Premiere and Multiple Audio Tracks - Dealing with levels
 

Hey everyone.

I'm working on a large project I shot a few years back when I was a newb. Still am actually but I'm learning. I'm wondering if anyone had any tips and tricks for dealing with audio. Let me explain what I'm dealing with.

I have a lot of footage from two different cameras. In some shots the sound is up, in others it's down. In some cases I have to substitute audio in a driving sequence because, heaven forbid, Metallica is on the stereo and we wouldn't want them having another hissy fit. I'm incorporating music into the shot as well as lots of narration.

Here's the question, as general as it is. Is there a formula or workflow that you use when dealing with audio. Do you first deal with all the ambient sound? Do you normalize the sequence so that the levels are the same across the board? I find myself editing sequence A and having to make adjustments to each clip in the sequence. Then I introduce narration and I have to start messing with each clip again. Then I add music and so on and so forth.

Also, the mic I'm using is recording at about -6 with my kissing the mic. When I do that I get pops when saying P words like Portland. Normally it's around -12. Is there a way to increase this in Soundbooth so that when I work with it in Premiere I won't have to drop the levels of everything else to the point where you almost can't hear anything?

I know these are a lot of questions I'm just wondering if anyone has any guidelines or rules for dealing with audio in Premiere to get a nice, level balance when dealing with multiple tracks. Even a simple link to a website will do. I don't mind getting my learn on. :)

Thanks a million.

Scott

Scott,

In CS4, select Sequence, then select Normalize Master Track. In the new window that pops up, type in the level (-6 etc) that you want and hit OK. It's easy and does a great job, it lowers or raises the audio to your selected level. In CS3 that option is not availabe, so you have to adjust each clip individually. A great place for lessons is Lynda.com.

Dave