How to Normalize Audio in Premiere Pro (2024)

[@MikeRussell]

‼UPDATE FOR PREMIERE PRO USERS ‼- I have made it easier than ever before to work with tricky audio. My brand new audio presets are out now. One click to GREAT sound :) Check them out here: mrc.fm/presets This is a great way for you to support my channel too 🙏🙏🙏

[@MatthewPolack]

Been using Premiere for years..but never realised how this option working in the gain settings...thanks so much!!

[@MikeRussell]

You're welcome, I'm glad I could help shed some light on audio normalisation in Premiere Pro!

[@miguelangelherrera7532]

I'd normalise to -12dB rather than -1, which is still too high, 0dB is not a target, its a limit. Broadcast is lined up for 0dB when working at 1kHz tone everything else being way below that. -12dB in Prem is closer to 0dB broadcast tone.

[@alexanderSnilsson]

Just what I needed and straight to the point - sweet!

[@MikeRussell]

👌

[@PixelLingoMultimedia]

Mike, as much as I love Free Jingle Fridays, I really appreciate these short tutorials as well. Super handy! Thanks! Oh…and throwing some merch love your way!

[@MikeRussell]

Thanks John

[@BubimedesOfficial]

I just found this out, but if you already have several clips cut, then to properly normalize your audio would be to go from clip to clip, else everything you select (assuming you're doing a mass select, then normalizing that whole pool) won't be evenly normalized

[@MikeRussell]

Thanks for sharing

[@StickOnHair]

@@MikeRussell How about 'I will delete my video off the internet right away because it's misleading and useless'? There are ZERO people with ONE CLIP in their project!

[@aPumpkn]

@@StickOnHair For you and OP, you have two options that work just fine. The first method is very, very easy. Just do this before you start cutting up your footage into smaller clips! Foresight is important in editing, taking care of sweeping changes first before you get into the finer details. But let's just say that what you're doing requires loads of different types of footage, or maybe you just didn't think about it - so you're just inevitably just going to have to normalize a bunch of audio clips. Very easily, what you can do is "Nest" the clips together, which essentially compiles it into one big sequence which you can then perform the steps mentioned on this video, instead on this nested sequence. Adjusting the gain on this nested sequence has the same effect as normalizing a single audio clip, taking into account the highs and lows of each individual sub-clip and treating it as one. You typically want to refrain from nesting as much as possible as your project can get quite messy and complex, but in this scenario its just fine to do. I hope this helps you out.

[@rohasstreamingtech]

so this was a really basic video if your audio is recorded only at 1 level. however, how do you normalize when your audio is at times loud or too soft? By doing what you did, sure it does bring it louder and you can cap gain not to go past a certain peak, but the audio that was way to low to begin with, is still very low. How do you fix those lows without blowing up what's already normal volume?

[@MikeRussell]

To address varying audio levels in Premiere Pro, you can use a combination of normalization, compression, and volume automation to balance out loud and soft sections while maintaining overall clarity and consistency in the audio mix.

[@LiquidBlitzPlays]

How does this normalization in the timeline compare to the new (I think) export Effect option: Loudness Normalization?

[@michaeltrolove2290]

Thanks very much for this!

[@MikeRussell]

👍

[@sklba632]

Question related specifically to premiere. When selecting multiple clips and using your normalization trick, how does premiere gauge that normalization? Is it per clip, per average of all, or some other method? I've found I've had to do this trick you mentioned, clip by clip, for the best results. Having a peak anywhere seems to screw up my results if I'd trying it on multiple clips. Any thoughts on what I can do about that? A billion thank yous for all the free knowledge you share Mike. It's been useful many many times.

[@MikeRussell]

What I'd suggest for multiple clips is to use Audition's match loudness feature

[@arbabraiyan8200]

​@@MikeRussell what if I stick to premiere for that?

[@ItsWesSmithYo]

Wizard Level....coming from Ableton world...I was like this must be possible quick. and here I am. Thanks G

[@MikeRussell]

You're welcome

[@itis4robin]

Great advice! Thank you!

[@MikeRussell]

👍

[@Bronson_07]

should i normalize audio so its just in the yellow zone? so around -4 to -6db? and what level should music be?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, normalizing your audio to around -4 to -6dB is a good practice for dialogue. As for music, it depends on the dynamic range and the desired effect.

[@richardschannel9995]

Thanks for the helpful video! Should I normalise audio before creating audio fades/transitions? Does it matter?

[@MikeRussell]

Normalize first for clearer waveforms, then apply fades/transitions.

[@richardschannel9995]

@@MikeRussell Thanks for your advice. !

[@StickOnHair]

I highlighted the 100+ clips in my video and normalised them together as you suggested, and they are still really quiet. I think your video needs to include troubleshooting.

[@MikeRussell]

I appreciate your feedback and will consider adding troubleshooting tips in future videos to help with issues like low volume levels after normalizing multiple clips together in Premiere Pro.

[@kenkeenan6416]

How to I balance all audio in a project? Dome is lower and sonebis higher? Thanks

[@MikeRussell]

To balance audio levels in your project, adjust individual clip volumes or use the "Audio Gain" feature in Premiere Pro to ensure a consistent overall mix. Hope this helps!

[@thoughtsfromshivam]

hi mike, what would you recommend normalizing background music to with voiceover?

[@MikeRussell]

There’s no definitive answer to this I’m afraid as it differs for each situation depending on the voice and track.

[@volant3]

Thank u sir

[@Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

Song structure is really cool 😎.

[@MikeRussell]

👍

[@Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

@@MikeRussell 😊

[@Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

And is interlude and also breakdown and break same or different because to me they are totally 💯 different from each other?

[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

Thank You!!!

[@MikeRussell]

You're welcome! I'm glad the tutorial was helpful for you!

[@KubaIgnacyk]

Hey. Thanks for a quick tutorial, but what if I have generally quiet audio with one loud spike? Is it better then to change volume manually?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, in such case it's better to manually reduce the volume of that particular loud spike with keyframes or automation rather than normalizing the entire audio track. This way, the quiet parts remain unaffected while the spike gets controlled.

[@reffman]

Nice tutorial, but how do I make all audio the same in a video without editing each individual track? I'm doing a music compilation thing (along with a video), so each audio track was prerecorded separately, but some songs are really loud while others a barely audible. Thanks in advance!

[@MikeRussell]

You'd be best exporting this to Audition and using the match clip loudness feature

[@CinobiteReacts]

You could try locking all of the tracks apart from the one you want. Normalise the first clip and copy then use the select all from tool, the icon is like a dotted door with and arrow going right, that selects every unlocked clip in that direction, and then paste attributes. That might work

[@mirastudio4204]

Mike, is there a way to normalize un-evenly recorded audio? For example, sometimes person speaks loadly, sometimes quietly, so will normalize it adaptively of some sort.

[@MikeRussell]

You want to use a compressor for that. For vocals I'd suggest the single band compressor.

[@danalongpre2470]

What is a compressor...how do you get one? Is it built into Premier Pro...can't I manually adjust and save the sound edits for specific problem clips and call it good...why so complicated?

[@markkoha3661]

This just saved me a lot of time

[@MikeRussell]

👍

[@SummitForWellness]

What's your thoughts on the 'audio type' in the audio panel of PP, and selecting the auto option under loudness?

[@MikeRussell]

Essential sound is a great tool for beginners to help get audio sounding better.

[@thomasm.houston8258]

Awesome! I have a video podcast going. I have a seperate audio track for each odf us.(myself and the interviewee). I will check this out. Can they be normalized at the same time or if done seperately will I end up with the same result? I need to be able to edit them together ie cutting our pauses etc.

[@MikeRussell]

I'd take a quick look at my video on podcast editing. You may wish to consider match clip loudness before processing the audio in which case you'd want to edit your audio in Audition

[@saramonk]

Audio novice over here 🙋🏻‍♀ What is the difference between normalizing audio vs loudness match? Do they do the same thing? Thank you so much for your time!

[@MikeRussell]

Normalising audio takes the loudest point and adjusts all the audio by the same amount to ensure the loudest part of the audio is at the target amplitude. Loudness matching is a different technology which analyses the audio and matches the loudness perceived by the human ear to be the target level.

[@saramonk]

@@MikeRussell Thank you for the clarification! I appreciate it.

[@MikeRussell]

You're welcome Sara

[@dellydomika]

Hi! Is there a way to remove normalisation gain if I change my mind and don’t want it in the end of editing? Because I cannot find anything in the effect controls panel or if I hit "G" and normalize to 0 it goes only up it will not reset....Can you help me please?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, you can easily remove the normalization gain in Premiere Pro by going to the clip. Clicking “G” and this will allow volume changes.

[@violettaschmieder2096]

can you peak - normalize the sum of two clips? like say i wanna normalize the spoken audio and music of a project so both together dont hit the cut off?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, you can normalize the combined audio of two clips in Premiere Pro by normalizing each clip individually to achieve the desired overall level without exceeding the limiter threshold.

[@healingwithqigong1896]

Can't get the "-1" to stick when I hit okay. It goes back to 0

[@baldheadkid]

what's the difference between Normalize All Peaks vs Max Peak?

[@MikeRussell]

I would suggest normalise max peak which looks for the loudest part of the audio and adjusts all the audio by the same amount to ensure the max peak hits the target level.

[@shlomitvayda7631]

Hi, thanks for this priceless tutorials :) and a quick question, please... If i have already made lots of cuts in my original video, How can I apply these adjustments without having to go over all of the clips this one by one...?

[@MikeRussell]

I would recommend normalising before cutting so you're normalising the clip before cutting. Once cutting I'd suggest possibly adding the speech volume leveller to the track mixer

[@shlomitvayda7631]

@@MikeRussell thanks for such a quick reply.. not sure what is the volume leveler, but I'll try to look for that :)

[@MikeRussell]

Although this is demonstrated in Audition it should help you here kzbin.info/www/bejne/sImxqaCEnNlnea8

[@wernerbeinhart8388]

can I use same procedure when I want to adjust several audio clips in the timeline to have the same volume?

[@MikeRussell]

You can normalise all the clips to the same peak level in Premiere Pro.

[@extremosaur]

@1:50 I do have a large project with many clips that all have different base volumes. Will this technique make them all sound like they have the same volume?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, normalizing the audio in Premiere Pro will help to make all the clips in your project sound like they have the same volume even if they initially have different base volumes.

[@RickWolffTV]

I've heard that if you're normalizing multiple clips at once, you should choose all peaks instead of max peaks - is that true?

[@MikeRussell]

Yes, that's correct! When normalizing multiple clips at once in Premiere Pro, choosing "All Peaks" ensures a consistent level across all the clips.

[@benjaminsarcofilms]

So is this better in podcasts where you have differents levels of audios on each guest, right?

[@MikaStaines]

every time I set oit to all peaks or max peaks to -10 I still getting clipping.

[@MikeRussell]

Once audio is recorded with analogue clipping you can easily normalise it down to below 0db but the audio has been damaged during recording by recording analogue clipping. Have a look at this video which may help you improve the audio kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKO1ZZh-oZejjNU

[@sutv6754]

I was googling the difference between "all peak" and "Max Peaks" But this great. Thank you. Can you tell us the difference.?

[@MikeRussell]

“All Peak” and “Max Peaks” are often used interchangeably to describe the highest point or level of sound peaks. There’s generally no significant difference between them.

[@sutv6754]

Thank you Mike. It did not work for my situation. I was recorded a jazz festival directly from the board. For the first 10 minutes it was good and all was well . The sound me tripped the volume some how so the hour long track goes from good volume and level to way way loud. It did not distort. I must have the compressor on my zoom h8 . I was under the impression normalizing the track would put all at an even volume but it did not work. Do you have a video that can help this situation. ?

[@MikeRussell]

Ah, that sounds like a tricky situation. Normalizing adjusts the entire track's peak volume, so it won't help much with sudden changes. You could try using Audition's "Hard Limiter" or "Dynamics" effect to even out the levels manually.

[@sutv6754]

@@MikeRussell Thank you Mike I will try that. I'm going to figure it out but the Normalizing often does not work like your example. I have used it a lot, but lately it's not working. Perhaps yet another adobe glitch. I'm a content creator with a lot of experience but just now getting my head around these tools. I do own audition. I must take that step and learn how to use it. I'll search your channel for a "getting started". Really enjoy your teaching style.

[@leeloo700]

My audio from my source window is different from my sequence audio. When I drag my clip onto the sequence, the volume lower and I absolutely cannot find any answer anywhere, so if ever you get to that comment and have something to suggest... this also happened mid project (I was working on it one day and it was fine. and I did I dont know what and the next day it was screwed up)

[@MikeRussell]

Check there are no effects on the the track you're dragging the audio to

[@arbabraiyan8200]

My question is, what is the broadcast quality and how can it be achieved by normalization?

[@MikeRussell]

Broadcast quality is nothing to do with normalisation. Normalisation is just changing the amplitude of the audio

[@unquestionabletv]

when I normalize, everything gets louder, but only a little, because there were a few very loud parts in the video. I'm trying to get the whole track to be the same loudness.

[@MikeRussell]

Try the Match Loudness window for this.

[@unquestionabletv]

I think I needed to gate, and compress first. I’ve recently tried to learn more about audio engineering. Thank you.

[@MehdiMantzo]

great

[@MikeRussell]

Thank you

[@Nqrgaard]

Do you have a video on how to convert 44.1kHz to 48kHz? My wireless mic system has internal recording, which is 44.1kHz, but I always work with 48kHz with my video, so nothing matches up

[@MikeRussell]

You can open the audio in Audition and save it as 48khz 👍

[@Nqrgaard]

@@MikeRussell Okay will that be able to sync with my audio from the 48kHz video? 😁

[@MikeRussell]

It’s always best to record at the same sample rate for an accurate alignment

[@Nqrgaard]

@@MikeRussell yes but the issue is that my wireless mic only has 44.1 kHz internal recording, which I think is stupid when it is for video

[@MikeRussell]

It’s probably not that stupid as the standard for audio is 44.1khz. As I say you can convert your audio to 48khz in Audition before adding to your video in Premiere Pro.

[@Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

Why is song structure is part of the song writing ✍️ process?

[@MikeRussell]

I'm not really a song writer so I'm not the best person to advise on the mechanics of song writing I'm afraid

[@Songwritersbehindthecurtain]

@@MikeRussell you’re fine Mike I did asked lna studio audio stuff and she knows why.

[@jawhoney]

Boutta normalize multiple

[@MikeRussell]

Awesome, normalizing multiple audio clips at once can be a huge time saver!

[@l.e.nichols9382]

The preset link doesnt work.

[@MikeRussell]

I've just clicked it and it works for me Try this musicradiocreative.com/pages/presets

[@EvanStravers]

This simply did not work, sorry. Followed to a T, and louder stuff stayed loud, quiet stuff stayed quiet.

[@MikeRussell]

That's strange

[@BunchoMitch]

Bass

[@MikeRussell]

Thanks!

[@vickynegrett]

it didn't work, i still have laughter breaking everything the gain actually went to -20 went i set the peak to max -3.. don't get it really. everyone is recommending this but it doesn0t work, at least not for me I have 4 different people talking on one audio channel

[@MikeRussell]

Sorry to hear that the normalization technique didn't work for you with multiple voices on one audio channel; in this case, you may want to try using individual audio tracks for each person to have better control over the levels and avoid overlapping laughter. Also, consider the multitrack in Adobe Audition and using the “Match Clip Loudness” feature on each clip by right clicking to find this option in the menu. Essential Sound in Premiere Pro will also allow you to “loudness normalize” your audio clips which may be of interest too.