How to Work with Linked Audio/Video Clips in Adobe Premiere Pro

When you are working in Adobe Premiere Pro, clips that contain both video and audio appear as a single item in the Project panel. When you drag a clip into the Timeline sequence, the video and audio will appear as two separate objects, each in its own track. They are “linked” so that when you drag clips around, you do not inadvertently un-sync them. You can choose to unlink clips if you want to apply effects separately, or create a link between previously unlinked clips.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. To link or unlink video and audio, hold the “Shift” key while clicking a clip to select both. Go to the top of your workspace, and then to your Clip menu. Select “Link” or “Unlink,” depending.

2. Though the audio and video unlinked, they are both still selected. Reselect either clip to use it separately.

3. To automatically synchronize clips that may have been moved out of sync, right-click on the number that appears at your clip’s In point in the Timeline panel for the out-of-sync video or audio clip. This number indicates the amount of time that the clips are out of sync with its accompanying clips.

4. Next, you can choose the “Move Into Sync” option, which will shift the selected video or audio part of the clip to a point that will restore sync. “Move Into Sync” moves the clip without regard to adjacent clips and will overwrite any clips in the way to regain sync.

5. If you choose the “Slip Into Sync” option, the program performs a slip edit to restore sync without moving the clip’s position in time.

6. To edit tracks of linked clips individually, without “unlinking” them, hold the “Alt” key down while clicking any part of a linked clip, and then use an editing tool. When you are finished, reselect the clip by clicking it, and you can edit it as a linked clip again.