Help! - audio effects cause slow-downs and crashes

[flitetestjeremy]

I'm having issues when applying audio effects. When effects are used the system runs slow, sometimes freezes, lags, and will frequently crash. This happens with a variety of different audio effects including Hard Limiter, Parametric Equalizer, Dynamics (obsolete), Multiband Compressor, etc. The heavier the effect, the more effects applied, or the more audio in the timeline, the worse the problem.

This issue has been experienced by both me on my system and my co-editor who is working off of a Puget systems computer. We both have the same specs.

I'm on Premiere CC 2018 and this was an issue I experienced with CC 2017 as well.

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU

Intel Core i7 6900K @ 3.20GHz 74 °C

RAM

32.0GB  @ 1066MHz (15-15-15-36)

Motherboard

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X99-A II (SOCKET 2011) 77 °C

Graphics

4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (ASUStek Computer Inc) 79 °C

Storage

745GB NVMe INTEL SSDPEDMW80

60GB TS-RDF5 SD Transcend USB Device (USB)

Audio

High Definition Audio Device

Thanks for the help!

[excited_Genie16B8]

What kind of media are you using?

[flitetestjeremy]

Audio is recorded going from a shotgun mic (both Shure VP83 and Rode VideoMic Pro) into GH4 cameras.

We've experienced the same issue with audio recorded on H1's using a lav.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Got it.

Are you using Cineform proxies?  In not, do so.

Work offline using proxy media |

[GuyUK]

I found the same problems using the Essential Sound Panel.  I stripped off the effects (compression and eq) and reapplied them in the Track Mixer and the problems disappeared!  It doesn't seem logical, but it worked for me.

[flitetestjeremy]

Jim Simon - We do not use proxies. The work environment is too fast-paced to add creating proxies to the workflow.

I also don't think this should be necessary. I have been using the GH cameras on Premiere since 2010 and never had this issue until switching to CC last year. Adding audio FX should not be too much for a $3000 computer to handle. I'm wondering with the new way CC handles audio compared to previous versions if there might be a setting I need to change that I am not aware of.

GuyUK - this is a good suggestion for when I need to apply an effect to the whole timeline. Unfortunately I will often need to apply effects to individual clips or a group of clips.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Things have changed in 2018.

Changes to Dolby Decoding and Encoding Support

[flitetestjeremy]

That's what I'm saying. Premiere changed how it handled audio from CS6 to CC and now from CC17 to CC18.

Are there settings that I would need to change to keep it from crashing? It would seem counter-intuitive if the changes made the program more prone to system failure than the program in 2010 running the same kinds of files.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Proxies.

[flitetestjeremy]

@Jim_Simon I have already said that using proxies is not an option for our workflow.

Are you trying to say that Premiere is now less functional than it was seven years ago and that in order to edit DSLR footage with audio effects applied to camera audio you now have to use proxies?

That is absurd.

[VonRoeder]

We just recently upgraded to CC18 from CC17 and began having the same issues.  It took us a while to track down that it was the audio filters causing the problem.  It really causes headaches on longer projects when it gets used on a lot of individual clips.  I had a half-hour timeline where it would take 5-6 seconds to begin playback once the spacebar was pressed.  Forget scrubbing in the timeline.

We spent hours on the phone troubleshooting with technicians from Adobe and were finally told to wait and see if it was fixed in the next update, or downgrade to the previous version.  No promises that it will be addressed in the next iteration though.

In the meantime we are finding work arounds, like the aforementioned method of adding the filters in the Track Mixer.  Just thought I'd chime in on the issue.

[VonRoeder]

On the heels of this posting, I got a follow-up from the Adobe technician I was working with:

"I had got a revert from my Adobe Audio Engineering team and this is a known issue as same audio effect is applied in all audio channels making Premiere Pro laggy. We are trying to fix this in future patches."

So, it is something they are aware of.

[Vstar]

I am having the same problem. Took all weekend to come to the conclusion it is the effects. After removing them, timeline was fine. It has nothing to do with the machine you are working on or what is on or off or 2 monitors or all the other things I read to do to correct this. My project has the same issue on 2 different Macs. I am using the same filters as mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I am currently working in Audition to do my audio work with effects and all is fine. I have not yet brought the project back from Audition into Premiere so we will see if this works. This is an Adobe issue as usual and I hope they solve it, but until then, I have a hard deadline of August 1st

[Vstar]

Follow-up to my previous post, putting all the audio effects in the audio track mixer as GuyUK suggested and creating sub mixes solves the problem as stated when effects were put on individual tracks in timeline. Depends on your project on how you handle effecting the entire track. Until they fix the problem, you may have to get creative in your track placements or mix in Audition

[Matt_Stegner]

There are two things you should try:

1.  You are using Windows.  You should make sure that the sample rate of the hardware is set to the same as your sequence.  Most likely that is 48k.  Also, set the Latency to a higher number, from 200 milliseconds to 500 or 700.  See if that helps.

2.  There is a known issue when using automation on the Graphics EQ effect which is used in the Dialog section of the Essential Sound Panel.  If you are using that effect, please either remove it or remove any keyframe automation from it.

-Matt

[flitetestjeremy]

It is 2020 and I am still having this same issue. I am now using Multiband Compressor and Mastering fx saved as a preset. When audio effects are applied across individual clips in the timeline, the timeline lags. Premire also crashes more frequently.

Please fix this issue!

[KrimsonXO]

Ok I figured out a fix for this which worked for me but might not work in your situation! Once you've cut up all your audio footage, instead of selecting it all and applying the effects, first

Select it all and NEST IT. Then drop the effects into your whole nested audio clip.

It worked for me hopefully it'll work for you and anyone else who might need it. I know it might not work if only some parts need effects but who knows.

[xand123]

This seems to be working for me so far. Thanks.

It means I need to align all the audio clips that need the same effects on the same track. But that's probably a good practice anyway.