FCP question- any way to merge all separate clips into one long source clip?
 

So being used to editing from HDV tapes captured to my hard drive, I am a little annoyed at dealing with all the subclips that the EX-1 inevitably creates when you import into FCP using XDCAM Transfer. Is there any way to consolidate all the imported clips into one single source clip so that I can scroll through a whole hour of footage as I would normally do?

Of course, I have tried lining all the clips up in order on the timeline and exporting a Quicktime .mov of the entire thing then re-importing that, but I've found that for whatever reason doing this basically mixes the two audio channels together so that when I re-import it, my shotgun (channel one) and wireless mic (channel two) are both blended equally on channels one and two, thereby making the point of having two separate channels almost, well, pointless. I could of course mix-down the audio before exporting the Quicktime movie but I'd rather not do that as I like to be able to fiddle with each channel during the edit depending on what works best for a particular scene.

I've also tried creating a new sequence, lining all the clips up on the timeline and then dragging that sequence into the source video window to use that sequence basically as a source clip, but the annoying thing is that when I double click on the audio channels of a clip I cut and drag into my timeline it then opens up the original sequence that all the clips are lined up on. Frustrating. I imagine somebody knows what I'm talking about and how to solve this issue? Thanks.

Each shot is a discrete clip because of the tapeless workflow. It's one of the things you have to get accustomed to because that's the way it will be from now on.

To scroll through all that material I just drop them onto a sequence, listed by timecode order. I wouldn't waste time exporting them as a single huge file only to have to cut them up again.

From there I'll cut, copy and paste them onto whatever sequence I'm using. Or I'll make a rough cut right there and copy/paste it into my working sequence.

As for the audio tracks ending up mixed down when you export, you might want to make sure you specify the audio tracks as "stereo" and not "mono" during the export process.

When working with DV (in Final Cut Pro) I'd often use Start/Stop detection to add markers and then make subclips.

With XDCAM EX that works already done for me. I've always found it easier NOT to have to search through long clips to find the shots I'm looking for.

I sort clip by time code order in the bins. In addition, now that Sony/Mac XDCAM Transfer tool now handles Clock time code correctly, I can shoot time of day and recall specific takes by the time they occurred.

If I'm working with a producer, they can even take notes by looking at their watch, which would closely match the TC the EX1 is recording. Even if we're not in exact sync, their rough numbers will take me to the right clip. Easy to find given the clips are broken up (yet can still be sorted in TC order).

I've been adding shot markers to good takes while shooting. (I map shot mark on a custom button)

Shots with a shot mark are marked with an EM in XDCAM Transfer. You can select these clips in Transfer, mark them as good and when you import into FCP (using XML data), the good column has the checkmark in it.

Makes post go much faster.