Final Cut Pro:
Linking and Unlinking Clips In the Timeline
Cheat Sheet 20080229

In the FCP Timeline, if the the clip name is underlined, the audio and video tracks are linked.

Linked Audio/Video tracks

Un-Linked Audio/Video tracks

To Link or Un-Link Audio/Video tracks use ⌘L (Command-L).

If two audio tracks have the double-hourglass connecting them, they are a stereo pair and all panning and audio levels are related:

Linked Audio tracks (stereo)

Un-Linked Audio tracks (duo-mono)

To Link or Un-Link Audio tracks
(to make them stereo or duo-mono) use ⌥L (Option-L).

When audio is imported or captured as Duo-Channel Mono - by default both tracks are initially panned center. (They can be re-panned and re-leveled separately as needed.)

If you've un-linked or re-linked a stereo pair, always check the panning position of the tracks, and re-position as necessary.

Pre-recorded music is usually imported by FCP as stereo (and the panning has already been determined in its production).

The Three Ways of Linking/Unlinking:

1. On the Timeline, there is a Linked Selection Button (Shift-L) that globally links/unlinks all clips in the Timeline (see image below):

2. Modify - Link (Command-L) links/unlinks individual clips that you have selected in the Timeline. (You can also link audio from one source and video from another even if they are of different lengths.)

3. Option-Click-Hold will temporarily break the link of your selection and you can drag it independently. When you release Option, your selection is re-linked again.

Whether unlinked globally or individually, if a clip goes out of sync with it's source video/audio - FCP will warn you.

Any questions?

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