Match (Sync) Voiceover Audio Clips with Video Clips Manually in Premiere Pro

The easiest option is to select audio clips in stacked layers, then right-click and select ‘Synchronize’, then choose any option in the dialog box to automatically sync the source audio and the recorded voice-over audio.

Sometimes automatic sync and merge options do not work Adobe Premiere Pro. Then I would prefer manually matching of the voiceover audio and video clips.

Let’s do it. → Watch Video Tutorial.

Match Audio Cutouts with Video Cutouts of Almost Same Duration

Unlink audio from the original video and delete the audio.

Record voiceover from the button on left side of clip track in timeline or import the pre-recorded voiceover audio and bring it under video clips.

Your voiceover audio and video clips may have some unwanted parts.

So, I will remove those unnecessary portions out of audio such as ah, ems and oh no.

Please use C and V keys on your keyboard for quickly selecting Razor and Selection tools. You can also split the clips by pressing Ctrl and K on keyboard.

Similarly, remove unwanted parts from video clips. Please note that this method does not change the speed of audio clips but it either speeds up or slows down the video. To avoid excessive speed changes, the duration of video cutouts should be approximately the same as that of audio cutouts.

For splitting two different scenes in video, I will make a cut at any last frame of first scene and another cut at the start of the second scene and then delete the middle cut-out part - it will prevent any abrupt shaking at the edit point of two clips which will help to apply smooth transition and playback.

You can zoom the timeline through the navigator or slider at the bottom of timeline .

Now I will match the first video clip with the first audio cutout.

Right-click on audio clip, select Speed and Duration tool. Note down the time duration of audio clip. The duration of my clip is 1 second and 21 frames in this example. Click Cancel.

So, I will right-click over the corresponding first video clip and apply the same duration as in audio - that is 1 second and 21 frames . Video and audio clips are now perfectly synced.

Sync a Long Audio with Video Clips

But here is a problem. How would you sync audio and video when you do not want to split audio into several cutouts. Let's do it.

You can either split audio into several parts, but in this alternative method, you can manually sync voice-over audio and videos without splitting the audio.

Copy any part of audio, preferably from the center - so that you can easily increase or decrease its length. Bring forward playhead at an empty place and paste it using Ctrl + V. Now bring this audio clip to the lower layer and mute it. I will call it as test audio for referenece - it is temporary and will be deleted later.

Now drag and join the second video clip with the first one. Playback and match what is in the scene and what is being said in the voiceover audio. Pause it and bring the playhead at appropriate place of voiceover audio.

Now move the test audio to adjust its duration to match with the duration of voiceover audio part.

Right-click on the test audio, select Speed and Duration and note the duration of test audio.

Now right-click on the video clip and apply the same duration to the video cutout. The speed of the video clip will change to match duration with the audio clip.

Now I will snap the next video clip with the video stream.

To match it with the respective audio portion, I need the exact duration of the remaining part of voiceover audio.

I will drag the test audio and release it when its start point snaps to match with the start point of video clip. Now match the last point of test audio with that of voiceover audio.

Now right-click test audio and note its duration. Apply the same duration to the video clip. The video clip will perfectly sync with the audio.

Now delete the test audio because it has done its job of measuring the clip durations.

Optionally you can also add transition at the split points.

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