If you’re a Final Cut Pro 7 or Final Cut Pro X user and have been thinking about checking out Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, you probably have some questions about the similarities and differences in how they operate, or their advantages and disadvantages as editing tools. Scott Simmons of ProVideo Coalition recently held a webinar where he fielded 105 of these questions, which he turned into a very informative blog post. Here are a couple samples of the questions he answered:
9) Can you compare working with Audio in Premiere with FCP?
Premiere is a track based audio editor which means when you’re using the audio mixer and moving sliders up-and-down you are changing the level for an entire audio track and not just an audio clip. You can adjust the audio on a per-clip basis by using the audio volume rubber bands that are available when you twirl down one of the audio timelines. The audio rubber banding works very much like Final Cut Pro where you can and keyframes and adjust the rubber bands with the mouse. Rubber banding and key framing the rubber bands can also be turned on on a per track basis as well. When you turn on Track Volume or Keyframes the audio rubberband runs across the entire audio track in the timeline.
While some people like this track based audio editing approach better because it allows for a bit more flexibility others do not like the way Premiere Pro works with audio. One advantage is that you can add audio effects such as compression or dynamics to the entire track at a time. This is great for on camera interview when you have all one subject’s dialogue on the same track. You can also route individual audio tracks into the sub mixes and then apply effects to a sub mix. Automation key framing as in automatically recording keyframes as you play back the timeline and adjusting faders on the audio mixer are also possible only per track basis. In Final Cut Pro automation is only possible per clip.
This track based audio type of mixing is how many high-end audio applications works well. Both Adobe audition and Avid ProTools work in a similar fashion. Personally I like it as it gives a bit more flexibility than was possible in Final Cut Pro though I do wish you could have the audio mixer only change the levels on a clip if you were so desired.
17) Is there copy and paste attributes in Premiere CS6? If not, what is the work-a-round? Have you found any way to copy only certain aspects of one clip attribute to another? As in FCP, it gives you a dialog box to choose which attribute of a clip to another.
You can copy and paste attributes via Edit > Paste Attributes (option+command+V) but it pastes everything applied to a clip. The only workaround that I see is to paste attributes and immediately use Clip > Remove Effects. Remove Effects will allow you a limited option of removing certain effects. It’s an inelegant solution.
Premiere Pro CS6 has some great new features, but I’ve been wondering about differences in basic editing functionality compared to FCP 7, and this article answers a good number of questions I’ve had (although some of the questions in the list get a bit repetitive), and it is a nice brief introduction to working with various aspects of the software.
What do you think of the differences in how Premiere Pro CS6 functions compared to FCP 7 or FCP X? Do you think it’s a good replacement for FCP, or do you find each useful in certain circumstances?
Link: ProVideo Coalition: 105 Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 Questions Answered
