Wow, this is one complicated piece of software. I laid out an audio track for insertion of voice over clips. When I inserted the audio track, it placed it on the video timeline!!! What? So, I can't get it to the audio timeline. How do I move it to the audio track, so I can place actual VIDEO on the video track? Thanks!
iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS Sierra (10.12.4)
You seem to be new to FCP X. There are no tracks in the application, so there is not a specific video or audio track. Again: there are no tracks!
What you describe as the "video" track is what is called the "primary storyline". It is the backbone of your story. Everything else will be connected to it.
You need to familiarize yourself with how the application works. FCP X is very different from other NLE's, and that can be confusing at first; but if you learn how it works (and don't try to force it to work as other apps do), you are likely to find it is using a superior paradigm.
My suggestion is to take a while and follow the excellent introductory course by Izzy Video (which is free, but professionally done; don't get lost in the myriad youtube videos, most of which are of low technical or pedagogical value, and often describe obsolete versions).
http://training.izzyvideo.com/courses/final-cut-pro-x-tutorial
Going back to your original question: depending on what you do, it can make a lot of sense to put the audio in the primary storyline - for example, for a music video - or to put the video there, which would likely make more sense when you are doing voice over. In that case, you would have the voice over clips connected to the primary storyline:
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time... I watched various tutorials, and got the hang of the basics as I am editing a simple timeline with simple transitions and no effects. Right now I have a problem because I need to add a transition from one video clip to another and unfortunately, they are on different "levels." The voiceover footage is above the timeline, so I cannot paste a transition.
I appreciate the comment that I need to educate myself. But right now I was hoping I could get an answer to my question. I want my video on the timeline, and the audio below it. Thx.
That is not hard to do.
1) Select the audio and press command-shiftoption-up arrow to lift it from the primary storyline.
2) Select the video and presso command-shiftoption-down arrow to place it in the primary storyline.
I would show you this in pictures but I have to rush now. If you need more help, let me know and I will come back to it later tonight.
Edit: I previously had the keyboard shortcuts wrong.
Thank you. This solved the problem!
Can't move audio clips off the video timeline
