Angela,
It’s best not to drag a clip in straight from the Viewer unless you have patch panels for audio and video already set in the Timeline. In fact, dragging and dropping does have a few perils–and you’ve found a good one! That’s why I stick to the standard workflow of always bringing clips into the Viewer FIRST–so I can trim them and set in and outs. When you put clips into the Viewer (as FCP expects), corresponding patch panels show up in the Timeline. If you drag to the Timeline straight away, it will not put the proper patch panels for you to edit there. Makes sense?
Do this:
Drag your clip into the Viewer first to get patch panels in the Timeline. Then look to the Timeline to make sure you are patched to A1 and A2.
Also, connect speakers up out of the DV Deck or DV Camcorder and not the Mac. Your video monitor should be set up out of the DV deck as well.
Kevin Monahan
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
fcpworld.com