Better audio management for multicam sequence

Report · Jan 24, 2023

We need a professionnal way to edit a multicam sequence into a target sequence with all the audio tracks included in the multicam sequence.

If my multicam sequence have 6 audio tracks, I have to copy them from the multicam sequence and paste them into the target sequence, and cut multicam image + these "unlinked" audio channels ...

We want to keep all the audios sources for the mixer or sound editor. But these "unlinked" audios can be a big source of problems during the cutting ... Some audios clips can be desynchronisated, crushed, erased ...

And impossible to make a simple "match frame" after that, to recover the 6 audios tracks ... I have to copy TC IN and TC OUT into the timeline, cut the 6 audios clips, et drag and drop into the target timeline ... Not very productive, and so suprising for a software like Premiere to don't have an easy way to nest 6 (or less or more) tracks with a multicam image ...

Thank's

Report · Jan 24, 2023

I find it best to edit the audio in the Source sequence rather than the Target sequence. This just works.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

Despite much effort, I can find no combination of
source track - mono/stereo/adaptive ;

sequence mono/stereo/multichannel ;

sequence track mixer panning & routing;

sequence modify audio channel assignment

where I can put a 3 channel audio recording (boom,lav1,lav2) into a multicam sequence and have it then pass through as 3 tracks in my edited sequence.

Maybe there is a way - please do let me know if there is - in the mean time I have to edit flattened audio with multicam pictures.

Editing in the source sequence is cumbersome & cannot be predictably flattened for handover.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

https://forums.adobe.com/message/10624890#10624890

Is the forum discussion that prompted this

Report · Jan 24, 2023

YES! Currently trying to edit a doc with 70+ interviews, 4 tracks of audio on each. The setup is NOT intuitive at all and editing each sequence of audio is absolutely not an option. We need pure audio pass through for multicam sequences, 4 mono tracks nested should equal 4 mono tracks out, nothing else.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

I handle my two people interviews and six channel audio (one DPA Define headset and a COS-22 stereo lav) so that I setup an audition project contain the three tracks for each. That is then mixed down to a stereo track that is added to the MC sequence and synced using the camera sound (then the camera sound is muted/deleted). Then I Link the sound and video and cut the interview. I can adjust the audio in premier as needed and I can also change the sound more in Audition and rerender. Do you have any feedback on this work flow and how it could be improved?

Report · Jan 24, 2023

This is possible right now for as many audio tracks/channels that you want to pass through, try these steps and see if it works:

1) Say you need a 10 video, 4 audio channel multicam edit. Create a new sequence with 10 video tracks and 4 audio tracks and place the video and audio files on the appropriate track in sync with each other.

2) The crucial part here is that all audio files should be interpreted as mono (Project Panel > Modify > Audio Channels). You want each channel to be on its own track (i.e. stereo file should take two audio tracks in the sequence, not a combined stereo file on a single audio track)

3) Now you have 10 video tracks and 4 mono audio tracks in a sequence (we will call this the "Multicam Source Sequence").

4) Find this "Multicam Source Sequence" in the Project Panel. Interpret the audio settings of the sequence (Project Panel > Modify > Audio Channels) to be Mono - 4 clips. One for each audio track in the sequence.

5) Create another sequence (we'll call this the "Main Timeline")

6) Place the Multicam Source Sequence into this Main Timeline. Notice that it has one video track, but 4 audio tracks! This is because we interpreted the sequence to have four channels back in Step 4.

7) Right click on this clip we just placed in the timeline, Multi-camera > Enable. Now you have full multicam control for the video, but the audio is set up yet.

8) Right click again on the clip and choose Audio Channels and check the farthest left box for each track (box #1). This routes audio channel #1 of each audio track from inside the Multicam Source Sequence out to this track. Since we made sure the tracks inside the Multicam Source Sequence are all mono, there are no other channels we need to pass through to the outside, which is why we check box #1 for all tracks. (Side note: If we had instead left the clips stereo on a single track inside the Multicam Source Sequence, we could use these boxes to control which channel (left/right) gets passed through to which track on the outside, but this way is much simpler).

9) Now we have four audio tracks receiving the first channel from inside the Multicam Source Sequence. But they are currently all identical because they're all set to Multi-Camera Angle 1. The way you control which audio channel you need is the same as how you control the video - by changing Multi-Camera Angles.

10) But our video clip is still linked so we can't edit each audio angle individually. To fix this, right click and Unlink the clip so we can edit each audio track separately.

11) Now right click on each audio clip and choose Multi-Camera > Angle 1 for the first track, Angle 2 for the second track, etc.

12) You should now see the waveforms appearing as they are passed through to the outside to their respective tracks.

13) Now you have full video multiam control with linked audio that passes through as many tracks as you need! And you can match frame the video to get the timecode of the audio for use back in the Multicam Source Sequence. Note that if you accidentally delete one channel, it's trivial to get it back, simply duplicate another track's audio and change the Multi-Camera to the missing Angle! Also you can route these Multicam audio Angles in the Audio Track mixer for exporting splits, etc. Very powerful workflow once you get the hang of it.

Note: One thing to avoid - if you have multiple multicam syncmaps you need to make into "Main Timelines" you might be tempted to go through the steps for one of them and then duplicate those sequences, clear out the contents, and paste the other syncmap in there. DON'T DO THAT. It won't work, trust me. Just start this list of steps again from the top for each multicam sync you need.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

Yes, please fix the process of creating a Sequence from a MultiCamera Source Sequence in regard to audio track routing. It should be an option for the process to nest the video into Multi-Cam tracks and leave the audio just as it appears on the Source Sequence.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

Yes - i must've had 20 assistant editors in the past 5 years and Not-A-Single-One-Of-Them have known how to make ROBUST multicam clips - with waveforms that stay visible over the course of the edit.
I don't know how to make them reliably either.
Your merge clip function is also a bloody nightmare (let's not go there just now) for those of use trying to use dual system sound and export an AAF later (eg. all of us professionals, on every edit), so we are pushed into using the mutlicam function even when using a single camera.
I'm sure - yes - there is a way to do it if you understand all the ins and outs of premiere's insanely complex audio routing options, but my point is, it is not at all intuitive. NO ONE i know can do it. And i know a lot of editors and assistant editors here in NYC.
For the love of christ, we just want an easy way to have all iso tracks from our sound mixer linked to our camera files and functioning properly with robust waveforms.
It's frankly a joke that your software makes this crucial part of a professional edit so complex.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

When making your multicam source clip choose "all cameras" in the audio dialogue box. Then when using the multicam as a source all channels from all cameras will edit onto the target timeline, i.e, 4 cameras each with 4 tracks will give you a multicam source with 16 audio channels.

Report · Jan 24, 2023

This tutorial shows how to make multicam sequences manually with a focus on audio tracks: https://youtu.be/aiVYRuWohZI

Report · Jan 24, 2023

When I created my multichannel sequence the audio defaulted to a camera w internal mic rather than the correct camera with external mic. I unlinked clips, some allow me to flatten (so it sounds good) and turns blue, others do not. How can I flatten all clips?