Audio Settings in Premiere

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

[Travis Brown] “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?”

That’s it! This is what happens any time you mix Stereo and Balanced connections without the proper adapters.

Note, if you get a basic XLR to 1/8″ TS adapter, chances are you will only get audio recorded in the left channel because nothing is being fed to the right channel. It’s possible your camera is smart enough to notice that the middle connector is shorted to ground and record the mono signal to both channels, but you’ll have no way to know until you test this. It’s also possible there’s a menu setting.

Usually you want a Preamp between the mic and the camera. Most Professional Mics won’t even work when plugged directly into a camera with a simple adapter.

[Travis Brown]

It worked! Hell yes!!!
I chose the Fill Left effect on one clip of one of my videos and that clip sounded fine from my smartphone, and the dialogue in the clip without the Fill Left effect couldn’t be heard.
When using the Fill Left effect, does this mean it’s not true stereo? When I play it back on my computer with stereo speakers, the dialogue does come through but sounds a bit different. On that same note, it sounds like you’re saying that the 1/8″ TS adapter will likely record in Mono, and if so I’ll have to change the settings in Premiere to split Mono into Stereo, right?
Thanks again. This is an enormous help!

[Angelo Lorenzo]

[Travis Brown] “When using the Fill Left effect, does this mean it’s not true stereo? When I play it back on my computer with stereo speakers, the dialogue does come through but sounds a bit different”

It’s still a stereo signal in that you’re listening to two independent tracks that can be manipulated, they just both contain the same source audio.

[Travis Brown] “On that same note, it sounds like you’re saying that the 1/8″ TS adapter will likely record in Mono, and if so I’ll have to change the settings in Premiere to split Mono into Stereo, right?”

Kind of. Your camera will eventually be fed a true mono signal. You maybe be able to set your camera to record “mono as stereo” which will duplicate the mono channel automatically without introducing phase error, much like you’re doing in Premiere now.

If it doesn’t have that option then you can record with your camera set to mono. Premiere, if you have a stereo master track will just duplicate the mono track as you play it out anyways.

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

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[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

[Travis Brown] “When using the Fill Left effect, does this mean it’s not true stereo?”

Right, but it never was Stereo. In all these configs you still started with only one mic in the beginning. Just cause you have two audio channels and two speakers doesn’t make it stereo. (Though your sound effects and music probably are stereo. The fill left effect won’t change those unless you apply it to everything, such as applying it to an already finished video.)

The reason it sounds different is that even when you were listening to two separate speakers before, there was still phase cancelation going on, just not enough to make the audio completely disappear. Now, after applying Fill left, you’re finally hearing what the audio really sounds like.

JM

[Travis Brown]

[Angelo Lorenzo] “It’s still a stereo signal in that you’re listening to two independent tracks that can be manipulated, they just both contain the same source audio.”
OK, but in Premiere I only see one track.

Unfortunately my camera doesn’t have many audio options (practically none, really), so it looks like I’d have to make sure it works properly in Premiere.

I do have a Beachtek DXA-6A with two XLR inputs (Left and Right) which I’ve never used. However, the 1/8″ adapter that comes out of the Beachtek still has that extra ring on it, and so I’m not sure how that would translate. I imagine it would probably work since it divides the audio into two channels… but again it would still be mixed down into one track in the camera, I believe.

Thanks again for your help and patience.

[Travis Brown]

[John-Michael Seng-Wheeler] “The reason it sounds different is that even when you were listening to two separate speakers before, there was still phase cancelation going on, just not enough to make the audio completely disappear. Now, after applying Fill left, you’re finally hearing what the audio really sounds like.
“

Got it. That makes perfect sense.

Do you recommend applying the Fill Left effect to all the audio or just the audio that has been recorded from my camera?

Thanks

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

[Travis Brown] “Do you recommend applying the Fill Left effect to all the audio or just the audio that has been recorded from my camera?”

You only need to apply the fill left effect to the audio that was recorded by the camera with the phase issue.

And to answer your other question, the Beachtek preamp will work fine because that TRS plug on it will have stereo audio on it.

If you have any skill with a soldering iron or know someone who does (or live in central virginia) making an adapter for your self would be the cheapest solution here.

You need an adapter that connects the Tip and Ring of the 1/8th inch plug to the #2 pin on the XLR. Pins 1 and 3 need to be jumped together and connected to the sleeve of the 1/8th inch plug.

This will feed an identical signal to the Left and Right channels in your camera and you can just forget there was ever problem.

[Greg Leslie]

Travis — FWIW, I use one of those Beachtek boxes with my camera, and the mono audio comes in on ch.1 only.

You can avoid having to use “fill” audio filters after you’ve done your editing if, when you FIRST INGEST your clips, right-click the clips and do Modify -> Audio Channels, then in the “Modify Clip” box that comes up, change Channel Format from Stereo to Mono and then under “Source Channel” select whichever channel has the audio on it (in my case, Left).

This can be done in batch to a group of selected clips.

From then on, only the channel with audio goes to the timeline.

Note that clips already edited to the timeline aren’t affected by this process.

good luck!
Greg Leslie