Premiere AAF export with Merged Clips FIXED

[#1]

Unable to export an AAF from Premiere having used Merge Clips? 

If you've found out not to use merge clips too late, I think I’ve found a solution to the issue. The feedback from my sound team has been positive and they do not seem to have had any issues with my AAF in Pro Tools.

SIMPLY:

1. Export your edit xml from Premiere.

2.a) Download the free version of  DaVinci Resolve.

2.b) Import the premiere xml into DaVinci Resolve 16.0 - ( be sure to check files - mine thankfully had relinked to their pre merge clips state)

(2.c) It may be possible to export an AAF or OMF at this point directly from Resolve. I did not try and decided to head back into premiere.

3. Export your xml from DaVinci Resolve.

4. Import the Resolve xml into premiere. - My video media/scratch track had gone offline but my edit was in tact had reverted to its un-merged state.

5. Re-link any media/ missing assets resolve could not process.

6. Export AAF

This solution has allowed me to essentially un-merge clips and avoid having to rebuild the edit from scratch. It’s far from a perfect workflow but it worked for me.

I additionally noticed that the process unlinked any scratch tracks from the original video footage. I was able to re-link them along with external audio. This makes me believe it may be possible to avoid the need for merge clips entirely. By this I mean a possible workflow could be:

A) Sync audio and video in premiere.

B) Follow steps 1-5.

C) Link A/V clips rather than group or merge them.  (Select clips/audio. Right-hand click. Link)

D) Edit as usual and export an AAF without issues of merge clips.

In theory, the metadata should remain intact and AAF exports won’t be a problem. And Metadata is the main issue with merge clips.

Having read other horror stories about this exact issue, dating back years. I’m shocked that Adobe (SHAME!) hasn’t implemented a fix. Fortunately Resolve - the free version none the less has provided a fix that paid software could not.

Frankly, syncing video and external audio has been a nightmare within premiere. From my research, AVID has much better and effective tools for this whole process that work and save time. The following is a great explanation for managing media. Well worth the watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNpgl7weKEY (Especially for you Adobe).

Hope this helps.

[#2]

Unable to export an AAF from Premiere having used Merge Clips? 

If you've found out not to use merge clips too late, I think I’ve found a solution to the issue. The feedback from my sound team has been positive and they do not seem to have had any issues with my AAF in Pro Tools.

SIMPLY:

1. Export your edit xml from Premiere.

2.a) Download the free version of  DaVinci Resolve.

2.b) Import the premiere xml into DaVinci Resolve 16.0 - ( be sure to check files - mine thankfully had relinked to their pre merge clips state)

(2.c) It may be possible to export an AAF or OMF at this point directly from Resolve. I did not try and decided to head back into premiere.

3. Export your xml from DaVinci Resolve.

4. Import the Resolve xml into premiere. - My video media/scratch track had gone offline but my edit was in tact had reverted to its un-merged state.

5. Re-link any media/ missing assets resolve could not process.

6. Export AAF

This solution has allowed me to essentially un-merge clips and avoid having to rebuild the edit from scratch. It’s far from a perfect workflow but it worked for me.

I additionally noticed that the process unlinked any scratch tracks from the original video footage. I was able to re-link them along with external audio. This makes me believe it may be possible to avoid the need for merge clips entirely. By this I mean a possible workflow could be:

A) Sync audio and video in premiere.

B) Follow steps 1-5.

C) Link A/V clips rather than group or merge them.  (Select clips/audio. Right-hand click. Link)

D) Edit as usual and export an AAF without issues of merge clips.

In theory, the metadata should remain intact and AAF exports won’t be a problem. And Metadata is the main issue with merge clips.

Having read other horror stories about this exact issue, dating back years. I’m shocked that Adobe (SHAME!) hasn’t implemented a fix. Fortunately Resolve - the free version none the less has provided a fix that paid software could not.

Frankly, syncing video and external audio has been a nightmare within premiere. From my research, AVID has much better and effective tools for this whole process that work and save time. The following is a great explanation for managing media. Well worth the watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNpgl7weKEY (Especially for you Adobe).

Hope this helps.

[#3]

I'm trying this method, but when I import the XML into Resolve, all audio channels are set to the first channel (notice in the image how every track is set to channel MixL). This means I have to go through every clip and reassign each clip to the correct channel. It's really tedious. Any way to avoid this?

[#4]

Same thing happened to me when trying the Resolve solution. I went another route that worked, you can send your sequence to Adobe Audition which will create new audio files with handles based on your edit, then export an OMF out of Audition. It's not quite as good as an AAF but will still work for your sound mixer.

[#5]

I've checked and Premiere replaces all channel information to "1" when exporting XML. Unbelievable.

[#6]

Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!

Just had this issue after trying to export an AAF for a short film of which I'd synced everything via merging clips. Followed your steps above and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much.

What's the best way to sync picture and sound in Premiere if merging clips causes this issue? 

[#7]

Alternative methods I've seen are: 

1) making nested sequences/multicam sequences instead of "merging" them. You can basically treat them like clips. This is probably the route I'll be doing in the future.

2) Using string-out timelines and avoiding the project window almost entirely. An editor friend creates a string-out timeline, wherein all clips are strung out and synced and linked to their corresponding audio tracks. He then just keeps his "source" timeline (aka, the string-out) window above his edit timeline window, and scrubs through and pulls down whatever he needs from the "source" timeline. This way the audio and video are linked, but never merged.

[#8]

Yeah, agree with that. 

I think merge is fine if you're not going to be leaving Premiere. But if you're in a professional setting and working with other people - like colorists and audio engineers - it's not great to use some Premiere-proprietary features. Merge clips is a habit I fortunately steered clear of.

[#9]

I have another suggestion, which I just tried and seems to be working for my post sound team.

Create an audio only timeline, then select all and unlink everything, then export aaf. Somehow this seems to have worked for everyone, and I just sent a separate video for reference.

Hope that helps!

[#10]

My god, if this works, I will track you down and kiss you.

[#11]

My god, if this works I am going to track you down and kiss you.

[#12]

I've made some code that unmerges clips, using XML exports. Does anybody know if new premiere does channelization right? https://github.com/sergeiventurinov/Racoon