How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)

Rindi Putra
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How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)
How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)

The following is how to add an animated audio equalizer in Premiere Pro or commonly called the audio spectrum. In this way, we can display an animated audio or sound frequency that is being played with various combinations. Does this method require additional applications such as Adobe After Effects?

There are many names for this effect, the ones I often use are audio visualizer, equalizer, waveform, audio wave, etc. In Adobe's own application, this effect is called "Audio Spectrum". So whatever you call it, all of them visualize sound into moving animations such as radio signals, heartbeats, and the like.

Before going into the details of the discussion, some of my friends here will ask, is it possible to make this spectrum audio effect without additional applications (other than Premiere Pro)? The answer is yes. In fact, there are already several people who have made tutorials on bringing up this equalizer animation without additional applications such as Adobe After Effects.

But unfortunately for the way - the way without additional applications has many limitations that I really need. Therefore, here I will use the 'normal' method, namely using the help of the Adobe After Effects application.

So if you don't have an AE (After Effect) application then this tutorial is not suitable because we will use an AE application to create the equalizer effect.

Also read: Fix Error Preview Screen Turns Black in Premiere Pro

How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)

  1. Please insert the video or audio that you want to give the spectrum audio animation effect in the timeline as usual.
  2. If the file is a video, please follow the steps below. If the file is already in the form of audio, please skip the steps below and go directly to the next step.
  3. If the file to be affected is a video, we need to export the video but only the audio. Please Export (Ctrl + M) and in the Export Settings section, please uncheck the Export video option, so only the Export Audio option is checked. In the "Format" section, please change it to "Waveform Audio". If necessary, please change the "output name" so that it is easy to find. Finally, please click the "Export" button.
  4. Please create an Adjustment layer and save it in the timeline, above the video. With the same duration as the video, you want to give the effect.
  5. Next, please right-click on the "adjustment layer" and select "Replace with After Effects Composition". The After Effects application will automatically open, wait for the AE application to open completely.
    How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)
  6. If the AE application is already open, please insert the audio file that we created in the previous step, save it in the timeline (under the adjustment layer)
  7. Select/click the timeline adjustment layer (to make it active) then delete.
  8. Next, please click the "Layer", "New", and "Solid button" and then click the "OK" button until the solid black layer appears on the timeline.
    How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)
  9. Click/activate the black solid layer, in the effect section, please search/type "Audio Spectrum". Please drag (drag-drop) the audio spectrum effect to the black solid layer or to the main display until the Effect control settings appear on the left side of the screen.
  10. In the effect control section, please go to the "Audio Layer" section and then change from Black Solid to an audio file that we want to give an equalizer or spectrum effect to.
  11. Next, please change the frequency details and others as you need. If you are confused, you can use this data: Start Frequency: 1000, End Frequency: 8400, Frequency bands: 100, Maximum Height: 10000, Audio Duration: 100, The rest are in the default settings (for colors, you can modify freely)
  12. Please play / Play to see the results. If the design is suitable, we can proceed to the next step.

    How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)

  13. Please re-open the Premiere Pro application. If successful the animation/audio illustration has appeared on the main screen. Please adjust the position of the audio spectrum that has been made as needed.
    How to Add Animated Audio Equalizer in Premiere Pro (Audio Spectrum)
  14. Done. You have successfully created an audio animation or illustration in the form of an audio spectrum in Premiere Pro.

Furthermore, changing the position and size can be done directly from Premiere Pro, but if you want to change the color and format of the spectrum please edit from the Premiere Pro application.

Also read: How to Open DDS Files in Adobe Photoshop

Final touch with Drop Shadow (optional)

This is an advanced setting so that the audio spectrum that has been made looks more stand-out and to keep it visible even with the same background color as the audio spectrum color. But if you think the method above is enough, then there is no need to do this advanced setting.

  1. In the Effects section (in Premiere Pro) please find the "Drop Shadow" effect and add it to the audio spectrum layer.
  2. In the "Effect control" Drop Shadow section please set the "Opacity" to 100% and the "Softness" to 10.0. This setting is also not mandatory, please adjust it if it does not match the overall video display.

Once again, if there are effects settings that are not comfortable, please change them and adjust them according to your needs, the important thing now is that you already know how to add animated audio in the Adobe Premiere Pro application.

Using the Trial Version of the After Effects application

The price of the After Effects application is actually not too expensive because the purchase is a contract or lease. But there are other alternatives if you don't have the budget to buy this Adobe-made application license.

If you feel that you will not use the AE application often, I suggest using the trial version of the AE application or just the trial version. After using it, you can immediately uninstall the application again, so there is no need to buy or pay for a license because we only need it once.

We are given 7 days to use the trial version, so I think it's enough if you really use it for this one project. After that, you can uninstall it and don't have to pay anything.

If the After Effects application has been installed, we will proceed to the steps for adding an animated audio equalizer in Premiere Pro.

Hopefully, this article on how to add an equalizer audio animation in Premiere Pro is useful. If you have any questions, please save them in the comments column below. Keep being a wise user!

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Rindi Putra
Rindi Putra
Graphic Designer & Technology Junkie Graduated with 'International Trade Management' Major | 2 Years of Professional career on International Shipping Company & 3 Years career on Local Fashion Brand Company | 10 Years (and still counting) as Digital content creator. Feel free to connect with me on Social Media Twitter/Instagram: @rindiputra

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