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Audio Settings in Premiere
I have a basic question about audio in Premiere/audio recording.
I typically use a shotgun mic attached directly into my camera (HDR-FX1000) and record in stereo. I use the default audio settings in Premiere CS5. I seem to always have issues when I export my projects and have them watched on mono devices or systems (like smart phones). The dialogue and sound effects that were recorded from my mic get phased out and can hardly be heard when my videos are played from mono devices but other sound effects and music that I bring into Premiere separately seem to play fine.
I’m sure there is something really obvious that I’m missing, but I am a bit confused on how the audio set up should be inside Premiere and why these stereo tracks I record always get canceled or phased out when played from mono devices.
Should I be placing the stereo tracks recorded from my mic in a special audio track with different settings? or is there some overall setting change I need to make? The “Default track format” under Source Channel Mapping in my Audio Preferences is set to “Use File” which is stereo.
Any ideas or helpful suggestions?
Thanks in advance! -
18 Replies
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Sounds like a mixing issue, not a phase issue, but it’s easy to test.
The shotgun mic is, most likely, mono so the camera is probably feeding both channels the same signal. If you’re using headphones, you won’t notice phase issues. If you play it back on stereo speakers, they should phase out and you’ll hear noticeable drops in volume. If there is a phase problem, just clone one channel using the fill left or fill right effect.
I think it’s more of a mixing issue. Make sure you have enough of a volume difference between background and sound fx against dialog. If you’re mixing really close in volume, you may find that cheap speakers (not necessarily mono) have difficulty reproducing the spectrum of frequencies at near the same volume. You could also scoop some frequencies in the background to carve a hole for vocals like 800Hz-3kHz.
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Thanks for the quick reply.
It’s a phasing issue. The problem only happens when the videos are played through devices that are mono. This never happens on a stereo system (headphones are stereo just like a set of stereo speakers… so I never hear issues there).
I think you might be onto something with the mic, though. It could be that the shotgun records in mono and is fed to both channels. However, I rented another, higher end mic that ended up only on the left channel and it was plugged in the same way my other mic is to the same camera… -
Stereo phase issues aren’t apparent in stereo headphones. Stereo phase cancellation happens when the sound waves physically run into each other; stereo headphones isolate the stereo signal because they pump sound directly into your ears. One of the disadvantages of not checking your mix outside of headphones. You can, however, hear phase issues between mixed tracks but that isn’t what you’re looking at if you just isolate the camera audio.
What model mic are you using and what plug type does it use? If it’s XLR then that is inherently mono.
If it’s 1/8″ then it’s mono if it has one stripe and stereo if it has two stripes on the tip. Don’t be fooled that stereo means a stereo mic, as it’s probably just bridging the ring and tip to feed the same signal (makes it more “user friendly”)
Again, I would check the issue using fill left or fill right so I know I have the exact same signal in both channels.
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Angelo LorenzoNeed to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
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Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
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I use an Azden mic but am not sure of the model off the top of my head, and it plugs into the camera from XLR off the mic to 1/8″ to the camera. I’ll have to check the tip of the 1/8″ connector and take note of that.
I have tried duplicating the tracks that I get from the camera inside of Premiere and panning one all the way to the left and the other to the right – if that’s what you mean by your last suggestion. The same issues occurred regardless. -
I also wanted to say thanks for clearing up what phasing is for me. I really need to take an audio class, but for now I need to figure this stuff out as best I can without a class.
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Don’t pan. In the audio effects you’ll find “fill right” and “fill left”. These effects, when applied, will clone one of the stereo channels to the other. This should make each channel in phase because it’s the exact same thing.
If it fixes the issue on a mono speaker then you’re dealing with some kind of phase delay. If it doesn’t fix the issue then it’s some mixing/eq issue.
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Angelo LorenzoNeed to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
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Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
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OK. Great. I will give that a shot and let you know what I find out. And just for the sake of clarity – you mean to duplicate the stereo tracks and do a fill left on one and fill right on the other, correct?
Thanks -
No, just apply one of the two fill effects. You don’t need to duplicate any tracking on the timeline.
Fill left will clone the contents of left channel non-destructively into the right and fill right will do the opposite.
These are also useful to fill in the other side of a stereo track where you may have only been recording mono and the other track is silent.
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Angelo LorenzoNeed to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
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Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
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Bingo. There’s your problem. You have the wrong adapter.
I’ll bet your adapter is an XLR to 1/8″ TRS. (which is wrong) You need a XLR to 1/8″ TS adapter (No middle band on the plug)
The Mic outputs a balanced signal. What that means is that it’s sending two versions of the same signal, one 180º out of phase to the other. Because you have the wrong adapter, that balanced singal is going straight into the camera, which is recording stereo, which results in the main signal on the Left channel, and that 180º flipped signal on the Right channel.
Applying the “Fill left” effect will fix the problem.
JM
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Holy crap. That’s probably it because my XLR to 1/8″ does have the ring (thus TRS). I just found a good article explaining the differences between balanced and unbalanced connections. So… because the camera is recording the audio on the Left channel and a flipped version one the Right channel – these get canceled out when played from mono devices?
I still don’t know that I fully understand it, but it looks like we are certainly on the right track. I have been trying to figure this out for way too long!
Thank you!
I’m going to try the fill left effect and also buy the TS cable if fill left fixes the issue.
Thanks again!
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