Premiere Pro · Audio

How to add music to a video in Premiere Pro

Short answer

Import the music file, drag it onto an empty audio track under the dialogue, lower its volume, and add fades at the start and end.

In Premiere Pro

  1. 01

    Import the track

    Choose File > Import and select the MP3, WAV or AIFF. Or use the Essential Sound panel's music options if your plan includes Adobe Stock audio.

  2. 02

    Place it

    Drag it onto an audio track below the dialogue, such as A3.

  3. 03

    Set the level

    Tag it as Music in Essential Sound and set Clip Volume, or drag the clip's volume line down in the Timeline.

  4. 04

    Fade it

    Select the start and end and press Cmd+Shift+D or Ctrl+Shift+D to add the default audio crossfade.

  5. 05

    Fit the length

    To end on the music's final note, select the clip and in Essential Sound open Duration, choose Remix and set the target length.

  • Only use music you have a license for. Platforms such as YouTube detect copyrighted tracks.

Eddie AI

Do it in Eddie

Eddie adds music from a prompt: generated, uploaded or from your workspace library.

Ask for music, such as "Add a calm piano track under the interview." Eddie can generate it (200 credits per minute), use a file you upload (MP3, WAV or M4A up to 150 MB, free), or use the workspace's music library. It ducks under speech, and you can ask to snap the cuts to the beat. The track arrives in Premiere on its own audio track.

Back to Premiere

Open the edit, click Export and choose Premiere. You get a Premiere project (.prproj) or the older Premiere XML. In the desktop app, Send to Premiere Pro builds the edit inside Premiere through Eddie's panel, which the app installs for you.

If you imported the footage through the desktop app, the timeline points at your original camera files, so Premiere relinks to them. If you uploaded on the web or pulled from cloud storage, it points at Eddie's proxy media; relink to those, not to the camera originals.

Try it in Eddie freeNew accounts start with 500 free credits.

From the help center

Questions

What audio formats does Premiere import?
MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC and M4A, among others.
How loud should background music be?
Low enough that every word is clear. Ducking it 15 dB or more under speech is a common start.

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