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Participating Frequently
March 22, 2018
Answered

Why Does Audio Dropout on Playback (in source and sequence)

  • March 22, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 5450 views

Yes a very similar question was asked and answered in January 2018 but the issue is still there apparently. The solution proposed in response to that query does not seem to work for my situation.

System Setup:

Windows 10 machine with Xeon processor, 128 GB memory, latest Premiere Pro CC, C & D drives are SSD, E drive is disk, cache on C drive, 2 P5000 GPUs, latest nVidia driver.

Experiments:

Imported a single 45-second clip (3840x2160, 24p, XAVC-I codec), then tried the following:

    1. Playback in source view - notice (frequent and significant) audio dropouts
    2. Try 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 playback resolution - same problem
    3. Drag clip into the timeline and play it there at various playback resolutions - same problem
    4. Tried a solution proposed by Dfrelow (in January 2018) in response to a similar question from Jim_Simon (delete contents of cache folder, reboot, start Premiere, let it run for "a while" - I interpreted that as 10 minutes, reboot) - that did not help
    5. Just to convince myself that there's nothing wrong with the clip coming from the camera, I exported the sequence to an MP4 file and played the result - the audio is all there and it sounds fine (no dropouts)

Conclusion:

Looks like the problem really is in Premiere Pro CC playback.

Question:

Any thoughts on the root cause of this issue and how to fix it?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer excited_Genie16B8

    I recommend using Cineform proxies for all H.264 media.

    Work offline using proxy media |

    Same problem?

    Additionally, I recommend a dedicated Cache & Scratch disk.  Try to keep everything off of C: except Windows and Prorgams

    5 replies

    Participant
    September 24, 2023

    Found a Solution:

    4K Pro Res 422 HQ footage with attached 2 CH Camera Audio. Audio drop outs during playback for years on Multiple more than effecient Mac and PC's in Premiere. Same footage no issues in Resolve or Avid. Finally used an NVME drive workflow, fixed problem. Use Black Magic Disk Speed Test and make sure your drives are rated. This fixed the issue for me without having to change any settings or disable audio etc. 

    Participant
    May 6, 2021

    Hello everybody 🙂 

    I just tried this and it helped solve the problem for me. 

    Right clic on audio track : render and replace.

    Participant
    July 5, 2021

    this worked for met!!!!!!

    excited_Genie16B8Correct answer
    Legend
    March 23, 2018

    I recommend using Cineform proxies for all H.264 media.

    Work offline using proxy media |

    Same problem?

    Additionally, I recommend a dedicated Cache & Scratch disk.  Try to keep everything off of C: except Windows and Prorgams

    Participating Frequently
    March 23, 2018

    That solved it - thank you Jim.

    yenaphe
    Inspiring
    March 22, 2018

    Have you checked your ASIO buffer settings in the audio hardware preference?

    I had an issue with my sound being completely distorded because the buffer was at 1024 and apparently, my device needed it to be at 512.

    That could be it.

    Participating Frequently
    March 22, 2018

    Latency was set to 200 ms when I conducted this experiment. The available range is 30 - 500 ms. I tried a couple of other values (30, 500) based on your response, and the problem showed no improvement.

    Jax24135
    Inspiring
    March 22, 2018

    Link to original thread & what does MediaInfo say about the media specs would help those of us new to this conversation.

    Vaguely guessing, try transcoding to an Mezzanine format (ProRes/Cineform) for easier playback.

    If you "mute" all your video tracks does the audio still drop out?

    Participating Frequently
    March 22, 2018

    Here is the link to the original: Audio dropouts when reading from m.2 drive

    I tried your suggestion to "mute" the video (i.e. play the audio only) - and that works fine (no dropouts).