Office Man: Audio & Color Correction in Premiere Pro

Topics Covered in This Premiere Pro Tutorial:

Advanced Audio Panning Techniques and Professional Color Correction Workflows

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this comprehensive exercise, we'll elevate our office man video to professional broadcast standards. You'll master advanced audio editing by implementing dynamic panning animation that follows on-screen movement, creating an immersive soundscape that enhances viewer engagement. We'll then dive deep into Premiere Pro's powerful Lumetri Color workspace to execute sophisticated color correction techniques, including primary and secondary corrections that will give your footage the polished look of professional productions.

Previewing the Final Video

1. On the Desktop, navigate to Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Office Man > Finished Movie and double–click office-man.mp4.

2. Play the video multiple times, paying close attention to these professional enhancements we'll be implementing:

   • Listen as the rolling chair audio seamlessly pans from left to right speaker, perfectly synchronized with the actor's movement across the frame—this creates spatial audio that mimics real-world sound positioning.
   • Notice how the background colors, including the vibrant rug, have been professionally desaturated to create visual hierarchy and prevent color competition with our subject.

Getting Started

1. You should still have yourname-OfficeMan open in Premiere Pro. If you closed it, re-open it now by going to File > Open Project then Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Office Man. We strongly recommend completing the previous exercise (5A) before proceeding, as this builds directly on those techniques. If you haven't finished it, follow the sidebar instructions below.

   Project Continuity

   This exercise builds directly on Exercise 5A. If you haven't completed the previous exercise, use the provided Office Man-Ready for Color Correction.prproj file to catch up.

Audio Adjustments

Professional audio mixing requires precise control over multiple audio elements. We'll start by balancing our foundational audio tracks before moving into advanced panning techniques.

1. In the Timeline, examine your two audio tracks. Track A1 contains the office ambient noise (your foundational audio bed), while A2 holds the rolling chair sound effect. Professional audio mixing typically involves layering these elements at different levels to create depth and realism.

2. At the top of Premiere, click on Audio to switch to the Audio workspace, which provides optimized panels for professional audio editing.

3. Go to Window > Workspaces > Reset to Saved Layout to ensure you're working with the standard configuration.

4. For precise audio level monitoring, drag the top of the Audio Meters panel (currently positioned right of the Timeline) onto the Essential Sound panel on the far right. This larger display will give you better visual feedback for professional audio standards.

   

5. Play through the entire audio sequence, watching the level indicators on the right. The Audio Meters panel displays yellow reference lines showing peak levels—essential for maintaining broadcast-safe audio standards.

6. Select the ambient office noise clip on A1. Ambient tracks should provide subtle background without competing with foreground elements.

7. In the interface center, click the Audio Track Mixer tab (second tab) to access professional mixing controls.

8. Adjust the office ambient noise on A1 (leftmost column) to –8.5. This creates proper headroom for your main audio elements while maintaining atmospheric presence.

9. Select the rolling chair clip on A2. This will be our featured sound effect that needs prominence in the mix.

10. In the Audio Track Mixer, boost the A2 level to 6. This ensures the rolling chair effect cuts through the ambient layer with clarity and impact.

11. Playback your audio mix. The levels should now provide proper separation between ambient atmosphere and featured sound effects. Next, we'll add spatial dimension through professional panning techniques.

Panning Audio Left to Right

Spatial audio positioning is a hallmark of professional post-production. By animating the stereo position of our rolling chair sound, we'll create the illusion of three-dimensional movement that matches the visual action.

1. We'll create realistic spatial audio by animating the panning (stereo distribution) to follow the actor's movement from left to right. This technique is standard in professional film and television post-production. Switch to the Editing workspace for better access to keyframe controls.

2. Select the clip on A2 and ensure the playhead is positioned at 1;07 where the movement begins.

3. In the Effect Controls panel, expand the Panner section to access stereo positioning controls.

4. Set the Balance to –100, routing all audio to the left speaker. This establishes our starting position for the panning animation.

5. Play back to confirm the audio is positioned fully left—this should match the actor's initial screen position.

6. Move the playhead to the clip's end at 4;09 where the actor completes his movement.

7. Set the Balance to 100 (full right), creating the endpoint of our spatial animation.

8. Position the playhead at 2;19 when the actor reaches center screen—this is our crucial midpoint for realistic movement.

9. Set the Balance to 0 (center), creating a three-point animation that follows the visual action precisely.

10. Preview the audio clip. You should hear the chair sound travel naturally across the stereo field, but we can refine this further.

11. For professional smoothness, enhance the middle keyframe's interpolation. In the right side of Effect Controls, CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the middle keyframe (at 2;19) and select Auto Bezier. This creates natural acceleration and deceleration in the panning movement, matching real-world physics.

12. Verify that the ambient track on A1 remains unaffected by selecting it and confirming its Balance stopwatch is disabled.

13. Final audio playback should reveal smooth, realistic spatial movement that enhances the visual storytelling. This completes our professional audio enhancement.

Color Correcting the Actor

Professional color correction requires both technical precision and artistic vision. The techniques you'll learn here form the foundation of broadcast-quality color grading, though complex projects destined for television or cinema typically require specialized colorists working in dedicated suites with calibrated monitors and expanded color gamuts.

For broadcast television specifically, colorists must work within strict technical specifications (Rec. 709 for HD, Rec. 2020 for 4K) to ensure skin tones reproduce accurately across diverse viewing devices. While Premiere Pro's Lumetri tools are broadcast-capable, professional TV work often utilizes specialized software like DaVinci Resolve Studio or Avid Symphony for maximum precision and compliance.

1. Switch to Premiere's Color workspace at the top of the interface, which optimizes the panel layout for professional color correction workflows.

2. Select the NYCofficeman subsequence clip on V2—this is our primary subject requiring precision color work.

3. In the top right Lumetri Color panel, expand Basic Correction to access fundamental color tools used in professional post-production.

4. Set the Program Monitor zoom to 100% for accurate color evaluation, then position the playhead at approximately 2;14 for optimal subject visibility.

5. Professional color correction begins with proper white balance. Under White Balance, select the WB Selector eyedropper tool.

6. In the Program Monitor, click the center of the ring on the actor's finger or his watch—these metallic surfaces provide neutral reference points for establishing accurate white balance across the entire image.

   This "primary" correction affects the complete clip uniformly, establishing the foundation for all subsequent adjustments.

7. Return the Program Monitor to Fit view for overall image assessment.

8. Fine-tune the Temperature to –7.5 to cool the overall color palette, reducing warm color casts that can make footage appear unprofessional.

9. Adjust Tint to 0.5, adding subtle magenta to counteract any green color contamination from fluorescent lighting or environmental reflections.

10. For Tone adjustments, manual control typically yields superior results to Auto settings, which often create overly processed appearances. Set Exposure to 0.2 to gently lift the overall brightness without losing detail in highlights or shadows.

11. Increase Saturation to 112 to restore color richness while maintaining natural skin tones—professional colorists typically avoid heavy saturation adjustments that can appear unnatural.

12. Collapse Basic Correction and expand Creative to access Premiere's professional color lookup tables (LUTs).

    The Creative panel offers cinematic "looks" that emulate film stocks and professional color grades. The preview arrows below the Look menu allow quick browsing of available options.

13. Select Look: Fuji ETERNA 250D Fuji 3510 (by Adobe) (typically the second option), which provides a professional film-like color response.

14. Reduce Intensity to 14.5 for subtle enhancement rather than heavy stylization—professional work typically favors restraint over dramatic effects.

    The Adjustments section below allows further refinement of the Creative look to match your project's specific requirements.

15. To evaluate your corrections, drag the NYCofficeman clip from the Timeline to the Source Monitor for direct comparison capabilities.

16. Switch to the Effect Controls tab and note how Lumetri Color appears in the effects chain after our earlier Transform effect—this order ensures proper processing hierarchy.

17. Toggle the fx button next to Lumetri Color to compare your corrected footage with the original clip. Professional colorists constantly reference original footage to maintain perspective on their adjustments.

    The right-side Lumetri Color panel also offers individual toggle switches for each correction section, enabling precise before/after comparisons.

18. Return to the right Lumetri Color panel and expand Curves for advanced tonal control used in professional color grading.

19. Expand RGB Curves to access standard contrast and luminance controls familiar to photographers and professional colorists.

20. Create a gentle brightness lift by raising the curve approximately one-quarter gridline as shown below—this professional technique adds subtle "punch" without losing shadow detail:

    

21. Scroll down and expand Color Wheels & Match to access three-way color correction tools standard in professional grading suites.

    These color wheels help eliminate color contamination—in this case, potential green spill from the chroma key background that may have affected skin tones.

22. Experiment with the brightness sliders adjacent to each Midtones wheel to understand their effect on different tonal ranges.

23. Practice adjusting the crosshair centers within each color wheel—dragging toward magenta, for example, counteracts green tints common in digital footage. Professional colorists use these tools for precise hue adjustments in highlights, midtones, and shadows independently.

24. After experimentation, double–click each center crosshair to reset all adjustments—this returns the controls to neutral positions.

    Remember: All these adjustments are also accessible in the Effect Controls panel, where the Reset Parameter button provides individual control resets.

    With our subject properly color-corrected, we'll now turn our attention to the background elements.

Color Correcting the Background

Background color correction requires a different approach than subject correction. Here we'll use secondary color correction techniques to selectively adjust specific hues while leaving others untouched—a fundamental skill in professional post-production.

1. Select the Working… clip on V1 in the Timeline.

   This background plate contains overly saturated purple and green tones that compete for viewer attention. Professional video maintains visual hierarchy by ensuring backgrounds support rather than compete with primary subjects.

2. For selective color isolation, we'll employ HSL Secondary correction—a professional technique for targeting specific color ranges. Expand HSL Secondary and open the Key section, which functions similarly to advanced masking tools in professional color suites.

3. Click the first eyedropper next to Set color to activate the color selection tool.

4. Target the purple color by clicking on the darker purple section in the bottom right of the rug with the eyedropper.

5. Toggle Color/Gray to visualize your color isolation against a neutral gray background—this professional technique reveals exactly which pixels are being affected by your corrections.

6. Select the middle (+) eyedropper next to Set color to add additional tones to your selection.

7. Click additional areas of the rug to expand your color selection, building a comprehensive mask of the purple tones.

   This workflow mirrors professional color keying techniques used in Premiere's Ultra Key or After Effects' Keylight, as well as Photoshop's Color Range selection tools.

8. Use the third (-) eyedropper to remove any unintended selections from areas outside the rug, ensuring precision in your color isolation.

9. Continue alternating between Color and Gray views while refining your selection with the add and subtract eyedroppers until you achieve clean isolation of the rug's purple tones.

10. Once your color selection is complete, expand the Refine section and set Blur to 5. This softens the selection edges, preventing harsh transitions between corrected and uncorrected areas—a crucial step for professional-quality results.

11. Disable Color/Gray to return to normal color view.

12. In the Correction section below, drag the Saturation slider left to observe the color transformation from rich purple through brown tones to neutral gray.

13. Set Saturation to 54 to significantly reduce the purple intensity while retaining some color character.

14. Add Tint: 5 to restore a subtle magenta hint, maintaining natural color relationships.

15. For independent control over additional colors, scroll up and expand Curves rather than adding to the existing key, which would apply identical corrections to all selected colors.

16. The Hue Saturation Curves provide another professional method for selective color correction, familiar from our previous exercises with clothing color adjustments.

17. Create isolation points for the yellow-green color range by clicking the rainbow stripe at orange and cyan positions—avoid dragging when clicking. These outer points become protection points that confine your corrections to only the intended hue range.
18. Add three evenly-spaced points between your protection points to create a smooth correction curve.
19. Drag the three middle points downward to desaturate the green color family, reducing their visual competition with the subject.

20. Achieve a curve similar to the example below, which effectively tames the green saturation:

    

21. Verify your corrections by toggling the checkbox next to Curves to compare before and after states.

22. Collapse all sections in the Lumetri Color panel for better organization.

23. Finally, we'll add a professional vignette effect. Expand the Vignette section in Lumetri Color.

24. Experiment with the Amount slider—negative values create darker edges (traditional vignetting) while positive values lighten edges for artistic effect.

25. Set Amount to –1.7 for subtle edge darkening appropriate to the office environment.

26. Adjust Midpoint to 35 to intensify the vignette effect slightly, drawing more attention to the center of the frame.

27. Use the checkbox next to Vignette to toggle the effect and evaluate its contribution to the overall image.

    Professional color grading often matches vignetting between different shots to maintain visual consistency across cuts.

28. Select the NYCofficeman… clip in the Timeline to apply matching vignette settings.

29. In the Vignette section, apply identical settings:

    • Amount: –1.7
    • Midpoint: 35

30. Scrub through the entire sequence to evaluate the cohesive visual treatment across both clips.

Copying Effects

Efficiency in professional post-production often involves replicating successful corrections across multiple clips. Premiere Pro's effect copying capabilities streamline this workflow significantly.

1. In Effect Controls, select the complete Lumetri Color effect and copy it using Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac).

2. Disable the effect temporarily by clicking its fx button to create a before/after comparison point.

3. Double–click the NYCofficeman… subsequence clip to open it in its own Timeline for detailed editing access.