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alexs99565313
Participant
November 4, 2019
Question

Can't enable all channels / Right channel appears grayed out in Waveform

  • November 4, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 5496 views

I batch converted all my clips from mono to stereo, and now I'm having an issue. I'm new to Adobe Audition, so I'm hoping this is something super simple that I'm just missing!

In the multi-track, I can hear the sound coming from both channels. But when I go into the Waveform for each clip, the sound comes from only the left channel. I see waveforms in the right channel, but it appears grayed out. When I click on Edit/Enable Channels, it looks like only the Left channel is selected — but when I click on "All Channels" or "Right Channel" to enable them, nothing happens.

 

Any idea what could be happening here?

 

2 replies

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 4, 2019

I don't know if it's exactly the same, but it's similar, yes.

 

But like I said, there's no point in converting mono files to stereo, regardless. If you place mono files into a stereo session, you get a Pan control on the track, so you can position them where you want them in the stereo field anyway, and if you play them on their own, most systems will output them to both channels.

Participant
May 5, 2024

There is a point. Stop saying that. If your goal is to merge all the audio files into one file to edit then yes there IS A POINT. 

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 4, 2019

For a start, you haven't achieved anything by converting your files - they're still mono, just spread across two channels; that doesn't confer any more operability with them - you can do nothing useful with a dual mono file that you can't do with just the single channel one.

 

If you can't turn one of the channels on, then the chances are that the metadata was corrupted somehow, or Audition has got itself into a faulty mode (this has happened before...). So firstly, close it and re-start it. If that doesn't fix anything, then restart it with the shift key held down. This will restart Audition with all the preferences set to their initial state. If that doesn't work, then you'll have to post the file somewhere so we can have a look at it.

 

But just to be clear - you have a file with information in both channels, but one is greyed out. And you can't click on the little square on the RHS of the waveform display to make it go green again?

alexs99565313
Participant
November 4, 2019

That's correct — in the Waveform, there's information in both channels, but the right one is grayed out. The little "R" square is also grayed out, so I can't click on it to enable that channel.

 

In the multi-track, the same clip looks like it's a mono clip, meaning I only see one waveform. But when I look at it in the Files window, it says it's "Stereo" (under Channels).

 

To be specific, this is what I did before this happened: I used Batch Process to apply an effect to multiple clips, and in the Export Settings for that Batch Process, I had it export the new files as Stereo.

 

Let me know if this additional information gives you any other ideas as to what might be happening? I just re-started Audition and nothing changed. If there isn't any other simple explanation for it, I'll try restarting with Shift to reset the preferences, but I'd like to only use that as a last resort. 

 

Like I said, I'm quite new to this so I apologize if there's a dead simple explanation I'm not aware of!

 

 

alexs99565313
Participant
November 4, 2019

Looks like I'm having the exact same issue as this person: https://community.adobe.com/t5/Audition/All-the-stereo-track-shows-in-mono-on-my-multitrack-project/td-p/10499613

 

Perhaps the simplest solution is to convert all my files back to mono? But I am quite confused about why this is happening!