Editing Video > Using the Timeline window > Specifying source and target tracks
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Specifying source and target tracks


When you add clips to the Timeline by dragging, the clip is added to the track and time position where you drop it. However, when you add clips to the Timeline using Monitor window controls or the keyboard, Premiere cannot know exactly how and where you want a clip to be added. In such a case, you must specify in advance the way a source clip's video and audio are added to the Timeline. By default, both source audio and video are added; in the Timeline, the Video 1A and Audio 1 Timeline tracks are the default target (destination) video and audio tracks. In the Timeline, the names of the target video and audio tracks are highlighted.

You can control how source video and audio are added to the Timeline using the Take icons and Target menus:
  • The Take Video () and Take Audio () icons in the Monitor window control whether a particular source clip's video or audio is added to the Timeline. For example, if one clip contains video that you don't want to use, you can specify that the source clip will provide only audio to the Timeline.
  • The video and audio Target menus control the video program in the Timeline. They govern which Timeline video or audio track is set to receive the video or audio track from the source clip. It is possible to target no Timeline track for either video or audio. For example, if you build a rough cut of a music video and the only audio you want to use is a music clip separate from any of your video clips, you may want to target no audio tracks so that your program receives no audio from any source video clip. If you do this, no audio is added to the program regardless of how you set the Take icons for the source, and the same is true for targeting video tracks.
  • Watch out for cases where the target tracks do not match the settings for the source video and audio. For example, if you turn on Take Video but turn off Take Audio for the source clip, but Timeline tracks are targeted for both video and audio, the video goes to the target video track as expected, but the source clip audio duration is inserted in the target audio track as empty space. This is because targeting a track always adds the duration of the source clip even if the corresponding source track (audio or video) is not available to the target. If you don't want the blank audio, specify no target audio tracks.

    • The way that clips are added to the Timeline depends on not just the interaction of Take icons and target tracks but also the current states of other track and clip options. Certain combinations of these factors may cause unintended tracks to shift in time. For information on relinking clips that have moved out of sync, see Linking video and audio clips in the Timeline.

    Note: The Take Video icon, Take Audio icon, and Target menus affect a clip only during the process of adding it to the Timeline. They don't otherwise change the state of clips.

    To set up Take Video and Take Audio icons and target program tracks:

    Do any of the following to specify how video and audio tracks are added to the Timeline:

    Note: A deselected Take Video or Take Audio icon has a red diagonal line across it.
  • To include the source clip's video, make sure that the Take Video icon () below the Source view is selected (if it is deselected, click the icon to select it). Then make sure that a Timeline video track is selected in the Target menu below the Program view; if necessary, choose a video track.
  • To include the source clip's audio, make sure that the Take Audio icon () below the Source view is selected (if it is deselected, click the icon to select it). Then make sure that a Timeline audio track is selected in the Target menu below the Program view; if necessary, choose an audio track.
  • To include only source video, make sure that the Take Video icon () below the Source view is selected (if it is deselected, click the icon to select it). Choose a target video track from the first (video) Target menu below the Program view, and then make sure that None is selected in the second (audio) Target menu.
  • To include only source audio, make sure that the Take Audio icon () below the Source view is selected (if it is deselected, click the icon to select it). Make sure that None is selected in the first (video) Target menu below the Program view, and then choose a target audio track from in the second (audio) Target menu.

    • You can also specify a target track by clicking the name of a track in the Timeline (it then displays in boldface). Clicking a boldface name (the current target track) is the same as choosing None from a target track menu--the track is no longer the target, and its name is no longer in boldface.

    Editing Video > Using the Timeline window > Specifying source and target tracks