Merging video with audio in CS6 turns stereo audio to dual mono

[Angelo Lorenzo]

It’s a common issue, generally you want to do the following:

1. Create a new audio track, the stereo submix.

2. In the audio mixer, pan track 1 (assuming this is your “left channel”) to the left, track 2 to the right.

3. For these two channels, change the drop down from “Master” to your stereo sub mix. This will create a mix track.

4. Make sure the audio track is expanded for the stereo submix (click the triangle next to the track name to expand)

5. Click the Keyframes icon, select Show Track Volume from the fly-out menu

6. Add keyframes on the timeline or drag the yellow line to adjust volume

Or

Option 2 (Clip): Adjust volume in the Effect Controls Panel

1. Select Effects (Shift 7) > Audio Effects>Mono

2. Drag and drop the “Volume” effect to the clip on the timeline

3. Right-click on the clip, select Show Clip Keyframes > Volumes > Level

4. In the Effect Controls panel, click the stopwatch in front of Level to ON to make the Add-Remove keyframe button active

5. Add keyframes in the Effect Controls Panel or on the timeline to adjust the volume

6. Copy the effect keyframes from one mono clip to the other.

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter

[Ryan Holmes]

Any of Angelo’s option would work. Here’s one extra for ya, but this is before you drop media onto a timeline….

Before you drop your clips onto a timeline go to them in the browser inside of CS6 and right click on the file–>Modify–> Audio. Once the dialog box you can tell CS6 to interpret the audio as a Stereo pair. Click ok and then create your timeline and drag your newly interpreted footage onto the timeline.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Josh Vandermeer]

Thanks guys,
I can use Angelo’s method, but with a high volume of clips to sync, it looks like it may be a little impractical. I tried the method of right clicking on the clips in my media browser, modify, and audio channels, however, “interpret as a stereo pair” isn’t an option. Instead my only options are custom or mono, which doesn’t make a difference, because apparently “custom” is already mono. Is there a preference I need to change in order to make stereo an option in the modify->audio channels menu?

[Angelo Lorenzo]

There is no option to re-interpret merged clips. Give track keyframing within a stereo submix track a try. It’ll be better if you have the edit locked before you start mixing but I think you’ll be fine.

Plus, I think you’re overthinking things, if you’re working with a stereo pair that’s just cloned mono, you aren’t gaining anything. In fact, through post it’s much easier to work with true mono sources.

——————–
Angelo Lorenzo

Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter