Imported a video file with a 5.1 audio track, voices are almost inaudible even though all other sounds and music appear to be fine.

Report · Nov 11, 2018

I am using Premiere 15. In the project settings I choose Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 Channel and then import a video clip with a 5.1 channel audio track. Voices are virtually impossible to hear even though all other sounds and music appear to be fine (it is possible that the center channel is malfunctioning as voices most are weighted to the center channel). I know for sure that the track is 5.1 because it says so when I right click and look under the details of the file's properties, and as added confirmation I used the MediaInfo app. The clip's audio is also fine when played outside of Premiere. When I render the work to a file, the description of what I should be getting says it will be 5.1, but the rendered file has the same issue.

Further, the original video clip is 1080 X 824, so I have set the settings so that the output matches the original, but when I play the video Premiere created it is letterboxed, and going into properties there is no information on the resolution anywhere. When I rerendered by actually typing in the dimensions I wanted to output from Premiere it ignored my directions and still gave me a lower-resolution letterboxed video.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Report · Nov 11, 2018

What is the source of the video? How are you doing the project settings? Is there a yellow line above the timeline? Why 1080 x 824?

Report · Nov 12, 2018

Ooops, I meant 1920 by 824, the original aspect ratio. Here is all the info on the file. It should be noted that I used VLC Player to convert the container to MP4 so that Premiere could recognize it (by and large I'm partial to Matroska and a bit miffed Adobe won't deal with it.) The project settings are I select 'New Project', select it's name and where it will be saved, and select the project settings as 'Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 Channel'. I then put the file in the project assets, and put it on the timeline. Very straightforward.

General

Complete name :

D:\Star.Wars.Episode.IV.A.New.Hope.1977.1080p.BluRay.X264\Star.Wars.Episode.IV.A.New.Hope.1977.1080p.BluRay.X264-IABLE.mp4

Format :

MPEG-4

Format profile :

Base Media

Codec ID :

isom (mp41/avc1)

File size :

5.07 GiB

Duration :

2 h 4 min

Overall bit rate mode :

Variable

Overall bit rate :

5 816 kb/s

Encoded date :

UTC 2018-11-13 02:53:18

Tagged date :

UTC 2018-11-13 02:53:18

Writing application :

vlc 3.0.1 stream output

Comment :

QuickTime 6.0 or greater

Video

ID :

2

Format :

AVC

Format/Info :

Advanced Video Codec

Format profile :

Baseline@L4

Format settings :

1 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC :

No

Format settings, ReFrames :

1 frame

Codec ID :

avc1

Codec ID/Info :

Advanced Video Coding

Duration :

2 h 4 min

Bit rate :

5 487 kb/s

Width :

1 920 pixels

Height :

832 pixels

Original height :

824 pixels

Display aspect ratio :

2.35:1

Frame rate mode :

Variable

Frame rate :

23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

Minimum frame rate :

23.256 FPS

Maximum frame rate :

25.000 FPS

Color space :

YUV

Chroma subsampling :

4:2:0

Bit depth :

8 bits

Scan type :

Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) :

0.143

Stream size :

4.78 GiB (94%)

Writing library :

x264 core 148

Encoding settings :

cabac=0 / ref=1 / deblock=0:-1:-1 / analyse=0:0x11 / me=dia / subme=0 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=0

Language :

English

Encoded date :

UTC 2018-11-13 02:53:18

Tagged date :

UTC 2018-11-13 02:53:18

mdhd_Duration :

3189427

Codec configuration box :

avcC

Report · Nov 12, 2018

Adobe aims Premiere Elements at those that shoot video with their own consumer cameras. As far as I can tell, you are trying to work with video not from a camera.

Maybe someone else can tell you how to do it. My guess is that you need other software.

Report · Nov 12, 2018

Yes, I ripped my Bluray so I could have some fun editing-out some of the changes George Lucas made to later editions of Star Wars, including the infamous Jabba scene. It's not a big deal, but as a designer I do like customizing everything I can get my hands on. Plus, if I ran into this problem again, I'd know how to deal with it. I'm sure that Youtubers don't all learn professional editing software to create content, though maybe they all post in stereo.

Report · Nov 13, 2018

Tony,

There may very well be a way to convert what you ripped into something editable in Premiere Elements. Handbrake is free and well regarded. It may do a conversion that will work. There is also the free audio program called Audacity that may do wonders.

Good luck. I hope you find a way to do what your want.