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Stan Jones
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 30, 2023
Open for Voting

Audio Track Selection for Source Media Transcription

  • May 30, 2023
  • 74 replies
  • 10157 views

Edit 12/15/24: Update on Multichannel Audio Transcription Support. Tests on PR Release 25.0.0 confirm that this is working for mono and stereo, and that the problem with Sony FX MXF files was fixed. Users experiencing problems should start a new thread and ask for assistance. Include information about the files used and process for transcribing.


PR Release version 24.0.0 added transcription of multiple audio channels for source media for mono, and stereo was added in Release Version 24.1.0.

 

Manual transcription occurs when right-clicking the source in the Project Panel, or using the 3 dot menu in the Text Panel.
If PR recognizes the file as having multiple channels, it adds "Channel Selection" to the options in the "Create Transcription for Source Media" dialogue. If it does not see multiple channels, you do not see that option.

 

Automatic transcription occurs when you set preferences to transcribe files when they are imported to the project or added to a sequence. It also occurs when untranscribed sources are in a sequence, and the Transcribe button is clicked in the Text Panel.


Auto-transcription uses a mix of the audio tracks. This works well as long as there is little overlap of dialogue on multiple channels.

 

An earlier post in this thread provides more detail:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-ideas/audio-track-selection-for-source-media-transcription/idc-p/14284739#M12271


Edit 10/30/23: Update on Multichannel Audio Transcription Support. PR Release version 24.0.0 added transcription of multiple audio channels for source media, but only for mono. Stereo has been added in the Beta version, and is in active development.

 

Auto-transcription still looks only at audio track one.

 

If PR recognizes the file as having multiple channels, it adds "Channel Selection" to the options in the "Create Transcription for Source Media" dialogue. If it does not see multiple channels, you do not see that option.

 

Some MXF files with multiple mono channels are not yet working correctly.

 

See these posts from staff:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-beta-bugs/text-based-editing-doesn-t-work-with-multiple-audio-channels/idc-p/14155069#M1380

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-ideas/audio-track-selection-for-source-media-transcription/idc-p/14113645#M11053

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-ideas/audio-track-selection-for-source-media-transcription/idc-p/14132036#M11257

 

Original Post: Text-Based Editing/Source Media Transcription as rolled out in Releaase 23.4.0 does not allow for the selection of which audio track to transcribe, but transcribes only track 1. From forum posts, users often appear to have multiple audio tracks per file, including microphone, camera(s), sound board input, etc. The workarounds quickly become onerous.

 

I recognize the difficulty, which is encountered when using nesting workaround. Instead of one transcription per clip, you must have multiple transcriptions per clip. In my experiments, the audio track picked currently for transcription is not changed by mapping audio channels etc. So any method using multiple audio tracks/transcriptions would need to name them in a way that the user could understand and track.

 

Workarounds:

 

  1. Modify the source file so the desired clip is audio track 1.
  2. Place the clip in a sequence, create a static transcription (which allows audio track selection), and then nest that sequence. That nested sequence carries the transcription and behaves like a source transcription.
  3. Select the multitrack file in the Project Panel and Clip -> Audio Options -> Extract Audio. This creates as many files as there are audio tracks, named [Filename] + Extracted.wav, [Filename] + Extracted_1.wav, etc. Note that the numbers are in revers order to the audio tracks in a sequence. For example, if there are 2 audio tracks, the file named ...Extracted_1.wav will be audio track one and the file named without the _1 will be track two.

 

Note that anytime transcribed clips are on different tracks in a timeline, the higher-ranking track (e.g. audio track 1 is higher than audio track 2) will be active.

 

If you are upvoting this idea, be sure to click the numbering box in the upper left of the thread, not just individual posts.

 

Stan

 

 

74 replies

Xzault
Participating Frequently
October 11, 2023

Latest official and beta update have the same problem 

Xzault
Participating Frequently
October 8, 2023

Hi Kerstin, I just updated to latest build today, still does not see the audio for transcription, from my clips that dont have audio on channel (1), this build also just quit on me, no error, i went to import a different clip and boom.

 

How do i get you my video file for testing ? 

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 7, 2023

> I dont see any new updates, the latest beta doesnt appear to be .45 for mac silicon. 

 

Build 46 is there for PC. It took a few days. I have not tried it yet, but there's clearly some difference for Mac.

 

Stan

Xzault
Participating Frequently
October 7, 2023

Hi, I dont see any new updates, the latest beta doesnt appear to be .45 for mac silicon. i have same problem still, i have even tried a new clip where audio was reccodred on channel, 1,2,3,4

Kerstin Ebert
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
October 5, 2023

Hi @Xzault,

we just put some improvements into multi-channel transcription so I recommend that you try out tomorrow's Beta build (24.1.0x45 or newer). If you're still not getting the correct transcription result, it would be helpful if you could semd me your audio file so I can try it on my end, this should help with the investigation.

 

Thanks,

Kerstin

Xzault
Participating Frequently
October 5, 2023

my audio might technically be multi channel stereo, but i only recorded one lav on channel 2, and then the audio from the built in mic on 3-4. are you saying transccription wont work on stereo audio files ? maybe thats the pproblem, although that doesnt make any sense to me

Xzault
Participating Frequently
October 5, 2023

Yes, i see the dialog box with the audio selection choices, i have selected everyone of them and get no audio transcription, after transcribing, it says no dialog. i did notice the project settings say 32bit ausio when my source file is 24 bit 48k, i have no idea if that has anything to do with it. i only have 4 channels of recorded audio, even though it says 8, and technically i have nothing on channel 1, channel 1 has no audio,  channel 2 has the recodred lav, then channel 3&4 are the FX6 audio from the handles stereo mic so it should be stereo.  as you can see it is attempting to scan and transcribe, but it just doesnt seem to reconize. i just updated to the latest beta right now before takng these screenshots 

Kerstin Ebert
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
October 4, 2023

Hi everyone, here are some updates from the team:

 

Currently we allow multi-channel selection for mono files that have multiple channels, it doesn't work for stereo files. We continue working on this feature and want to hear  about the feature requests you have.

 

As of now we can only attach the transcript of one channel (or the mixdown) to a clip, so a source clip can't contain multiple transcripts. And speaking of multiple transcripts, potentially overlapping, we currently handle it this way: when you have multple transcripts of multiple clips stacked on multiple A/V tracks, we only show the transcript of the highest ranking audio track (usually A1). You'd have to mute the higher audio track if you want to see the transcript on the lower audio track.

 

@Xzault , @Gerald21842482fek3 I want to find out why you're not gettign the correct transcription. Are you using multi-channel mono files? Do you see this dialogue with the channel selection drop-down menu?

 

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 3, 2023

Now on Build 41. There is no change to the information I posted on Build 39.

 

As I said then, "The real challenge for this workflow is how to work with multiple overlapping transcripts in a timeline. There, I'm imagining some way to show/hide overlapping info."

 

All of the following tests are "as expected," based on what I've seen so far and earlier behavior with overlapping audio tracks.

 

I transcribed the 4-channel audio only .mov file selecting Channel 1. I then applied breakout to mono, selected only channels 2-4, and transcribed. All 4 breakouts have the correct transcript. If I retranscribe the original 4 audio file, it changes, but the Mono Breakout Channel 1 keeps its Channel 1 transcript.

 

I created a sequence with the Channel 1 mono breakout, then added the other 3 in order, so Track 1 is Channel 1, Track 2 is Channel 2, etc. As expected, only the Track 1 transcript shows in the Text panel. If Track 1 is muted, Track 2 shows, etc. Note that Solo does not have this effect. The only way to show Track 4 transcript is to mute Tracks 1-3.

 

Note that if one of the audio tracks was not transcribed, and the Transcript View Options has "Untranscribed sources" turned on, the Text tab will show a Transcribe option at the top and in the transcript area, a timecode range and "Source has not been transcribed." If "Untranscribed sources" is off, neither message shows. Whether "Untranscribed sources" is on or off, the text panel shows only information about the "active" track, and nothing about the presence of other track transcriptions.

 

Stan

 

 

 

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 2, 2023

Thanks for the audio channels screenshot. I think that is what you are looking for. Let's see when staff check back in.

 

Stan