Synchronize Audio In Premiere Pro (Tutorial with Pro Tips)

Premiere Pro 12/10/2021 5 min read

Whether you’re creating a narrative film, promotional video, or vlog, audio will always be an area for improvement. Recording your audio separately from your video clips can result in better sound, especially when there is dialogue. As a result, you’ll need to synchronize your audio and video clips before you can edit them. So, we thought we’d take you on a quick guide to synchronizing audio in Premiere Pro with some top troubleshooting tips.

Part 1: What is Premiere Pro Audio Synchronization?

The first thing to note is, if you have multiple camera angles, each with an audio track of its own, it is much easier to use the Premiere Multicam tools; check out this handy guide. The method we’re going to show you today offers a super quick and easy solution to matching multiple audio tracks to a single video clip.

Premiere Pro audio synchronization tools offer 3 ways to sync your sound to your video: start and end of the clip, as well as audio. In most situations, you will likely want to use the audio option, where Premiere reads all your audio tracks and uses the sound waves to match them.

For the synchronization to work, you will need to have an audio layer already attached to your video clip. This will be the audio recorded by your camera. So, even if you don’t intend on using the onboard audio from your camera, make sure it is still being recorded.

Part 2: Learn to Quickly Synchronize Audio in Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro will allow you to synchronize multiple audio tracks to one video clip, ideal for when you’re using multiple microphones. Whatsmore, the clips can be spread across the timeline, and Premiere will move them all to match your video simultaneously.

  1. Place your video and audio tracks into the timeline.
  2. If you are using multiple audio clips, ensure they each sit in their own track on the timeline.
  3. Select the video and audio clips you wish to synchronize.
  4. Right-click on the clips and choose Synchronize.
  1. In the dialogue box, make sure the Audio box is checked.
  2. Click OK and let Premiere Pro do all the work.

Once you are happy with your audio syncing, you can remove the camera audio and link the video to your new audio track.

  1. Select the video track and right-click > Unlink.
  2. Select the audio layer attached to the video layer and hit Delete on the keyboard.
  3. Select the video and audio layers, right-click > Link.

Part 3: Troubleshooting Synchronizing Audio Issues

The method of synchronizing clips is straightforward and quick, but it is easy to encounter problems and unexpected results. Let’s look at some top troubleshooting tips for syncing your audio in Premiere Pro.

More than One Clip Per Track

If you try to sync your audio and video and find the Synchronize option is greyed out, there could be a couple of reasons for this. The most likely is that you have more than one audio clip on a single track.

When Premiere syncs the audio, it will move the clips in line with your video. However, if there is more than one audio clip on a track, including where you have made cuts in your audio, then Premiere will not be able to sync it. To fix the issue, just spread the audio clips out, so they have their own track.

Target Track is Off

Another reason for a greyed-out synchronize option is to do with the target tracks. You can use these highlight buttons for several things, including which track to paste copied assets to, matching frames, and syncing audio.

If no track is highlighted, or there are no assets in the highlighted track, Premiere will not sync the audio. You can choose any of the layers containing audio or video as the target track, and Premiere will use that layer as the basis of the synchronization.

Unclear Audio

If you have tried to sync your audio, but it hasn’t worked as you would expect, it could be because Premiere Pro is having difficulty reading your audio. Don’t worry, this is a common occurrence when the camera is some distance from your subject, or there is a substantial amount of background noise on your camera audio.

If you are experiencing this issue, clean up the onboard audio a little and try syncing again. In the Essential Sound panel, try playing with the Clarity, EQ, and Enhance Speech options.

Part 4: Top Tips for Successful Audio Synchronization

While the Premiere Pro Audio Synchronization function is pretty quick and straightforward, there are several other things you can implement to create a better workflow.

Label Your Clips

One of the most common issues with syncing audio is down to choosing the wrong clip, usually as a result of a disorganized project. It is always worth spending a little time organizing your project before you begin your edit. If needed, rename the video and audio clips to match one another, so you can easily find them in the Timeline.

Sync as You Go

It can be hard to resist getting straight into the editing and sync the audio later, but it is always best practice to synchronize the assets you need to as you go. By linking the video to the new audio, you’ll be able to move everything around your Timeline as you would with ordinary video clips.

Short Cut the Synchronization

If you have a project that requires lots of audio synchronization, using this method can still take a little time. There isn’t a preset hotkey for the sync function, so the easiest thing to do is create one.

Go to the Premiere menu and choose Keyboard shortcuts; search for Synchronization and add your preferred hotkey. If you want to discover more about customizing your Premiere Pro keyboard, check out this complete guide.


Syncing your audio in Premiere Pro doesn’t need to be a daunting and time-consuming task. By streamlining your workflow, you can shortcut your synchronizations and ensure that your new audio is securely linked to your video. If you want to continue your audio journey further and learn all about audio editing in Premiere Pro, check out this incredible guide to the Audio Clip Mixer.