All the stereo track shows in mono on my multitrack project

Report · May 24, 2019

Hi I imported an .xml project in audition and started working at the project. I realized that some clips should be in stereo but its sounds in mono. So I created all news stereo track and replaced the old ones (that were mono by default), but this didn't solved the problem.

Now if from the multitrack project I doulbe click on the clip (the one that sounds mono but I repat it's a real stereo one proof is if I open the file with an external audio player) I see this:

as you can see Audition recognise it's stereo, the problem is that one channel is grayed out by default for the stereo clips I have in my project.

how to solve this problem please?

I'm on a project for a indy documentary and I'm working by a month it's very important for me to fix this issue.

thx so much,

Dan

Report · May 24, 2019

Click the mouse where I've circled...

Report · May 24, 2019

thx you very so much for help I really appreciated it. unfortunately I tryed but it didn't works, if I try to click on that button nothing happends. everyiting remains grayed out.

Report · May 25, 2019

Try the keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + Shift + B should enable all channels. You can control individual channels like this as well; Ctrl + Shift + L and Ctrl + Shift + R will toggle either channel, in just the same way that Ctrl + Shift + B will toggle both of them. Or if you have a multichannel file, all of them.

Report · May 25, 2019

If I click Ctrl + Shift + B or Ctrl + Shift + R there is no effect. It does only if I click Ctrl + Shift + L and it turn on and off my left channel. But I'm sure it's stereo as you saw from my picture at first post, even because I open that clip with an external audio player and it's stereo.

I did an exeperiment on that same multitrack project, I imported a new audio file (a stereo test .wav found on internet) and it is working in stereo with no problems. The R channel is not grayed out and everything works as it should. Even "ctrl shift B".

The problem now is how to let Audiotion see as stereo the original clips of the documentary I'm working on, please if there is any other suggestion I would be really grateful

Report · May 25, 2019

Have a look in the file explorer (the tab called Files) where your file is listed. There's a twirl-down next to it - you should see something like this:

What does the one for your dodgy file look like?

Report · May 26, 2019

Or use MediaInfo to interrogate the file and post the results in text form here so that we can see what the contents really are.

Report · May 28, 2019

SteveG(AudioMasters)ryclark

thx for help I'm really grateful,

all the stereo clips inside this project have this same problem.

to give an example I take one one in the specific:

from the media browser it say it's stereo

as you can see the same file I took as example is grayed out and if I click to enable the grey channel track it doesn't work

if I open it with media info

Only if it's not too much trouble may I ask you to try opening my project please? I uploaded it on my google drive, but there is only one clip inside because I can't upload the full project (you will find the one of the example in my pictures).

So the other clips will result offline if you open the project https://drive.google.com/open?id=18m7KhfuUxUEk3plVZZw3NoWKd_8NaNj7

the clip is at "01:25:29:21" on the timeline

thx!!

Report · May 28, 2019

The file itself is fine - it opens up in stereo if you open it in isolation.

Your problem here is that the session you've placed all your files in is a mono one, so if you insert a stereo file into it, then one channel only of the audio is all you'll get if you open it from the session rather than as a standalone file.

Report · May 28, 2019

oh how can I sort this problem please?

Report · May 28, 2019

SteveG(AudioMasters) wrote
Your problem here is that the session you've placed all your files in is a mono one, so if you insert a stereo file into it, then one channel only of the audio is all you'll get if you open it from the session rather than as a standalone file.

I'm afraid that I've changed my mind, having looked at this a bit more carefully. Something very strange is going on here, as I will show. The tracks are indeed stereo ones, but the files aren't being placed as stereo. So if I take your file and place it in the track adjacent to where you already have it, I get this:

The tracks as you've got them placed certainly appear to be mono, but if I insert the same file again next to them, it comes out as stereo. Where did the original .xml file come from? As far as I can tell it's done something weird to the way the files are inserted into the session. Unless SuiteSpot knows of a way around this, you may have to replace every single file in the session from the source files, just as I did above.

Report · May 28, 2019

If you look at the source routing for the file as placed by the .xlr, it shows this:

But if you look at the routing for the one I inserted, it jumps to this:

The other odd thing in the file info box is that the start and end times for the original clip are greyed out, but for the one I placed, they show correctly. There is something very odd about the .xml!

Report · May 28, 2019

the story of this xml

1) the video editing has been done in final cut on Mac (I think latest version)

2) they exported a .fcpxml file format for me but I wasn't able to open it in Audition

3) I think they converted the .fcpxml file format to .xml in Davinci Resolve and delivered it to me. If I remember correctly there are plenty of tutorials on internet that suggest this road to convert .fcpxml file format to .xml.

I succesfully opened that .xml in Audition on Windows 10 and started my work

I uploaded the original xml file here on my google drive if you wish to give a look https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H46EEqIsPB906hRobl7iO9dvGYOI91MG

I really hope I'll be able to sort this problem without needing to replace every single stereo file in the session from the source files, its too many files and I have a short deadline to end it, I am afraid that it would be certanly impossible for me to reach this goal in time.

thx again so much fo help,

Dan

Report · May 28, 2019

I believe that there's only one correct way to convert Final Cut Pro files to a format that will work okay in Audition, and that's to use AAtranslator - https://www.aatranslator.com.au/ - which is designed to do the job. It's the program the above-mentioned SuiteSpot wrote specifically to get around these issues.

Report · Jul 31, 2019

I noticed this post was never solved and I ran into the same issue from a Resolve XML. So I wanted to post an unusual workaround I've found where you don't have to manually drag and replace the files. And if anyone else finds a better solution for this, I'd love to hear it.

Before you import your XML, open it up in a simple text editor (Notepad or Textedit depending on Mac or PC), then ctrl+F (cmd+F on Mac) for:

Change the "1" to literally anything else besides 1 or 2. You can do a "Find & Replace" search and make it quick by replacing all <trackindex>1<trackindex> with <trackindex>3<trackindex> or something.

Then save the XML and import it into Audition. The track will appear as stereo again, however you'll need to create a new stereo track and drop the audio down to it for the stereo part to work, since it creates a mono track by default.

Now the last weird thing, when you double click the audio track to modify it, both channels will appear disabled, however when you double-click the source file under Files and modify it from there, your changes will save.

Let me know if there are any other solves for this!

Report · Jun 18, 2020

Thank you SenekerlsMe. In a million years I never would have figured that out and it seems to work. I was trying out Davinci as an NLE for this project and after this experience I can't kick it to the curb quickly enough and get back to Premiere. Thanks again!

Report · Jul 19, 2020

You are a genious.

Report · Feb 16, 2021

That helped a lot, thank you!

To get rid of the mono track / weird disabled channel situation do this:

- After creating a multitrack file from the edited xml (I changed "<trackindex>1<trackindex>" to "<trackindex>3<trackindex>") save the multitrack as a .sesx

- Quit audition

- Open the .sesx file with a text editor

- Search for "mono" and replace with "stereo"

- Save and open audition again

Everything works fine now, although I think you may run into problems when you initially worked with mono-files in Resolve. Volume settings or fades etc. wont work either of course, but its finally somewhere where I can start working.

Report · Mar 15, 2022

I have been haunted by this same problem, with one difference. The session file was not imported. I built this entire session from scratch in Audition for Mac. I'll try your suggestion now and hope for the best.

But I have one additional observation: When I drag an mp3 file into a track, it DOES play back as a proper stereo file. It's only the lossless files, i.e. FLAC and WAV, that become mono. Actually, that's not quite true; the multitrack editor brings only the left channel into the session, and displays it graphically as a stereo file. It seems impossible that I didn't notice it before now, when I first began building this project. It's easy to hear the flaw. But here I am, working under a deadline and deeply frustrated.

Report · Aug 04, 2022

Since I went half-insane solving this issue for me today, I'll add my workaround here for the next poor soul.

I use an online transcription tool in which I can pre-select clips that I can then export collectively in an xml file. I then open the xml file in Audition, copy all the clips into my main session and voila! All clips pre sorted and linked to their respective source file in my main Audition session.

That's how it used to work until yesterday.
Now I have the same issue as people here. Stereo files are now mono clips with no way to change the number of channels in File to Clip Routing.

I even went back to an old xml file of mine and an old sesx file created from that original xml file. When trying to convert that old xml file again, the newly created sesx file has the same issue with mono clips from stereo files. The old sesx file (created about 1 year ago) doesn't have that issue.

The only conclusion i can draw from that is that an update to Audition has changed the way it reads and converts xml files or the way it opens clips in xml files created by 3rd parties. Maybe with the documentation in this thread Adobe could pinpoint that change and revert it?

Here's what solved it for me:

I went through the usual steps (export xml file, convert to sesx file), then I opened the sesx file with a text editor. Then I changed the entry

TO:

for every clip that was in mono but was supposed to be in stereo. Now I have stereo clips from stereo files and all is well. Hope this helps someone else.