I have been using iMovie for several years and I wanted to try out Shotcut. Mp4 files load fine and play nicely. The Audio Peak Meter registers the stereo response, but there is no audio track, which is needed to boost response for differently microphoned speakers in the videos.The Show Audio Waveforms is checked. Also, there are not thumbnails despite the fact that the Show Video Thumbnails is checked.
I’ve tried several different videos from several sources (Web and iPhone). I also tried a .mov to see if there was any differences. So, in every file I have opened, the video plays and the audio track is heard, but the audio cannot be edited. As of now, this promising application cannot help me.
I am running Mac OS X Mojave (Ver. 10.14.3) on a Mac Mini (2019).
Shotcut is not like other NLEs. When you add a video to a video track on the timeline the audio is not separated from the video. You can use audio filters to affect the audio, video filters to affect the video, when both are on the same track.
If you prefer having the audio on a separate track you can do it one of two ways.
Use the detach audio function. That removes the audio from the video clip and puts it on a separate audio track.
Create an audio track. Copy the video to the audio track.
Sauron, Thank you for your reply.
I don’t think I accurately described my problem. Within iMovie I have certainly used, modified, and detached audio tracks. The problems is that for Shotcut for the Mac OS when a .mp4 file is opened the is NO audio track. Let me illustrate:
Here is a screenshots of a lecture video I am working on.
It looks like you have the video in the source viewer. If so, there is no audio wave form or thumbnails in that view.
Use CTRL+ I to create a video track. Then drag the video from the viewer to the track. Now you should see audio wave forms and one thumbnail at the beginning and one at the end of the video.
There are some Mac users in the forum. None have ever posted anything about no audio tracks or wave forms.
Sauron,
The CTRL + I did the trick. I didn’t find that operation listed anywhere in the menu bar at the top of the window. Nor was it listed among the Keyboard Shortcuts. The app looks to be full of features in a way that VLC is compared to Quicktime Player 7 Pro. But the current procedure for establishing a project is not evident to even a seasoned computer user.
Also, I am underwhelmed by Shotcut’s Video Thumbnails. Just the first and last frame in a file or segment! Granted the current frame is visible in the player window, but without a comparable thumbnail track to the audio trace, editing and composing using Shotcut is not worth the effort.
Thanks for answering my questions,
Don
It is listed on the keyboard shortcuts page, and there is a menu button in the Timeline toolbar. Sorry, I do not clutter the main menu with everything. It is a design choice. You can also right-click in the timeline to access its menu. Lastly, if you try to add a clip to the timeline, it automatically adds a track for you. It is trackless to start with because you do not NEED to use the timeline; you can also make clip-only or playlist-only projects.
