Chapter 4. Professional Audio

Author: Luisa Winters

...the visuals and the audio have to be of a certain quality before I start to get excited about the thing.

—Hans Zimmer

In video and film, it’s been said that audio is the most important thing to get right, and I agree with that statement. In fact, in the old days of silent movies, the movie theater would hire a professional musician to improvise and live perform a score while the movie was playing. Even then, moviemakers and theater owners understood the power of audio when viewing a feature film. Audio has the power to change how you feel about a character, the power to affect your mood, and definitely the power to change a mere adventure into an epic story.

However, I find that most people in my classes lack basic audio knowledge and the know-how to create a good, solid audio mix of their work. In many cases, even good and experienced editors have never seen an audio engineer at work, and have no idea about how to start. So, they’ll experiment with different volume levels and effects, trying to get a good mix and balanced audio. But without basic knowledge of what to do, they usually fail.

Most people perceive video as being of lower quality if the audio is low quality, which means that you can improve your production quality by improving your audio quality.

Although this book is about postproduction, keep in mind that maintaining good quality audio in the production process will be invaluable in the postproduction stage. “Fixing audio in post” is unrealistic and will rarely yield good results.

This chapter will help you start to generate great audio in your program. Because you don’t always get to work with perfect audio, this chapter also features a section on how to fix common audio problems using Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition CC. From setting up your working environment to adjusting levels to adding effects, you’ll work with audio just like the pros do.

Quality of speakers. Get the best speakers you can afford. A wide variety of models and sizes (and prices) are available. Educate yourself as to what the best models and sizes are for your room and your work (speaker manufacturer websites are an excellent source of information). Your speakers don’t have to necessarily be huge and or extremely expensive. They just need to have a decent response to the signal that is being fed to them. If possible, try to use speakers in two different sizes: larger ones (not necessarily big; mine are bookshelf size) and smaller ones so you can compare what your program will sound like on two different systems. Make sure that the same output from your system feeds both pairs.

Wall material. Various materials will have distinct sound absorption properties. One side of the room may be brighter than the other, and your mix will suffer. If is not that difficult and not very costly, make sure all of your walls use the same type of absorption material (foam, curtains, Sheetrock, etc.).

Position the speakers. Assuming you have decent speakers, follow these guidelines for the best positioning:

Try to place yourself in the middle of the speakers. They should be at the same distance on the left and on the right (the “sweet spot”) (Figure 4.1). If they are small, bookshelf-type speakers, position them between three and four feet from your head. The size and position of the speaker is referred to as a near-field monitor, because they are near the listener and therefore are minimizing the room’s influence on the audio waveforms.

Ensure that some space is between the speaker and the wall. This will prevent the wall reflection from distorting how the audio gets to you.

Avoid placing speakers in the corners of the room. All of your walls reflect sound waves, so your ears will receive audio that is not quite accurate if your speakers are in the corners of the room. Some extra reverb or distortion may be added, which will cause you to overcompensate and deliver a faulty mix or implementation of effects.

Speaker height. Consult the manufacturer for the correct speaker height. But sometimes all you need to do is place the speakers at ear level. You may need to purchase a pair of short pedestals from a local pro-audio distributor to achieve optimal elevation.

Listen to good recordings. After you’ve placed your speakers correctly, listen to tracks that you know well and know are mastered correctly. Try to match the genre of the tracks. For example, if you are mixing audio for a commercial, listen to a commercial that you like and compare your mix with the commercial. You can then judge how the speakers sound. Pay close attention to the evenness of the audio, and make sure that the audio is balanced in the left and right channels. Make adjustments to the speakers if needed.

Speaker volume. Play tone through the speakers and adjust the volume until the level is comfortable, as if someone is speaking normally to you in the room (do this for both sets of speakers, if it applies). You can find tone by choosing File > New > Bars and Tone or File > New > HD Bars and Tone. Thereafter, do not adjust the level of the speakers (or of your computer’s audio). If you alter the speakers’ volume, you’ll throw off your sense of level and never be sure about the levels of your program.

Headphones. Sometimes, you’ll need to keep your sound volume to a minimum, forcing you to wear headphones. Headphones have both good and bad qualities to them.

If you combine a set of high-quality, professional headphones with a clean amplification system, you can get the most accurate and uncolored sound content. You won’t need to consider room acoustics or other problems because when you rotate your head, the headphones will rotate with you, which means that no matter what you will always be in the “sweet spot.”

There are also negative aspects to wearing headphones:

Your ears get tired more easily. Most earphones are uncomfortable, and you tend to raise the audio level.

Frequency response varies. The frequency response of the headphones can be quite different from that of loudspeakers, so you will get a false sense of what the mix sounds like. You might overcompensate with various forms of sound treatment like EQ, reverberation, and so on.

Waveform refers to waves. Sound moves in waves. Lower tones, particularly deeper/bass tones, have a wave that can be as long as six feet, making them difficult to truly represent in headphones.

In Adobe Premiere Pro, we adjust the gain before doing anything else to the clip, and then individually adjust the different levels of the clips so they match throughout the program (Figure 4.3 and Figure 4.4).

Why should we worry about the loudness of the clips matching? Because it is important to establish audio continuity in your work. You should not have a portion of your program be disproportionally louder than the rest; it will cause confusion to the viewer and your message will not be as clear to them. Most viewers (listeners) will expect some kind of evenness of the audio levels in the program. Of course, there are exceptions. Sometimes audio levels are used to produce an emotional response.

Unless there is a really good reason for not doing so, our audio levels should be even throughout our program.

What I do is select all of my foreground audio (voice-over or dialogue) and adjust the gain of all of these clips at the same time, and then select the background audio (music and Foleys) and do the same. To adjust this gain, I select the clips first and then press G to open a dialog that I use to adjust my clips. I usually set background audio elements to an average of -22dB (or so) and foreground elements to an average of -12dB with nothing peaking above -6dB.

The process is as follows.

1. Select multiple clips from the Project panel.

2. Choose Clip > Audio Options > Audio Gain. In the Audio Gain panel that appears, adjust the gain of multiple clips using one of these four methods:

Set Gain to

Adjust Gain by

Normalize Max Peak to

Normalize All Peaks to

Experiment with this sequence by following these steps.

1. Select one of the clips in the Timeline (sequence Normalize).

2. Press G or choose Clip > Audio Options > Audio Gain (Figure 4.7).

3. Choose any of the options in the dialog and listen to the clip.

4. Choose Edit > Undo or press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z).

5. Apply a different normalization choice and listen to the clip again.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until it becomes apparent what the different options do.

New in Adobe Premiere Pro CC is the ability to save this expanded view as a preset. This preset is especially useful when you’re adding keyframes, searching for the start or end of dialogue, or finding unwanted sounds that were recorded. To save the waveform view as a preset, simply click the wrench icon at the top of your Timeline and choose Save Preset (Figure 4.8).

Give the preset a name you’ll remember, and you’re done! To recall your preset, choose it from the same menu.

You can adjust the height of a track by placing your mouse in the track header and in between the different tracks. When your mouse cursor changes shape to a double-headed arrow with two lines through it, click and drag to adjust the height of the track.

The Mute button mutes the corresponding audio track and is useful when you want to isolate audio between tracks during playback. This button is used when you need to stop listening to a particular audio track momentarily so that it will not distract you.

The Solo button mutes all other tracks during playback. You can solo multiple audio tracks, which effectively mutes all tracks with the exception of those soloed. This is particularly useful when you have many audio tracks but at the moment you only need to listen to a few.

The Show Keyframes button toggles the display of keyframes in the audio waveform on the track. If you have used track keyframes in your work, you will need to see them at some point. This button enables you to change the display of the Timeline to show you the track keyframes instead of the clip keyframes. To display the clip keyframes again, just select the option from the same button (Figure 4.10).

The Previous Keyframe and Next Keyframe buttons navigate between existing keyframes on the audio track. These buttons are particularly important when you need to navigate between keyframes to adjust their settings. It is easy to miss the time position of the keyframe if you drag the playhead, making any adjustments you make create a new keyframe. Therefore, it is better to use these buttons to navigate when you need to adjust an existing keyframe.

The Add/Remove Keyframe button adds or removes keyframes (depending on the position of your playhead). If the playhead is on a keyframe, clicking here will delete it. If the playhead is not directly on a keyframe, clicking here will add a new keyframe at that point in the Timeline.

The audio Toggle Sync Lock determines which tracks will be affected when you perform an insert, ripple, or trim edit. Imagine you have several clips in several different tracks in your Timeline and you need to perform a ripple edit. Only the clips in the track that contain the edited clip will be affected. However, if the Sync Lock button is enabled in all of the tracks, any edit you perform in any of the tracks will make the clips in the other tracks adjust their time position to allow for the edit.

The audio Track Lock button goes a step further and locks the audio track completely, which prevents any change, accidental or intended. In essence, the Track Lock button “saves you from you.” Using this button will prevent you from accidentally making changes to a track.

These buttons are the Track Meter, Left/Right Balance, Track Volume, and Enable Track for Recording. To me, the ability to control some settings directly in the Timeline is both exciting and time-saving.

The Left/Right Balance button adds a left/right pan dial.

The Track Volume control allows you to increase the track volume level by +6dB or decrease it to∞ (infinity). The reason this is referred to as infinity is because dB (decibels) are a ratio. As stated earlier in this chapter, 0dB is near silence; 10dB is 10 times as loud; 20dB is 100 times as loud; 30dB is 1000 times as loud; and so on. You can click and drag left to decrease or drag right to increase the volume level, or simply enter a numeric value.

The Enable Track for Recording button lets you record audio directly to the corresponding audio track.

Now imagine that instead of clip keyframes you added track keyframes to the original edit. Instead of the keyframes disappearing when you delete the clip, they will stay with the track and apply to any clip you add to that track at that point in time. Now you can add as many different music clips to that track and the keyframes will apply.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Keyframes.

You will see two different tracks, one showing clip keyframes and the other showing track keyframes.

2. Move the clip with the clip keyframes, and then do the same with the clip in the other track. The clip with the keyframes maintains them, but the other clip does not because the keyframes belong to the track. If you find that you cannot move the clip that is in the track with the keyframes, temporarily show clip keyframes, move the clip, and then switch back to the track keyframes view.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Clipping. The sequence contains two different clips.

2. Listen to the first clip; it hasn’t been processed.

3. Listen to the second clip; it’s been processed through gain.

In the second clip you’ll notice that there are less dynamics and that the audio goes into the red in the VU meter. The sound is also harsher and distorted in this second clip.

To see this DR, you need to use the VU Audio meters.

1. Open Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Dynamic Range. The sequence contains two different clips.

2. Listen to the first clip and then the second clip. As they play, look at the Audio meters. The first clip has a DR of -28dB to -6dB. The second clip (through compression, described later in this chapter) has a DR of -16dB to -12dB.

Adobe Premiere Pro’s VU meter (Figure 4.14 on the next page) defaults to a 60dB range, displaying dynamic peaks, and shows color gradients that correspond to the audio levels. A gradient that progresses from green to yellow to orange to red indicates low audio levels, normal audio levels, and peaking audio levels.

You can customize the audio track meter by right-clicking and choosing one of the available options. Some of the options will be grayed out, depending on the type of audio master that you are using. Some of them are available only to 5.1 surround masters, or adaptive tracks. I prefer showing static peaks and valleys, and not showing the color gradients. This lets me see with more detail what my levels are and what my DR is. I use this information to help me set my levels (Figure 4.15). These options are

Show Valleys. Displays an indicator on the audio track meter that corresponds to the lowest audio amplitude in the portion of the clip that you play back. This is effectively the noise floor. You should know what the noise floor is because it will help you determine the DR.

Show Color Gradient. Indicates track meter levels in a gradual gradient rather than hard color changes, although in such a small meter the difference is very subtle. Showing the color gradient is a little softer on the eyes, and it is fine if you don’t need to be very precise with the levels. I usually leave these off. However, I’ve met several editors who prefer to see the color gradients here.

Solo in Place. Allows you to solo one or more channels without changing their speaker assignment (available for Source Monitor and Timeline panels). You may want to use this option if you need to temporarily listen to just one or some of the channels. When you select this option, you’ll see solo buttons at the bottom of the VU meters, one per channel (Figure 4.16).

Monitor Mono Channels. Allows you to listen to one specific channel out of both of your stereo monitoring speakers regardless of its assignment (available for adaptive clips and multichannel masters). You may want to use this option if you need to temporarily listen to just one of the channels. When you select this option, you will also see solo buttons at the bottom of the VU meters, one per channel. However, you will be able to solo only one of the channels at a time.

Monitor Stereo Pairs (default option). Allows you to monitor some of the channels from the left and right speakers (available for multichannel masters).

120–24 dB Ranges. Allows you to change the decibel range from six options that range from 24dB to 120dB. You may want to change this range depending on how precise you need to be with your audio levels. Obviously, if you select the 120dB range, you will be able to more accurately see your level values than if you selected the 20dB range.

Dynamic Peaks. Allows you to see the max peak of the audio change depending on the part of the clips you are listening to. Levels are constantly refreshed every three seconds.

Static Peaks. Displays the loudest peak until the indicator is reset (by clicking on the meter) or playback is restarted.

Reset Indicators. Resets your indicators.

You can adjust the volume level of an individual clip by hovering your pointer over the volume band until it changes to a volume band pointer (Figure 4.17). Then drag the volume band up to increase the volume by up to 6dB or down to lower the volume to -∞. This adjustment affects the volume for the entire clip that is selected (if it doesn’t have any existing keyframes). But often you’ll want to make changes to the volume of a clip over time; you can do this by adding keyframes. This can be useful to fade in and out audio clips or to adjust for loud or soft sections in an individual clip.

You can add clip keyframes either in the Timeline or by using the Effect Controls panel. If you’re working in the Timeline, you can add, select, move, and remove keyframes using the Pen tool.

1. Select the Pen tool (press P) from the toolbar (Figure 4.18).

2. Play the Timeline and determine the points in time at which you need the audio to become softer or louder. Then click on the band to add the keyframe.

3. Using the Selection tool, drag individual keyframes or sections between keyframes up or down to increase the clip volume at that point in time.

4. Play back the audio clip, and look at the peaks and valleys of the audio in the VU meter.

5. In some cases you’ll need the same keyframes in more than one place or in more than one clip. You could have more than one track or music or dialogue that requires the same changes in volume. You could copy these keyframes and then paste them as needed, either to the same clip in a different point in time or to a different clip.

Use the Selection tool instead of the Pen tool by holding down the Command (Ctrl) key and clicking on the points at which you want to add a keyframe along the clip’s volume band (also known as the rubber band).

Use the Add/Remove Keyframe button.

Adjust the audio volume of a nonselected clip by using the [ and ] keys . If the playhead is on a keyframe, you will adjust that keyframe only. If the playhead is not on a keyframe, you will adjust the span between keyframes

Quickly reset keyframes by clicking on clip(s) and choosing Clip > Remove Effects.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Begin Keyframes.

2. Play the sequence. You will hear that the music fades as the voice starts.

3. If necessary, expand the track; then notice that some keyframes were added.

4. Play the sequence again and listen to the audio levels as the playhead goes through the sections with keyframes.

5. Add other keyframes to make the audio get louder and softer over time.

To avoid manually keyframing these clips, you usually use crossfades. An audio crossfade is a transition, a lot like a video crossfade, that is used instead of manually keyframing the clips to fade them up from or down to silence.

Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Crossfades. Play the sequence. You’ll notice that there are crossfades added to the first clip in the Timeline and that it fades in at the beginning and out at the end.

If both clips are adjacent in the same track, you can easily add a crossfade by adding a transition: Adobe Premiere Pro creates the overlap from handle media, and a single transition will suffice for the edit point. You can see an example of a crossfade on the next set of clips in the Crossfade sequence. Notice how the crossfades affect the audio. If the clips are in two different tracks, you can still use the audio transition, but you need to ensure that the clips overlap by the amount of time that you want the crossfade to last. Of course, you can also use keyframes to accomplish the crossfade. You can see an example of crossfades that exist between clips in different tracks in the next set of clips in the Crossfade sequence.

Then select the clips you want to affect and choose Sequence > Apply Audio Transition (Figure 4.20).

When you’re doing crossfades, avoid these two mistakes:

If you made your cuts a little too close, the audio might fade out too soon.

If you do a crossfade in between two clips, you may be adding unwanted sounds, because Adobe Premiere Pro will add enough frames to the edit to create the crossfade.

Constant Gain. Changes the audio at a constant rate. This is not very natural, which is why it is not used much (Figure 4.21).

Constant Power. Creates a slow fade that gradually changes to a faster rate of change when fading out. When fading in, the opposite occurs: Constant Power increases the rate of the audio and then as the fade progresses the rate of change slows down. This causes the levels to not “lose power” during the transition, which is what would have happened if you had used Exponential Fade (Figure 4.22).

Exponential Fade. Uses a logarithmic curve to fade up and down. It is very similar to the Constant Power fade but is more gradual. This is more natural to your ears because this is how you naturally perceive sound (Figure 4.23).

For example, if you see a car moving from left to right, the sound should move from left to right following the car. Panning accomplishes that through animating (keyframing) the panning so that the sound goes from one channel to the other gradually, just like the sound of the car would travel from one side to the other in real life.

You can adjust panning on a global basis, or you can animate it (as just explained in the preceding moving car example). Most of the time I’ll set panning to about 30 percent into a channel (rarely any more than that). I won’t go all the way to 100 percent unless the sound is coming from offscreen.

In my experience, the following is usually true:

True stereo recordings (most commercially available music) will not need any panning modification.

Voice-overs will almost always be right in the center.

Interviews can pan (a little) to the left and right to correspond with the speaker’s positioning on the screen.

SFX will also correspond to whatever on the screen is producing the sound.

These mixers are the Audio Clip Mixer and the Audio Track Mixer. You use the Audio Clip Mixer when you need to change the levels of individual clips on a clip-by-clip basis. You use the Audio Track Mixer when you need to change the levels of audio on a track basis, when you don’t need the changes to travel with the clips in case you need to replace the clips with different ones. Track and clip keyframes were discussed earlier in this chapter.

Using the Audio Clip Mixer (Figure 4.25) lets you monitor and adjust individual clips on the go, even if they are in the Timeline. If you play your program in the Timeline and use the Audio Clip Mixer to adjust levels during the playback, the Clip Mixer will affect the clips as you hear the audio being played from the Timeline. You’ll be able to perform changes on the fly. Any changes you make to the volume of the clip using this tool will be reflected in the Timeline volume line (rubber band). When you’re using the Clip Mixer, note that only the clip is affected, not the track (the Track Mixer affects the track level).

As you move the playhead along, tracks that contain audio clips will become available to control; the controls for those tracks that don’t contain audio clips will be grayed out.

To better understand how the Audio Clip Mixer works, follow these steps.

1. Move the playhead to the spot in the Timeline where you want to start your changes.

2. In the Audio Clip Mixer panel select the keyframe icon for the tracks that you want to affect. Remember that although this selection is on a track-by-track basis, the adjustments made are applied to clips, not tracks.

3. Mute any tracks you don’t want to hear or solo a single track if you need to.

4. Start playback, move the volume level up and down, and pan left and right as desired.

When you stop playback, keyframes will be added.

5. Adjust the keyframes if needed, or even record a second pass.

6. Play back and enjoy your work!

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Clip Keyframes.

2. Open the Audio Clip Mixer panel and click the Write Keyframes icon.

3. Play the Timeline, and as it plays, adjust the Volume fader.

Notice that when you’re done, keyframes are on your clip (if you do not see them, make sure Clip Keyframes is selected in the audio track header).

To open this tool, choose Window > Audio Track Mixer (Figure 4.26).

Several automation modes help you create the keyframes that will affect your track (Figure 4.27):

Off. This setting, as you may have guessed, ignores existing keyframes. Even though you can still make changes to the track, these changes will not be recorded. Off is simply, off.

Read. After you’ve created some keyframes, change the automation mode to Read to hear how they sound. Read mode will read any changes that you’ve already performed on the clip. If a clip has no keyframes and you adjust a track, the changes will affect the entire track. Once you stop adjusting, the fader will return to its former value. The speed of the return is determined by the Automatch Time option (Preferences > Audio > Automatch Time).

Write. This automation mode lets you record any changes to volume or pan that you make to the track (as long as the Automation Mode is not set to Safe During Write). When you adjust the levels using this automation mode, new keyframes will be added, overwriting existing ones. You could also preserve a track property while recording the mix by right-clicking an effect or send and choosing Safe During Write from the menu.

Latch. Similar to Write, but Latch changes don’t start recording until you begin adjusting the property. So, if you are set to Latch and you play the track, nothing will be altered until you actively start adjusting.

Touch. Same as Write, but when you stop adjusting a property, the fader will continue following existing keyframes, or return to the original value of the clip if there are no keyframes present. The speed of the return is determined by the Automatch Time option (Preferences > Audio > Automatch Time).

To better understand how the Audio Track Mixer works, follow these steps.

1. Move the playhead to the spot in the Timeline where you want to start your changes.

2. In the Audio Track Mixer panel select the desired automation mode.

3. Mute any tracks you don’t want to hear or solo a single track if needed.

4. Start playback, move the volume level fader up and down, and pan left and right as desired.

5. When you stop playback, keyframes will be added. If you do not see these keyframes, click the Show Keyframes button in the track header and choose Track Keyframes.

6. Adjust the keyframes if needed, or even record a second pass.

7. Play back and enjoy your work!

If you feel you are adding too many keyframes, check and adjust the value in Preferences > Audio > Minimum Time Interval Thinning; larger values will reduce the number of keyframes. If you create keyframes that make changes that last one second, this option will create only the necessary keyframes at the beginning and at the end of the change. Otherwise, Adobe Premiere Pro may create other keyframes in the middle of these.

To make this process easier, rename your audio tracks from the default of Audio 1, Audio 2, and so on to reflect the type of clips you’ll be placing on the track, such as male voice, female voice, nat sound, music, effects, and the like. You can rename your audio tracks in the Audio Track Mixer or in the Timeline. To see an example of renaming tracks, open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Mix. Notice the names of the tracks in the Audio Track Mixer.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Track Keyframes.

2. Open the Audio Track Mixer panel and select the Write automation mode.

3. Play the Timeline, and as it plays, adjust the Volume fader or the Pan control.

Notice that when you’re done, keyframes are added to your track (if you don’t see them, make sure you have Track Keyframes selected in the audio track header).

4. Test the different automation modes and experience their differences. Remember to adjust the Automatch Time value in the Audio Preferences if you need to do so.

A submix is akin to a nested sequence, where you can add effects to the nested sequence instead of adding many different effects to many different clips (Figure 4.28). Consider a submix an intermediary track between the original tracks and the master track. The source for this intermediary track is other audio tracks, so you cannot add clips directly to this submix track; however, you can add as many tracks to a submix as you need.

A send takes the audio signal from a track and “sends” it somewhere else before it goes to the master track. This is what you use to route audio tracks through submixes.

To create a submix, you can use the Send Assignment menu on the Track Mixer, or you can right-click on the audio track button area in the Timeline and choose Add a Submix Audio Track. Then, in the Audio Track Mixer panel, select the Sends drop-down from the track(s) you want to send to the Submix track and choose Submix.

In the Audio Track Mixer panel you can adjust the fader and/or add any effects you desire to the submix.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Submix.

2. Open the Audio Track Mixer panel, which contains two submixes: one called SFX submix the other called VO Submix. The different tracks are being routed to different submixes except for the music track, which goes directly to the master. Some effects are already applied.

3. Test different settings and experiment with different effects to hear how they affect your sound.

You should think about audio levels in two different ways: One is the absolute level—the level that the meter displays—and the other one is the subjective level, which is how loud you perceive the volume.

Can you recall a certain bathroom tissue commercial where people were whispering? This gave the perceived level of being quiet. In reality the audio levels were just as loud as when the announcer was plugging that particular brand. What the meter displays and what you perceive are sometimes different.

Adobe Premiere Pro’s Multiband Compressor effect separates the audio into different frequencies (or bands) and processes them separately; what this means is that you could affect some frequencies in one way and other frequencies in a different way. Based on frequencies, you could affect some instruments and not others. This could be useful if you are editing a music video and need to master the audio as well, for example, maybe the bass is too soft or too loud. Using this effect you could affect only the frequency in which the bass sound exists.

Here are some controls in the Multiband Compressor that you should know:

Threshold. Threshold is the minimum level that will make the compressor start working. Depending on the ratio (described next), the compressor will “kick in” when your audio levels reach the threshold you set on this effect. The threshold is commonly set in decibels; a lower threshold (e.g., -60dB) means more of the clip will be compressed.

Ratio. The amount of gain reduction is determined by the ratio: A ratio of 3:1 means that if the input level is 3dB over the threshold, the output signal level will be 1dB over the threshold. In this case, the gain (level) is reduced by 2dB. For example:

Threshold = −10dB

Input = −7dB (3dB above the threshold)

Output = −9dB (1dB above the threshold)

Try to keep the ratio at no more than 3:1 to maintain a gentle-sounding effect. If the ratio goes above 3:1, the audio might sound unnatural.

Attack. Attack is the time that it takes to reach maximum level of compression. Attack will affect drums if the release is too fast, which will result in unnatural level changes.

Release. Release is the time that it takes for the audio level to return to normal (no compression). You should have slow release times to minimize the unnatural level changes (pumping).

If your clip has a wide DR, you’ll notice the compression more because it will click more often and for a less amount of time.

For example, if you are working with a music clip in which you can hardly hear bass, you could add the EQ effect and increase the volume of the bass only, making it more present in the mix.

To better accomplish this task, you can train your ears to recognize a well-balanced audio program by playing good audio through your system. Play audio that is similar to the program that you are mixing. If you are mixing a high-impact commercial, listen to something comparable. It’s best if the sample audio is the same genre as the program you’re working on.

As you become more familiar with the EQ tool and your ears begin to detect audio nuances, your changes will be very small. You will have changes in many places, but these changes will be minimal—for example, 2dB or 3dB at the very most.

When you want to use the EQ effect because you need to do more than make small adjustments, reconsider your microphone placement and your audio recording techniques.

When you’re working with the EQ, do not alter the volume of your speakers (seriously, don’t touch this volume at all). If you do, you might overcompensate and the EQ will not be accurate.

Constantly compare the processed audio with the original version. Also, compare your clips with each other. Using the EQ is one of the ways to achieve audio continuity in your program.

To use the EQ effect, follow these steps.

1. Add the EQ effect to the clip (or the track).

2. Launch the clip Fx Editor by clicking the Edit button in the Effect Controls panel. To launch the Track Mixer, double-click the Fx slot where the EQ is located.

3. Choose from several presets that are available. Once you become familiar with this tool, you can even create your own. Sometimes it’s easier to start from a preset and then adjust it rather than starting from scratch.

4. Select the appropriate check boxes in the Fx Editor. To make adjustments, you can either use the knobs or simply click and drag the control points. Notice that the control points are “connected,” which means that the resulting feathering effect will sound more natural.

5. Adjust the Q control, which controls the smoothness of the curves that “connect” the control points. You can either adjust these control points by using the knob or by clicking and dragging the handles directly on the control points.

6. Adjust the overall gain by using the Output Gain slider to the right of the knobs.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named EQ. The sequence contains two different groups of clips in the Timeline in two different tracks. The first one is unprocessed; the second clip has the EQ effect added to the track

2. Listen to both clips.

3. Open the Audio Track Mixer.

4. Open the Fx Editor for the EQ applied to the second track (by double-clicking on it).

5. Note how the frequencies were modified (Warm Presence preset), and try making some changes of your own

Start training your ears to distinguish between the sound qualities of the different changes.

The Loudness Radar displays audio levels in two rings: The outer ring shows current audio levels, and the inner ring shows the audio levels over time (a useful history of loudness). At the bottom of the Loudness Radar screen you can also see loudness range values and the overall program loudness.

The yellow area is the loudest level (don’t exceed this level). The blue level is too low (below the noise floor), so you want your audio to stay between the green and the yellow levels.

You can change the loudness standards, and see where your program falls within the different standards. These Loudness Standard presets are in the settings of the effect, and you can choose between BS.1770-3 and Leq(K). These standards are presets that change the values in the Settings tab. Here are some of those settings:

Radar Speed. You can change this value to an appropriate time (the length of the program) to display the history of the program’s loudness.

Radar Resolution. This is the space increment of the inner circles.

Momentary Range. This sets the loudness for the momentary range. It offers two different choices: EBU +9 is meant for normal broadcast, and EBU +18 is meant for film, drama, and a wide range of music.

Low Level Below. With this setting you can set the shift between the green and blue colors on the momentary loudness ring. This could be set to indicate that the level may be below the noise floor level.

Overall Audio Units. This sets the loudness units to be displayed on the radar. Choose between units for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Broadcast Union (EBU).

Loudness Standard. This sets the loudness standard. Choose between BS.1770-3 and the Leq(K) loudness standard.

Peak Indicator. This sets the value at which the peak indicator will be activated. The red peak indicator lights up if you exceed the indicated level.

The Loudness Radar applied to just one clip isn’t that useful when you have multiple audio clips and multiple audio tracks.

This effect is best used in the master audio track. You can either nest your Timeline into a new sequence or add the effect directly to the master track in the Audio Track Mixer.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Loudness Radar.

2. In the Audio Track Mixer, open the Fx Editor for the Loudness Radar applied to the master track.

3. Mark In and Out points, and then click the “Loop playback” icon. This will place your playback in a repeat mode that will only stop when you manually pause the playback.

4. Start playing your Timeline.

5. As it plays, note how the effect works by changing the levels of the track (not the master), and notice how the radar display changes.

6. Increase levels so you can see the peak warning.

More often than not, audio hum comes from improperly electrically grounded audio equipment or induction (audio lines next to power lines). The frequency of your ground hum will match your electrical power—60Hz in North America and 50Hz in Europe.

To use the DeHummer effect, follow these steps.

1. Add the DeHummer effect to the affected clip in your Timeline.

2. In the Effect Controls panel locate the DeHummer effect, and click Edit to launch the Clip Fx Editor for the DeHummer effect.

3. Select one of the available presets, which is a good place to start.

4. Adjust the following parameters until the hum is gone:

Frequency. Specifies the frequency you target.

Q. Specifies the width of the frequency band. A frequency band is a small section of the spectrum of frequencies.

Gain. Specifies the amount by which to decrease the band.

Number of Harmonics. Adjust this value to determine the number of harmonic frequencies to filter. In addition to the common 50Hz and 60Hz electrical hum, you can also experience hum at the multiples of the base frequency (100, 200, 400 or 120, 240, 480Hz, etc.).

For example, if you choose 60Hz as the Frequency value and choose 4# as the Filter value, the DeHummer filters the 60Hz frequency along with three harmonic frequencies (120Hz, 240Hz, and 480Hz). A total of four frequencies are filtered, hence the value of 4#.

5. Preview changes to your audio, select the Output Hum Only check box, and resume playback. If you hear too much of your good audio, adjust your settings.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Hum.

2. In the Audio Track Mixer, open the Fx Editor for the DeHummer applied to the master track.

3. Mark In and Out points, click the “Loop playback” icon, and start playing your Timeline.

4. As it plays, alter the values of the effect (not the master), and note the changes. To hear it work, choose the preset “Remove 60Hz and Harmonics.”

Most DeEssers have two main controls: Threshold and Frequency, which are used to compress only a very narrow band of frequencies—anywhere between 3K and 10K to eliminate sibilance. Sibilance usually exists somewhere between 4Khz to 10Khz depending on the voice and the recording.

Apply the DeEsser to your clip and use one of the handy presets. If the preset is not quite right, you can adjust some of its settings. However, if you don’t want to use a preset, raise the Threshold control until the sibilance is gone but you can still hear the esses. Next, adjust the Frequency range until you find the exact setting that will fix the issue. Then go back to the Threshold again and adjust it until it sounds natural.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named DeEsser.

2. In the Audio Track Mixer, open the Fx Editor for the DeEsser applied to the master track.

3. Mark In and Out points, and click the “Loop playback” icon.

4. Start playing your Timeline, and as it plays, experiment with the values of the effect (not the master) and note the changes.

5. Bypass the effect so you can get a clear idea of the before and after sound.

Arguably, reverb is one of the most commonly used effects. Actually, it is one of the most commonly misused effects. Therefore, you should use reverb to affect the acoustical continuity of your program—in other words, to put different sources of audio in the same room.

To use reverb in a clip, follow these steps.

1. Add the Reverb effect to the clip (available for 5.1, stereo, or mono clips).

2. Open the Fx Editor.

3. Choose the presets that will most closely resemble the environment you want to duplicate:

Pre Delay. Specifies how long the sound will take to go from the originator of the sound to the virtual reflecting wall and back to the origin again.

Absorption. Specifies how much of the sound will be absorbed by the material in the room.

Size. Specifies the size of the room (as a percentage).

Density. Specifies the number of reflections in an ambient space and is related to the size. High-density values create rich-sounding reverbs.

Lo Damp. Specifies the amount of attenuation for low frequencies to preserve clarity.

Hi Damp. Specifies the amount of dampening of high frequencies.

Mix. Controls the amount of reverb.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Reverb.

2. In the Audio Track Mixer, open the Fx Editor for the Reverb applied to the VO track.

3. Play your Timeline, and as it plays, bypass the effect so you can get a clear idea of the before and after sound.

4. Experiment with the presets and the settings to start training your ears to hear what reverb does for your audio.

The process is to send a clip to Adobe Audition, select an area of the noise alone (without foreground audio) for Adobe Audition to “memorize,” and then select the entire clip to help it eliminate noise from the clip. What happens during this process is that Adobe Audition will generate the necessary signal to eliminate the noise and only the noise. To accomplish this task, follow these steps.

1. Right-click on the clip you want to send to Adobe Audition, and choose Edit Clip in Adobe Audition (Figure 4.37). This command renders your clip and replaces your audio with a dynamically linked audio clip, and launches Adobe Audition with this clip open. Adobe Premiere Pro will not send the original audio to Adobe Audition in order to preserve the original audio untouched, because any changes you make in Audition will permanently change this audio clip.

2. Using the Audition Time Select tool (T), select a portion of the waveform that contains the noise but no dialogue.

3. Right-click on the selected area, and choose Capture Noise Print (Figure 4.38). Alternatively, you can press Shift+P. Then deselect your selection on the audio waveform so that the next step will apply to the entire waveform, not just the sample audio selection.

4. In the Effects menu, choose Noise Removal/Restoration, and then select Noise Reduction (process) (Figure 4.39) to launch the Noise Reduction Effect panel. You can also access this panel by pressing Command+Shift+P (Ctrl+Shift+P).

5. Play your clip by clicking the play icon. Toggle the Effect Power State on and off as well as the Output Noise Only option while playing back the clip to further refine the noise reduction settings.

6. Click the Apply button. Adobe Audition likely does a pretty good job of removing the unwanted noise floor automatically, but you can make further adjustments by using a noise gate or an EQ.

7. Save your changes by pressing Command+S (Ctrl+S), and return to Adobe Premiere Pro. Your audio file will update with the fixed audio.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Audition Noise.

2. On the Timeline, right-click the clip and choose Edit Clip in Adobe Audition.

3. Once in Audition, select a part of the clip that contains only the background noise and nothing else (click and drag to select). You can even zoom in if you desire (press +). This selects the background noise for that clip.

4. Choose Effects > Noise Reduction / Restoration > Capture Noise Print (or press Shift+P).

5. Click OK in the dialog that opens

6. Click anywhere in the wave to deselect.

7. Apply the effect by choosing Effects > Noise Reduction / Restoration > Noise Reduction (process).

8. When the panel opens, play the clip and move the sliders until the room noise disappears. I used the values of 92% for Noise Reduction and Reduce by 46dB.

9. While the clip plays, bypass the effect so you can get a good idea of the before and after (toggle the effect off and on again) sound.

10. When you’re happy with the settings, click Apply and save your clip.

11. Go back to Adobe Premiere Pro; your clip is waiting for you there!

1. Right-click the clip you want to send to Adobe Audition, and choose Edit Clip in Adobe Audition. This command renders and replaces your audio with a dynamically linked audio clip, and launches Adobe Audition with this clip open.

2. In Audition, choose Window > Amplitude Statistics (Figure 4.40).

3. Click the Scan button, and look at the Possibly Clipped Samples property to get a good idea of how much clipping is in your clip. Using this value will let you set the correct preset when using the effect. (You will be able to determine if the clip is heavily or lightly clipped.)

4. Choose Effects > Diagnostics > DeClipper (process) to open a new panel (Figure 4.41 on the next page).

5. Choose the preset that best represents the amount of clipping in the clip. Experiment with different presets if you’re not sure.

6. Click the Scan button.

7. Click Repair All.

8. Save your changes by pressing Command+S (Ctrl+S), and return to Adobe Premiere Pro. Your dynamically linked audio file will update with the fixed audio.

1. Open the project Chapter04_Audio.prproj, and then open the sequence named Audition DeClipper.

2. On the Timeline, right-click the clip and choose Edit Clip in Adobe Audition.

3. In Audition, choose Window > Amplitude Statistics to display the statistics and determine how much clipping is in the audio. This panel is for diagnostics only.

4. Click the Scan button.

5. Choose Effects > Diagnostics > DeClipper (process).

6. When the panel opens, choose Restore Heavily Clipped and click the Scan button to identify which parts of the clips need to be fixed. A list of the problem areas appears at the bottom of the panel.

7. Click Repair All and the effect will start working.

8. Look at the waveforms when it is done. Much better, right?

9. Experiment with the settings; repeat the process over and over to get a good idea of how the effect works and what the settings do (you can use undo to reverse your changes).

10. When you’re happy with the settings, save your clip and return to Adobe Premiere Pro.