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Splitting Streo files .wav or .mp3 in to true left – right mono files to load in the Alesis HD24 tracks.
I have a little bit of an issue and question regarding Sony Vegas Pro and the HD24. My current versions of Vegas is Vegas Pro 10d installed on both Windows 7 pro 64 and on Windows XP 32 bit and the situations shows up on both systems and versions..
Now here is my situation and I’m scratching my head about it. Like allot of you folks I get a number of client files over the email which at times is either standard wave stereo tracks (44.1 – 16bit) and others are mp3 stereo files that are usually about 128kb. I’ve been working this way for quite a few years and honestly I’m not sure if I even noticed it.
This particular instance is easy to explain. I received a stereo MP3 mix file and although the mix is pretty hot, it’s under zero without clipping. My goal with these tracks always is the same.. split the stereo file into left and right mono tracks. I have in the pasts set Vegas preferences to import stereo tracks as dual mono. it has usually been just fine but this time when I import the tracks from the stereo mp3 as just a stereo mp3 without splitting them levels sound fine.
Then I set the preference to split stereo files when imported and then when I do that each file Left and Right in the project the level is slamming 6db over. I have not changed gain on the file at all, it is still sitting at 0 or unity, no gain at all. So if I render that track out to a mono file now I have a slammed track and very over driven. Of course if I then lower the track 6db so it is not clipping then it drops the level and waveform size. This is driving me crazy and I have checked all my settings .. everything seems just fine.
If any one has any ideas and or has Vegas I will ask you to try it and let me know if you see the same thing. I don’t t think it is this specific file as I have tried other stereo files and it seems like it does the same.. I’d like to see if Vegas just combines the stereo file in to Left and right mono (which would create a level change). Is there a better way to split a stereo .wav or .mp3 file that anyone knows?
My email is davidk@eaglecanyon .com in the event you would like to keep this off the forum. I’d be glad to call and chat about this if that works.. it is just a real weird situation… I’m stumped.I”ve also tried to use SoundForge pro 10, and open the file in SF, then save the file using custom settings as 44.1 – 16bit multiple mono. It has a similar issue..
Does anyone have a set up just to split a stereo file to get 2 mono files out of it to put up on a HD24 or similar recorder?
Dave
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5 Replies
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[Dave Kirkey] “If any one has any ideas and or has Vegas I will ask you to try it and let me know if you see the same thing. I don’t t think it is this specific file as I have tried other stereo files and it seems like it does the same.”
I’m seeing the same thing. In fact, if you use the stereo file and pan it hard left you’ll see the left channel increase in volume by 6dB so this has nothing to do with creating the mono track and more to do with acoustic phenomenon. The solution, as you have seen, is to lower each of the mono tracks by -6dB and you’ll get the same VU reading as the original stereo track. It’s interesting that the option to import stereo as dual mono doesn’t lower the track volumes by -6dB by default to maintain the overall volume.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
This is because of the way Vegas handles panning. The default pan behaviour is called “Add Channels” and its effect is to increase the per-output-channel level of hard-panned tracks by 6dB. If you have mono (or split stereo) tracks, you end up with both source channels added into the left or right output, and therefore massive clipping with hot source audio. Actually this also happens on normal stereo tracks too.
One solution is to change the pan mode. Just right-click on the pan slider on the affected track(s) and select “Balance (0 db Center)”. That behaves more like a hi-fi stereo balance control – as you pan towards the left, the right channel gets reduced in level (and is muted at 100% left pan), while the left channel is not affected.
Search for “Audio Panning Modes” in the Vegas help for details of the different pan modes.
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Good evening John, thanks so much for the info.. I guess I was just caught off guard with this particular mp3 stereo track, it was really slammed and it made me look in to it further. The Vegas Help and info is a little vague. For example if you choose in preferences to split a stereo file in to 2 mono files I can only assume that they just take from center to left and center to right information… I know you can not do anything with it. I use an Alesis HD24 in the studio to track, I always want to split stereo files to load the in the HD24 drive… Vegas handles it all just fine… it’s more of my problem I guess…
I even tried to use Soundforge by taking the stereo file and saving it as multiple Mono files and it creates 2 files L + R mono tracks.. and I want to take a closer look to find out if it creates separate or actual split files.. not just mono’d files of the stereo track.
I have found the Pan options and had played a bit with that but still had issues. I guess I’ll do more testing on the stereo fine and document what is going on with each option..
Thanks for your help John.. (and Matt)
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Matt, thanks for the reply.. I just answered Johns comments as well. I think what you are makes sense since my goal is to split the stereo file L/R where the left channel is from center to 100% left not taking any information from Center to the right information. I’ll have to check this out further.
The more I use Vegas in projects the more confused I get it seems.. Life just isn’t simple 🙂
Thanks for the input.
Dave -
I think this solves the issue:
make sure all effects are turned off on the timeline and then render left and right seperately
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