. Instead of having to go through and select
every single whoosh sound which is a pain in the ass, open your index here, type in medium whoosh,
click one of them and press Command A so you select all of those sound effects and
hit control - a few times to lower all of those medium whoosh sounds a few decibels. Control + is
the shortcut to raise a decibel by the way. This technique was something I learned from my good
buddy Matthew O’brien who has a fantastic channel with tons of great Final Cut tutorials. I’ll leave
his link in the description. Additionally, if you just added a bunch of effects to a video clip and
you realize that you need to quickly apply those to the same clip or similar clips across your
timeline, press Command C on that clip to copy, type in the name of the clips or a word that’s in
the name in the search bar of your index, click this clip below the top one since the top one is
the one we adjusted, hold shift and hit the bottom clip. Holding shift obviously allows you to select
all the clips in between the first and the last button click. Then you’ll just hit Shift Command
V, which is the shortcut to paste attributes, and you’ll select all of the effects that you’d like
to transfer over to those clips. And boom, you’ve adjusted all of those clips at once. Definitely
check out Matthew’s video because he goes into way more detail on how to use the index here.
Tip number 2 I’ve talked about before but it’s a helpful one. Maybe when you edit your video,
you like your setup to look like this. Maybe when you color grade, you like your scopes up with,
your color wheels and a small timeline. Maybe when you’re bringing in footage and reviewing
all the clips, you don’t even want the timeline. You just want a huge browser and a decently sized
viewport. Instead of having to take the time to adjust your layout and open windows whenever
you do these tasks, make your life easier by heading to Window, workspaces, save workspace as,
and type in whatever name you want for the layout you have up. Then whenever it’s time to switch to
a different part of editing, all you do is head back to window, workspaces, select the exact
layout you’d like, and now you’re all set up and ready to go. No fiddling around with anything.
Here’s the next tip that really has made my life easier and I know it can do the same for you.
Let’s say every time you shoot a youtube talking head bit or basically anytime you edit your clips,
you use the same LUTs, the same color wheels adjustments, and you add the same effects,
instead of having to go through the tedious process of adding all of those adjustments
every time you edit, adjust your clip once, hit ‘save effects preset’ in your inspector window,
name that bad boy, and save it in whatever folder you’d like. Then, the next day or next week that
you sit down to edit, all you have to do is head to that folder in your effects browser, and either
drag that preset to your clip or double click to apply. And badabing badaboom, every effect and
every little adjustment that you so meticulously set up the day before have been instantly applied
to your clip or clips. You can make as many of these presets as you want too. If you like to do
the typical youtube jump cut where the following shot is scaled in a bit, hit save effects preset,
maybe unclick all of the color adjustments and different effects,
and crop so it’s just the scale, rename it and hit save. Then you can just quickly double click
to make that scale adjustment when you want that zoomed in jump cut to happen. And here’s
a bonus tip to make your life even easier than it already will be after watching this video,
right click that preset that you use the most, and make it the default video effect. Now you don’t
even have to take the time to open your effects browser, head to the folder and click…all you
do is just hit option E, think option effect, on your clip when you want that saved preset to be
applied. Hitting save effects preset also allows you to save audio effects as well by the way.
Tip number 4. Let me ask you, how do you personally, cut your clip? If you still
head to this menu to select the blade tool, then definitely perk those ears up because I
haven’t pressed this since Bush was in office. Senior. Knowing what keys give you access to
what features will make you infinitely faster at editing and it’ll make you enjoy it so much more
too. Obviously you should know that for example the T key is the trim tool, B is the blade tool,
A is the select tool, R is range selection, you can nudge clips by pressing period and comma,
and so on and so forth. I actually have a free downloadable cheat sheet that shows all the best
keyboard shortcuts in my opinion. I’ll put a link in the description. But my big tip for you here,
is to change what function your keys do to make editing even smoother and faster. For example,
instead of having to press Command and B to immediately make a cut, just switch this function
to B so you only have to press one key to make a cut. Instead of having to head to this drop down
menu to select automatic adjustment when you want to slow down a clip to slow motion, just make this
a keyboard shortcut like option backslash. Instead of having to press option left and right bracket
to trim start and trim end, change this function to just left or right bracket. Or for something
even quicker, make it G and H. Two keys that you can press without even having to look at your
keyboard and two keys that are right next to where your pointer fingers sit on a keyboard. Changing
your keys function is pretty easy too. Press option command k,
head to this drop down menu and duplicate the default keyboard, type in the function you
want to change and select it, and then press the key you want to take its place. Then just delete
the original if you don’t want two keys with the same function and hit save. Once again,
my free cheat sheet goes over what I think are the best default shortcuts and my favorite customized
shortcuts so you can just print that bad boy out and have that next to you while you’re editing.
The last tip to make your life easier in Final Cut is to use what is essentially your very own,
personal secretary in the library browser. Instead of having to try and remember which parts of your
clips you really like and think you’ll use in your video, hit this button, extend out the
clip duration so you can see more of your clips in the browser, and when you find sections you
like and think will make the final edit, hit I for the in point and O for the out point point
and hit F for favorite. Not only can you now see all the best bits of your clips in your browser
just by noticing this green line, but your very own personal secretary has filed those clips or
sections of clips neatly away in your favorites folder which can be accessed in this drop down
menu. Your secretary made sure to only include those bits you favorited too. Not the beginning
of those clips and not the end. Only the best sections. And if you’re further along in creating
your video and you’re struggling to remember which clips or parts of clips you’ve already
used in your video, hit view, browser, and select used media ranges. Now your secretary has put an
orange highlighter mark over the bottom of all the media that’s already in your timeline. Also quick
add on tip, to unfavorite a selection, select the clip and press the U key. Think U for unfavorite.
If you’ve watched some of my videos and haven’t clicked that red subscribe button yet, consider
doing so you don’t miss out on any Final Cut Pro tips and tricks. Have a great rest of your day!