The Elgato Stream Deck wasn’t created for video editors, it was originally intended for live streamers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add it to your bag of tricks. The Stream Deck is an LCD control panel with unlimited options for commands and shortcuts.
As an editor, I’m sure there are lots of times you are clicking the same pattern or making the same motions over and over and over again. If you haven’t started using Keyboard Maestro, the first thing to do is download it. Keyboard Maestro lets you automate everything and create macros and shortcuts for things that aren’t built into premiere. Using Keyboard Maestro and Stream Deck you can automate pretty much any thing you do.
One simple macro I’ve created that saves a few clicks is for pasting attributes. It’s a small thing, but I used to have to copy a clip, then right click the new clip, choose paste attributes, then click ok. Now, I just click the new clip and hit the “Paste Attributes” button on my Stream Deck and it triggers the macro in Keyboard Maestro which does a combination of keyboard shortcuts and then BOOM, it’s done. You can even set mouse click locations in keyboard maestro to reduce having to click the same things over and over again.
Some other shortcuts I have setup using Keyboard Maestro, and Elgato Stream Deck…
-shortcuts to different workspaces in premiere
-shortcut to replace a clip
-A mutli step macro that creates a shot list by copying a shots name in the sequence and then pasting it into a text document and then repeating for each shot in a timeline (this works better than and EDL for when a producer needs a list of all the stock footage that was used in a cut).
-shortcuts connected to IFTT to turn on lights in my office
Author: Phil Hamer
