Review: Adobe CS6 Part II

1.0 The Video Production Suite

Workflows that incorporate CS6 Master Collection applications differ not just in what they produce (print, video, web etc.), but also in the way they (are allowed to) grow. Applications like Photoshop can and will be used by people of various vocations, from photographers and painters to web artists. It is entirely possible to have workflows that incorporate many steps that use, say, Photoshop, Illustrator, or Acrobat Pro. In contrast, video editing tools of CS6 tend to have a certain position in video production workflows and are more specialized. This is why it would perhaps be unfair to look at C6’s video production applications individually. Adobe Prelude, Audition, Premiere Pro, After Effects, SpeedGrade, Media Encoder, and Encore serve as the “core” of video editing in Creative Suite, supported by Photoshop, Illustrator, and Bridge. The use of many of these applications is optional, and will greatly depend on the needs of the particular project.

1.1 Adobe Prelude

As the newest addition to the Creative Suite, Prelude replaced Adobe OnLocation and serves the same purpose as a pre-editing tool. Prelude is a very specialized Adobe Bridge-like application that offers ‘quick and dirty’ footage selection, annotation, and tagging. It does support other Adobe file formats like AI and PSD, and, considering this is the first version of Prelude, it is to be expected that its limited list of supported video formats will eventually be expanded. The application is built around keyboard shortcuts, minimizing the need for a mouse and it also features a built-in voice dictation tool for annotation.


Adobe Prelude supports a number of file formats, and we hope this list will be extended in future versions.

Once selected, content can be directly imported into Premiere Pro and all the notes from Prelude will be included on the Premiere Pro timeline as well. Further changes made in Prelude will be automatically updated in Premiere Pro, much like in InDesign.


In Adobe Prelude, several types of markers can be added to “ingested” files, depending their type. In this screenshot, two chapter markers were added.


Files drawn from Adobe Prelude into Premiere Pro retain all markers associated with the file.

1.2 Adobe Audition


One often overlooked trait of Adobe Audition is its intuitive and responsive user interface.

Originally known as Cool Edit Pro, Adobe Audition is a wave and multitrack audio editing application. Rewritten from ground-up in C++ for Creative Suite 5.5, it received further enhancements in CS6 and features a wide array of audio processing and manipulation tools. Like Prelude, it can integrate itself fully into a Premiere Pro project, but unlike Prelude, it is also a fantastic stand-alone application.

There are two sides to Audition, one is the wave editor that can either manipulate an existing recording or can create a new one, and the other is the track editor that combines multiple wave files. Both utilize a wide array of effects and tools, a list too long for a whole suite review.


In Adobe Audition, up to sixteen simultaneous effects can be added to a single wave, all interacting with each other.

The most exciting new features of Audition include its new, powerful Speech Alignment Tool that enables syncing of two voice recordings, one made on shooting location (presumably with lots of noise) that is attached to the video, and the other made later in the studio. Although some actors are very good at lip-syncing, the Speech Alignment Tool is really designed for a wider audience.


The speech alignment tool is probably the best new addition to Adobe Audition.

Since Audition now also supports video playback (preview) all audio effects can be ‘felt’ without switching to Premiere Pro. Metadata, like Audition's "markers", work across multiple applications, so an annotation of a marked segment in an audio track will be visible in Premiere Pro.


As with Adobe Prelude, Audition supports markers that will follow the file into Premiere Pro.