If you are chopping up clips and moving things around on your timeline, there's a pretty good chance that you have lost the audio linked to some of the clips you're working on. So if you need it back for ambient sound, dialogue, or any other sound design, there is a way to do it that doesn't take a monumental amount of time! DaVinci Resolve makes it easy to restore the original audio without reimporting or replacing your edited video clip.

Takeaways:

  1. What's the best way to get the audio for a clip in the timeline in DaVinci Resolve?
  2. Learn how to restore audio to a specific clip in the timeline in DaVinci Resolve.

How to Relink Deleted Audio in DaVinci Resolve

This process will work for any and all video clips in the timeline that are missing audio.

  • Start by selecting the video clip that needs its original audio restored.
  • Don't just place the playhead over the clip. Click directly on the clip so it is highlighted.

This makes sure that DaVinci Resolve identifies the right media, especially in complex timelines with multiple video layers.

  • With the clip selected, press F on your keyboard.

This will open the original source clip in the Source Viewer. This is the raw media from your Media Pool, not the edited or colour-graded version from your timeline.

Note: If you want to compare the source clip with your timeline, enable the dual viewer layout. This displays the Source Viewer on one side and your timeline on the other, making it easier to confirm everything matches.

  • You will notice the source clip already contains In and Out points.

These markers automatically match the exact portion of the clip currently used in your timeline. Even if you trimmed or repositioned the clip after editing, DaVinci Resolve updates these points to reflect the current edit.

  • This means you do not need to manually mark the correct section before restoring the audio.
  • Move your cursor over the Source Viewer.
  • Two drag icons appear near the bottom:
    • The video icon adds only the video.
    • The audio icon adds only the audio.
  • Drag the audio icon onto an empty audio track beneath your existing video clip.
  • When you drop it into the timeline, the audio automatically lines up with the selected video clip because it uses the same In and Out points.

Restore audio to a video track in davinci Resolve

If your recording contains multiple audio channels, you may not need all of them. For example, if your camera recorded four channels but only one contains useful ambient sound, simply delete the extra channels after adding them to the timeline. This keeps your project clean while preserving the audio you actually want.

  • To make the restored audio behave like it originally did, link it to the video clip.
  • Select both the video and the newly restored audio by holding:
    • Command on Mac
    • Control on Windows
  • Click both clips so they are selected, then right-click either clip and choose Link Clips.
  • Now, whenever you move, trim, or edit the video clip, the audio follows automatically.

This works for Restoring Video as Well

This technique also works in reverse. If you have an audio clip in your timeline but need to restore the matching video, select the audio clip, press F, then drag the video icon from the Source Viewer back into your timeline. It's one of the best secret quality-of-life features in DaVinci Resolve that a lot of people don't even know exists.