Multicam Editing in Premiere

Live events such as sports and concerts are often filmed with many different cameras from many different angles at the same time.  This gives the editor material to cut together but also ensures that as much of the action as possible is recorded.  Even in feature film projects there are situations where the action can't be repeated, especially for action sequences such as car crashes, explosions.  Shots like that are a good candidate for Multi-camera filming.

Because multi-camera is used so often, Premiere has specific tools to edit this kind of project. The first step is to make sure all the clips are in time with each other by synchronising the videos.  Professional film shoots will use high-end cameras which can share timecode signals and will start and stop recording at exactly the same time so all the clips will automatically be in sync.

For low budget shoots, on the other hand, the best if not very accurate way to get several videos in time with each other is to have some kind of visual signal recorded by every camera.  The ideal solution is a film clapper board but, failing that, just a crew member clapping their hands will do.

The important thing is that all the cameras can see the sync signal -- if that means pointing the camera at the signal then panning it to catch the action then that needs to be planned in to the shot.

To start editing, import all the clips into Premiere as usual.  It is a good idea to create a new Bin for each shot to keep the clips from all the cameras together.  Once the clips are organised they need to be loaded into the Source Monitor one by one to line them up on the visual sync.

First Clip of a Multicam sequence cued up to the Visual Sync frame.

Use the playback controls J K L or the LEFT and RIGHT Arrow keys to get the video as close to the hand clap as possible.  Once you are on the right frame, put a marker on it by pressing M then do the same thing for the rest of the videos.  Make sure that the markers are all as close to the same frame as you can get them.

With all the clips marked, select them all from the Bin by holding the SHIFT key and clicking each one till they are all highlighted.  The order you select them in is important!  The last clip you pick will be the master clip.  While you can switch from one video to another in the edit, the sound will come just from the master clip unless you tell Premiere to cut the sound as well.  Usually you would pick the clip with the best, clearest audio to be the master.

With all the clips marked and selected, RIGHT Click on any of the clips and select Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence from the menu.

A pop-up window will appear with the various options for creating the new sequence.  Most of these only apply to Professional cameras which are able to synchronise themselves.  To sync to the markers, just make sure that option is selected then, from the menu next to it pick the name of the marker you want to use.  If you haven't named your marker, this will be something like Unnamed Marker 1

If this has worked, you should now have some extra items in your project.

Click on the new Multicam sequence to open it in the Source Monitor.  You will see all your videos arranged in a grid.  Some of the pictures may be blank since the videos all start at slightly different times.  Immediately do an Overwrite edit to put the whole clip onto the timeline then move the playhead back to the start of the clip.

Before we can actually start editing, we need to make some changes to the Programme Monitor to see and record the multi cam sequence properly.  First, set the Monitor into Multi-Camera mode by clicking on the small wrench icon and selecting Multi-Camera from the menu that appears.

Next, to make things a bit easier, we will add the Record button to the button bar at the bottom of the Monitor window.  To customise the buttons, click on the small + to the lower right of the window to bring up a palette of the available buttons.  Then drag and drop the Record button to next to the existing playback controls.

With everything set up, we are ready to edit.  Unlike single camera editing, with multicam, we will be editing while the video is playing back.  In exactly the same way that a TV studio director will switch from one camera to another during a live broadcast, Premiere lets you choose your camera angle "on the fly".

To capture the camera switches, we need to be recording the playback.  Press the Record button, then press the Play button to start the sequence.  As the playback happens, you will see all the angles on the left of the Programme Monitor and the selected angle on the right.  The preview on the left will have the selected angle marked with a red outline as you are recording.

You can click on another clip to change to a different view while you are recording.  However a quicker way to switch cameras is by using the number keys along the top of the keyboard.  The keys 1 - 9 correspond to one of the cameras in the multicam sequence.  Pressing the right number will switch straight to that camera.

You won't see any cuts in the timeline until you get to the end of the sequence and the playback stops.  When it does you should see lots of clips which reflect the camera selections you made.

Programme Monitor during recording.  The clip being recorded is outlined in red.

At the end of the recording, the cuts show up in the timeline.

If you look at the audio track A1, you'll notice that the sound is not cut -- the whole track is taken from the master clip.  This is usually what you want.

With the edit in place, you can go back and use the Trimming tools to fix the timing of the cuts.  Just be aware that you only want to move the edit point so the only kind of trim you need will be Roll trim which will keep the timing and synchronisation correct in the rest of the sequence.

Also if you change your mind about which angle you want, you can Right click any part of the sequence and select a different angle by choosing Multi-Camera -> Camera #  where # is the number of the camera you want to use instead.

Right click and choose a camera from the menu to pick a different angle.

Audio Sweetening in Premiere Part 1

In the early stages of editing, especially during the Assembly and Trimming phases, its common to concentrate on the visuals making sure the pacing and continuity of the scene is right.  Once the structure is in place, though its important to make sure that the sound is working at least as well as the picture.

You might not do a full audio mix at this stage but you will want to make sure the sound edits together smoothly and that the various tracks, Dialogue, Sound FX, Foley and Music are balanced and mixed properly.  This stage of the edit is often referred to as Audio Sweetening.

Premiere Pro has all the audio tools needed to do a decent sound mix and you can work on individual clips, whole audio tracks as well as Sub-mixes.

First job is to set up the interface for audio editing.  You can do this by going to the Window -> Workspaces -> Audio menu item.

And then, just to be on the safe side you can reset the layout to organise the windows with      Window -> Workspace -> Reset Current Workspace

The Audio layout is very similar to the default layout but it adds an Audio Mixer panel which you will need for balancing tracks and Sub-mixes later on.  For now we will concentrate on clips in the timeline.

By default, each audio track has a volume overlay displayed on each clip (the white line in the picture  below)

The line shows the volume adjustments for each clip.  You can grab the line and move it up or down to change the volume of each clip separately.  If you hover the mouse over the line, Premiere will show you what the current volume adjustment is:

Sound volume is measured in Decibels, which is written as dB.  A sound playing at its recorded volume, in other words without any volume adjustments, is said to be at 0 dB and as the volume goes below zero, the sound gets quieter.

However Decibels are not a linear scale, in fact every 6 dB drop in volume makes the sound half as loud so -6 dB is half the normal volume -12 dB is half as loud as that ( or 1/4 of the normal volume ) and -18 dB is only 1/8 as loud as the sound was when it was recorded; and a sound at minus Infinity dB is perfectly silent.

Of course we are ignoring the volume setting on the speakers which is a separate issue.

As you drag the volume adjustment line down or up, Premiere will show you how much the volume has changed:

Adjusting each clip one-by-one down the timeline, you can balance the sound through-out the sequence so there aren't any distracting jumps in volume.

This is fine if each clip is recorded evenly without any dips or jumps in volume; but what if the volume of a clip changes, for example if someone turns away from the mic slightly?  It is possible for you to let the volume adjustment change over time buy adding keyframes to the clip.

To add a keyframe, all you have to do is use the Pen tool ( P on the keyboard ).  With the pen selected, you can click on the volume adjustment line to add a keyframe whereever there needs to be a change in volume.  With at least two key frames, you can set the volume at the start and finish of the clip to be different and Premiere will fade between the two levels.  Add the keyframes with the Pen Tool (P) then press V for the Selection Tool and drag down the part of the clip that needs to be quieter.

The default keyframes that Premiere adds cause sudden changes in volume which don't always sound as smooth as they should.  To fix this, you can Right Click on a keyframe and change the Interpolation type to Bezier which will make the keyframe change in a more controllable way:

The Bezier option adds a handle to the keyframe which you can move around to change the bend of the line so the fade-in or fade-out is smoother.

That's it for adjusting clip volume, in Part 2, we'll have a look at adjusting whole tracks with the Audio Mixer.

Audio Sweetening in Premiere Pro Part 2

In Part 1, you saw how you can adjust the volume of a clip in the timeline either by a constant amount or by an adjustment that varies while the clip plays.

Once the clips on each track are the same volume as each other, the mix between tracks needs to be balanced.  Typically you would organise your sound track on the time line by the type of sound.  So, in a simple mix for example, all the Dialogue would go on track A1, the Sound Effects would go on A2 and the background Music would go on track A3.

To keep the different sounds separate and easy to hear, you would usually set the Dialogue to peak at -6 dB, the SFX to be half as loud at -12 dB and the Music to be the quietest at around -18 dB.  This way the Dialogue is not going to be drowned out by the Effects or Music but all the ambient sounds are still going to be audible under the actors lines.

Also, having the loudest track at -6 dB means there is still room to add really loud spot effects like an explosion or a gun shot which should be even louder than the dialogue.

Mixing the tracks is done in the Audio Track Mixer window:

The Mixer consists of a set of Volume sliders, one for each audio track as well as a Master control which sets the volume of the final output to the speakers.  Its a good idea to change the labels on each slider to match what you have on each track.  This also changes the names of the tracks themselves.

As the sound track is playing, the Level Meter gives you feedback about the changing volume of the sound.  The loudest part of the track is marked by a Yellow peaking line:

Using this you can work out which track is the loudest and balance it out with the others.

Having control over the overall track volume is really useful but what if you have more than one Dialogue track or you have multiple Sound Effects for different characters or shots?  For example it is really common to have a separate voice track for each actor especially if they are mic'd up with a lapel mic each and you're using a boom as well.

On top of that, if you loose a line during filming, you may have to re-recorded it afterwards in the studio and dub it onto the edit in post.  You could easily end up with two voice tracks per actor and a scene could have any number of characters.

As another example, imagine you're editing a restaurant scene.  You will need background SFX such as multiple conversations, plate and cutlery sounds, footsteps, chairs moving and countless other sounds which will probably all be recorded separately, so you quickly end up with lots of SFX tracks in your edit.  Add all the Dialogue tracks and you have a big problem: how can you balance the Dialogue with the rest of the sound mix when there are so many different volume levels to set?

This is where Sub-mixes come in...

A Sub-mix is just a special kind of sound track which aggregates or combines two or more tracks into one with its own sound control.  To create a Sub-mix all you have to do is Right Click the header of the timeline and select Add Audio Submix Track

This adds an extra, empty track on the timeline and an extra volume control in the Audio Mixer Window.  You don't add clips to this new track.  Instead you set the tracks in the Mixer to go to one of your Sub-mix tracks.  All of the Sub-mixes then go to the Master and end up going to the speakers.  Grouping similar tracks in the timeline into Sub-mixes in the Mixer gives you a new Volume control which lowers or raises the volume of all those tracks at once.

To set the individual tracks to go to a particular Sub-mix, pick the name of the Sub-mix from the menu at near the top of the Mixer window.

This way you can adjust the volume of all of the Dialogue or all of the Sound Effects in one go, no matter how many tracks of each you have, and still have control over the individual tracks to balance everything out.  Just make sure you rename the Sub-mixes to keep things organised.