[Emily Aspland]

Thank you for responding, Oliver. I know, it IS confusing. I’m only a mid-level editor but I usually solve most problems I have with a few Googles, this has me stumped.

You are precisely right, the left and right VU meters are NOT in unison:

To clarify and be thorough here was my process:
– I started a new project. I was given the footage.
– There were no separate audio files, so the only thing I imported was a video file, which had audio attached.
– When I drop the video file on the timeline, it automatically drops the attached 4 audio tracks that come with the video file onto A1-4, so 4 tracks on my timeline.
– I can obviously mute or lock any of these audio tracks in order to isolate one of them to listen to the content/view the levels in the “VU meter” (?) – i.e. the thing on the right that shows two columns jumping up and down, indicating the volume of the audio, it’s what we use to measure if something is peaking (I’m sorry just not sure exactly what it’s called).
– On ANY of the 4 tracks, the “solo left” and “solo right” on the VU meter(?) play at different levels, instead of being in unison. (And indeed they DO play, it’s not that – for example – solo left stays flat and solo right plays, they BOTH play, at different levels).
– Whether I try to adjust the clip channel format on all four tracks at the same time, OR one isolated track, it doesn’t allow me to do so, the clip channel format is greyed out and defaulted to Stereo.
– If I try a filter like “Balance” on one of the tracks, as mentioned above the slider in the effects panel does nothing.

I’m pretty stuck and tearing my hair out at this point so any thoughts appreciated!!

[Emily Aspland]

Thank you for responding!

It can’t be the output – it doesn’t matter whether I play through headphones or from the computer’s speakers, the problem is the same.

ALSO, why would the audio level meter (sorry, I don’t know what it’s properly called, the thing at the bottom right with two columns that go up and down to show how loud your audio is in decibels), why would the two channels (solo left and solo right) differ in that if they were balanced?

If I open ANY other project at the same time and play the audio, those two columns move up and down equally at the same level, and audio plays evenly in my headphones/on speakers etc.