Adobe Premiere Pro has built-in audio tools, but nothing with the capability of Adobe Audition. Ideally, it’s much better to work with your final audio mix in Audition.
Once your video edit is complete in Premiere Pro, go to the Edit menu, choose Edit in Adobe Audition, and edit the entire sequence. For the path, you can determine where you want to save the files that Premiere is going to export. It automatically creates a folder called Adobe Audition Interchange, so navigate there to keep all the files in one place.
Check Export Preview Video. This gives us a video track to watch while working on the audio. Keep everything else checked as well, including Open in Adobe Audition. Audition will open as soon as the files are rendered. Click OK and Audition will open into a multitrack session with a video track. And below the video track are the audio tracks from Premiere.
These files are completely separate from the versions that are still open in Premiere Pro. You can manipulate these audio files and experiment without worrying your going to mess up your Premiere project. If you really mess things up, just export another version from Premiere and start again.
Multitrack
This is where you mix the levels, add effects and processing such as compressors and limiters.
Waveform Editor
Double click the sound clip you want to work on and it opens in a larger window for editing.
Normalize
If the overall audio level is low, use normalize to raise the entire level of the clip equally. It’s not the same as compression because it leaves the dynamics such as the loud and soft sections. It can also increase unwanted noise in the clip so keep that in mind.
Compression
Always put a compressor on the voice tracks especially audio recorded in the field. Choose the Voice-Over Preset. This brings up the quiet sections and brings down the louder sections to make a more balanced vocal track. Try using the presets and listen to the different results. Always put a compressor on sound effects as well.
Limiter
Use a limiter on the final mix and set the maximum amplitude to -6dB and your mix will never go past that. Experiment with the presets for the desired effect. If it sounds distorted, try turning down some of the individual tracks in your mix.
Noise Reduction
Select at least a half second of the background noise you would like to remove. Under Effects, choose Capture Noise Print. This defines the sound you are going to remove.
Then choose Noise Reduction (process). Press the play button in the bottom left hand corner to listen to the noise reduction before you apply it to the selection. Feel free to adjust the ‘noise reduction’ slider and ‘reduce by’ slider for more or less noise removal.
The more noise reduction you do, the more robotic sounding and the more digital artifacts will be added. Try to choose a happy medium setting the still keeps a natural sound with some noise reduction. Choose Select Entire File if you want to remove the background noise from the entire clip.
Spectral Frequency Display
Another way to edit the audio is with the Spectral Frequency Display. You can see the frequencies represented visually. We then can use the different tools to actually paint out or highlight and delete troublesome sounds or frequencies. The Spot Healing Brush is great for this. Experiment to see which works best for the sound your trying to remove.
Exporting an Audition Project back into Premiere
So no matter what you do in Audition, your Premiere project is still exactly the way it was before you started working on it in Audition. Now that the audio edit is complete, you want to send the new version of the audio tracks back into Premiere. Go to the Multitrack menu and choose Export to Adobe Premiere.
It uses the Adobe Audition Interchange folder that it previously generated, so keep everything in the same place. Under Options you can choose to Export each track as a stem. That means each separate track will be exported as its own separate file. It’s better to have a final compressed stereo audio track mixed and ready to go.
Keep Open in Adobe Premiere selected so Premiere opens. Click Export. Locate the project you want to import the Audition tracks into. Now Premiere gives you the option of copying the Adobe Audition tracks to their own new tracks or to replace the existing tracks. Choose to copy them to New Audio Tracks. Mute the original tracks and use the final mix. The more you practice the better you’ll get. Don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t turn out like you want the first the first time. Try it again until you get the results you desire.
Adobe Audition is a great mixing application and can provide excellent results using your Premiere Pro sequence. Consider doing all your final mixes in Audition and don’t skimp on good audio. If you found this article helpful, please share with your friends and colleagues. MichaelTheSoundGuy.com