Mono speech

I have two questions:

I have heard that speech (interveiws) should be mono (front and center). Is this true?

If it is, what is the best way to convert my stereo interviews to front and center mono? I have done Edit%26gt;Convert Sample Type in Audition, but for some reason that is not always giving me the right results.

Thanks!

Mono speech

When you are talking about front, center, I assume you are talking a 5.1 master track. Correct? If so, use the audio mixer and put the puck in the center box.

Mono speech

Actually, it's a stereo master.

Then why are you bothering? Stereo is the output anyway at the minimum.

I'm bothering because of this. And I tested one DVD where I did the ''Convert Sample Type'' in Audition...and it worked.

But before I changed my whole project to mono, I wanted to confirm that speech indeed should be mono.

I tried the fill right/fill left, but that droped the volume way down and made it scratchy (duplicating the issue I hear on the DVD player.

Sorry to be blunt, but if you still record 32 KHz 12 bit, you haven't got it. Start reading the manual or help file.

Otherwise, your message makes no sense. It really is nonsense. If you shoot 48 KHz 16 bit audio, which is stereo, you capture, it is still stereo and you can only export stereo (or 5.1, which is not the case) and none of the issues you mentioned will occur, unless there is again a case of OE.

What does sample and bit rate have to do with the sound dropping out though? And I can't go back and change what I've recorded.

If I need a drill to make a hole, it is not effective to use a saw. Wrong tool for the job at hand. In the opposite direction, if I need to cut down a tree, a drill makes no sense, but a saw would be advisable.

Without further details, I have to assume, based on previous info given by you, that you don't understand the basics of video editing. It may help to get a basic education.

There is no need for speech (interview's and the like) to be mono.

I do understand the basics of video editing. But I admittedly don't understand all the technicalities of video editing. But I am learning.

Here is what the guy said...

Compare your film閳ユ獨 speech with pretty much any other film閳ユ獨, and
you閳ユ獟l notice that normally if someone is on screen speaking, they閳ユ獧e
front and center (mono). Your film閳ユ獨 speech is only audible at far
right and far left.

But閳?the original poster is correct. There is some kind of strangeness with mono tracks in sequences with stereo masters. The level is cut by about -6dB and, as far as I know, there is no way to simply replicate the mono channel at original volume to both left + right channels閳?/p>

閳ヮ洉ther than to create a second mono track, copy + paste all the clips, pan one track hard left, the other track hard right.

But this is a ridiculous way to try to edit.

The best way (and what I do) is to pre-convert your mono tracks to stereo in an audio program.

This reviewer obviously used a 5.1 audio set to listen to your stereo sound and that makes sense. When you output stereo and play back on a 5.1 sound system, you can never get the signal only from the front center speaker. That requires a 5.1 master track (and the Surcode plugin) and the solution I provided in post #1. However, this is not a general rule. Imagine a speaker in the left side of the screen, commenting on something happening in the right side of the screen. In that case I think it could be quite normal to have this commentator's voice come from the left front speaker. Your audio and visuals should strengthen the illusion of space. The audio mixer is a good tool to do that. Just imagine you have a mono directional mic on your camera and a bus is passing by. Obviously you only have mono sound from this mic, but you can create a sense of direction by using the puck to move the sound from left rear to left front to right front to indicate the bus coming from behind and moving from left to right.

This may put somelight on the issue...

My workflow:

Record interview with mono shotgun mic %26gt; Audio records to tape on both channels (32kHz 12bit) %26gt; Video and audio edited and transoded for DVD %26gt; DVD plays with audio issues on some players (audio barely audible on the interviews shot with that mic) %26gt; Go back to Premiere and Audition %26gt; Convert the audio to mono in Audition (Left Mix 100%, Right Mix -100%) %26gt; Test in same DVD player %26gt; Issue fixed.

Why do you still use 32 KHz 12 bit audio, when everybody advised against that approach?

No way, I'm done with that format!

I just have all this footage I shot before I changed it...

If I remember correctly, you have Audition.

Open your stereo file in Audition and choose Edit%26gt;Convert Sample Type (F11), choosing 48KHz 16-bit and in Channels, choose Mono. Leave Left Mix and Right Mix at 50% each. Save_As and name/locate your new PCM/WAV file.

Back in PrPro, Import your WAV and place two instances of it into separate mono Audio Tracks. In Audio Mixer, I'd bias the Balance about +24 Right for one and -24 Left for the other.

If your Gain is not quite where you want it, add a Sub-mix Audio Track and route these two AT's to it. Adjust the Gain with the Audio Mixer (will be Track Keyframes). Leave the Sub-mix to route to the Stereo Master.

Hope that this helps.

Good luck,

Hunt

Thank you for the reply Hunt.

What would be the advantage of putting a 50% on two channels (as opposed to an 80-100% on one)?

Maybe I missed something in the thread, but if I understood, you have a stereo file of speech. If you want to get get each of those tracks into one, unless you wish to bias the resultant file for some reason, you'll want each to contribute to half the mono track. Now, if you do need to bias (your ears would tell you this), you can alter those defaults. Maybe you're picking up some other sounds on one of the channels, and wish to diminish that/those to some degree. I did not recall any problems with the mic or with the mic'ing technique. If you go above a combined % of 100, you will very likely get clipping. Now, if the Gain of your stereo track is very low to begin with, you can probably increase the Gain by going more than 50%/each - just be very careful and look (and listen) at the Waveform in Audition. You do not want clipping, or you'll be doing it all over again.

Good luck,

Hunt

When you output stereo and play back on a 5.1 sound system, you can never get the signal only from the front center speaker.