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4 channels of audio on a DVD
I currently use another NLE (discreet edit*). I just bought PP, and had hoped to have a nice long period of self-training before using it for real work. I don’t even have the Firewire card, RAID, etc. But then a need arose, and I would appreciate any help getting through the crisis even though I won’t have the full computer hardware ready.
I have a show which is going on DVD for a museum exhibit. The museum needs the show to have third and fourth channels of audio, solely so that I can put on two “beeps” to activate a mechanical device in sync with the video. (One channel uses a beep to start the device; the other channel uses the beep to shut it off.)
The video files from my current NLE are not compatible with PP. But the audio files are .wav’s, and supposedly they are.
Would it be possible for me to import my .wav files alone into PP, add the channels and the beeps in PP, and export the .wav files as DVD-compatible .mp2 files? I’ve looked in the manual, but have not found information on this. Is there a tutorial somewhere about adding more than two channels of audio for DVD export?
Thanks!
— Bob Cole
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4 Replies
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This is possible, but not altogether straightforward. Also, I’ve had to make a few assumptions, as there’s a lot of missing info about the setup.
First, I’m assuming that your “beep” tracks aren’t meant to be audible, and are mono WAV files. Second, I’m assuming that you’re planning to output the “beep” tracks on a distinct audio channel from the DVD, such as rear left/right of a surround mix. This is going to require the DVD player to have outputs for those channels, or that the DVD player is hooked up to a receiver/controller device that will separate those channels.
When you start in Premiere Pro, create a new sequence, and set it to have a 5.1 channel master audio track, and at least two mono tracks. Drop your mono WAV files into the mono tracks on the timeline (you could also just drag them into the empty space and Premiere will create new tracks for them). In the audio mixer window, pan the “beep” tracks to the left/right rear channels.
The tricky part is exporting it out. When Premiere Pro burns a DVD, it does stereo only, so you’re going to have to author the DVD with another application (I’m guessing this was your plan anyway). So when you export the audio from Premiere Pro, you can make a 5.1 channel WAV file. If your DVD authoring application can convert this to a DVD-supported surround file (ie, Dolby), then you’re done. If you have Adobe Encore (or a similar program without the ability to convert a 5.1 WAV to AC3), however, you’ll need to export as an AC3 file from Premiere Pro. Premiere comes with the Minnetonka Dolby plug-in, but it’s a demo and you only get 3 free exports before it makes you pay.
You could export your project as an MPEG file but I’m pretty sure Premiere Pro will downmix it to stereo. MPEG audio is not part of the NTSC DVD spec anyway (I’m only assuming you’re in NA), so support for it on any given DVD player may be spotty.
From what I’ve understood, I think this workflow will get you where you want to go. But it’s possible I’ve made a bad assumption, or haven’t read what you need correctly.
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Thanks. You are right; I didn’t give you all the parameters of my situation. But you guessed right anyway.
I will give it a whirl and see what happens. The DVD is set up for 5.1, and the beeps can be audible. We’ll see what happens!
Thanks again!
— Bob
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If the beeps are audible, there’s another thought that occurred to me. If the museum equipment is set up properly, you could make the beeps very high or (probably better) very low, therefore minimizing the impact of the beep on the user experience. In essence, make the beep as far beyond the range of human hearing as you can. Important note for this- the audio would have to stay as PCM info on the DVD. Dolby is a perceptual encoding scheme, meaning it would throw out any audio that’s not within the range of human hearing.
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Actually the two additional channels for the beeps are not going to be routed to speakers, only to a circuit board that “listens” for them to actuate a mechanical device, first in one direction (beep on Channel Three), then back to original position (beep on Channel Four).
So it doesn’t matter that they aren’t audible.
BUT – that is a very clever idea, and I will run it past the engineer to see whether we can avoid the additional channels (and the expensive decoder) in the future.
Thanks!
— BC
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