On this page
- The short answer
- Which control does what
- Method 1: Keep one angle's sound for the whole clip
- Method 2: Switch the sound without changing the picture
- Method 3: Remove one angle's audio and keep the rest
- Two things that catch people out
- On iPad: there is an Off setting
- Doing it in Eddie before the cut reaches Final Cut Pro
- What it will not do
- FAQ
- Sources
In Summary Final Cut Pro for Mac has no single "Off" switch for one angle's sound. You control it three ways: choose the Active Audio Angle for the clip, switch the sound on its own with audio-only switching in the angle viewer, or untick that angle's audio components in the Audio inspector. The Audio Monitor button in the angle editor does not mute anything in your project. It only changes what you hear while you work in the angle editor. Final Cut Pro for iPad is different: it has a real Off setting per angle.
The short answer
To stop one camera's sound playing in your project, select the multicam clip in the timeline and set its Active Audio Angle to the camera or recorder you want to hear (Control-click the clip, or use the Info inspector). If the unwanted sound comes from an angle you added on top of the active one, open the Audio inspector and deselect the checkbox next to that angle's audio component.
The steps below are checked against the Final Cut Pro for Mac 12.4 user guide and the Final Cut Pro for iPad 3.4 user guide.
Which control does what
Most of the confusion in forum threads comes from three controls that look alike. Only some of them change what your project plays.
| Control | Where | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Audio Monitor button, Monitor Audio, Shift-A | Angle editor | Only what you hear while playing the clip in the angle editor. Not your project. |
| Active Audio Angle | Control-click menu in the timeline, or the Info inspector | Which angle's sound plays for that multicam clip in the project. |
| Audio-only switch mode | Angle viewer, right-hand switch mode button | Lets you cut or switch the sound to another angle while the picture stays. |
| Audio component checkboxes | Audio inspector, Audio Configuration | Adds sound from inactive angles, or removes components from the active angle. |
Apple says it plainly: the monitoring settings "don't affect any of your active angles." If you turned an angle's Audio Monitor off and still hear it in the timeline, this is why.
Method 1: Keep one angle's sound for the whole clip
Use this when one source should carry the sound, for example a lav recorder or the camera with the clean mic, and the others should stay silent.
- In the timeline, Control-click the multicam clip.
- Choose Active Audio Angle, then choose the angle you want to hear.
To change several multicam clips at once, select them all, open the Info inspector and choose the angle from the Active Audio Angle pop-up menu.
To see which angle is playing, click the Clip Appearance button at the top right of the timeline and select Angles. Each clip then shows its angles as "V: video angle name | A: audio angle name".
Method 2: Switch the sound without changing the picture
Use this when you are cutting between cameras but want the sound to stay on one source, or to change only at certain points.
- Open the angle viewer: choose View > Show in Viewer > Angles (Shift-Command-7).
- Pick a switch mode with the buttons in the top-left corner of the angle viewer:
- Left button: video and audio switch together. This is the default.
- Middle button: video only. The audio from the original angle stays active.
- Right button: audio only. The video from the original angle stays active.
- Click an angle to cut and switch at the playhead, or Option-click it to switch without cutting.
In video-only or audio-only mode, blue highlighting marks the active video angle and green marks the active audio angle. A common mistake is to cut a whole interview in the default mode, so the sound jumps to each camera's built-in mic with every cut. Set the middle button before you start cutting and the sound stays where it is.
Method 3: Remove one angle's audio and keep the rest
Use this when you have added sound from more than one angle and want to drop one of them, or drop an unused channel from the active angle.
- Select the multicam clip in the timeline.
- Open the inspector (Command-4) and click the Audio button at the top.
- In the Audio Configuration section, deselect the checkbox next to the component you want to remove.
The removed component appears dimmed in the inspector and disappears from the clip's components in the timeline. You can do the same thing in the angle viewer: turn on audio-only switching, then Option-Command-click an angle highlighted in green to remove its audio, or Option-Command-click an inactive angle to add its audio. With the components expanded in the timeline (Clip > Expand Audio Components, Control-Option-S), you can also select a component and press Delete.
Two things that catch people out
Volume keyframes belong to the angle. Apple lists video and audio effects, keyframing "including audio volume and panning", and role assignments as edits that are not kept when you switch angles. If you silence an angle by pulling its volume down and then switch the audio angle, that adjustment does not carry over. Choosing the active audio angle or removing components is the sturdier way.
The angle editor changes the parent clip. When you open a multicam clip in the angle editor, you are editing the parent. Apple notes that changes there apply to every use of that multicam clip, in every project. Make audio choices on the timeline clip unless you want them everywhere, and duplicate the clip in the browser first if you plan to edit inside it.
On iPad: there is an Off setting
Final Cut Pro for iPad has the per-angle switch that the Mac version lacks. Drag the playhead over the multicam clip, tap Multicam at the bottom of the timeline, then tap the audio icon in the lower-left corner of the angle's thumbnail. Choose Off to mute that angle's audio for the entire multicam clip. The same menu has Solo, On (keep playing even when the video is on another angle) and Auto Switch (the sound follows the video). These steps are for iPad only.
Doing it in Eddie before the cut reaches Final Cut Pro
If Eddie builds the multicam cut for you, you can make the sound decision there and send the result back. The Final Cut Pro workflow takes multicam, compound and sync clips dragged in from your event, and the finished edit drops back into Final Cut Pro with the clips relinked.
- One source for the whole group. Ask Eddie to set the group's main audio, for example "use the lav recorder for all the sound". Every cut of that group takes its sound from it, and in the Final Cut Pro export it is the single audio angle of the multicam clip.
- A different source under one line. Eddie can take a single segment's sound from another file in the same multicam group while the picture stays.
- Silence a segment or a lane. Eddie can mute chosen segments, or mute the original camera audio lane for the whole edit. Both carry into the exports.
The multicam interview guide walks through the whole cut, and exporting to Final Cut Pro covers the round trip.
What it will not do
- Final Cut Pro for Mac has no one-click Off per angle. You work through the active audio angle and the audio components. The Off setting is on iPad only.
- Monitoring is not mixing. The angle editor's Audio Monitor button never changes what the project plays.
- Eddie's channel choice stays in Eddie for now. Eddie can pick which channels of a multi-channel file play, but that choice applies to its web player. Its video render and editor exports play every channel, so set channels in Final Cut Pro's Audio inspector after the round trip.
FAQ
Why can I still hear an angle after turning off its Audio Monitor?
The Audio Monitor button only affects playback inside the angle editor. Your project plays the clip's active audio angle. Change that with the Control-click menu or the Info inspector.
How do I keep the audio from one camera while cutting between the others?
Click the middle switch mode button in the angle viewer (video only) before you cut. The audio from the original angle stays active while the picture changes.
Can I play the sound from two angles at once?
Yes. In the Audio inspector, select the checkboxes for the audio components of the other angles, or turn on audio-only switching and Option-Command-click an inactive angle in the angle viewer.
Will the change affect other projects that use the same multicam clip?
Switching the active audio angle in the timeline changes the clip you selected. Changes made inside the angle editor apply to the parent multicam clip, so they reach every project that uses it.
Is there a keyboard shortcut to mute an angle?
The Mac guide gives no shortcut that mutes an angle in the project. Shift-A turns audio monitoring on or off for an angle while you skim it in the angle editor, which affects only what you hear there.
Does this work the same on iPad?
No. On iPad, tap the audio icon on the angle's thumbnail in the angle switcher and choose Off, Solo, On or Auto Switch.
Sources
- Apple, Cut and switch camera angles in Final Cut Pro for Mac (switch modes, highlight colours)
- Apple, Edit multicam clips in Final Cut Pro for Mac (Active Audio Angle, edits not kept when switching)
- Apple, Sync and adjust camera angles in Final Cut Pro for Mac (monitoring angle, angle editor)
- Apple, Multichannel audio editing examples in Final Cut Pro for Mac (enable or disable audio components in a multicam clip)
- Apple, Switch and cut camera angles in Final Cut Pro for iPad (per-angle Off, Solo, On, Auto Switch)
Have a multicam interview waiting? Start a project for free and tell Eddie which mic to use.
