[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.

[Jon Doughtie]

I stand corrected; just saw your signature. My apologies. Monday morning!

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

Hmmm. No info about your system, type of footage, storage media, etc. That information helps.

Without that information, the first things I would suggest are [1] clearing cache files, [2] rebooting, and [3] rendering the timeline. Then see what your results are.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

This may or may not resolve it, but try clearing all cache files.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

You have to render them.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

What version of Premiere Pro are you using? What computer? Any recent updates or changes?

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

Tim, they are different resolutions. You wil either have to scale up the 1080 footage or scale down the 4K footage.

What is your final output going to be? That will help you decide.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

Eva, we need more information about exact version of the software, the system you are running, and the file types/codecs you are dealing with. Please share that information.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

If you are using CC 2015, the reference monitor is not longer where you’ll find the scopes. On a Windows machine, look in the Windows dropdown menu for “Lumetri Scopes”, and begin to enjoy scopes that display in real time.

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.

[Jon Doughtie]

I empathize. In my case, my eyes aren’t what they used to be. I had my eye doc spec a set of single-vision lenses for me that I use for computer and edit work. All the small print popped right back up for me.

I don’t know your situation precisely, though, and I hope it is something about your computer screen setup and not your eyes starting to go!

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.