With the release of FCPX, many of these tutorials are now outdated. Of course, not everyone will upgrade immediately (or at all). Because of this, I will be no longer adding new tutorials, but I will keep this site up as long as I feel it still serves a purpose.

In the meantime, I am launching a site designed to help editors in other ways. As an editor, I realized a large amount of my time was spent working on things that related to editing, but not actual editing. This site is for all editors who use a Mac, and is chock full of tips and tricks to help you get done with the mundane stuff, and get Back to the Edit.

Check it out at backtotheedit.com.

Occasionally, a client will request a copy of the timeline with timecode. This can be helpful for transcriptions, translations, and a variety of other uses. There are multiple ways to get timecode on the export, and Shane Ross shows you his preferred version over at Creative Cow.

Watch the video tutorial here.

For many videos, 2 tracks of audio is perfectly fine- after all, most computers and TVs just have 2 speakers. But what if you need to export more than that, or layoff more than 2 tracks to tape? Shane Ross shows you how over at Creative Cow.

Watch the video tutorial here.

In the ongoing Avid vs Final Cut flame wars, I’ve occasionally seen Avid editors complain that you can’t load a sequence into the viewer, and edit the actual cut into a new sequence. And for a long time, I wished for that feature in Final Cut. Well, it’s actually been there. Instead of nesting a cut, you can easily edit the cut into a new sequence. Shane Ross at Creative Cow shows you how.

Watch the video tutorial here.

One of the things that makes Final Cut so powerful is its use of XML. However, many editors never take the time to learn what could end up saving them under deadline. It’s not as fun, maybe, as actually working with video, but it can be a great time saver. In this tutorial, Matt Lyon at Creative Cow, shows you how to clean up your project after improperly importing assets using XML.

Read the tutorial here.

B-roll can be a real pain to manage and keep track of. Chris Fenwick from One On One makes the case against making subclips, and shows you his way of dealing with tons of B-roll. He also demonstrates a nice trick for closing lots of gaps.

Watch the video tutorial here.

As a Holiday present, I am happy to release Visual Enhancement Pro, a great filter for Enhancing security footage. This filter utilizes state of the art technologies like Fournier Tonal Tightening and Spectral Information Replacement, previously only available to Crime Scene Investigators and spy agencies.

See more and download the plugin here.

Sure, the glitz and glamor of effects is fun, but what can really set an editor apart is their mastery of the little things. Have a hundred jpegs with faulty color profiles? Having trouble with blurry pictures or shaky text? This list from Oliver Peters at digitalfilms covers those, and some other great tips.

Read the tutorial here.

Project bloat can happen so easily, making navigating the browser or archiving your project more difficult. Here’s a quick tip from Pixel Heads Network on how to find all your unused assets and do some “manual media management.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Markers can be extremely helpful – but haven’t been very versatile. Final Cut 7 includes an update on the markers that provides all kinds of goodies. There are new colors for the markers. You can easily move them- and not just awkwardly to the right. You can edit them without stopping playback. You can export them. Ripple Training has a good overview of all the new features with markers.

Find the tutorial here – under Final Cut Pro 7, click on the link under “Improved Markers.”