Disguising FOA Multitrack session behind an Au 5.1 project?

[Adriano Castaldini]

Hi everyone, I’ll be sincere: I’ve yet wrote a pretty similar question on the official Adobe Audition forum, but I didn’t find the answer I was searching for.
The point is: I’m going to start an ambisonic project, I’d use Adobe Audition for cleaning, balancing and reparing (healing brush) the FOA clips one by one, then I’d use Reaper for the FOA multitrack editing/mixing. My goal is remaining in Audition to make everything, including the FOA multitrack. I know that Audition is not precisely suited for ambisonic multitrack (the only option is 5.1). Anyway, 5.1 implies 6 channels, then theoretically I have all the channels I need for a FOA session.
I’d set in this way:
– Master track in 5.1;
– All the other tracks must be 5.1 too (even when they contain non-FOA clips, for example stereo clips);
– Only plugins that are specifically designed for multichannel/ambisonic (like for example the wonderful free IEM Suite by Felix Holzmüller);
– In order to monitor the result with my audio system (for example stereo or 5.1 up to 7.1.4) I’d temporarily add the Soundfield plugin by Rode to the Master track;
– And for the headphones, I’d add the IEM BinauralDecoder plugin to the Master track (in place of the Rode plugin).

Theoretically, all this should work ONLY IF I’m sure that Audition doesn’t “treat” the 4th channel (LFE) in any way (no bandpass or whatsoever filter, nor metadata). In othe words, Audition must be “neutral”
about all the track/clip channels leaving them as they are).

What do you think about? Is it possible to do that in Audition?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

[Boston Cainfra]

Firstly

We will like to apologize for not been able to attend to your questions in that forum but we assure you that we won’t disappoint you again

So i will be providing answer to your question now

[Boston Cainfra]

It is feasible to use Reaper for FOA multitrack editing/mixing after using Adobe Audition to clean, balance, and fix FOA clips. As Audition only supports up to 5.1 channels and is not specifically made for ambisonic multitrack, some workarounds are necessary.

Even if the other tracks in the project contain non-FOA clips, like stereo clips, they must all be set up in 5.1 in order for it to work for FOA sessions. To achieve the greatest outcomes, you must only utilize plugins created particularly for multichannel/ambisonic, such as the IEM Suite by Felix Holzmüller.

You can briefly add the Rode Soundfield plugin to the Master track to listen to the outcome through your audio system, and you can temporarily add the IEM BinauralDecoder plugin to the Master track to listen to the result on headphones. It is vital to make sure that Audition does not apply any bandpass or other filters to the tracks, or any metadata, and that it remains neutral with regard to all the track/clip channels, particularly the 4th channel (LFE).

In conclusion, it is possible to use Reaper for FOA multitrack editing/mixing after using Audition to clean, balance, and fix FOA clips. To get the greatest results, however, some workarounds are required, and it’s vital to make sure that Audition remains impartial regarding all the track/clip channels and that you use plugins created for multichannel/ambisonic audio.