Producing Final Video > Exporting an edit decision list > Audio in the EDL
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Audio in the EDL


Because Premiere works with files on a computer instead of tapes, it controls sound in a way that differs significantly from traditional editing systems. Traditional tape-based editing systems are designed to record from (and to) one or more audio tracks on the videotape or onto a separate audio tape recorder. Premiere provides up to 99 audio tracks in the Timeline for placement of audio clips; however, when you play or export video, Premiere produces a single track that can contain more than one channel (such as left and right). In Premiere, mixing of audio tracks is controlled by the fade and pan controls that accompany each audio track. The standard EDL has no way to mix sound, except for the mixing that occurs when one audio source dissolves into another audio source.

To take advantage of multiple audio tracks on videotape, you can define which audio tracks from Premiere are mapped to the available tracks in the editing system. The following options are available when you choose an EDL option from the bottom of the File > Export Timeline menu (except Generic EDL) and click the Audio Mapping button (see Exporting an EDL):

Audio Follows Video Causes the audio and video to be listed together, according to the edits made on the video track: where the video cuts, the linked audio clip cuts; where the video fades, the linked audio fades; and so on. Premiere processes the video edits, processes the audio to match, and lists the result in the EDL. The audio fade and pan controls are ignored.

Audio Separately Interleaves the audio and video tracks as separate edits within the EDL. For these options, the following rules govern the way that Premiere translates sound edits into a format that the EDL can interpret:
  • If a clip on track Video 1A completely overlaps a clip on track Video 1B (that is, if it has the same or an earlier In point and the same or a later Out point), only the clip on track Video 1A is considered.

    • Note: A fade point of 0 in any clip effectively splits the clip at that point so that the clip is treated as two clips by the EDL.
  • If a clip on track Video 1A and a clip on track Video 1B overlap, a transition is created in the overlapping area so that the starting clip fades in to the ending clip.
  • Clips on superimpose tracks are considered only when neither track Video 1A nor track Video 1B contains clips; otherwise, they are ignored.

    • Once this single "track" has been created, the EDL interprets fade points in the following way:
  • A fade point of 0 in any nontransition area creates a fade between 0 at that point and 100 at the next nearest point specified in the clip, regardless of the actual value that was specified for the nonzero point. All other nonzero fade points are ignored.
  • Fade points in any transition areas (that is, areas of clips on tracks Video 1A and Video 1B that overlap) are ignored.

    • Audio at End Lists all the sound edits together at the end of the EDL, using the same audio translation rules as the Audio Separately option.

    Producing Final Video > Exporting an edit decision list > Audio in the EDL