Adding Audio to a Sequence

Many video projects will involve working with audio clips of some sort, such as background music, voiceovers, and more.  For our project, we'll be working with a number of different audio files — first, we'll be adding some pre-recorded voiceovers that describe the different types of dances.

In Premiere Pro, you can work with audio that's been recorded in stereo, mono, and surround sound.  The individual audio clips on the timeline will show multiple tracks on one layer if the audio was recorded in stereo, or a single track if it's mono.  The audio we're working with today was recorded in stereo.

Before we start adding audio, let's zoom out so we can see all the clips on the Timeline at once.  This time, we'll use the mouse in combination with the Alt key on the keyboard to zoom out quickly.

Step 1. To zoom out, 

press and hold Alt key, scroll down with the mouse wheel until all clips fit in the timeline

Now that we can see all the video clips we've got on the timeline, we can add the corresponding audio clips.

Step 2. If necessary, expand the Audio bin so the contents can be seen. 

Step 3. To add the first audio clip to the Timeline, in the Project panel,

Press & Drag w.mp3 to the Audio 2 track, directly underneath waltz.mp4

Step 4. If necessary, to move w.mp3 to the beginning of the Timeline,

Press & Drag w.mp3 so the beginning of the clip lines up with the beginning of waltz.mp4

Adding More Audio

As you can see, the process for adding audio clips to a sequence is very similar to adding video clips. Let's add the rest of our audio now.

Step 1. To move f.mp3 to the Timeline, in the Project panel,

Press and Drag f.mp3 to the Audio 2 track, matching the beginning of the clip to the beginning of foxtrot.mp4

Step 2. Repeat step 1 to place t.mp3, c.mp3, and s.mp3 on the timeline.

Your timeline should look similar to the following image:

Now that we have our audio added, let's work on adjusting when each audio file starts in relation to the video clip it accompanies.

Using Track Select Tool

We want each of our audio clips to begin playing 3 seconds after the accompanying video clip. We can use a tool called Track Select to manipulate several files at the same time.

Step 1. To position the playhead, in the top left corner of the Timeline panel,

Click, type: 00;00;03;00 Enter

NOTE: Your playhead position may be set at a different point than the one shown in the step above.

The playhead jumps to the 3-second mark on the Timeline.

If we move w.mp3 while the selection tool is activated, this audio clip will move, but the others on the track will stay in place. This means that we we'd have to repeat this process four more times to get the other audio tracks positioned properly.. Instead, we can use the Track Select tool to move the clip, and it will move all the clips on this track at the same time.

You may want to zoom in a little before working with the Track Select tool.

Step 2. Zoom in, if necessary.

Step 3. To select the Track Select Tool, in the Tools panel,

Click

When you use the Track Select tool to perform a task, it forces all clips to the right of the selected clip to be fastened together. Therefore, when we move a clip on the Timeline with this tool selected, all the clips to the right of the one we are moving will also be moved. By default, the Track Select tool will select all the active tracks on the Timeline — to focus on just the Audio 2 track, we'll lock the Video 1 and Audio 1 tracks.  This will prevent them from being edited accidentally, and we can unlock the tracks when we're done with the Track Select tool.

Step 4. To lock the Video 1 track, on the left side of the Timeline, 

Click 

The open lock icon next to Video 1 will change to a closed lock, indicating that the layer is locked and can't be edited until we unlock it.

Step 5. Repeat step 4 to lock the Audio 1 track.

Now all the layers we're not working with are locked, and we can more easily move the audio clips using the Track Select Tool.

Step 6. To move all the clips on the Audio 2 track, with the Track Select tool active,

Press & Drag w.mp3 until it meets the playhead

The audio clip snaps into position, and all the other audio clips on this track are repositioned as well.  Before we go any further, we should unlock the Video 1 and Audio 1 tracks and save the project.

Step 7. Unlock the Video 1 and Audio 1 tracks by clicking on the lock icon next to each track.

Step 8. Save the project.

Now that we've got the voiceover tracks in position, let's trim the ends of the video clips so that they end closer to when the voiceover ends.