Crossfade audio in Final Cut Pro for Mac

A crossfade is a common type of audio transition between two clips, in which the first clip’s audio fades down while the second clip’s audio simultaneously fades up. During the crossfade, audio from both clips is heard. Crossfades are similar to video transitions known as cross dissolves.

Two adjacent clips in the timeline, with a crossfade applied

You can add audio crossfades in the following ways:

Create crossfades using the Modify menu: You can quickly apply audio crossfades to any adjacent clips in the timeline.
Create a crossfade manually using fade handles: You can apply a crossfade to the edit point when trimming the audio waveform in clips.
Apply crossfades automatically when transitions are added: When you add a transition to a video clip with attached audio, a crossfade is automatically applied to the audio. If the audio is detached or expanded from the video, the crossfade is not applied. See Add video transitions and fades in Final Cut Pro for Mac.

Create an audio crossfade using the Modify menu

In the Final Cut Pro timeline, select two or more adjacent audio clips or video clips with audio.
Choose Modify > Adjust Audio Fades > Crossfade (or press Option-T).
Final Cut Pro creates the crossfade at the edit point between the selected clips using media handles. To view the overlapping audio components, select the clips in the timeline and choose Clip > Expand Audio Components (or press Control-Option-S).
If one or both of the clips do not have enough extra content (media handles) to support a crossfade of the default duration, you’re given the option to overlap media in your project to create the crossfade. See How transitions are created in Final Cut Pro for Mac.

For information about applying crossfades to connected clips, see Create a crossfade manually using fade handles, below.

Set the default duration for audio crossfades

If you often change the length of your audio crossfades to last a specific number of seconds, you can set a default duration in Final Cut Pro settings.

Tip: Adjust the default duration before applying a audio crossfades to many clips at once.

In Final Cut Pro, choose Final Cut Pro > Settings, or press Command-Comma (,), then click Editing.
Use the Crossfade value slider to set the duration, in seconds, of all audio crossfades that you create using the Modify menu.
Note: Some transitions have a fixed audio crossfade duration and are not affected by this setting.

Create a crossfade manually using fade handles

In Final Cut Pro, select two adjacent clips in the timeline, then choose Clip > Expand Audio (or press Control-S).
The clips appear expanded.
Drag the end point of the first clip and the start point of the second clip so that the audio portions of the clips overlap.
Note: Make sure to adjust the audio overlap to the length you want.
Drag the fade handles of each clip to the points where you want the fade to begin and end.
To change the fade shape for each clip, follow the instructions in Change the fade shape when using fade handles.

Change the fade shape of a transition crossfade

You can change the shape of the fade handles in a transition crossfade that Final Cut Pro created automatically.

In Final Cut Pro, select a video transition in the timeline, then do one of the following:
- Choose Window > Show in Workspace > Inspector (or press Command-4).
- Click the Inspector button on the right side of the toolbar.
In the Audio Crossfade section of the Transition inspector, click the Fade In Type pop-up menu or the Fade Out Type pop-up menu and choose a fade option:
- Linear: Maintains a constant rate of change over the length of the fade.
- S-curve: Eases in and out of the fade with the midpoint at 0 dB.
- +3dB: Starts slowly and then moves quickly toward the end. This is the default setting and is best for maintaining a natural volume when crossfading between two clips.
- –3dB: Starts quickly and then slowly tapers off toward the end.

Remove a crossfade

In the Final Cut Pro timeline, do one of the following:

Trim each clip to a point beyond the crossfade.
Select both clips, align the audio to video, then choose Modify > Adjust Audio Fades > Remove Fades.

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Final Cut Pro User Guide for Mac