Premiere Pro - Screeching Audio In Timeline

[JesseSchluntz]

Video of the exact problem Attached.

My first time dealing with this issue since 2013. Maddening. Began randomly happening today on a project that has been working fine. Intermittent. Can’t be predicted. The only constant is that when it does happen, it happens every OTHER time I scrub the timeline or click play. 

Fixes that don’t work:

- cleaned cache.

- changed audio output.

- updated Premiere to newest version.

- imported project into a fresh, new project.

- copied/pasted data in to fresh sequences.

- restarted computer. 

Premiere 22.2.0

iMac Pro 2017

Mac OS Monterey 12.0.1

[Kevin-Monahan]

That's worrisome, Jesse. What kind of footage is this? iMac Pro with its Xeon CPUs on Monterey seems to have some bugs, perhaps this is one more. I hope not. I will look into this as the problem right now.

Thanks,
Kevin

[JesseSchluntz]

Thank you Kevin.

I tried copying all the project data over to my trusty work raid last night to see if it was a hardware issue. But no luck. The buzzing has begun again. This problem is killing me. I have very heavy deadlines for the show I'm editing, and this has me against the wall.

jesse

[JesseSchluntz]

The footage is from a Sony FX9, Sony A7siii, a DJI drone, and several gopros. Multicam sequences. I have edited content for this client before with zero issues. All cameras were the same.

All sony footage has proxies (high quality quicktime proxy), and all gopros & drone has proxies (Cineform high res). All created using premiere. My standard workflow.

I've never had this issue come up with my iMac Pro in over 3 years. My OS update was a month or two ago. I'm constantly working on projects with no buzzing issues like this.

Config attached. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Jesse,

Sorry about this one. Do you have any external hardware or outboard audio gear attached to the iMac? If nothing unusual is attached, I would then look to possibly roll back the OS. I hate to advise things like that, but in this case, I think it may be worth the trouble to see if it's not related to the OS. No one else is reporting this issue at this time. 

Thanks,
Kevin

[JesseSchluntz]

I think I found the source of the problem Kevin. I'm very slammed, so I'll confirm when I come up for air in a couple of weeks.

Many of the primary lav mic audio is made up of stereo WAV files that have one channel very low and one channel very high. Standard practice for in field recording. However, when I modify the audio channels and pick one, the buzzing problem ceases to happen. 

Again, I'm not 100% on this yet, but I just edited buzz-fee for two hours after applying thiw workaround. If this does prove to be the fix, I'll be sure to send you a sample file so your team can try to replicate the issue on their end. Could prove to be a very helpful bug fix in the next version of Premeire Pro. 

thanks. 

[JesseSchluntz]

Update: 

Screeching started happening again, even after the above fix.

The only surefire fix I have so far that completely eliminates the issue is to export each individual audio file out of premiere pro (in my case, 48 Khz AIFFs), import into the project, and use these instead of the problem files. 

I still plan to eventually send you a file to diagnose Kevin. Would be amazing to never deal with this again! 

[JesseSchluntz]

@Kevin-Monahan I'm circling back on this issue. It's now happening on my new Mac Studio, and on my new G-Raid Shuttle. Managed to diagnose the issue somewhat in this loom video. Please let me know if you have any tricks up your sleeve that don't involve me reprocessing all the audio I'm having issues with. Thanks.

https://www.loom.com/share/cff026c097334b69af2c8a0d49a8d940

[JesseSchluntz]

Also @Kevin-Monahan DO NOT watch this video with headphones on!!!

[JesseSchluntz]

@Kevin-Monahan Hi there. I'm still having this issue after over a year. But it only happens when I get projects from one specific client. We are both scratching our heads. It always happens a few days into an edit. It can happen when I click on the timeline regardless of media type (FX9, Gopro, A7Siii, etc). When I'm working with a timeline, I suddenly get my ears blown off. Does your team have any idea what could be causing this issue on their end? I'd LOVE to figure this out. thanks. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi, @JesseSchluntz,

Glad to hear from you. This is a bit out of my purview for common troubleshooting. I wish I could offer some help for you off the bat, but this is a stumper.

At this point, I would contact assisted support here for one-on-one troubleshooting. The chat pod is in the lower-right corner. Please ask to be connected to the "video queue" where our video support staff can help you directly. Ask for a case number, so it can be tracked by you and my staff in support. The video queue is open Monday to Friday from 7AM to 7PM. I hope we can get to the bottom of this terrible issue. Let me know what support says so that others may benefit. Have a good one.

Sorry for the frustration and the hassle.

Thanks,

Kevin

[JesseSchluntz]

Thanks Kevin. The next time it happens, I'll do that. 

[JesseSchluntz]

@Kevin-Monahan I did what you asked, and wound up with an agent who seemed to completely ignore all my info. Before the remote session crashed, he cleaned my media cache, which I clearly wrote never fixes the issue. Now I'm trying to get back to work and I'm stuck waiting for hundreds of waveform audio files to populate. 

It seems like this always happens when I get an actual tech in India on the phone. They don't seem to listen, and they go through the same script over and over again that I've already tried. Bummer all around.