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PeteGould
Known Participant
March 21, 2011
Answered

Split track audio in Premiere CS5

  • March 21, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 22802 views

Greetings all,

I'm getting acclimated to working in Premiere CS5 after years of editing on Avid Media Composer and Symphony.  There are of course similarities and differences, some of which I can figure my way through and others where I'll need to ask for help.  Here's one.

Suppose I have a piece of video that was shot split-track.  On channel 1 we have the lavaliere mic worn by an interview subject.  On channel 2 we have the on-camera mic so while searching I can hear the interviewer's questions which aren't so audible in the interviewee's mic.  In the final edit I wish to discard channel 2 and center-pan channel 1.  On an Avid the audio channels are on separate tracks on the timeline - you can literally remove the channel 1 or channel 2 audio clip and then use a pan tool to take the remaining audio clip and pan it as desired (typically center-pan is what you want with an interviewee but in fact you have infinite choices between full-left and full-right).

How do we approach this issue in Premiere?  I'm sure this has been addressed before but after a lot of searching I guess I don't know the correct search terms to find it.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Peter

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Colin Brougham

    Personally, I don't like the Fill Left/Right effects--it's unnecessary processing, and I think their use is pretty limiting. They'd be your best solution if you're already done editing, though.

    If you haven't started editing, you can remap the stereo audio left and right channels to two split mono channels, sort of replicating your experience in Avid (that's where I came from, too). Just select your clips in the bin, and right-click > Modify > Audio Channels. Click the "Mono" radio button to send the stereo left to A1 and the stereo right to A2. Now, you can edit the clips into two mono tracks in a sequence.

    The difference is the way Premiere maps sequence tracks by default. In Avid, odd numbered audio tracks went left, and even numbered audio tracks went right. In Premiere, all mono audio tracks default to center channel if you're using a stereo master track. In the Audio Mixer, you can pan tracks left or right to go to specific output channel, or mix as needed. This practice is a little different than Avid, but gives you a great deal of flexibility.

    The most important thing to note is that the Audio Channel Mapping won't work if you've already used your clip(s) in a sequence, so be sure to do it immediately after capturing/importing your clips.

    2 replies

    Colin Brougham
    Colin BroughamCorrect answer
    Participating Frequently
    March 21, 2011

    Personally, I don't like the Fill Left/Right effects--it's unnecessary processing, and I think their use is pretty limiting. They'd be your best solution if you're already done editing, though.

    If you haven't started editing, you can remap the stereo audio left and right channels to two split mono channels, sort of replicating your experience in Avid (that's where I came from, too). Just select your clips in the bin, and right-click > Modify > Audio Channels. Click the "Mono" radio button to send the stereo left to A1 and the stereo right to A2. Now, you can edit the clips into two mono tracks in a sequence.

    The difference is the way Premiere maps sequence tracks by default. In Avid, odd numbered audio tracks went left, and even numbered audio tracks went right. In Premiere, all mono audio tracks default to center channel if you're using a stereo master track. In the Audio Mixer, you can pan tracks left or right to go to specific output channel, or mix as needed. This practice is a little different than Avid, but gives you a great deal of flexibility.

    The most important thing to note is that the Audio Channel Mapping won't work if you've already used your clip(s) in a sequence, so be sure to do it immediately after capturing/importing your clips.

    the_wine_snob
    the_wine_snob
    Inspiring
    March 21, 2011

    One can also choose Clip>Audio Options>Breakout to Mono in the Project Panel (think that works with 2-channel, as well as 6-channel).

    Good luck,

    Hunt

    Colin Brougham
    Colin Brougham
    Participating Frequently
    March 21, 2011

    Problem is, those aren't linked to the video; that's fine if all you need is the audio, but even that can be managed in different ways without generating other masterclips to deal with in your project.

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    March 21, 2011

    Use the Fill Left/Right effect in the Audio Effects folder.

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