Adjusting a clip's volume - Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Video Tutorial

In this quick Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 video tutorial, I show you how to adjust the volume level of an audio clip.

What is video editing?

In its simplest form, video editing is the process of making changes to a video clip. This could be something as simple as cutting out some parts of a single video clip in order to shorten its duration. Or it could involve a larger project containing dozens of video clips being adjusted and arranged in a sequence, and having sound, titles, and video effects added to them.

To be able to edit videos, one needs a video editing application. A video editing application is a piece of software that can run on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device that has the necessary features that allow the user to make changes to a video clip or a group of video clips. Popular video editing applications include Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro.

Learn How To Edit Videos In Windows Live Movie Maker

Learn how to edit videos in Windows Live Movie Maker by watching this Windows Live Movie Maker training course entitled Windows Live Movie Maker Essential Training. Let Training Specialist David Rivers teach you how to use this effective and easy-to-use application so that you can start editing great-looking videos.

To learn more about the course, watch the sample videos below and then visit the course details page.

Touring the Movie Maker interface

How to create a Rolling Title in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

In this video tutorial, I show you to create, edit, and modify rolling titles in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

How to use the Track Matte Key video effect in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

This tutorial comes with exercise files:
[GO TO EXERCISE FILES DOWNLOAD PAGE]

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to use the Track Matte Key in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 by creating the example below.

In this video, we have a background clip of a dog eating his food. On top of this background clip is another clip that only appears through the letters D - O - G. This effect was created using the Track Matte Key video effect.

What is the Track Matte Key?
The Track Matte Key allows you to use a title, image or video clip as a clipping mask for another clip. For example, we could use a title clip that has some text, and use it as a mask for another video clip.

Then the end result is that the video clip appears in the shape of the text.

Let's begin creating the example.

STEP 1

Create a new Adobe Premiere Pro document using the DV-NTSC Standard 32kHz preset.

STEP 2

Import the exercise files by choosing File > Import from the menu bar.

Import the background-clip.mp4 and foreground-clip.mp4 files.

Once the clips have been imported, you should see them in the Project panel.

STEP 3

From the Project panel, drag background-clip.mp4 down to the Video 1 track.

The background-clip.mp4 video shows the dog eating his food.

STEP 4

Then place foreground-clip.mp4 in the Video 2 track right on top of background-clip.mp4.

The foreground-clip.mp4 video shows the dog playing in the garden.

So now, if you look at the program monitor, the foreground clip should completely cover the background clip. But later on, we'll apply the Track Matte Key to the foreground clip on the Video 2 track so that we can clip it into the shape of the D - O - G text that we will create using a title.

STEP 5

Let's now create the text.

Go to File > New > Title to create a new title.

Let's name this title dog. Then click OK.

In the Title Designer, use the text tool to type in the word DOG. Use a large, thick font. For this example, I used Impact for the font family, and gave it a font size of 325.

Close the Title Designer once you're done. There's no need to save it. Premiere Pro will automatically do that for you.

STEP 6

You should now see your new title in the Project panel.

From the Project panel, drag the dog title clip down to the Video 3 track. And if needed, adjust its length so that it's as long as foreground-clip.mp4 below it.

The clip that you want to use for the track matte always has to be on a higher video track than the clip that you want to mask. So in this example, the clip that we want to use for the track matte is the dog title clip, while the clip we want to mask is foreground-clip.mp4. So this means that our dog title clip has to be on a higher video track than the foreground-clip.mp4.

STEP 7

Let's now apply the Track Matte Key.

Go to the Effects panel and look for the Track Matte Key. The Track Matte Key can be found in the Video Effects folder, under the Keying sub-folder.

When using the Track Matte Key, the effect is applied to the clip that you want to mask. In this case, that would be foreground-clip.mp4. So go ahead and drag the Track Matte Key effect onto the foreground-clip.mp4 in the Video 2 track.

STEP 8

Now make sure that foreground-clip.mp4 in the Video 2 track is selected, then go to the Effect Controls panel. You should see the Track Matte Key settings. Go ahead and expand the settings by clicking on the triangle beside the word Track Matte Key.

For the Matte option, you want to choose the track that contains the clip that you want to use as a matte. In this case, the clip that we want to use as a matte is the dog title clip. And this clip is on the Video 3 track. So for the Matte option, choose Video 3.

For the Composite Using option, choose Matte Alpha.

If you look at the Program monitor, you should now see foreground-clip.mp4 masked within the DOG text.

NOTE: For older versions of Adobe Premiere Pro, you might need to make the track matte video track invisible in order to complete the effect. To do that, simply click on the eye icon of the video track in order to make that track invisible. In this example, you'll want to hide the Video 3 track.

STEP 9

Next, let's add a drop shadow to the foreground-clip.mp4 in order to make it pop out a bit more.

In the Effects panel, open up the Video Effects folder, then open up the Perspective folder, and then drag the Drop Shadow video effect onto foreground-clip.mp4.

We want to add the drop shadow to the clip that we masked out, and not to the clip that's being used as the matte. If we added the drop shadow to the title clip, which we're using as the matte, then the drop shadow will just become a part of the mask. It will not appear as an actual shadow.

You should now see the drop shadow applied to the video clip.

If you want to adjust the Drop Shadow settings, make sure that foreground-clip.mp4 is selected, and then go to the Effect Controls panel.

STEP 10

Lastly, I want foreground-clip.mp4 to fade in and out. To do that, we can simply add Cross Dissolve transitions to the beginning and end of the clip.

In the Effects panel, open up the Video Transitions folder, and then open up the Dissolve folder. Then apply the Cross Dissolve transition to the start and end of the foreground-clip.mp4.

STEP 11

And now the effect is complete. Preview your video in the program monitor to see how it looks.

And that concludes this tutorial on how to use the Track Matte Key video effect in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

Creating Titles - Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Video Tutorial

In this Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 video tutorial, I'll show you how to create and edit titles.

Keyframing - Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Video Tutorial

In this Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 video tutorial, I'll show you how to add keyframes in order to animate video effects applied to your clips.