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Applying effects to audio


 

Premiere Pro includes VST (Virtual Studio Technology) audio plug-ins designed to alter or enhance the properties of audio clips. Most of these effects are available for mono, stereo, and 5.1 clips, and can be applied to either clips or tracks, unless specified otherwise. If you have Adobe Soundbooth installed, Premiere Pro automatically locates, recognizes, and uses the VST effects from that program as well.

Note: Each audio effect includes a bypass option that allows you to turn the effect on or off as specified by the keyframes that you set.

In Premiere Pro CS5.5 and later, audio effects are now combined into a single, unified effect and displayed in a flat list inside the Audio Effects folder. When you apply an audio effect, Premiere Pro automatically applies the correct effect type (Mono, Stereo, or 5.1) to that clip. For a list and descriptions of the available audio effects, see Audio effects.

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Unified Audio Effects

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Important information about unified audio effects is included in this video by Video2Brain.

Details, tutorials, and resources about changes regarding unified audio effects in Premiere Pro CS5.5 and later are found in this blog post.

Certain effects have restrictions, and can be used only on certain track types. (For example, the Balance effect can be applied to stereo tracks only, not mono, or 5.1). The following effects have this restriction:

  • Balance (Stereo only)

  • Channel Volume (Stereo and 5.1 only)

  • Fill Left (Stereo only)

  • Fill Right (Stereo only)

  • Swap Channels (Stereo only)

Note: Presets for unified audio effects can be created from single or multiple audio effects.

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Improving Audio in Premiere Pro

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Using Audio Effects in Premiere Pro

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There are 2 different ways to add effects to audio in Premiere Pro. Karl Soule’ walks through both techniques, and when to use each technique.

These Premiere Pro tutorial videos by Phil Hawkins at Infinite Skills go through a few of the most common audio presets and effects.

See this video tutorial on applying audio effects in Premiere Pro by Andrew Devis on the Creative COW website.

    Applying audio effects in the Audio Mixer

    In the Audio Mixer, track effect options are controlled after an effect is selected in the Effects And Sends panel. If the Effects And Sends panel isn’t visible, display it by clicking the Show/Hide Effects And Sends triangle on the left side of the Audio Mixer. The Effects And Sends panel contains Effect Selection menus to apply up to five track effects. Premiere Pro processes effects in the order they are listed and feeds the result of an effect into the next effect in the list; therefore, changing the order can change the results. The effects list also provides full control over VST plug-ins you’ve added. Effects applied in the Audio Mixer can also be viewed and edited in a Timeline panel.

    An effect can be applied pre-fader or post-fader. The difference is whether the effect is applied before or after the application of the track’s fader. Effects are pre-fader by default.

    In the Audio Mixer, effect options that change over time can be recorded using the automation options or specified in a Timeline panel by using keyframes.

    Audio effects
    A.
    Name of applied effect, and effect menu

    B.
    Effect bypass

    C.
    Control knob for selected effect property

    D.
    Effect properties menu

    If you plan to use the same effect repeatedly, consider conserving system resources by sharing effects through a submix. Create a submix, apply the effect to the submix, and use sends to route tracks to the submix for effects processing.

    Apply a track effect in the Audio Mixer

    1. (Optional) To display the Effects And Sends panel in the Audio Mixer, click the Show/Hide Effects And Sends triangle at the left of the Audio Mixer.
    2. In the track that you want to apply an effect, click the Effect Selection triangle and choose an effect from the menu.
      Consider planning the order of track effects before applying them because you can’t drag an effect to a different position in the Effects And Sends panel.
    3. If needed, choose the effect parameter you want to edit from the menu at the bottom of the Effects And Sends panel.
    4. Use the controls above the parameter menu to adjust the effect options.
      Note: For certain VST plug-in effects, you can adjust the effect options in a separate panel containing option controls. Double-click the track effect name to open a VST editor panel.

    Adjust audio track effects in a Timeline

    You can adjust the fixed audio Track or Panner effects either by manipulating the track keyframes rubber-band, or by using the controls in the Audio Mixer.

    1. In a Timeline panel, expand the view of an audio track containing a clip, if necessary, by clicking the triangle next to the track name.
    2. Click the Show Keyframes button , and choose Show Track Keyframes from the menu.
    3. Click the menu at the top left corner of the clip in the audio track (it appears with Track:Volume as the default selection); then choose the effect name and property from the menu. Pre-fader effects appear at the top of the menu; post-fader effects appear at the bottom. Any numbers in the effect names refer to their position in the track effects list, their rendering order.
    4. Use the Pen tool to adjust the level uniformly (if keyframes haven’t been added) or to add or edit keyframes.

    Copy and paste track effects

    You can copy track effects from one section of a track and paste them into another. When pasted, the track effect keyframes land in the track from which they were copied, at the location of the current-time indicator. Targeting tracks does not affect where the pasted keyframes land.

    1. In a Timeline, select one or more track keyframes to copy. To select more than one Shift-click on each keyframe, or drag a marquee around neighboring keyframes.
    2. Select Edit > Copy.
    3. Place the current-time indicator at the location where you want to paste the keyframes.
    4. Select Edit > Paste.

    Designate a track effect as pre-fader or post-fader

     In the Effects And Sends panel of the Audio Mixer, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) an effect and choose Pre-Fader or Post-Fader.

    Remove or bypass a track effect in the Audio Mixer

     In the effects list in the Audio Mixer, do one of the following:

    • To remove a track effect, click the triangle to the right of the effect you want to remove, and choose None.

    • To bypass a track effect, click the Effects Bypass button near the bottom of the effects list until it appears with a slash.

    Working with VST effects

    Premiere Pro supports the Steinberg VST (Virtual Studio Technology) audio plug-in format so that you can add VST audio effects from third-party vendors. Premiere Pro includes VST plug-in effects that are available in both the Audio Mixer and the Effect Controls panel. Track-based VST plug-ins may provide additional controls. Apply VST effects the same way you apply other audio effects to tracks or clips.

    In the Effects And Sends panels of the Audio Mixer, VST effects appear in the Effect Selection menus. In the Effects panel, they appear in the Audio Effects bin so you can apply them to individual clips. In most cases, VST effects appear in the Audio Effects bin and track type that corresponds to the number of channels the effect supports. For example, stereo VST effects appear in the Audio Mixer track effect menus for stereo tracks only, and in the Stereo bin in the Audio Effects bin in the Effects panel. After you apply any VST effect, you can open a window with all of its controls. You can leave multiple VST editor windows open as long as you want, such as when automating effects, but Premiere Pro closes all VST editor windows when you close the project.

    If you previously installed a VST-compatible application other than Premiere Pro, Premiere Pro finds VST effects in the VST folder that already exists. Inside the Plug-ins folder of the Premiere Pro application folder, there is also a VST Plugins folder with plug-ins that are used only by Premiere Pro. The locations where Premiere Pro searches for VST plug-ins are as follows.

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath (Windows)

    • C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins (Windows)

    • System HD/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST (Mac OS)

    • System HD/<user>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST (Mac OS)

    Regarding If you already have an audio application installed, there should be a VST plug-ins location in the registry stored here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST\VstPluginsPath Premiere Pro should use the path specified by that registry key.   It should be set to something like this location: [Program Files]\Steinberg\VstPlugins\

    Note: When you use a VST effect not provided by Adobe, the specific control layout and results of the plug-in are the responsibility of the plug-in manufacturer. Adobe Premiere Pro only displays the controls and processes the results.

    Adjust a VST effect in a VST Editor panel

    The Audio Mixer lets you open a VST editor panel, for certain VST effects, to adjust the effect options.

    Note: You can’t open a VST editor window from the Effect Controls panel.
    1. If necessary to display the Effects and Sends panel, click the Show/Hide Effects And Sends triangle on the left side of the Audio Mixer.
    2. In the Effects And Sends panel, click one of the downward-pointing triangles in the Effect Selection section, and select the name of an effect.
    3. Double-click the effect name.

      The VST editor panel opens. This panel can be docked or grouped like any other panel.

    4. In the VST editor window, specify the options.
      Note: The option controls for VST plug-in effects are also available at the bottom of the Effects And Sends panel.
    VST Editor panel for DeNoiser effect

    Select a preset for a VST effect

     Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the effect name in the Effects And Sends panel of the Audio Mixer, and choose a preset listed at the bottom of the menu.
    Note: If an effect doesn’t support presets, Default is the only choice. Default resets all option values for the effect.
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