Welcome to Designers Choice, where we provide resources to help you with your creative projects. We know that video editing involves many small, important steps. A common task in the video editing world is needing to separate audio from a video.
Maybe you need to replace the original audio with background music, clean up background noise, or make precise adjustments to the sound. This detailed guide is here to help. We will walk you through how to DaVinci Resolve separate audio from video.
Whether you’re a beginner or have some experience, this guide will give you the clear instructions needed to manage your audio tracks and video track independently in DaVinci Resolve, a powerful video editor.
Our goal is to empower you with the skills to make your projects sound as good as they look.
Getting Started: Key Concepts Before You DaVinci Resolve Separate Audio From Video
Before we jump into the step-by-step process, it’s helpful to know a few basic ideas within DaVinci Resolve.
This will make the editing process smoother.
Understanding Linked Clips in the Timeline
When you first import media and place a video clip onto your timeline in the Edit Page, DaVinci Resolve automatically links the video and audio portions together. These are called Link Clips. This is a helpful feature because it keeps your video and sound synchronized.
If you move the video clip, the attached audio clip moves with it, preventing sync issues during basic editing. You can tell clips are linked because selecting either the video or the audio file will highlight both.
This default behavior is designed to make initial editing faster and prevent accidental misalignments between what you see and what you hear.
Common Reasons to Unlink Audio and Video
There are many creative and technical reasons why you would need to separate an audio track from a video track.
- Replacing Audio: You might want to remove the original sound and add a different audio clip, such as background music, a voice-over, or a dubbed language track.
- Cleaning Audio: The original audio might have unwanted background noise, like wind, traffic, or chatter. Separating the audio file allows you to move it to the Fairlight page for advanced cleaning and repair without affecting the video.
- J-Cuts and L-Cuts: These are common editing techniques where the audio from one clip extends into the next clip, or vice-versa. To do this, the audio and video must be unlinked so you can adjust their start and end points independently.
- Creative Sound Design: You might want to create special audio effects, like an echo or reverb, that extend beyond the length of the video clip. Separating the audio gives you the freedom to manipulate it as needed.
- Using B-Roll: Often, editors will use the audio from one clip (like an interview) and show different video footage (B-roll) over it. This requires unlinking the B-roll’s original audio so you can delete it and keep the main audio track.
How to Back Up Your Project to Prevent Data Loss?
Before making significant changes like unlinking clips, it’s a very good practice to back up your project. Data loss can be a major setback.
In DaVinci Resolve, you can create a backup by going to the “File” menu and selecting “Project Manager.” From there, you can right-click on your current project and choose “Export Project Archive.” This saves your entire project, including all your media files, into a single folder.
If anything goes wrong, you can easily restore this archived version and not lose your work. Taking this simple step ensures that your hard work is safe, giving you the confidence to experiment with your edit.
How Do You Separate Audio From Video In DaVinci Resolve?
Now, let’s get into the practical steps. Here are two main methods for how to separate audio from video on the Edit Page.
Method 1: Separating Audio From A Single Video Clip
This is the most common and direct way to handle a single video clip.
Step 1: Place Your Clip on the Timeline
First, open DaVinci Resolve. Make sure you are on the Edit Page, which you can select from the tabs at the bottom of the screen.
Go to your Media Pool, where all your imported files are located. If you haven’t imported your footage yet, you can do so by going to “File” > “Import Media“. Find the video clip you want to work with and drag it from the Media Pool onto your timeline.
You will see the video part on a video track (usually V1) and the audio part on an audio track (usually A1) right below it.
Step 2: Unlinking the Audio and Video Tracks
With your clip on the timeline, you will notice that clicking on either the video or the audio selects both.
To unlink them, right-click on either the audio or video part of the clip. A menu will appear. Look for the option that says “Link Clips” – it will have a checkmark next to it. Click on it to uncheck it. The checkmark will disappear, and your clips will now be separate. You can also do this by selecting the clip and clicking the link icon (which looks like a chain link) in the toolbar above the timeline to toggle it off.
Step 3: Editing the Separated Audio and Video Elements
Now that they are unlinked, you can select and manipulate them independently.
Click on just the audio clip; you’ll see that the video clip is no longer selected. You can now delete the audio by pressing the backspace key, move it to a different track, or trim it without affecting the video. This gives you full control over your audio editing.
For example, you can now drag a new audio file, like a song, onto an empty audio track and position it under your video.
Method 2: Detaching Audio From Multiple Clips Simultaneously
If you have many clips on your timeline and want to separate the audio from all of them at once, this method will save you a lot of time.
Step 1: Selecting A Range of Clips
First, you need to select all the clips you want to modify. You can do this by clicking and dragging a selection box around them on the timeline. Another way is to click the first clip, hold down the “Shift” key, and then click the last clip in the series.
This will select the first, the last, and all the clips in between.
Step 2: Using the Unlink Command For Bulk Separation
Once all your clips are selected, the process is the same as for a single clip. Right-click on any of the selected clips.
In the menu that appears, find the “Link Clips” option and click it to uncheck it. This single action will unlink the audio and video for every clip you selected. This is much faster than unlinking each clip one by one.
Step 3: Organizing Your Unlinked Tracks
After unlinking a batch of clips, your timeline might look a bit messy. It’s a good time to get organized.
For example, you might want to move all the original dialogue to one audio track and all the sound effects to another.
You can lock the video track by clicking the padlock icon next to the track name. This prevents you from accidentally moving or changing the video while you work on organizing your audio. A clean and organized timeline is a key part of an efficient editing process.
Advanced Separation Techniques and Exporting
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can use more powerful tools for your audio work and for exporting your final files.
Using the Fairlight Page For Detailed Audio Work
The Fairlight page is DaVinci Resolve’s built-in professional suite for all things audio. You can get to it by clicking the Fairlight tab at the bottom of the window. This workspace is designed for advanced audio editing, mixing, and finishing. When you switch to the Fairlight page, you will see your audio tracks in much more detail. Here, you can perform tasks like:
- Noise Reduction: Clean up background noise and hiss.
- Equalization (EQ): Adjust the frequencies of your audio to make it sound clearer or richer.
- Adding Effects: Apply audio effects like reverb or echo.
- Mixing: You can adjust the volume levels of multiple audio channels to ensure that dialogue, music, and effects are perfectly balanced.
The Fairlight page gives you precise control that isn’t available on the Edit Page, helping you make your audio sound professional.
It’s the place to go when you need to do more than just simple cuts.
Exporting Audio and Video As Separate Files
Sometimes, you may need to export your audio and video as separate files.
For instance, you might be sending the audio to a sound designer for mixing or the video to a colorist.
To do this, go to the “Deliver” page. In the Render Settings on the left, you can choose to export the “Video” and “Audio” tabs separately.
If you only want the video, uncheck the “Export Audio” box.
If you only want the audio, go to the “Audio” settings and choose your desired audio format (like WAV or MP3), then uncheck the “Export Video” box on the “Video” tab.
You can also export audio directly from the Fairlight page.
Simply select the audio clip or range you want to export, go to the “File” menu, choose “Export,” and then select “Export Audio Files“.
This is useful for quickly sending a specific piece of audio to someone else.
Manually Relinking Audio and Video Tracks
If you separate your clips and later decide you want to link them back together, you can.
Select both the video clip and the audio clip you want to join (hold “Shift” and click each one).
Then, right-click and choose the “Link Clips” option from the menu. This will re-link them, and they will once again move and edit as a single unit. This is helpful if you’ve made adjustments and want to lock the audio and video back in sync to prevent accidental changes.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
Sometimes things don’t go as planned.
Here are solutions to a few common issues that can arise when you use DaVinci Resolve to separate audio from video.
“Unlink” Option is Grayed Out Or Not Working
If you right-click a clip and the “Link Clips” option is grayed out, it usually means the clips are already unlinked.
Look at the toolbar above the timeline for the link icon (the chain). If it’s not highlighted, it means the global linking function is turned off.
Click that icon to turn it on. Now, when you drag new clips to the timeline, they will be linked by default.
If a specific clip won’t unlink, make sure you are selecting the clip correctly on the timeline.
Resolving Audio Sync Issues After Separation
After you unlink and edit, your audio might fall out of sync with the video. This is a common problem. A tiny red number will appear on the clips, showing you exactly how many frames they are out of sync.
To fix this, you can manually slide the audio clip left or right until the red number disappears. For more precision, select the out-of-sync clip, right-click, and choose “Slip.” This allows you to adjust the clip’s position with more control until it’s perfectly aligned with the video again.
How to Revert to the Original Linked Clip?
If you’ve made a mistake and want to go back to how the clip was before you separated the audio, the easiest way is to use the “Undo” command.
Press “Ctrl+Z” (or “Cmd+Z” on a Mac) a few times to reverse your last few actions.
If you’ve made too many changes to undo, you can simply delete the unlinked clips from your timeline and drag the original video clip from the Media Pool back onto the timeline.
This will give you a fresh, linked version of the clip to start over with.
FAQ’s:
Is It Possible to Separate Audio From Video in DaVinci Resolve on an iPad?
Yes, the process is very similar in DaVinci Resolve for iPad. You can tap and hold on a clip in the timeline to bring up a context menu, where you should find an option to unlink the audio and video. The interface is optimized for touch, but the core functions remain the same.
Can I Extract Only Certain Audio Tracks Or Channels From A Video?
Yes. Some video files have multiple audio channels. When you place such a clip on the timeline, you may see several audio tracks appear.
After unlinking the clips, you can select and delete the specific audio channels you don’t need, leaving only the ones you want to use, like a track with a real person speaking, and removing another that might have been meant for an automated bad bot or a different language.
You can also view clip attributes in the inspector panel to manage audio channels.
Are There Keyboard Shortcuts For Detaching Audio From Video in DaVinci Resolve?
Yes, using keyboard shortcuts can speed up your workflow. To unlink selected clips, you can use the shortcut “Ctrl+Alt+L” on Windows or “Cmd+Option Key+L” on a Mac. This toggles the linked status, allowing you to quickly separate or relink clips without using the mouse.
What Should I Do If the Separated Audio is Out of Sync?
If your audio is out of sync, first check for the small red indicator on the clip that tells you by how many frames it’s off. You can manually drag the audio to realign it. For fine-tuning, zoom into the timeline and align the audio waveform with the visual cues in the video.
If you need to relink them at a new sync point, you can select both clips, right-click, and choose “Link Clips.”
Conclusion
Learning how to take audio out of video in DaVinci Resolve is important for all video makers. You may want to swap sound or work on sound design using the Fairlight page. It is key to control both your sound and video parts. You need to know how to use the Link Clips tool.
You should learn how to handle many tracks at once. It helps if you solve common problems while editing.
These steps will help make your work better and more polished. This guide shows you how to separate audio from video with ease in DaVinci Resolve. Now you can change your content the way you want and share your ideas clearly.
