Adding Sound causes video frames to shift

[fls1945]

Hi,
I hope someone can advise me on a problem which I suspect that I am causing to myself via some sort of erroneous setting, but do not have any idea what I've done.

I am editing a wedding video. For the clips of the opening phase as people enter the church, I have separated the sound from the video; replaced the original sound track with music from an independent source. I do this up to the wedding march portion, when the service music takes over.

Each time I add a new piece of audio, all of the video track shifts to the right to "make space" for it. I can select and reposition the video clip(s) but must continue to do this for each audio insertion. However, once I get to the portion of the video with the original audio track intact, it refuses to move, whether I try to move individual clips, or by selecting the entire remaining video. It almost seems like I have inadvertently locked it somehow.

I get the same scenario whether I place my new audio in the Audio 1 track; Narration track or in the Soundtrack track.

I also encountered the same "locked" situation when I was working with still images at the end of the video. I was creating a bride & groom biographical story from childhood pictures, and hoped to add an audio soundtrack to complement the images. Again, the images moved to accommodate the sound track; I could manually adjust for a bit, and then it failed to respond, once again seemingly locked.

On the outside chance that anyone reading this can comprehend what I am doing, I would really appreciate your help.
Regards,
Frank Sheehan

[VernonRobinson]

Frank,
I am not sure that I fully understand your question, but there are two basic things that I do to help with adding clips to the timeline. When you want to insert a clip into a gap and not have it shift, then hold down the CTRL key when adding the clip to the timeline.

Also, I tend to pull the sound track back before I do an insertion in order to keep from introducing a gap. In the free section of the site http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=44, Steve has provided an excellent intro to getting started with the product. It was shot using version 8, but it applies to version 7. Finally, if you do not have a copy, you could pick up the Muvipix guide to Premiere Elements. It is also another excellent source of information on the program and how to use it.

P.S. Couple all of the above with the forum, I think we have you covered . Post back with additional questions or clarifications.

Regards,
-Vernon

[Chuck Engels]

Good answer Vernon

[fls1945]

Thanks for the input Vernon. I just tried the CTRL technique, and so far it seems to be working.
Thanks
Frank

[VernonRobinson]

Frank,
Glad to hear it worked for you. Don't forget the other sources of information I mentioned to you. It is a quick way to gain knowledge with minimal pain.

Regards,
-Vernon

[Chuck Engels]

You get various results depending on if you press the Ctrl key or the Alt key while selecting, moving and dropping clips on the timeline. There is a tutorial that shows and explains all about it.