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[alex_f] “so i have to rename clip 1 to 99 with two leading zeros.”

No.

Just 1 – 9. and only add one leading zero.

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09

20 will automatically show up next after 19 if you now have “2” marked as “02”.

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[Cary King] “do you feel this could be an issue?”

When you convert the audio in an outside app, it creates a new file.

Its very likely that the 44.1 version of this file is at fault for whatever reason).
A new “outside-converted” 48 kHz file will eliminate any connection in FCP to the original file.

If the problem is NOT the 44.1 file (it still does not play properly even with the new 48 kHz file), then we will know, at that point, we need to look elsewhere (“bad” video import?).

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I’m not sure which you want to reposition “first”.

To re-size the finished movie timeline:
First, WORK FROM A COPY.
And NEST all of the tracks and then position the nest.

Or, re-import the completed movie (if it has been output already) and reposition that.

If all of your story-board frames are the same size and you don’t want to re-position or move any of them individually (I would think you WOULD, more later)…

Edit all story-board clips, with the correct timing to the film, to an upper video track.
Carefully position the first clip where you want it,
COPY its attributes,
SELECT all of the other clips (all highlighted at the same time) on this track and choose to PASTE ATTRIBUTES to them all at once.

You can then go back and make any adjustments to any individual clips to reframe, crop, and/or move them, if desired.

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You didn’t mention if the entire timeline was FULLY rendered.

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As the old Vaudeville sketch goes…

PATIENT: Say, Doctor, it HURTS when I do that.

DOCTOR: Well, don’t DO that.

I would never expect a computer to be able to do these two things well at the same time.
There are plenty of other ways to play music while editing that don’t cause internal Mac problems.

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[Bret Williams] “Every time you digitize a clip, every time you render a file, everytime you do anything that has to do with media on the drives, Avid saves. You don’t even see it.”

Well, Avid certainly did USED to work that way.
Avid auto-saves were absolutely the same “stop-what-you’re-doing-and-watch-the-spinner” as with FCP.
And I spent MANY an hour redoing complex work as the Avid would many times crash right after I exited from building and effect or CG.

I can’t say for sure if it still doesn’t do the “save-wait” on some (all) of the Avids I edit on around town to this day.

I just learned from experience to expect to wait for the auto-save to do its thing on Avid or FCP.
Don’t know if it still does or not specifically on Avid.

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You must only judge image quality on an external video monitor and not on the computer monitor.

You must render all effects to view the full quality.

If you repositioned the LiveType image in FCP, make sure the vertical position (in the Motion tab) is on an “EVEN” whole number (no fractions, no “odd” numbers).

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You don’t need a special lens to get high 16×9 resolution.

The XL-2 uses a digital process that utilizes a great deal more of the CCD image-area to create a 16×9 image (compared to many other DV camcorders).

Read through the posts found here:

https://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-29087.html

Boyd Ostroff’s posts in particular.
He is often a poster on the COW as well.

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You didn’t mention putting the camera’s input selector in the “Mic Attenuation”
position.
If the distortion is coming from the mic feeding the camera’s input too hot, that should help a lot.

If the Mic itself is being overloaded (and that would take some STRONG levels, as the mic is rated for up to 129 dB SPL) then you’d need to find a way to attenuate the mic internally.
Some mics have a -10 dB switch, but this model does not.

If the mic does need this attenuation, contact Audio-Technica directly and they may be able to offer a simple modification that you can perform.

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You must only judge quality on an external video monitor, not in the Viewer or Canvas.

You must render all effects before you can judge final quality.