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Say I add a bunch of Audio/Video clips to a sequence, then delete all the audio (Alt-select it and delete); I work on it for some time, close Premiere, re-open.. etc.,
Is there any way to restore the audio to any of the clips that were deleted?

I know I can technically go through each clip, check its timeframe in the clip inspector (i.e. start-time, end-time), open the original clip, reselect that timeframe exactly, and then drag that over the original clip, but with over 30 clips, this is obviously very time consuming. Does anyone know if there's a built-in way in Premiere that allows you to restore the audio to the tracks again?

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3 Answers 3

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There's a semi-automatic way to do this – semi automatic because it involves only typing three keystrokes over and over: xf,, xf,, xf,… — you could train your cat to do it!

Here's how it goes:

  • make sure the audio is enabled for the tracks you want to restore (you only need to do this once)

    audio enabled

  • park the playhead over one of the clips.

    enter image description here

  • hit x (for Mark Clip) to set the in and out point to match the start and end of the clip:

    in and out selected

  • hit f for Match Frame. This will display the current frame from the source clip in the viewer window – note that the in and out points will match those of the timeline clip

    enter image description here

  • hit , to overwrite the clip. Note that this will add the audio tracks as denoted by magic sparkles in the pic below. The magic sparkles only appear if you really believe in them

    new clip

  • The playhead will now be parked at the start of the next clip. If it's one you want to reinstate the audio for, then repeat xf, untill you're done, otherwise go to the next clip – down arrow – and repeat.

It looks a bit complicated but you can do it all by the keyboard just by typing xf, (and optionally down arrow) over and over. Note that you have to hit x before you hit f because once you hit f it sets the focus to the viewer window (you can jump back to the timeline by hitting shift3).

Note that this works with FCP too, except you replace , with F10, and you have to press the down arrow each time. My goal with all NLEs has always been to edit completely from the keyboard, using the mouse as little as possible.

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  • 3
    Great! You saved me a few hours of work. The only thing is replace is dot (.) for me now. Thanks
    – artemean
    Aug 8, 2018 at 21:47
  • This isn't working for me. Mac Premiere Pro 2017. Hitting the keyboard shortcuts doesn't do anything. And the commands are grayed out in the menu. Apr 3, 2019 at 8:04
  • You are more than awesome! Jun 14, 2019 at 17:57
  • 1
    The sparkles appear if you believe in them?! I want to promote you. In every job you could ever have.
    – Jules
    Nov 19, 2019 at 7:38
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    @phantomraa Great! Also I need a new computer, and some extended time off over Christmas, if you can just organise that, thanks.
    – stib
    Nov 19, 2019 at 23:39
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As far as I know, there is no quick way to bring the audio back into a sequence after deleting it. I learned this the hard way a while back, and now, I either drop the unneeded audio into a muted track or use subclips to store the audio/video together.

If you haven't done much trimming of your clips in the sequence, and the clips happen to come from separate files in your project panel, then you are in luck. Just right-click the clip in the sequence and select 'Reveal in Finder'. Your in/out points should still be defined in that file. You may have already figured this out though.

If you have done a lot of trimming of your clips in the sequence, you will need to go back to the file and manually set the in/out points. I hope this helps!

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For those who also have After Effects installed:

Fastest way for me is to copy the clip, paste it in After Effects (any composition). Enable audio by clicking on speaker icon, copy it again and paste it into Premiere.

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