No Waveform in PP 2015.4 multicam sequence

[jwffvm]

I'm editing a 2 camera multicam sequence, mono audio on 2 tracks from camera 1.  Original footage XAVC-I, 4K 23.976 from FS7 and XAVC-S, 4K, 23.976 from Sony A7R II.

I'm not getting any wave forms in my multicam timeline.  My timeline is ProRes 422 1080/23.976P.

Any idea how I can fix this?

Thx...Jim Watt

Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)

OS 10.11.6

Premier Pro CC 2015.4

Processor:  4 GHz Intel Core i7

Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB

Memory:  32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Startup Disk:  Mac HD/3 TB Fusion

Graphics:  AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB

Video Drive-1  G-Raid Studio, 6TB, Raid 0

Writre:  306.8

Read: 305.1

Video Drives-2 6TB Raid “0” in OWC Raid Housing

Write Speed:  328 MB/s

           Read 333.7 MB/s

Video Drive-3 4TB G-Raid

Write 245.9

Read 258.0

2 additional HDMI Monitors

Black Magic Ultra Studio Mini Monitor box

[David Arbor]

If you render your audio do you get waveform? If so, this means that your multi-clip audio is either muxing somewhere or something else isn't set up correctly. This took me ages to figure out and it can be incredibly complicated, so I'll give you my situation as an example.

We record with two cameras that are set up for dual mono input. Ch 1 on both cameras is a lav or a board feed, and Ch 2 is a shotgun on the camera.

When all goes well I only want Ch 1 and Ch 2 from Cam 1 during editing.

I import all of my clips as dual mono, so when I drop a clip in the timeline I get two audio tracks as opposed to the typical stereo track with two different sources.

After making my multi-clip I now have 4 audio tracks from the two cameras. As soon as I drop the multi-clip into my editing sequence I have no waveform. This is because those four channels are being muxed down to A1 and A2 of my multiclip which is set up to have a two channel stereo output, so I mute tracks 3 and 4 (the audio from cam 2) inside my multiclip, but still no waveform. If I go back into my Audio Mixer panel inside of my multi-clip I then take Ch 1 and pan it to -100 and Ch 2 goes to +100. This now firmly separates the two channels inside my multiclip and I can see that my VU meters are showing different signal. If i mute Track 2 then I only get my left VU meter moving and vice-versa. If I set one of those channels to be even + or - 99 the waveforms disappear.

NOW my waveform can pass through to my main editing sequence because my two channel multi-clip isn't muxing multiple sources and it's only sending one track per channel.

So the two questions are:

1) Does this by any change mimic your setup?

2) If not, does this help explain the problem relative to your specific situation?

[jwffvm]

David,

Thanks for the suggestions.  I import as two mono tracks, with wav on 1 and boom on the other going to camera 1 and Lav only going to the stereo input jack on my A7R II.  I modify the A7R II track to two mono channels once imported into PP.

My mujlticam workflow:  Mark in points from slate.  Set Multicam sequence to use in points; Source preset automatic; audio sequence settings, channel-1;  audio channels preset, mono; enumerate cameras. 

My multicam info is this :

367_WATT1655.MXFViet-Take-6

3840 x 2160

00;13;57;10, 23.976 fps

48000 Hz - Multichannel mapped to 2 Mono

On my 1080 timeline I get two mono audio channels, Ch-1 wav, Ch-2 is the boom, but no wave form.  I went into the track mixer and panned Ch-1 to Left and Ch-2 to right, still no wave form.

If I open the source clip in the source monitor the wave forms are there, but not in the multicam sequence. 

I'm missing something obvious.

Thanks for the help...Jim

[David Arbor]

If you open the clip in the source monitor and waveform is there then there might be a different problem.

Just to clarify though, how many tracks are inside your multi-clip? Even though you panned ch-1 left and ch-2 right, do you have a third and fourth track from your A7R II? If so, those must be muted. Before you can guarantee that your audio waveforms will pass through solo track 1 and make sure it only plays in the left channel and then do the same for track 2 and make sure it only plays through the right channel.

Also, how many channels does your multi-clip actually have?

Edit: How many channels does the multi-clip have when you drag it into the 1080 sequence and all of your audio tracks are patched properly?

[jwffvm]

There are only 2 channels showing up in my multi clip, whether I make a new sequence for my 1080 timeline or if I select make new clip from the multi clip which will be of course 4K.

[David Arbor]

Could you post some screenshots? One that's inside your multi-clip with your Audio Track panel exposed and then one of your editing timeline? If you work on two monitors it would be helpful to switch to the standard workspace so everything shows up on a single monitor and you can send a screenshot of the whole thing.

[jwffvm · Accepted solution]

OK this is strange, but really good!  As soon as I went to single monitor so I could do a screen shot, the waveforms appear in my multi clip timeline.  When I go back to dual screen layout the waveforms are still there.

I don't understand why, but not going to argue with the results.

Thank you very much for helping me work through this puzzle.

Jim

[David Arbor]

Ha, no problem. In that case it could have just been a drawing error and refreshing the screen helped.