Monitoring Audio Tracks

When you start working with multiple layers of audio clips, you will find it very important to start isolating tracks so that you can accurately hear what is going on. It becomes very difficult to hear how something sounds or check a clip's timing if it is being disguised by a number of other audio clips layered on top of one another. You might want to leave them exactly where you have edited them into your timeline, so deleting them is not the answer. You also don't want to lower the volume, because that will change any level setting you have already set. The best solution is to mute tracks that you do not want to hear. This is very simple, but it's a technique that many beginning editors overlook as a means to make their life simple.

As I mentioned earlier, a good technique is to edit various audio clips onto different tracks. This means that you might want to categorize and spread out all your different audio elements. Edit your narration onto tracks 1 and 2 (or as many tracks as necessary). I even recommend keeping different narrators on their own track(s) for easy identification and making changes. Then put your music on other available tracks. Sound effects might take up several tracks by themselves. Keep them separate and spaced out so that you have room to work with them, as shown in Figure 8.6. Now that you've set up your timeline this way, you have complete control over monitoring your tracks. You can select which tracks you want to hear and which tracks you want to mute without changing any characteristics.

Figure 8.6. Keep audio sound effects spaced out in your timeline (rather than all on top of each other) for easy manipulation.

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There are two areas where you can control which audio tracks can be heard and which ones are silent without changing their levels. Depending on your editing style, you can work in either the Audio Mixer window or the timeline itself. I think the fastest and easiest place to work is in the Audio Mixer window. If you have any experience working with a real mixer, the Audio Mixer panel is right up your alley. At the top of each distinct audio track are two controls: Mute and Solo. Muting does exactly what it says. It temporarily disables the playback of that audio track while the track is muted. Nothing is changed within your edited sequence. To hear the track again, simply click the Mute button again to turn off the mute and return to the original state. You can mute as many tracks as desired.

Soloing a track allows you to quickly isolate a track without having to shut off all the other audio tracks that appear in your timeline. When you click the Solo button, Premiere automatically mutes the rest of the tracks. You can select more than one track to solo. This is a great way to see how certain tracks work with each other and adjust levels and effects without having to fight against other, more dominant-sounding tracks. To turn off the soloing feature and return to hearing all tracks, simply click all Solo buttons to turn them off. The last Solo button you click releases all the mutes on the other tracks.

The other area where you can control the playback of each track independently is in the timeline directly. Toggle the audio monitors on and off by clicking the audio speaker icon next to the audio track you have selected, as shown in Figure 8.7. A speaker icon indicates that the audio will play and be heard. A blank box indicates that that particular track has been muted. You can mute as many tracks as desired without affecting any of the clips or their attributes that you have set in the timeline.

Figure 8.7. Toggle audio monitors on and off in the timeline to mute the selected tracks.

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tip

Smooth, uninterrupted audio and video playback is dependent on the speed of your computer and the amount of RAM. Shutting off all the tracks except the ones you are working with allows the computer to play back your media with less difficulty, avoiding many pauses or glitches that might occur if too many files are being played at once.




Premiere 6. 5 Fundamentals
Premiere 6.5 Fundamentals
ISBN: B000H2MVO4
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 219

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