Switching from FCP7 to CS6! Two BIG questions I can't figure out...

Question

Hello!
So I'm running CS6.01 on my new 27" iMac running OS 10.6.8. I'm excited to be transitioning over to CS6 after the last 6 or 7 years using Final Cut Pro. But I don't have time to mess around as I'm in the middle of projects so here are my 2 main questions right off the bat:
First I should say that I edit AVCHD footage shot from Panasonic HMC150's. I shoot Weddings. About 35-40/year. In FCP, my workflow was...shoot EVERYTHING at 720p60 and TRANSCODE it in FCP to ProRes Proxy. Then I'd CONFORM it to 23.98 (using Cinema Tools which takes all of about 30 seconds to do 400 clips) so that it was all in slow-mo looking smooth and beautiful. Then, I'd drop it all on the timeline and edit. Most clips I need in slow-mo but the ones I don't (eg. the Ceremony) I just speed up 250% and it's full speed. Then at the end of editing I'd batch capture and re-transcode to ProRes 422 and I'm done. It all looks great.
Here's the important thing:
I edit on a 23.98fps timeline that way it maintains a bit of the film-stuttery look instead of the video/soap-opera look of 60fps footage and also it naturally has everything at 40% smooth slow-mo. I dont want that video/soap opera look that I would get if I edited my 60p footage on a 60p timeline! This is important to me.
1) I know with CS6 I don't "have" to transcode, but I can just ingest and edit the AVCHD files natively, right? Well, okay, but if I do that will dropping those 60p clips on a 23.98fps timeline give me the same look I got when I use to conform the footage first? Specifically is it just as smooth to just change the speed of a 60p clip by 40% and drop it on a 24p timeline? And what about the stuff I want at full speed...if I drop that 60p footage right on the timeline and don't speed it up it will be full speed but will it look the same as my conformed footage looked when sped up in FCP? Please elaborate for me.
2) Audio. When I bring in audio clips from my 2 cameras each track has 2 separate audio feeds (eg. 2 wireless mics, a shotgun mic, an internal mic). CS6 brings them in on one track. I read up where I need to "Modify the clips" and adjust the Audio Channels so that there are 2 tracks. Then I'm guessing I just make one track the left track and one the right? This seems to work and makes a separate track that is balanced to the center and has each of the 4 channels as its own separate adjustable track. Am I doing that right? And more importantly...my real question...if I'm scrubbing thru the timeline and I double click on one of the audio tracks to bring up the waveform and edit, sometimes it doesn't come up where I stopped in the timeline. Unless the clips are linked. But don't I have to unlink them to edit them individually? So how do I do this where I can be in the timeline, watching the video and when I hear something I want to adjust, I stop the video and quickly access the individual track (eg. one of the wireless mics) to make the adjustments?
Hope my questions make sense. Thanks SO much in advance for all your help! It took me like 20 minutes to figure out how to post a question but now that I've done it I'm very excited that I've got it out there and hopefully I'll get past my current workflow roadblocks. Thank you!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Jim Simon wrote:
I'd recommend a different work flow.  Shoot what you want at full speed in 720p/24.  Shoot what you want in slow motion at 720p/60...
I would respectfully disagree with Jim's statement and endorse the OP's technique of shooting at 60 fps for purposes of playback at both normal speed and slow motion at 24 fps.
I think the more creative choices you give yourself in post the better.
Since you (DMH79) are using the same footage for both normal speed and slow motion playback, I think your way is definitely the way to go as long as you are happy with the resolution.
Even if you were not using the same clips at different speeds, I would still disagree with the opinion that you should be able to predict in advance which shots from a hectic live action event such as a wedding you will want to use in slow motion. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it would be impossible, no matter how easy it is to switch modes.
Given that slow motion is a reasonable priority for you, I think there is much less to be gained by shooting at 24 fps for clips that you might use at normal speed than by giving yourself the option of both normal speed and slow motion with a 60 fps recording. (To me the bigger tradeoff is not being able to shoot 1080p at 60 fps, which I think applies to your HMC150.)
I love the look of 24p and will shoot that way for scripted work or if I am absolutely certain that I won't want to use a single shot in slow motion, but for many live events, my preference is to shoot at 720p60, shutter angle 180, for eventual output at 30 fps. I edit in a 60 fps timeline in Premiere, but I export at 30 fps. I find that exporting at 30 fps in combination with the 1/120 shutter speed removes much of the soap opera look (a great description, by the way), but there is no jerkiness in normal speed clips because 30 is exactly half of 60. Media Encoder simply removes every other frame during export. Yet, this allows me to drop any clip to 50% speed and achieve perfectly matched, silky smooth slow motion.
You probably prefer the 40% speed slow motion and added stutter of 24 fps, but regardless, if you do find that controlling the speed via Speed/Duration is equal in quality to conforming, you may want to consider cutting in a 60 fps timeline and giving yourself the option to export at either 24 or 30 fps.
Your last post on this topic was from a few months ago. I also switched from FCP7 and would be very curious to know what you have discovered!