Can you record a voiceover track directly into Final Cut Pro X?

Yes, and you've been able to do it since the very first version of Final Cut Pro X was released. However, in the recent 10.1.2 update, Apple added several new features which make this tool more useful than ever.

First of all, the command formerly named “Record Audio” has be renamed “Record Voiceover” since that is most likely what you'll be using it for. The palette that opens when you select this command now contains several advanced controls, including the ability to add a visual and audio countdown to start the recording session, the ability to mute the project if it has other audio during the section you want to add voiceover to, and, most importantly, the ability to “Create Auditions from takes.” With this last feature enabled, you can record a voiceover multiple times, and each take is neatly bundled into an audition clip, making it easy to review takes and choose the best one.

In this week's episode of MacBreak Studio, Steve Martin from Ripple Training demonstrates all these features and more. A fantastic feature that Steve shows near the end of the show is the ability to break apart the audition clip to reveal all the takes. By doing so, not only can you choose the best take; you can go further and choose the best sections of each take to construct the best overall voiceover.

One correction: you'll see early on in the video that Steve does not have a keyboard shortcut available when he selects the Record Voiceover command from the Window menu. But there is a keyboard shortcut for this command: option-command-8. If it doesn't show up for you either, it's probably because you are using a custom command set like Steve was using. Choose Final Cut Pro > Commmands to check this. It's a common “gotcha”: when Apple adds new keyboard shortcuts in an update, they don't appear in custom command sets created before the update. Switching back to the default command set restores the shortcut in the menu.