Multi channel PCM audio for footage is not detected

[vsbmeza]

I've been attempting to record multi-channel audio with PCM through OBS. Here are my settings:

I set it to record 2 audio channels

Whenever I import the resulting file, premiere only ever acknowledges the first audio track it finds.

Please note, that when I change the audio encoder to FFMPEG AAC, it all works perfectly and both channels are detected.

This issue exists in

Premiere Pro 24.2.1 (and before)

Premiere Pro (Beta)  24.3 (and before)

I've tried all other container formats with and without remuxing in OBS, the results are the same. Whenever I use multi-channel audio with PCM, premiere just ignores them.

I've attached a sample recording that has 2 audio channels recorded with the settings above. Everything esle (other players) is able to recognize them aside from premiere.

[Stan Jones]

@Averdahl @mattchristensen 

[Averdahl]

I've been attempting to record multi-channel audio with PCM through OBS. Here are my settings:

Whenever I import the resulting file, premiere only ever acknowledges the first audio track it finds.

By @vsbmeza

I have downloaded the file and get no audio àt all in Premiere Pro and if i import the file to Pegasys Mastering Works 7 i only get the voice over in both channels and no music. Guessing that some setting in OBS is the main issue.

When you record, what happens if you check Audio Track 1 and 2 instead of 2 and 4?

[vsbmeza]

I've been trying with all sorts of arrangements. If I route things to track 1, it's as expected: track 1 gets imported into Premiere Pro but nothing else.

Try opening the file I've sent in VLC.

It has both the mic and the music

Also if I change the audio codec in OBS to AAC, all the tracks work fine. So when the only difference is the audio codec used, not sure what other OBS setting could be the issue

[Stan Jones]

In Media info, I see 2 audio tracks (both with Channels = 2 and Channel layout = L R), one with Title = Mic and Default = Yes and one with Title = Music and Default = No.

In PR, I get one stereo track with NO audio.

In VLC, I can pick Audio track Mic or Music (as you show) but not both.

In Telestream Switch (free version), I can mute each of 4 channels, showing Mic in L and R and Music in Left and Right.

I wonder if you can create the file with one MONO channel for Mic and one MONO channel for Music.

Stan

[vsbmeza]

The goal isn't to have "both".

I record them separately so that I can mix them in premiere with the final footage. Sure, I could route all my audio to track 1 and then it would all be baked into a single track but that's not the point.

The point is to have them nice and separate for editing. It works perfectly with AAC but not with PCM 😞

[vsbmeza]

I've made an example with the AAC encoder. All other settings in OBS are identical.

Here's the file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SUzhGMH_ueNhGou2b1nK72KDePfkWzLK/view?usp=drivesdk

Import it to Premiere and this should be the result: 

This is what I should see with PCM too but I can't.

[Tom Nord]

Can you post a PCM sample and we can take a look? 

[vsbmeza]

Hi @Tom Nord, it's there as an attachement to the original post!

[Tom Nord]

Yup, there it is. Sorry about that, caffeine hasn't kicked in yet. 😉

[vsbmeza]

Know that feeling way too well!

Let me know if I can assist in any way.

[Tom Nord]

Thanks. Looks like we have everything we need. I'll get a bug entered in our system and we'll see what we can do. 

[Austin3585125778ch]

Just wanted to chime in and say I also ran into this issue in 14.8.0, which is finally what convinced me to update to the latest (24.2.1). I generally like to avoid being on the bleeding edge of Creative Cloud updates because things get broken or removed so often (I'm still salty about the removal of .mkv support), but I figured if I was going to try and get support on this I needed to update first.

I'm having the same issue as OP, though something I don't see mentioned in the original post is when I import into Premiere, there's no sound at all. I record on three tracks, and only Track 1 is imported, but it's imported without any actual audio data. All PCM encoders have this issue. Remuxing to .mp4 fixes it (using ffmpeg, not OBS) but that's only because that remuxing process converts the audio to AAC, since .mp4 doesn't support PCM (which is why you can't remux in OBS). I tried recording in .mkv, then converting to .mov using mmpeg (basically just changing the wrapper), thinking maybe something was going wrong when recording in .mov with OBS, but same result.

I have additional files for comparision if needed, but I think the already provided samples as pretty much the same as what I have.

[Austin3585125778ch]

I went ahead and uploaded a couple example files to Drive for review. Both are after updating to the latest version of Premiere, and one is a test where I recorded on just one audio track.

[Austin3585125778ch]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pmw5vRbs60Nw4NhNDIrLfazOZcNsBFJd?usp=sharing

[Tom Nord]

Thank you for the additional notes/sample files. I'll get them added to the bug I logged. 

[DJ5FE9]

I've been checking up on this for a while but it still seems to be an issue with the latest version of Premiere. Any updates?

[Timothy25956871urf9]

We have 3 of us in the household.  Students whom are all on different computers, accounts, etc. Same issue as stated here.  We all rolled back to Adobe Premiere Pro v 23.6.9 and do not have this problem with that version. Its like the newer versions completely ignore additional tracks.

Can Adobe help with this problem?

I posted a new discussion on this with my screenshots.  I spent 2 hours with support and have not gotten a solution.
Adobe Premiere Pro 2024 Not Importing Multi-Track Audio Properly - Need Help 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Have you tried 24.6, @Timothy25956871urf9? How about the Beta? Let the team know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Timothy25956871urf9]

I have tried 24.6 and Beta versions.  Both have this problem.  Spent hours with support trying to solve it with no resolution.  I was hoping it was an easy fix, like some flag or setting in the application to get the audio tracks to import. Support was trying to convince me there was only one track in the video. You think if that was the case, I would not have 3 tracks show up in the 2023 version, with Actual audio that plays. 

• VLC shows three streams.
• Handbrake shows all audio. I tried doing a remux as suggested here, but that just forces all the tracks onto 1, which makes separating audio pointless for editing.
• I've used OBS Studio and Steel Series Sonar for capturing.  Both have the same results.  Tracks show in the older 2023 version, but not in the 2024. 
  Here is an image comparing the versions.  
  

[shauntron1986]

Hi I just wanted to chime in to mention I'm having the exact same problem trying to record multichannel, 32 bit floating point in OBS, and not having my additional channels show up in Premiere. I am eager for a fix!

[PeterL1998]

I too am having the same problem.

The only audio codec I can use within OBS that seems to be supported is AAC.

I'm not sure if Premiere Pro natively supports PCM codecs but given the popularity it this should be standard.

[Michael306412984e99]

I'm currently having this same issue. I record using OBS and then need to create multicam clips and using AAC audio slows editing down to a crawl. Sometimes 10 seconds between hitting the space bar and the video actually stopping. It makes editing a nightmare. This is why I would really like this bug fixed because PCM audio will allow for much faster editing.

Are there any updates on when this might be fixed?

[Nori Plays]

2025 and this still being an issue is so insane, I genuinely might end up picking up any other editing software at this point (DaVinci resolve or something of the sort...). I genuinely notice a difference in the audio quality going from AAC to PCM, and that Premiere to this day cannot handle this is beyond me when every other editing software out there can. Ridiculous, as Premiere for me at least, only tends to work with the lossy audio encoding. And no, I'm not going about some roundabout way of encoding my audio separately either. Fix it in Premiere, simple as that.