How to sync audio and video in Premiere Pro with a clapperboard

Before you start

Adobe now calls the app Adobe Premiere. These steps were checked against Adobe's help pages for version 26.5 (September 2026), and they work the same way in recent versions of Premiere Pro.

You need two marks: on the picture, the first frame where the sticks are fully closed (or the first white frame of a flashing digital slate), and on the sound, the very start of the clap's spike. If those are new to you, read how to sync audio and video with a clapperboard first.

Let Premiere line them up with Clip > Synchronize

Mark the clap once in each clip and Premiere does the lining up for you.

1. Mark the clap in both clips

   Open the camera clip in the Source Monitor, step to the first closed-sticks frame and press I for an In point. Do the same on your sound file, at the start of the clap's spike.

2. Put both in the timeline and select them

   Drag the camera clip and the sound file onto the timeline on separate audio tracks, then select both.

3. Synchronize on the clap

   Choose Clip > Synchronize. In the Synchronize Clips dialog, choose Clip Start, which Adobe describes as syncing at the In point, “at the clap of the slate”. Click OK.

4. Check it

   Play a line of dialogue and watch the lips. If it's a frame off, use the nudge keys in the next section.

If you used a tail slate at the end of the take instead, set Out points on the clap and choose Clip End.

Sync one take by hand on the timeline

1. Put both clips in the timeline

   Drag the camera clip onto the timeline. It lands on V1 with its own sound on A1. Drag your separate sound file onto A2.

2. Zoom in so the clap is easy to see

   Press = to zoom in and - to zoom out. Press Alt+= (Option+= on a Mac) to make the audio tracks taller, so the spike stands out.

3. Find the frame where the sticks close

   Use the Left and Right arrow keys to step one frame at a time. Stop on the first frame where the sticks are closed, or the first white frame of a flash.

4. Slide the sound under that frame

   Drag the clip on A2 until the start of its clap spike sits under the playhead. With snapping on (press S), the clip jumps to the playhead as you get close.

5. Fine-tune one frame at a time

   Select the sound clip and nudge it: Cmd+Left or Right on a Mac, Alt+Left or Right on Windows. Add Shift to move five frames. Play a line of dialogue and watch the lips.

6. Link them so they stay together

   Select the camera clip and choose Clip > Unlink, so its own sound comes apart. Then Shift-click the video and your sound file and choose Clip > Link (Cmd+L or Ctrl+L).

Sync a whole day of takes with Merge Clips

Merge Clips builds one new clip from the picture and the sound, lined up on the points you choose. It works from the Project panel, so you can prepare every take before you start cutting.

1. Mark the clap on the picture

   Open the camera clip in the Source Monitor, step to the first closed-sticks frame, and press I to set an In point.

2. Mark the clap on the sound

   Open the sound file in the Source Monitor and set an In point at the very start of the clap's spike.

3. Select the pair

   In the Project panel, click the camera clip, then Cmd-click (Mac) or Shift-click (Windows) its sound file.

4. Merge on the In points

   Choose Clip > Merge Clips. Under the sync point, choose In points, then click OK.

5. Edit with the merged clip

   A new clip with “Merged” in its name appears in the Project panel. Cut with that one instead of the originals.

Turn off the camera's scratch audio

• To keep it but silence it: select the camera's audio clip and turn off Clip > Enable (Shift+Cmd+E on a Mac, Shift+E on Windows). Disabled clips don't play or export.
• To remove it: choose Clip > Unlink, select the camera audio on A1 and press Delete.
• In a merged clip, the camera's sound is kept as its own channels. Disable it the same way.

Questions