Using the Audio Mixer to Adjust Volume

As you've been previewing the sequence we've been working on, you might have noticed that it's hard to hear the narration for the video over the background music.  We'll use the Audio Mixer to adjust the volume of the background music, so we can hear the narration better. The Audio Clip Mixer panel looks similar production studio mixing hardware. You can use tools on the panel to change volume, set left/right panning, add effects to entire tracks, and create sub-mixes.  The Audio Clip Mixer panel is part of the Audio workspace, so we'll switch to that now.

Step 1. To switch to the Audio workspace, at the top of the Premiere Pro window,

Click , Click Audio

The interface changes, and the Audio Mixer panel appears with the Audio Clip Mixer tab visible by default. However, we want to edit the audio level for all the clips on a specific track at once, so we'll switch to the Audio Track Mixer tab.

Step 2. To switch to the Audio Track Mixer tab, at the top of the Audio Mixer panel,

Click 

The Audio Track Mixer panel opens:

From here, we can edit the audio for each of our audio tracks individually, or all of them together using the Master controls.  Since the background music is on the Audio 1 track, the Audio 1 controls will be used. 

NOTE: If you have several tracks of audio in your project, it is a good idea to rename your audio tracks so they are easier to identify. To do this, select the Audio 1, 2, or 3 text at the bottom of the Audio Mixer device control panel and type in a descriptive name for the track (e.g., background music, voice-over, etc.) When you change the name of the track in the Audio Mixer, the name on the Timeline changes as well.

The beauty of the Audio Track Mixer in Premiere Pro is that you can adjust the volume in real time. This means we can listen to the audio and make adjustments while we're listening. Let's do that now.

Step 3. To move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline, on the keyboard, press;

Home

Step 4. To start playing the sequence from the beginning, on the keyboard, press:

Spacebar

Step 5. To decrease the volume of the background music, using the Audio 1 controls on the Audio Track Mixer,

Press & Drag downward

Step 6. To increase the volume of the voice-over track, using the Audio 2 controls,

Press & Drag upward

The Master track controls the volume of all of the audio tracks combined.

Step 7. To adjust the volume of all the tracks combined, using the Master controls,

Press & Drag upward or downward, as necessary

Once the volume levels sound acceptable, we can stop playing the sequence and save the project.

Step 8. To stop playing the sequence, on the keyboard, press:

Spacebar

Step 9. Save the project.