there are a couple different formats that FCP can take, but the best choice is to put straight AIFF files in there. AIFFs are uncompressed files, basically straight from CD.
You need to convert your mp3s to AIFFs. There are several programs that will do this, but it's not too hard to convert mp3s to AIFFs right within iTunes. You have to be pretty aware of what itunes is doing to find the AIFFs.
Here's how you do it:
- open iTunes> Preferences
- go to "Advanced", then click the "Importing" button in the Advanced selector
- change the "Import Using:" pulldown to "AIFF", close Preferences.
It's important to know what this is doing: It is changing ALL of your iTunes conversion methods to make AIFFs- that means that when we convert a file, it'll make an AIFF, but it also means that when we import or rip tracks from a CD, it'll make AIFFs, which will be huge. So: you need to change this back to mp3, or aac, or whatever you're using when you're done converting and want to rip CDs again
- Now Select the track in iTunes
- Either: ctrl-click the track in itunes and select "Convert selection to AIFF" or click the Advanced menu and select "Convert selection to AIFF"
- Find your newly made file in your iTunes music folder
- import the AIFF into FCP for editing
It seems like this is a long process, but once you figure it out, it takes no time.
Edit: It's also important to know that iTunes won't convert tracks that have DRM, such as anything bought from the iTunes music store- you have to find alternative tracks or alternative conversion software.
To answer your second question, for the basics within FCP, the FCP help file and pdf manuals are really good, and searchable. Check them out.
You can also check out the LA FCP user group site:
http://www.lafcpug.org/
