I can only paste sound into track 9

[Ben G unguren]

Each track in Premiere is set to take either mono audio, or stereo audio, or 5.1 surround-sound audio. So it’s likely that tracks 1-8 are all stereo, and you’re pasting a mono track, or tracks 1-8 are all mono, and you’re pasting a stereo track, etc.

Another possibility is that you need to activate the other tracks (by clicking the left side of the track name in the timeline).

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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[Cary Howe]

Wow! That has to be the stupidest change in the history of editing. By default it’s apparently starting off with 8 tracks of mono and only the last track is stereo. The labeling isn’t obvious if you’ve never seen the interface before. I actually considered that but considered the idea so silly I dismissed it. I wound up adding four stereo tracks, the add is default stereo, and those I can paste into. I can see setting up 8 tracks of stereo and one mono by default but the other way especially with track 9 the only stereo is pointless. How often do you add in mono tracks anymore? Some sound effects are but I usually convert those to stereo anyway for panning purposes.

I guess everyone has their dumb conventions. With Final Cut Pro it considers stereo two tracks. That one caused me endless headaches and also doubled my track count. With final cut I found out the hard way it was possible to accidentally separate the tracks. I had half a feature cut before I noticed the left and rights had gotten out of sync. It took me days to re-aline and relink the clips. A total nightmare.

Thanks. I guess I have to delete the first eight tracks every time I start a project unless that number count can be set by default?

[Ben G unguren]

It’s a little weird for a while for anyone coming from FCP-land. I use mono all the time, for what it’s worth. Most of the sound recorded on set is with a shotgun, which produces mono audio. It isn’t until after the edit that the sound mixer gives the mono dialogue a stereo “feel” to it. Even stock sound effects tend to be in mono, from my experience. So for me, only the music tracks tend to need stereo tracks.

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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[Cary Howe]

I guess it’s because I edit mostly animation so I’m working with studio dialogue tracks and as I’ve said I covert all my sound effects to stereo. I only edited one live action film and that was 8 years ago. I hate dead sound so I always pan the sound clips to add a little movement and life. That’s my favorite trick for studio dialogue is panning sound. Most big budget CG films have miserable sound and it feels like character is talking into a mic even when they are running around. Panning kills that feel.

Thanks again. Back in the day Premiere didn’t work that way and it just threw me having track one locked off. Hearing what you had to say about music makes sense of the set up. You always use the bottom tracks for music. I’m sure that’s why Final Cut is set up the way. I guess what changed everything was 5.1 sound when it became the standard. Instead of stereo it’s technically quad. I’m showing my age that when I started cutting it was all stereo then when I picked it up again it went to 5.1 and beyond. Time to embrace the 21st Century I guess.

[Todd Kopriva]

I made this video to explain how audio tracks work and how to set audio tracks up to avoid just this kind of problem.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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[Cary Howe]

Thanks, I’ll check it out in a minute. The problem was I couldn’t tell they were mono tracks or I would have figured it out on my own. Turns out the little “>” or “><” symbols mean mono or stereo. The last time I used Premiere the tracks were all the same so it did throw me. I’ve just got to get used to cutting 5.1. The problem is no one really sets up editing software to cut 5.1 so it’s really clunky. I never used to worry for what I was doing because even though it’s the standard 95% of the viewers aren’t set up for it so it’s mostly viewed stereo anyway. It’s kind of like everyone wants 3D versions but hardly anyone has a 3D TV. Really unless you are planning on a theatrical release it’s not that big a deal. It’s more important to have the stereo work properly. It’s the distributors that are pushing it not audiences.

[Jeff Greenberg]

Here’s a great trick. Next time you go to set up a sequence, right click on a clip and choose New Sequence from clip.

This will get you a sequence that matches your clip (as well as initial audio.) From there, you’ll want to add mono tracks.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
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[Cary Howe]

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve got to rethink my workflow. My last film happened over a four year period so a lot changed while I was cutting it. I cut it as a stereo track and let some one else deal with the 5.1 separation. I want to allow for that going in this time. I’m starting animation now so I may even start on sound design as a part of the scenes. Like I say 5.1 you’re essentially doing quad so I need to think more about the position of sound sources.

All the help is much appreciated. Most of Premiere is coming back to me and the interface isn’t all that different. I just got thrown by the mono tracks. I did some web searches after I found out what the issue was and it turns out others had problems related to importing stereo tracks. In some ways it’d make more sense to start out with a single mono and stereo track then let people add in what they need. It was seeing 8 tracks of what turned out to be mono that confused me.