Shift-\ in Final Cut Pro: Select Both Audio Edges of an Edit Point

Keyboard shortcut: ShiftBackslash

The Shift-\ (Backslash) shortcut in Final Cut Pro selects the left and right audio edges of an edit point at the same time. It only does this when the audio of your clips is expanded, which is exactly when you want it: building J-cuts and L-cuts, where the sound changes before or after the picture.

What It Selects

An edit point has two sides: the end of the outgoing clip and the start of the incoming clip. When you expand a clip's audio, each of those clips shows its video and audio separately, so the edit has video edges and audio edges. Shift-\ selects both audio edges together. With both sides selected, any trim you make is a roll of the audio edit: one clip's audio gets longer while the other's gets shorter, and the video cut stays where it is.

How to Use It

  1. In the timeline, select the clips on either side of the cut and press Control-S to expand their audio.
  2. Click near the edit point (or park the playhead on it) and press Shift-\. Both audio edges highlight.
  3. Press Comma or Period to roll the audio edit one frame left or right, or drag the selected edges.
  4. Play across the cut. You now have a split edit: the audio changes before or after the picture does.
  5. Press Control-S again to collapse the audio when you're done.

Tips

  • J-cut: roll the audio edit to the left so the next shot's sound starts before you see it. Great for leading into an interview answer.
  • L-cut: roll it to the right so the outgoing sound continues over the new shot.
  • Because only the audio edges are selected, your picture edit is safe. If you want to move the video and audio together, select the edit point normally instead.

Shift-\ is a small key that makes split edits fast and precise, all without leaving the keyboard.

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