Add keyframes simultaniously to linked, multi-track audio?

Report · Jul 07, 2017

Premiere pro is such an amazing upgrade from Final Cut 7 in almost every possible way, but...

All synced footage that comes off movie sets contains bundles of several mono tracks, i almost always have 4-8 tracks of synced sound per clip. Is there no way to single click the pen tool on linked, multi-track audio and have a keyframe add to each track? I been searching for a few hours and have been coming up with zero. Am I missing something simple?

Yes there are several workarounds, I've been reading a few solutions, but none of them simplify the process of quickly changing levels of multi-track audio on-the-fly from the timeline. Obviously, I can make a cut and a transition, but just in terms of speed, that's about 3 extra steps.

I'm really surprised that premiere does not seem to be able to do this, they have the pen tool, it's so close to being perfect!! Is there something I don't know about yet, some kind of easy audio nesting or something, where you can apply one keyframe and have it effect multiple tracks?

Report · Jul 07, 2017

Add a submix track to the sequence, route the multitrack audio to it via the track mixer, keyframe the submix track to adjust all levels simultaneously.

MtD

Report · Jul 07, 2017

Thanks, i haven't got to anything called a submix track yet in the tutorials i'm going through. I'm still learning. I'll keep any eye out. Does this process your suggesting make it simple to adjust levels quickly on the fly, right from the timeline?

Report · Jul 07, 2017

Yes, it allows you to control the level of all the sources routed to it/through it on the timeline via keyframes.

MtD

Report · Dec 20, 2018

I have the same problem (and opinion) as silvershanks. As a former FCP user this is the one and only thing bugging me in Premiere. When two audio clips are linked the keyframes added should apply to both clips. Cuts and transitions do apply to both, why not keyframes? Seems inconsistent to me. What I wonder is: would anyone be against changing it...?

My solution at the moment is adding keyframes to one clip, select that clip and copy, right click at the second clip and choose paste attributes. Which is quite disturbing.

P.S. Adding a submix audio track just to achieve this feels to complicated + is not the same + will take up to much space on my timeline. Am I right?

Report · Dec 20, 2018

Addition: In linked clips the resulting keyframes of course should be linked as well, making it easy to adjust them.

And while we're at it? I would like to be able to copy audio (and video!) transitions by holding down "alt" and then drag and drop them to another cut. Now I need to make a new default transition and adjust it to the desired length which is unnecessarily tricky.

These small fixes would make me so happy!

Report · Dec 20, 2018

You can certainly let Adobe know your suggestions to improve Premiere Pro here:

Premiere Pro: Hot (3650 ideas) – Adobe video & audio apps

joxyzan wrote
And while we're at it? I would like to be able to copy audio (and video!) transitions by holding down "alt" and then drag and drop them to another cut. Now I need to make a new default transition and adjust it to the desired length which is unnecessarily tricky.

Have you tried selecting the dissolve you want to copy, typing Command (Control) + C, then selecting the cut point where you want to apply the dissolve and typing Command (Control) + V?

MtD

Report · Dec 20, 2018

I hadn't tried copy/paste! That's good, though I'd like the drag and drop option as well, because many times it can be faster and more precise (e.g. pasting adds the transition to all audio tracks that happen to be highlighted).

Will follow your advice to suggest these things as improvements, thank you!

Report · Dec 20, 2018

When two audio clips are linked the keyframes added should apply to both clips.

And if you had dialog from two different actors on each track?

Report · Dec 20, 2018

Then you unlink them to adjust them individually?

Or maybe you want them linked to keep them synchronized with the video..? I realize now that I have no idea at all how people in general use the link/unlink function Neither the group/ungroup option...

I normally keep video and audio unlinked to be able to move them around freely and select different combinations.

Report · Dec 20, 2018

Or maybe you want them linked to keep them synchronized with the video..?

That, along with moved and trimmed together.

Report · Jul 09, 2017

Is there no way to single click the pen tool on linked, multi-track audio

Your question is a bit deceptive. From Premiere Pro's viewpoint, you don't have multi-track audio, you have multiple mono tracks. Those are two different things. Multitrack audio is a single file with multiple channels, and will be placed on a single track in PP. You''e got multiple files with one channel each, and they appear on multiple tracks.

I don't believe you can add keyframes with the pen tool to multiple tracks simultaneously.