Make all audio the same level

[MrLuck]

Hey folks, new editor here. I have an audio clip with parts that are too quiet, and parts that are too loud, is there a way to make ALL OF IT around the same level, let's say -3dB? I have been doing it so far by splitting and adjusting the rubber band or the audio gain on each section, but there has to be a better way... right?

[NoLens]

What I tend to do is right/control click the clip in the Premiere timeline and Edit Clip in Adobe Audition.  There, I select all of the audio, and go to Effects>Amplitude and Compression>Hard Limiter.  On the window that pops up, I choose preset up top of Limit to -3dB in your case.  Once it computes, save it in Audition - the Save is what makes the change happen back in Premiere.  Once you're back in Premiere, it may take a few seconds for the change to register - you'll see the change in your audio clips' waveforms. Try that.  Hope it works for you!

[MrLuck]

Thanks for the info. It can also be done with Audacity, but I'm looking for a way to do it solely on Premiere.

[R Neil Haugen]

Audacity isn't an auto-replace feature though. You need to export the sound then replace.

As this is a Dynamic Link process between Adobe apps, it is auto-replace.

To stay completely within Pr, just go to the Effects panel, and type in "compre " and you'll see Obsolete folder (best ignored), and the Multi-, Single- and Tube-modeled compressor options.

Neil

[Mo Moolla]

Get into Audition and use the Normalise function

This will smoothen out the peaks

Mo

[bucksommerkamp]

One of the last steps in my projects is to go into the Audio Track Mixer and add some "radio leveler" or "tube-modeled compressor" effects to the master track. It helps smooth out the whole production. I realize you're looking for tighter control than that, but this is a nice top-level process that makes the finished product sound like it's ready for broadcast.

Learn the basics of the Premiere Pro Audio Track Mixer

[Guest]

Another way to quickly smoothen the levels of individual clips is using the new "essential sound" panel.

I personally don't like using it because i'm an audio guy and it gives me little control but it seems to me that you are looking for a quick solution.

The essential sound panel is exactly that, a very easy-to-use and quick way to e.g. adjust levels of individual (or multiple) clips. Give it a try

BTW another quick way to adjust a clip's level is marking the clip in question and hitting g! A bit less finnicky than doing it in the timeline or in the clip mixer IMO

[R Neil Haugen]

When you use the ESP, to "get more control", just go to the ECP ... and you can open each tool used by the ESP and change settings.

Neil

[Ann Bens]

I would go into the Essential Sound Panel.

Select all clips

Hit SFX

Auto match for loudness.

[MrLuck · Accepted solution]

Wow, so many suggestions, thank you all! I actually found a way that seems to work so far, I will update here if I find a problem with it eventually (or you guys could tell me if it's a bad idea):

Audio Track Mixer > click the white arrow on the top left > in the new area that appeared, above the column named Master (for the effect to apply in all tracks), click on one of the black arrows pointing down > Amplitude and Compression > Dynamics > check the Limiter box > set Threshold to -3dB (the desired maximum dB).

Then I use Gain (G) on the track until it's close to -3dB. Now everything sounds pretty levelled to my untrained ears.

[RobShultz]

One more suggestion. Select all clips that you would like to change or:

(Ctrl A Windows or Cmd A MAC) right click on ant clip and choose audio gain/normalize all peaks. I recommend -8