Combine 2 mono tracks — how to record the mix?

[Richard Herd]

[Robert Withers] “how do I actually RECORD the mix so I can work with the output as a mono track? “

You need to record to a mono track, by making a new sequence. When the New Sequence menu pops up, click on the Tracks tab, on Audio 1, choose mono. Record to that track.

Also in the New Sequence > Tracks tab is an option for the Master. Choose stereo.

[Robert Withers] “Where does the mix go when you’ve played back the tracks and see them combining in the Master or the Submix?
“

I don’t understand that question. The mix is, by definition, where the tracks are… well, mixed. So I guess the proper answer is “It goes in the air as sound.”

Perhaps reconceptualizing audio is a place to start. Think of a band. Guitar, bass, singer, drummer. They are all mono audio. The guitar is on track1. The bass on track2, singer on 3, drummer on 4. Your final master mix is stereo and you pan the guitar to the right and the bass to the left. When you export this particular arrangement it will create stereo pair — BECAUSE we chose the master as stereo, in the beginning.

[Robert Withers]

Thank you, Richard. I’ll experiment with the new sequence idea. What I meant was, where is the OUTPUT of the mix? Where is the file that holds the mix? I’ve done mixing in recording studios and film mix studios and we always ended up with something–used to be tape or magnetic track–that contained the results of the mix.
When I play through the movie watching the levels in the Audio Track Mixer that is sending outputs to a submix track and master track . . . nothing appears in the tracks on the timeline or in the project panel.
This is obviously so basic I can’t find it in any documentation and I’m too dumb to figure it out.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Richard Herd]

The premiere project itself holds the mix. The various panes can be arranged so you can see different things. Be sure to choose Window > Audio Mixer, so you can see the various signal flow.

Tape, mag tape, DAT are export/capture formats. If you want an export of your audio mix then…

1. Be sure to chose the correct sequence settings BEFORE you begin; otherwise, you have to create a new one and copy/paste the media. It’s a pain.

2. CMD-M to make a movie, but really just uncheck the video box, and find the audio format that suits your needs. That will create a new piece of media that will have the number of tracks you set in step 1.

3. Use the Media Browser to navigate to the file from step 2, and then drag it into the Project Pane. Using the Media Browser is an important and easily overlooked step in Premiere Pro, but it’s very important for the metadata stuff going on that we can’t see, but the application can.

In a DAW (digital audio workstation), the signal routing is not part of the export either. It is part of the project file.

And it’s not you being dumb, these are extremely complicated pieces of software. Without the Creative Cow, I would most certainly be lost!

I can remember having to write down my mix levels, or take a polaroid of the board, so I could recall where everything was for a particular session. ;0

[Robert Withers]

Thanks again, Richard,
I’m understanding that whatever you do inside Premiere, it’s set up in the project file and actually performed in the export, like through AME.
It was clearly a mistake to turn those stereo tracks into 2 mono. The camcorder recorded “stereo” and when I imported the clip Premiere put it in one of those single stereo tracks. But it’s edited in the timeline and I’m trying to deal with it. Losing one is an option, but they’re not _exactly_ identical. I guess I could filter/equalize one and then apply identical settings to the other–what I was trying to avoid by combining them.
I did try opening them to edit in Audition and saw two Audio Extract files with exactly the same clipname appear in the project panel. That confused me. Again, looks like I would need to perform identical effects on each track. Maybe that’s the simplest thing.
It seems simpler now than to mix them and import back into the project.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Richard Herd]

What happened when you exported the whole thing as stereo pair, opened a new sequence, and set audio1 and audio2 to stereo, imported the audio and placed it in audio1?

[Robert Withers]

What I finally did was after looking at a couple of good Larry Jordan webinars (I mean old webinars), figure out how to open and edit the tracks in Audition, filter and equalize, and export back to a stereo mix track in the Premiere Timeline.
The Audition tools were very graphic and easier to work with; the only hitch was that when I applied an effect to one track or clip I couldn’t figure out how to copy it to the other, so ended up writing down the parameters and applying them again.
Back in Premiere I couldn’t figure out how to delete the submaster and master I’d created on the timeline, so had to set the submaster to -infinity db and the master to off, then mute the original tracks to be able to export only the mix track via AME.
It worked, but I’ve got more to learn.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Richard Herd]

[Robert Withers] “I couldn’t figure out how to copy it to the other”

Save them as presets.

🙂