Although some rough or shaky video footage can sometimes be acceptable and fixable, audiences are less forgiving of poor sound quality. Make sure to listen to the project many times while wearing headphones to make sure no portion is too loud or too quiet. Volume needs to be consistent; the audience shouldnt have to adjust their volume while watching your movie.

An audio meter should display to the left or right of the Timeline. The top of the meter, or 0dB, is the loudest.

To separate audio from a video clip, right-click the clip in the Timeline and select Unlink. The audio can now be edited and moved independently of the video.

The overall audio level should be in the -12 to -6dB (decibel) range, especially during dialogue. The audio meter will turn yellow in this range. Some parts of the audio will be louder or quieter than this, but the goal is that the majority of the audio settle into the above range.

The level should never hit the top, or 0 decibels. This is referred to as peaking. When an audio level peaks, it is so loud that the waveform becomes distorted and the quality suffers as a result.

To adjust the volume of single a clip in the Timeline, either:

Sometimes only portions of an audio clip need a volume adjustment, such as when dialogue is suddenly too quiet or loud. See Premiere Pro: Keyframing & Automating Effects for instructions on how to edit those portions of audio.