Really simple dissolve questions

[Jon Doughtie]

In Premiere Pro, you can set the default transition length for dissolves in Preferences–>General, near the top of the dialog box. If there’s a particular length you use frequently, set it there for the project and you are good to go. CTRL+D will drop the default dissolve transition anywhere you have adequate heads/tails for it.

As for the audio clips, I usually just press CTRL+SHIFT+D for the default audio transition (or fade up if only a clip head.) Then I double-click the fade up/crossfade and tweak time. Your process may not work well for that; I don’t know.

Your presumption about “New–>Black video” is correct. I will sometimes just leave open space in the timeline, which accomplishes the same end result.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Gary Huff]

[David Dean] “f I lay a dissolve (or any transition) on a clip, video or audio, I’m able in FCP to simply copy it via right-click or CMD+C and paste it on any other clip.”

I do this all the time in Premiere. Are you selecting the entire clip or the ends (with either a yellow or red bracket instead of the entire clip changing colors)?

[David Dean] “I only seem to be able to position the dissolve at the beginning or end of an audio clip, so if I want it to fade in, like in an FCP timeline, I have to extend the clip by the number of frames and then apply the dissolve at the first frame.”

That’s how Premiere works (I was unaware that FCP could do this actually), but you can turn on track keyframes and essentially do this, though not with a transition. If you open up the Audio track to show the controls (on the left side of your sequence), directly under the “A” of the word Audio is a button that will let you turn on track keyframes for Volume or Mute. Pick Volume and now you can fade in the audio without changing the size of the clip. However, I’m not sure if you mean FCP would pick up the previous audio on the clip even if it was trimmed? Because this will only fade the contents of the track, so if you don’t have any contents, it doesn’t really do anything.

[David Dean] “I’m also assuming that the equivalent of Avid’s “filler” and FCP7’s “slug” is New – Black Video; is there something else somewhere?”

Nope, you’re correct that Black Video is Premiere’s version of “filler” and “slug”. I tend to use these at the beginning and end of sequences (usually about half a second of black after a fade out because some players, like QuickTime, don’t go to the very end and stop before the fade fully finishes). I have been bitten by bugs using gaps as black slugs in the past, but that has been a long time since that has happened and I would not be afraid to just leave gaps as your slugs (i.e. a gap with music that starts up for a second or two before fading in your first clip as opposed to putting in a black video clip over that gap).

[David Dean]

Thanks to you both for responding. Let me try to clarify with some screenshots.

Regarding the first issue, here is a 42-frame gradient wipe that I’ve placed with an ending-on-cut alignment. In FCP I am able to right-click on the effect itself, copy it, and then paste a 42-frame gradient wipe onto any other video clip in the timeline. I never select the clip, just the effect. This works with any transition, audio or video, either starting on the cut, ending on it, or centered. That’s what I’m trying to do in Premiere.

For the second question, here’s a screenshot of a music clip, with nothing on the track before it:

In FCP, I am able to add a cross-fade effect, with the alignment at the end of the cut, and I will have a smooth fade in, with the duration of my choosing, without having to add any frames to the head of the music clip. I’m essentially dissolving in from silence, and the audio fades up.

With Premiere, at the beginning of a cut with nothing to its left, all I can place is an audio dissolve at the head of the clip, so if I want it to fade in like this, I have to add x number of frames and then fade that in. (And that also ties in to the “can’t I just copy and paste such a transition rather than apply a new one to every clip.”) Does this make more sense? Many thanks for your patience.

[Gary Huff]

[David Dean] “Does this make more sense? Many thanks for your patience.”

Thanks for the screenshots. Did you try either of the things I suggested? I think my original offering still stands at this point.