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Merged Clips mixing down to Stereo
Hi folks, me again.
I’m working on a project as assistant editor using PP CC2015. Latest update. And I am making merge clips to sync audio and video.
Process is simple since they are jamming the slate and merge by timecode works great.
What I’m getting are Merged Clips with 4 to 7 mono channels of audio (depending on how many lavs they’ve got operating). But when I send these clips to media encoder to putput movs for the director it mixes them down to stereo audio.
I have yet to find a preset or custom setup to make this work. I know about master tracks and all that. But Premiere is treating these like clips, and media encoder is treating them like stereo mastered SEQUENCES. Since premiere is acting like they’re clips, they even show Audio info as “48000 Hz – 4 Mono” But as soon as I try to output, stereo every time!
Quite frustrating if you want to sync in premiere and the editor wants to use ANYTHING ELSE.
The goal is simple: An MOV with 4 to 7 distinct audio tracks. Each mic on a different track.
Things I’ve tried:
1. Every possible combo of mono and distinct channels in the export window. No joy.
2. Making a sequence with multi-channel audio and dragging the clip in. Acts like a stereo clip.
3. Crying mainlyI deal with about 100 clips a day, and so far, I’ve yet to find a way to do this.
Any ideas?
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7 Replies
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ok I’m coming at this from the perspective of an amateur idiot. Actually I’m a professional idiot, but an amateur video editor, but have you seen this?
https://larryjordan.com/articles/adobe-premiere-pro-audio-track-types/
I know you probably have, but just in case, I figured I’d put it out there. -
Thanks for your reply! I have seen this.
It is talking about sequences/timelines (which is a tiny bit different from clips). You cannot modify the number of tracks in a sequence once it’s been made. And merge clips seems to make a sequence that pretends to be a clip and defaults to a stereo mix. (an xml output and opening in FCP7 shows the merged clips as sequences instead of clips)
My workflow thus far has been:
1) import audio clips and video clips
2) select matching clips and use “Clip>Merge Clips”. This creates a new clip called “videofilename – Merged” which looks like a clip.
3) Mark ins and outs in the new merged clips
3) Select clips and go “File>Export Media” and select a preset (prores proxy 24bit uncompressed audio) But it will only allow 2 channel mono as an audio output.
4) Queue in media encoder. and watch as it outputs a mixdown of 4 mono audios into a stereo track no matter what.Correction to my earlier post:
I CAN drag a clip from the source monitor into a sequence and get all channels of audio to appear as intended.
So editing within the project will turn out fine. I follow the instructions Duke posted above to make a multitrack sequence and can output that. But if I want to take these clips out of PP and bring them to anywhere else, I have a problem.
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Here’s another stupid response. Before you export to Media Encoder do you click the audio tab and make sure it’s set to output the audio the way you want it? If so, have you sent it to Media Encoder, and THEN checked the audio tab again to make sure it’s still set to output the way you want it?
I’ve sometimes set “Publish” to publish my video to youtube, then sent the file to Media Encoder, and if I change the pre-set, it nullifies the Publish choice and I have to set it again inside Media Encoder. But one thing I don’t understand is, you say that the preset you choose only allows 2 channel mono, right? If so isn’t that all you can expect it to output?
Hope that makes sense.
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First off…you certainly CAN add video or audio tracks to a sequence once it’s created…you can’t reformat the master output of a sequence is, I think, what you meant to say.
I’ve run into this issue before. The ProRes preset probably needs to be customized (I have Windows at home and Mac at work, so I don’t have the Mac in front of me)…I’m not certain what the audio preset defaults to, but I know that AAC for one, doesn’t have the multitrack flexibility that you’re looking for.
On my Windows machine, I can set for a QT output (not ProRes of course) and then go into the audio tab and change the ‘AAC’ audio setting to ‘uncompressed’, and then I have the capability to choose as many audio tracks as I want (assuming a multitrack master sequence).
You may want to see if you can handle it by doing some custom setup on the audio in the Export/Media Encoder dialog.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Video Producer at I-CAR -
So, this is apparently simply a limitation.
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/synchronizing-audio-video-merge-clips.html
A pointless, stupid limitation that defeats the entire purpose of merge clips… but apparently by design?
The hell?
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Thanks for your reply. This is apparently a limitation of merge clips… They only support mono according to adobe.
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/synchronizing-audio-video-merge-clips.html
However, I can open the merge clips in PP (not the outputs) into the source monitor and drag them into a sequence that is set to multitrack adaptive, and edit away.
I just can never LEAVE PP and work in FCP, Avid, or anything else for that matter.
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Thanks for that…I don’t use dual-system sound on a daily basis, so I didn’t realize this limitation existed.
Something that obviously limits the usefulness of the feature unfortunately…
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Video Producer at I-CAR
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