Speed Adjustments and Pitch Shifting

For the final disclaimer that is placed underneath the Saleen logo at the end of the edit, try picking up the pace, much like those rapid-fire disclaimers on certain television commercials.

To do this, select the clip you want to adjust in the timeline and press Ctrl+R (or choose Clip > Speed/Duration) to open the Speed/Duration dialog. In this dialog, adjust the speed of the clip to 120% and click the check box for Maintain Pitch. When you choose to maintain pitch, Premiere Pro dynamically adjusts the pitch of the sped-up audio so that it does not sound squeaky like a mouse but instead like a normal voice. The result is audio that is sped up to reduce its duration but without a distorted high-pitched sound.

Using this method in Premiere Pro, you can achieve the effect, but with some audible artifacts such as the slight echo effect. Listen to the file Disclaimer_PP_120.wav as an example (APPST2 Lesson Files/Chapter 18). Notice that although I was able to increase the speed and maintain a pretty similar vocal pitch, the file still has a slight electronic feel.

For comparison, I loaded the same file into Adobe Audition and used its Speed and Pitch tools to make an even faster speed adjustment while preserving the pitch. Listen to the file Disclaimer_AUD_170.wav (APPST2 Lesson Files/Chapter 18) versus the Premiere processed Disclaimer_PP_170.wav to hear the dramatic difference in quality.

As you can seeor hearit is possible to expand or reduce the size of individual clips while keeping the proper pitch and sound of the voiceover intact. Although Premiere Pro has excellent audio processing capabilities, consider using Adobe Audition to take things to the next level.