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Stereo to mono
Hello,
I recorded footage using two mikes–a lav mike in one channel and a shotgun mike in the other. I did it mostly for backup, in case one mike didn’t work. Now I’ve got two channels from two different mikes, and it’s giving me an unpleasant phased effect between the two channels. I want to delete the shotgun mike channel and use only the lav mike channel, since it’s cleaner.
I’m having trouble doing this: I tried unlinking the two audio channel, deleting the shotgun mike channel, and copying the the lave mike channel into the other audio track. But then it still only comes out the one channel. The goal is to have dual channel mono. I know there’s gotta be an easy way to do this. Any ideas?
Many thanks.
(MacBook Pro 17″, Leopard, FCP 6.0.6
Dan S.
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8 Replies
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Hi daniel,
Duplicate the clip, and in QT Player Movie Properties (Com-J) select the audio channel and delete it.
rafael[Daniel Schultz] “copying the the lave mike channel into the other audio track. But then it still only comes out the one channel. “
Why do you want the same channel repeated?
rafael -
Decide which one you want. Turn the other one down. Pan the remaining one to the center with the mixer.
That way, if something untoward happens with the mic you have chosen, you may be able to use the other track.
Or, time align the tracks to eliminate the phase difference by slightly trimming the front edge of the boom track so you can slide the whole track to the left (earlier) until the waveforms of the two tracks sync visually. In a lav/boom two-channel recording, the boom is usually a millisecond late because the boom is over a foot away and the lav is on the person speaking. Sound travels at 1 millisecond per foot. So you have to correct for the latency.
Once aligned, If you want to, you can mix both together if you like that sound.
PS: Next time you have an audio question, come on over to the Cow Audio Forum. We enjoy helping.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
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If you simply need the duplicated tracks to play out of both channels:
After pasting in the copied clip … select both audio clips, and from the Modify menu – Stereo pair.
-paul.
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[Ty Ford] “Decide which one you want. Turn the other one down. Pan the remaining one to the center with the mixer. “
Bingo!!! Ty gets the prize for the correct answer.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[Daniel Schultz] “I tried unlinking the two audio channel, deleting the shotgun mike channel, and copying the the lave mike channel into the other audio track. But then it still only comes out the one channel. The goal is to have dual channel mono.”
Daniel,
I understand that what you propose above sounds logical, and people have been doing it that way for years simply because they don’t know any better, but it’s a bad practice. On a long-form project, a mixer using Protools would have to spend hours cleaning up your work, and even if you’re not handing off to a mixer, learning the proper technique is still a good idea.
As Ty said, the proper way to achieve dual channel mono output is simply to center pan the good channel and bring down the level of the other channel.
BTW, you can then copy and paste the audio attributes to the rest of the clips from that setup, thus avoiding all the manual labor.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Remember, you can also unlink the track in the sequence you don’t want (say the bad lav on channel 2) and when you drag the clip to the timeline, the audio channel won’t even show up. It’s not deleted from the clip, it’s just not in the sequence. I do this all the time and the mixes are great out of Protools.
Warren Eig
O 310-470-0905email: warren@babyboompictures.com
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[Warren Eig] “Remember, you can also unlink the track in the sequence you don’t want (say the bad lav on channel 2) and when you drag the clip to the timeline, the audio channel won’t even show up. “
Yep, that also works.
I do prefer the technique Ty mentioned however, which keeps the second track available if needed. That way they’re muted, but a ProTools mixer has them if needed. It’s a pretty elegant solution…
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] “I do prefer the technique Ty mentioned however, which keeps the second track available if needed. That way they’re muted, but a ProTools mixer has them if needed. It’s a pretty elegant solution…”
Yes please! In a sound post facility they can properly mix boom & lav. What sound best to you on FCP may not be the best so let the sound post experts decide.
Oh an btw lots of us don’t use ProTools so please don’t assume. Ask in advance what to do to best prepare a project for sound post. For example Fairlight have just introduced xml import from FCP (including picture) so a muted clip in FCP can be unmuted but if you OMF exported, that muted clip may not appear.
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