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CS4 is mixing all 4 audio tracks (I-AVC)
I’m having an audio channel separation problem, which I hope has a really simple solution (one that I could kick myself for).
Footage is Intra-AVC (50) sourced from a Panasonic HPX-300, which I’ve been using for 6 months without this issue. Running Premiere 4.2.1 (recently updated, and I’m leaning toward this being the culprit).
I recorded some footage, which requires audio separation. Shotgun audio on channel 1, and handheld mic audio on channel 2. Channel 3 is off, and channel 4 recorded shotgun mic audio as well (not sure why, but I don’t need it). The waveforms are clearly different on each channel.
So, I drop the clip into the timeline, with only channel 2 (it places all 4 channels, and I mute the ones I don’t want). It sounds fine. When I go to the next clip, or do anything else, Premiere takes the channel 2 audio in my timeline (and the source clip), and mixes it with the remaining 3 channels of audio. If I try to re-do the edit, all I hear is the mix. For instance, listening to the flatlined 3rd channel in the timeline plays back the 4 channel mix (and placing just that channel in a timeline by itself plays back the mix). Exporting just channel 2 to Soundbooth sends the 4 channel mix.
If I quit Premiere, start a new project, import the clip, and try it again, it works the first time I drop the clip in the timeline. Again, once any other action is taken (editing a 2nd clip, minimizing the application, anything), the separated audio channel becomes the 4 channel mix (with phasing to boot).
Any suggestions? I’ve tried the break-out to Mono, but it just produced 4 identical audio tracks. Exporting the audio to a WAV does the same thing. I’m not aware of any other application that’s able to import these clips, so I can’t isolate the problem.
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6 Replies
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Just to add to this. When I play the clips back in Panasonic’s P2 viewer software (with the AVC-I add-on), I can isolate each channel, and they sound exactly as they should (channel 2 clearly sounds like an isolated handheld mic, not the mix that Premiere plays). Of course, the player software doesn’t allow me to edit or remove any of the channels, so it doesn’t help me, beyond being able to isolate the problem to Premiere.
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Hi Chris,
thank you for the question – I am starting to get some problems with 4-channel audio, too.How did you capture 4-channel audio? I am using PP CS4 and an Canon XL-H1, and so far I did not find a solution to capture all 4 channels seperately!
Maybe you can telle me how?
Thank you,
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Well, since I shoot on P2 chips, there is no capturing, just importing. Premiere can swap audio channels around after the capture or import, which is done in the Clip Menu-> Audio Options -> Source Channel Mapping. This has to be done prior to placing a clip in a timeline (at which point the channel assignment becomes locked – slthough you can duplicate a clip and re-map the channels). Generally speaking, the Source Channel Mapping allows you to kill the channels you don’t want, and/or set the desired channels to mono or stereo.
This has worked flawlessly for me since Premiere adopted this technique.
Until last week. Regardless of how I assign audio channels, and kill the channels I don’t want, all I hear end up with is the 4 channel mix. It seems to me that Premiere is having issues dealing with 4 channel Intra-AVC footage. The same footage in Edius 5.5 presents no issues – the audio is isolated as it should be. Panasonic’s P2 Viewer allows for the same. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m getting nervous about shooting any more multi-channel audio until Adobe provides me with a solution.
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I’m having the same problem here.
If I use the Media Browser instead of the import function and drag the clip to the sequence, I am able to only listen to the track I want.
The problem comes when I switch to another program then switch back. Premiere somehow permanently mixes the channels and I have no way of fixing it.
I tried all of the other channel mapping suggestions too with no luck.
Let me know if you figured out a solution.
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I know this thread is ancient, but I’m still suck in Premiere Cs4, and was wondering if you ever ended up figuring this problem out? I am editing a commercial, and am having the same problem you are describing. Thanks in advace.
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The solution is to upgrade to CS5. Adobe never fixed the bug in CS4, so I ended up (at the time) importing the clips into an editing program called Edius, and exported separate WAV files for Premiere to work with. I’d suggest something similar – download a trial of CS5 (or Edius, Vegas, etc.), then export WAV files of all your audio.
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