How to Create a Voiceover in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2017)

Voiceovers are essential to video production. They work great for narration, tutorials, commentary, or replacing audio in post-production. What a lot of people don’t realize is that Premiere Pro has a built-in voiceover recording feature. You don’t need to open a separate audio program, record there, export, and import. You can do it all right inside Premiere Pro.

It is a simple system and works well for quick recordings. If you are doing professional voice work you may still want dedicated software and equipment, but for getting a voiceover down quickly, this tool is perfect.

How to Set Up Your Microphone

Before recording, you need to tell Premiere Pro which microphone to use.

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware (on Mac it is Premiere Pro > Preferences > Audio Hardware).
2. Find the Default Input dropdown and select the microphone you want to record with.
3. Click OK to save the setting.

How to Record a Voiceover

4. In your timeline, find the audio track you want to record on.
5. Right click in the grey area to the left of the audio track header and select Voice-Over Record Settings. This lets you adjust settings specific to this track.
6. Inside the settings, you will see a voice level meter moving if your mic is active. You can use the Input dropdown to change the microphone for this specific track if needed.
7. Adjust the Pre-Roll and Post-Roll settings. Pre-roll gives you a countdown before recording starts so you have time to prepare. Post-roll controls how long it records after you stop.
8. Close the settings and look for the small microphone icon on the audio track header. If you don’t see it, right click in the track header area, choose Customize, and drag the microphone icon into the header.
9. Position your playhead where you want the recording to begin.
10. Click the microphone icon to start recording. The pre-roll countdown will play, and then Premiere will start capturing audio.
11. Press the spacebar or click the stop button to end the recording. The audio clip will appear directly on the timeline, already in sync with your video.

Tips for Better Voiceovers

• Monitor your levels. Watch the audio meters while recording. You want your levels peaking around -6dB to -12dB. If you are too quiet, the recording will be noisy. Too loud and it will clip.
• Record in a quiet space. Premiere Pro’s recorder does not have noise reduction built in. A closet full of clothes actually makes a surprisingly good recording booth.
• Do multiple takes. Record a few versions and pick the best one. Since the clips land right on the timeline, it is easy to compare and choose.
• Clean up with audio effects. After recording, you can apply effects like echo and reverb or use the built-in DeNoise and DeReverb effects under Audio Effects to clean up the recording.

That is how you create a voiceover directly inside Premiere Pro. It is quick, convenient, and saves you the hassle of bouncing between multiple programs.