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This tutorial will show you how to create your first Premiere Rush Audio project, import and organize media, and use the interface controls.

For all Premiere Rush projects, there must be a visual element. For audio-only projects, you will use this black background. Right-click to save.

Starting a New Project

  1. Open Adobe Premiere Rush.
rush icon

The first time you open Premiere Rush, you will be taken through a tutorial for using most of its features.

We suggest that you complete the built-in tutorial, and then return to our written tutorials as needed. 

Rush intro screen

The next time you access Premiere Rush, or if you skip the guided tutorial, you will be presented with the New Project screen.

create new project button
  1. Click the blue Create a New Project button to begin your project.

Next, you’ll be taken to the Media Browser to select the files you want in your project. You will also be able to give your project a name and make selections on how Premiere Rush handles your imported media and project.

Media browser

The Project Name is located on the left, towards the bottom of the screen.

  1. Click where it says “Untitled” and replace the text with the name you’d like your project to have.
  2. Leave the Sync with Creative Cloud selection checked.
  3. Click the box next to Copy Media to select that as well.
Project name and media selections
  1. Navigate to where your files are located.

Our files are in a folder on the desktop, but yours could be located in your downloads, documents, on the desktop, or a number of other locations depending on where you imported or stored your files.

 

  1. Once you import the black background, select other images, music, and/or sound effects you would like to include in your project.
Black background selected

 

  1. Click the blue Create button in the lower right once you have selected all the files you want in your project.

You’ll now see Premiere Rush’s editing interface. You will be able to click and drag your audio recording to rearrange it in the timeline.

NOTE: If you do not have an audio file, you will just see the black background as a placeholder.

Editing interface with black background
  1. To add audio tracks, click the Control Tracks button, located in the bottom left corner of the interface.
Control tracks button

You will now see all 4 video and 3 audio tracks that you may want to use for your project.

All video and audio tracks displayed in project interface
  1. To record a voiceover, click the Add Media button (white “+” in a blue circle).

A selection window will pop-up.

  1. Click the Voiceover button labeled “voiceover” with a microphone icon.
Voiceover button

This will enable the voiceover controls for the first audio track, represented by a red circle – the record button.

Record button on first audio track
  1. Position the playhead – the thin, vertical, blue line – by clicking where you want to start recording within your timeline.
Positioning the playhead to record
  1. Click the red Record button. You will be given a 3-second countdown before the recording will begin.

NOTE: If you are using Premiere Rush on a computer for the first time, you will be prompted to give Rush access to your microphone. Click OK.

  1. Once you are done recording, press the Record button again.

When you are recording, the Record button will show as a Stop button with a red square.

stop recording button

You will see your recording in green in your timeline.

Recorded voiceover in timeline

Editing Audio

Expanding Audio

In order to make precise audio edits, you will want to see your waveforms expanded.

Click the Expand Audio button, located in the bottom left corner of the interface.

 

Expand audio button

You’ll now be able to see your audio waveforms better for more precise editing.

Expanded audio waveforms

Splitting Clips

To edit out part of your audio recording, you can split the audio clip the same way as you can a video clip.

  1. Click on the audio clip where you want to put each split.
  2. Click the split button or hit “s” on the keyboard for each split.
  3. Click on the section you want to delete.
Split clip selected
  1. Hit Delete on the keyboard.
Deleted split clip

If you want the remaining sections of your recording to be sequential, you will have to manually bring them together by clicking and dragging them into place.

Trimming Clips

  1. Hover over the edge of a clip and your cursor will switch to the trim tool automatically.
  2. Click-and-drag in the direction that you want to remove to shorten the clip.

Adjusting Volume

To adjust the volume of this clip we need to access the audio tools.

  1. Click the Audio button, located towards the top on the right.
Audio button
By default, you will see just the basic adjustments.

  1. Use the Clip Volume slider to adjust the overall volume of the audio recording.
audio adjustments window
  1. To access the advanced settings, click on the Advanced label.

Because we are recording voice, we will want to change the type of audio type.

  1. Click Change type and select Voice
Changing the audio type to Voice

You can listen to your audio recording and select the other options for better sound quality.

Adding Audio Effects

In Premiere Rush, you have the option to fade in and out audio recordings and music. They combine the visual and audio effects into one transition called Cross Dissolve.

  1. Select the Transitions icon at the upper right to see the transition options.
Transitions options
  1. Click and drag Cross Dissolve to the beginning or end of your audio or music recording.
Cross Dissolve in the transitions options
Transition dragged into audio track

This will fade in or out depending on where you put the transition.

You can elongate this fade by dragging the transition to the desired length.

 

Adding Built-In Music

  1. Click the Add Media button (white “+” in a blue circle).
  2. Select Media button in the window that pops open.
Media selection

This opens the media browser. You will need to navigate to Premiere Rush’s Soundtracks.

  1. Click the drop-down selection at the top of the window and select Media Browser.

In the screenshot below, we were currently accessing the Desktop, but your interface my display a different folder.

media browser
  1. Select Rush Soundtracks from the Media Browser choices.
select rush soundtracks
rush soundtracks music options
  1. Select one of the music choices and click and drag it to the timeline where you want the music to begin.
  2. Click in the timeline where you’d like to playback from and hit the spacebar to watch your video with the music.

If you don’t like the music you chose, click on it in the timeline and hit delete on the keyboard.

  1. Click the Audio button, located towards the top on the right.
  2. Click the Advanced label to access the Advanced settings.

Changing from Auto Volume to Auto Duck will allow your music to automatically lower when your voice recording is playing. This is helpful so that your voice is clear over the underlying music.

 

  1. Uncheck Auto Volume and instead select Auto Duck.
Auto duck selected

Visually, you will see shadows on the clips that this is applied to that indicates when it’s quieter. The audio will fade down as it approaches voice clips and fade up when the voice clips end.

Clip with auto duck applied

Exporting a Finished Podcast

To be able to listen to your podcast outside of Premiere Rush or upload it to Box or Canvas, your finished video needs to be exported.

  1. Access Premiere Rush’s exporting options by clicking the Share tab above the viewer window.
  2. Under Destinations, leave Local selected and do not select any of the other options.

It is better to export your audio project locally and then upload it to your desired destination, even if it’s available in the list.

Sharing options window
  1. If you wish to change the name of the video, click into the filename field and type in what you want it to be called.
Naming project
  1. If you want to change where your video is exporting to, click on the current path. In the example above the path is “/Users/…/Documents.”

If you don’t change it, Premiere Rush will default to saving to your documents folder.

  1. Navigate to where you’d like your video saved.

NOTE: We recommend saving it to the desktop to make it easy to find. To do this, simply click “Desktop” on the left hand sidebar of the save window.

 

  1. Click Choose in the lower right hand corner of the window.
save to desktop
  1. Click the blue Export button in the lower right corner of the Rush screen.
export button

The screen will change to show the rendering (exporting) progress of your video.

progress window
  1. When the export is complete, you can click on the video thumbnail to review your exported video, or click Done.
successful export window

If you need to make revisions, you can return to your project by clicking the Edit tab at the top of the interface, located to the left of the Share tab.

When you are done editing and have a finished audio project that you are happy with you can quit out of Premiere Rush.

Close or minimize any other windows you may have open and you will see your exported video on the Desktop with a thumbnail of your video and with a “.mp4” extension.

Saved audio project

This file can be uploaded to cloud storage or Canvas and be played on any computer.