Switching between track- and clip-level control on the Timeline - Premiere Pro Tutorial

- Tracking clip levels. There can be confusion regarding these two different audio levels. We have the clip level, and then we also have the truck level. Well, if you think about it, the confusion goes away. As if it weren't clear enough, the clip level affects the clip in the timeline and the track level affects any clip that may be on that whole track. I'd like to go over how to switch between clip and track levels right on the timeline so that you can affect the correct level if or when you need to. Let's go ahead and open the sequence named 2.1 switching track and clip levels in the timeline. So go through the sequence's bin chapter two and here it is 2.1, double click it, and it opens up. If you play the timeline, you can hear the words and the music, and you could even start changing the levels of audio right here in the timeline by adding key frames and changing the height of the level line. That's this little line here. However, there is no clear indication that you're working on the clip level or on the track level. You kind of need to know which one you are affecting. First, you can see that there is a line that you are going to see across the clip. This is the level line. If you raise or lower the level of one of the clips by clicking on the line and moving it up and down, the other clips in the timeline do not change. So if that happens, if you change this one, for example, put it up and the other ones, don't change. Then you know you're working at the clip level. Let's go ahead and undo that. Control + Z on Windows, Command + Z on the Mac. Now, this little line here is called the envelope, but some people call it the rubber band, which is a very old fashioned way to refer to it, whatever you call it it's okay by me. As long as you know that I will refer to it as the level line or envelope. Now there is another visual cue that I am working now at the clip level and not at the track level. And that is this little effects batch right here. If we were working at the track level, it would not appear. Now, also notice that the line actually ends with the clip. That is another indication that we are working at the clip level. If I expand this track, for example, you see the line ends with this particular clip and this one here as well. Now, if you expand any of the track headers and you can do so simply by double clicking, you're going to see a little key frame icon here on the left, and that works with any of them. See this net sound one, and you can actually click there and see how clips key frames is selected by default, you can now change that to track key frames, and you can show the volume example. If you click here, if you choose this, you will see that now the line goes across the whole track and not just the clip, and notice how the little FX badge is no longer visible. If I change this line, either up or down, I am changing the levels off the track and not the clip. Now let's go ahead and show the track mixer and the clip mixer. If you look on the top left here, you're going to see that I am already showing the audio clip mixer. Now let's go to window, audio track mixer, and let's show that as well. So you're going to see here several things. You're going to see the different tracks with the names, see Voiceover, and that sound, sound effects, music, and of course the master. And if you expand here, which is what I had expanded when I opened this, you're going to see that I already added a DSR to this particular track, to the Voiceover track. I'm going to collapse this for now, but look what happens if I show the track levels and say the net sound, which is what I'm showing right now. If I lower the level, see the line comes down, I'm going to lower it even more or raise it. So that line, that track level line or envelope is actually tied to this slider. So I can actually change the track levels of my tracks simply by going to the slider. The same happens with the clip mixer. If I go to the audio clip mixer and I place my playhead say on top of the voiceover, and then I go up and down on this particular slider, look at this particular clip, how the line, the envelope line is going up and down. So whatever I do with this slider, the timeline is following as well. Now, if I go to the net sound again and I choose track key frames, I can either show the volume or the mute, or I can also show the track panel, the balance. If I show the clip key frames, it goes back to what I had originally. Now I have a clip effect added to this clip. So if I go here, I can go to clip key frames, but notice what it's showing me here, is showing me the DSR that I added to the track. So this is the voiceover track. If I go back to my audio track mixer, and I expand this top section here, you're going to see that indeed, I have a DSR here. Now I can show in the timeline, the key frames off any of these parameters of the DSR. So if I go to center frequency, for example, that line is no longer a track level line. This is actually affecting that property of that effect. Now, I'm going to switch back to clip key frames. And of course I have an effect added to this clip, not just to the track, but to the clip itself. So if I select this clip and I go to the effect controls panel, you see that I have a DSR also added to this particular clip. In the timeline, I can right click this clip, and I can show key frames of not just volume, channel volume, so left, right and bypass, but also the DSR. So I can actually show the lines of the effects. So of the controllers of the different parameters of the effect, not just at the track level as we saw, but also at the clip level as we're seeing right now. Okay, now you know that you can switch from working on the track or the clip envelope, and you can also choose between the different parameters that you can choose from in both the track and the clip. It would be be better if there were a clear indication of where you're working, clip or track, but eventually you start noticing these things. And without too much difficulty, you'll master switching between the two.