Manipulating volume on each audio channels

[Renton Maclachlan]

Yesterday I filmed a speech and ran two mics thru my JuicedLink to my camera, one to channel one and one to channel two.

What is the best way to separately manipulate the volume on each of the two channels?

[Renton Maclachlan]

Ok, so I inserted another audio track and copied the audio to it.Then I chose Right Click>Channels and selected left for one track and right for the other.

Only I lost sound on doing so.

Put it back to both channels and the sound returns. That shouldn't happen. The meters (V10) still flick up and down.

Why am I losing sound when choosing only one channel?

[Seth Bloombaum]

You're likely looking at a stereo track per camera.

1) Separate the stereo track into two mono tracks.
1a - Duplicate the track so you have two copies on the timeline.
1b - Right click on one of the copies, pull down to Channels | Left Only
1c - Right click on the other, Channels | Right Only
1d - if needed, copy the first event on your "left" track (really, it's now a mono track of a single mic), and paste event attributes to all other events on that track, same for the "right track".

The result - several mono tracks, each of a single mic.

2) Mix!

There are scripts that can automate this process, especially handy when you've already done some editing and there are numerous events on the timeline. Excaliber does it...

[Ron Evans]

There are probably many ways of doing this but one way is to place the stereo audio on two tracks. Make one of them left channel and the other right channel ( right click on track and select Left only the other Right only). You now have two mono tracks that can be edited independently and remixed to stereo for output if that is what you want.

Ron Evans

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

Ok, so I inserted another audio track and copied the audio to it.Then I chose Right Click>Channels and selected left for one track and right for the other.

Only I lost sound on doing so.

Put it back to both channels and the sound returns. That shouldn't happen. The meters (V10) still flick up and down.

Why am I losing sound when choosing only one channel?

Haven't checked this workflow with v10, but it's basic stuff - it ought to work. Are you "losing" (meaning no audible sound?) on both tracks, or just the new one?

Is the new track assigned to the master bus (in the track header)?

Do you still see waveforms on the single-channel audio events?

[Renton Maclachlan]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

Haven't checked this workflow with v10, but it's basic stuff - it ought to work. Are you "losing" (meaning no audible sound?) on both tracks, or just the new one?

Is the new track assigned to the master bus (in the track header)?

Do you still see waveforms on the single-channel audio events?

As soon as I convert the stereo to mono by choosing left or right, I lose the audible sound.

The wave form still functions on the mono tracks.

The word 'Master' is in the track header of both the original and the copied tracks.

[Ron Evans]

Expand the track height so that you can see Vol, Pan, Bus. In the mixer section create two bus mixes then select these in the track bus location. Say left bus A and right bus B. This way you will see the VU in the track header and peak levels in the mixer section of the two tracks. When I do this I have Microsoft Mapper on the track headers and only master in the mixer section . Make sure also that Dim Output isn't selected somewhere.

Ron Evans

[Edward Troxel]

The word "Master" is in the two tracks??? It sounds like you're dropping them on the master BUS track instead of individual audio tracks in the timeline. If you press "B", do those tracks disappear? If yes, you've put the audio in the WRONG place. Delete them off the bus track, then hide the bus tracks, and then add them back to regular audio tracks.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Originally Posted by Edward Troxel

The word "Master" is in the two tracks??? It sounds like you're dropping them on the master BUS track instead of individual audio tracks in the timeline. If you press "B", do those tracks disappear? If yes, you've put the audio in the WRONG place. Delete them off the bus track, then hide the bus tracks, and then add them back to regular audio tracks.

Edward: When I press B a new track is created with the name 'Master'. When I said 'The word "Master" is in the two tracks.' I meant that it was a button alongside the Microsoft Sound Mapper button. Perhaps I didn't know what I was talking about. I don't think I know what a 'Bus' track is. I've only ever used - as far as I am aware, 'regular audio tracks'. I just selected 'Insert audio track' and copied the original audio track to it.

Ron: I for some reason don't see 'Bus' in any of my audio tracks headers. I've got Vol: and Pan: but not Bus: but I do see 'Insert bus' on the right top of the Mixer window. Actually I think I understand hardly anything of what you said - I'm sure it is my problem not yours!

[Ron Evans]

Yes in the mixer section use "insert bus" twice. Two meters will appear in the mixer section. When you have done this "Bus" will appear in the track headers . Select bus A for one track and Bus B for the other mono track. This is explained in the help file for V10. In the track headers, top left should say Microsoft Sound Mapper for all tracks. You will need to expand the tracks to see the Bus .
Ron Evans

[Renton Maclachlan]

I'm wondering if I may need to reinstall v10 as not only am I not getting audio as stated above, my fades are not working either. I have never had this happen in any other version.

[Renton Maclachlan]

I rendered the file, then opened it it V9. I could do fades in 9 but when I chose either only the left or right channels, once again I could get no audio.

I then reopened V10 and the original vege file and this time I could do fades but again no audio on left or right channels, only on 'both'. I must be missing something.

Interestingly 10 crashed on ending the render.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Ok...I don't know why the audio doesn't play when only one channel is selected as already discussed...haven't figured that one out yet...but...

...I have found a very simple way of altering the two channels individually. In the mixer window the faders are locked by default. By clinking the 'Unlock Fader Channels' button at bottom of fader (padlock) the faders can be manipulated individually.

I don't know why, but when changing the faders this way, when one channel is set to zero the volume increases a bit and when it is taken back to the same level as the other one it decreases again. Anyone know why? Actually, when I go to my audio controls on my computer and pan the volume from one channel to the other, the volume of each individual channel exceeds the volume of both channels combined. What is going on?

[Edward Troxel]

Without snapshots or a video showing what you're doing, I'm really lost on what you're doing and what's happening.

I know that I can easily add audio to a track, duplicate the triack, right-click each audio event choosing left on one and right on the other and I will hear both left and right sides out of BOTH speakers. If anything, it should get LOUDER. You can then use volume envelopes and the volume slider on the track header to adjust the volumes as needed.

[Ron Evans]

Are you sure the audio is a real stereo audio file? What does properties say about the file?

Ron Evans