Audio compressed automatically on import

[Jaer Christie]

When I import audio files into Premiere Pro, they're automatically compressed (and very poorly, at that).

The WAV file upon export from Audition, going up to 22kHz:

That same WAV file after it gets imported to Premiere, lopped off at 8kHz:

I can't find any settings that would affect this, either in Premiere or anywhere else. The first time this happened I thought I'd messed something up with the project, but it keeps happening in new projects. I don't have any plugins active. I have done nothing to the file except import it.

The compression happens on import, no matter where I import from, no matter what type of file (WAV, MP3, stereo, mono, recorded by me or by someone else). I open the audio file with a media player, it sounds great. I pop it into Premiere, it turns awful, as evidenced by the above pictures when I open it in Audition.

I uninstalled and reinstalled Premiere, tried shutting off other audio input tracks, but the issue persists.

I'm on the latest version of Windows 10 Enterprise, but none of my colleagues with the same system and software have the same issue.

It's not a hardware issue (at least in the capacity sense); my processsor is 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12950HX 2.30 GHz with 128 GB RAM. The computer is new, though, and I have only had the issue on this machine.

What am I missing?

[Remote Index]

Jaer Christie,

Hello - the pics you've supplied appear to show a high cut off filter effect (though it is possible this is the result of resampling at lower frequencies). For this reason, I'm not sure your description of "compression" is accurate (either in the sense of data compression or audio signal compression) ... though it could be.

However, I'm interested in a better description of what is happening - when you say "The WAV file upon export from Audition, going up to 22kHz ... That same WAV file after it gets imported to Premiere, lopped off at 8kHz" it suggests this sequence of events:

- exporting a WAV from audition

- importing the resulting file into audition (and screen capping it)

- importing the same file into Premiere Pro

- and after that import, importing again (freshly) into audition (and screen capping it)

R.

[Jaer Christie]

Yes, it could be a high cut-off filter. Regardless, there is a process happening that noticeably downgrades the audio when I import it into Premiere. I included the pictures to demonstrate visually what happens to the audio file (the first is the original file I edited; the second is after it's imported into Premiere and the filter is applied and I click "open in Audition"). I'm aware that there are import and export processes between Premiere and Audition, and that's not what's happening. The frequency cut-off happens before I re-open it in Audition.

The WAV file goes up to 22kHz. When I preview the audio file in my Premiere bin, it sounds fine.

When I move that into the Premiere timeline, the filter is applied automatically, and it sounds awful.

I'm not sure how to explain this any other way. Premiere is automatically applying a filter of some sort to my audio file and I would like to stop this from happening.

[Remote Index]

"after it's imported into Premiere and the filter is applied and I click "open in Audition""

I presume here that you actually apply no filter, and your language above is based on the assumption that somehow a filter is being applied?

"When I preview the audio file in my Premiere bin, it sounds fine. When I move that into the Premiere timeline, the filter is applied automatically, and it sounds awful."

Again, I presume that in the effects tab you see no actual filter that is being applied to the clip, and your language above reflects an assumption that somehow an unseen / unknown filter is being applied?

What are the sequence settings for the sequences that seem to affect audio? (including audio settings)

R.

[Jaer Christie · Accepted solution]

Ah, that seems to be the place I didn't know I could look. It's set at 32000 Hz, and my audio was at 48000. After adjusting and re-importing the audio, it's fixed. Thank you kindly.

My video file has low-quality audio; if Premiere automatically matches the audio sample rate, that would explain everything.

[Remote Index]

When creating a sequence, one option is to choose your own settings; another option is to match the settings of a chosen clip - this may be what happened in your case.

R.

[R Tarun]

Moving it to Discussions