Major Bug in Audio Auto Ducking!
I use the auto ducking function all over my edits. Since PP 2020 it has a huge bug and does not work as it should anymore!
The function sets the keyframes correctly and if i play through the complete audio file and the playhead crosses the keyframes they work as they should. But if I start playback in the middle of an audio file and the playhead does not cross the keyframe it acts like there is no keyframe and does not change the volume as it should. Check the attached video for further explanation and watch the audio levels to understand what i mean.

This issue should be resolved in the next Premiere update.
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Ben Spear commented
@Fred this worked for me! Bizarre.
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Fred Middel commented
I've been having the exact same problem. Screamingly frustrating. There are keyframes. They affect playback during edting. They are ignored during output to the final product. I JUST (like 10 seconds ago) found a fix. Right at the beginning of the audio track, add a key frame just to the right of the first keyframe. Then take the LEFT-MOST keyframe and move it up just a hair. This seems to get Premiere Pro to recognize the SECOND keyframe. For some reason, I think it's not recognizing the left-most keyframe.
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Gabriel Regalbuto commented
I have the same problem. When running auto-ducking the keyframes are generated but are ignored. The timeline reacts to the manual keyframes I had set earlier which are no longer present. If I add the same audio clip, don't make any manual adjustments, and then run the auto-ducking, the same keyframes are generated but they actually work. Of course, now I'm noticing that if I manually adjust those keyframes which have been created I get other weird anomalies.
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Jakub Poniatowski commented
I've been having this bug happen a lot as well. The ducking sometimes works, an sometimes does not. To test to make sure it wasn't jsut my ears since I can sometimes not detect the smaller changes I would put it to -48 db duck amount but the audio would stay the same level throughout, completely ignoring the keyframes.
For me this started with the update that added Adobe Stock Music to Premiere Pro.
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Thank you. I wasn't implying any user error, but trying to make certain we are using similar configurations as we've been unable to reproduce this on our own systems so far. As we attempt to troubleshoot, we'll need to supply the testing and engineering team with as much detail as possible, so I appreciate the help so far.
Would it be possible to send us a copy of the .prproj file? We don't need the media, just the project file should suffice for testing. If so, please send it as an attachment to audbugs@adobe.com.
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Mathias Wittwer commented
Here is a screenshot of essential sound, even though I dont see why this should be relevant for this issue. The issue is the same, no matter what values I set in essential sounds.
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Mathias Wittwer commented
I really cant explain it much better that I already have with my writing and video above. The settings of the essential sounds panel are irrelevant for this issue!
Another way to explain it would be that auto ducking keyframes only work if the playhead is passing them. If the playhead starts after these keyframes the settings of these keyframes get ignored.
In the video you can see. I set the keyframe with essential sound. I play the full audio clip from beginning or some point before the keyframes and let the playhead run OVER the keyframes. Everything works as it should. (See Video from beginning to 00:10)
But if I start playing the audio clip from the middle or somewhere AFTER the keyframes. The volume does not change as it should. (See Video from 00:10 to 00:17) The changes that are supposed to happen with this keyframe get ignored.
If you watch the video and simply see where the playhead is and what the levels do, it is obvious it doesn't behave like it is supposed to. In the first pass the volume goes up to -9DB as it should. (See Video from beginning to 00:10) in the second pass it simply stays at -21DB. (See Video from 00:10 to 00:17)
This is not a user error for sure. If been working with this tool for many edits and it has never behaved like this.
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Please post a screenshot of your Essential Sound panel "Ducking" settings used to generate those keyframes. As Matt mentioned, the natural levels of the music shift several dB's in general, so it's difficult to know what the expected change should be.
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AdminMatt Stegner (Admin, Adobe DVA) commented
I am not 100% sure if I understand. In the video you posted it is really hard to see if there is a level change because the meters are jumping around. Are you saying that if you play over the area that has keyframes the volume changes, but the area with out keyframes does not change audio? The Auto-ducker will only add keyframes that the volume follows. If you do not see keyframes added to the music clip then there will simply be no volume change. In your video it appears there is no keyframes added.
Or am I missing something here?