Stereo audio switching to mono

I have a slightly curious problem. I have been working on a couple of projects recently where the stereo audio files (which are music) keep on switching to mono. If I reconnect the audio files, they return to stereo playback, but only for a short while. The playback always flips back into mono.
Has anyone experienced anything like this, and/or know how to fix it?
Many thanks!
Tim

Hi Andy,
I am working on a mono timeline. I've just noticed another feature of my little quirk; The stereo tracks don't necessarily comletely turn to mono. On my current timeline, I have a couple of music tracks, where a portion has turned to mono, which is marked with a blue line at the top of the audio file, and a portion which is still stereo, marked with a green line at the top of the file.
They are linked as stereo pairs, with the panning set to -1, +1
Does this make sense?

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Stereo audio imported as mono

Any ideas why the stereo audio on my miniDV tapes was imported as separate mono tracks? I'm using FCE HD 3.5 -- the tape was shot on a Canon XL1 using 12bit audio (32KHz, not reset after a project using 4 audio channels).
Are there any capture settings I missed that I could use to select the audio as stereo?
Thanks,
Sam

Are you sure that your camera has actually recorded 2 channels ?
I ask that because I got that problem a year ago. When I checked my camera and the tape I discovered it was just recording 1 audio track. On capture FCE was doubling it up to 2 mono tracks. It must have been a malfunction because the camera has no way of switching to mono.
Months later, after threatening the beast with dire consequences, it started recording normal 2 track stereo.
I have never discovered the cause of the problem.

Stereo audio rendering as mono

My husband and I recently purchased a MacBook Pro last November, recently installed Final Cut Pro 5 on it 2 months ago, and now we're experiencing audio problems we've never encountered before.
Fresh new project, new timeline, import a stereo audio file, double click and playing from the viewer it's perfectly fine, but put it on the timeline, shows up on two separate tracks and needs rendering, we render it and it turns into mono. It didn't do this before, we don't know what we changed, it used to work but now it doesn't. We must have changed something but we can't figure out what we did wrong. Even if we separate the stereo track into two mono tracks on the timeline, pan one left and the other right, it remains mono.
Please help, we're completely stumped on this one! Thanks!

The only problem with converting the audio files to 48 is that we have about 200+ audio files, living on about 17 layers, each with their own settings for speed and reverse and eq and more. Going back to reimport all that stuff would kill our deadline by about 40 hours = not possible.
But I did download that utility you suggested, it discarded our prefs, and now everything seems to be better. I'm having to "fool" FCP by placing an EQ filter set for 0 gain (i.e. no change) onto each clip, which trashes the render file, and when it rerenders it's ok, sometimes. For the ones that aren't changing out of mono I go back in and throw away that eq filter and re-render and then it's in stereo. Very strange. Also strange is that some of these animation clips now have 1 frame of black at the tail end before cutting to the next clip - very odd since the original files have NO black at all.
Something very strange happened.

HT4589 How do I change the audio to dual mono from stereo when using Share to DVD in Final Cut 10.1?

How do I switch the audio to Dual Mono from Stereo when using Share in Final Cut Pro 10.1? Even though the audio is all in dual mono in the timeline, it lists it as stereo in the share box.

Hi rationale1,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The share to DVD settings in Final Cut Pro X use the Dolby Digital settings which are stereo for DVDs. So this can’t be done directly in Final Cut Pro X.
The link below will explain the Dolby Digital parameters and options in Compressor 4. You may need to research a different DVD authoring software to achieve your desired result.
Dolby Digital - Compressor 4 User Manual
http://help.apple.com/compressor/mac/4.1/#cpsrb71736a2
Dolby Digital
The built-in Dolby Digital settings (in the Create Blu-ray and Create DVD destinations, as well as the built-in AC-3 and EC-3 audio settings) use the Dolby Digital transcoding format. This format encodes Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Dolby Digital Plus (EC-3) audio files that contain multiple audio channels, including 5.1 surround sound. You can also create custom settings that use the Dolby Digital transcoding format.
Note: All files intended for video and audio DVD authoring must have a 48 kHz sample rate as required by the DVD specification.
DVD Video: Choose this option if you’re encoding for use in a DVD video authoring application.
DVD Audio: Choose this option if you’re encoding for use in a DVD audio authoring application.
Tip: For stereo encoding, rates of 192 kbps and 224 kbps are typical and will produce good results. For Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding, a rate of 384 kbps is recommended. For 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus encoding, a rate of 192 kbps is recommended.
Cheers,
Judy

Design flaw in 'Play stereo audio as mono' of Universal Access Hearing-tab

The option to 'play stereo audio as mono' that comes with OSX 10.6 does not work as I expected.
When I enable this option it sounds like only one of the two channels becomes mono, while the other one does not sound mono to me.
It's hard to notice this, because the total sound does change to 'less' stereo.
I've done some testing with different soundcards and testing signals, and found out that when the option is enabled, the mono signals are routed incorrect.
While the right channel becomes mono, the left channel seems to be something else; I'm not sure if it's the original left channel of the stereo signal, though.
I have reason to believe that the resulting mono sound on the right channel correctly is the 'monofied original sound', but that from the left channel.
The resulting mono sound on the left channel sounds like the original left channel of the stereo sound, maybe added with the mono sound of the right channel.
Why do I think so? When using a sound card with more than two outputs, I can clearly see that sound is being sent to the second and the THIRD output, instead of the first and the second output, immediately after I enable mono. Resulting in output on THREE channels:
original left
monofied (left)
monofied (right)
On my soundcard I can disable the extra outputs, and than I hear:
original left + maybe monofied right
monofied (left)
I think the programmer of this great feature made an 'off-by-one error', consequently sending the monified output to the wrong channels;
to channel[1] + channel[2] instead of channel[0] + channel[1]
I don't know what happens to sound that is sent to channel[2] (the third channel) on a two channel soundcard.
It could be mapped to the the first channel, but that of course is speculation. Could be tested though, with the right audio signal.
I hope someone can confirm this. If more people experience this problem, maybe Apple can fix this so I can enjoy listening in mono.
I have tested this on the internal soundcard and three external firewire audio interfaces, of which 2 have 8+ output channels.
Thanks!

Thanks for the quick-and-dirty test.
Your findings are not a surprise to me.
It would be more interesting though to not use one's ears for proof.
Also, I have reason to believe that this result is valid for any two channel audio interface.
With the test below I can proof that audio is sent to three channels instead of just two, when enabling "Play stereo audio as mono" on an(y) audio interface with more than two outputs (enabled).
The test takes a little longer than the quick-and-dirty test.
If you don't have an audio interface with more than two channels of output, you can still perform the test by installing Soundflower first.
Soundflower is a virtual audio interface with multiple inputs and outputs, and can be used as an audio router or audio patchbay.
Get Soundflower from http://code.google.com/p/soundflower/ - it's free.
Here's the test …
Open System Preferences, choose the Sound prefpane and select the Output-tab
Select any audio interface with more than two channels of audio outputs as your sound output device ( Or use "Soundflower (16ch)" )
Keep the System Preferences open
Start Garageband
Create a new project
From Preferences select for Audio Input your interface-with-more-than-two-channels-of-audio ( Or use "Soundflower (16ch)" )
( selecting an Audio Output is not necessary, because we're not actually going to use our ears for proof )
Enable multitrack recording from the menu (Track / Enable multitrack recording )
Create four tracks as "Real instrument"; each one with an increasing Input Source: Mono 1, Mono 2, Mono 3, Mono 4
( the last one is just for verification )
Enable recording on these four tracks (if you can't select more than one, try enabling multitrack recording)
Open System Preferences, choose Universal Access (probably click 'Show All' first) and select the Hearing-tab
Make sure audio is played in stereo (unchecking the checkbox)
Keep the System Preferences open
Switch to the Finder or iTunes
Playback any song
Switch back to Garageband and check the meters on the individual tracks
( remember this is stereo, notice the number of channels with signal )
Switch back to System Preferences to enable mono (on the Universal Access prefpane)
Switch back to Garageband and check the meters on the individual tracks ( this is mono ! )
End of test ...
You will see that in mono a third audio channel is addressed, while there should have been only two in both mono and stereo.
The signal strength of channels 2 + 3 seem equal, and channel 1 looks much louder.
This difference in signal strength is very noticable when listening to channels 1 and 2 on separate speakers or headphone.
What is that playing on channel 3?
I must admit (against my original post) that this test does not proof that the signal on channel 1 is or is not mono or anything else; that requires another test.
One can of course record these channels and do some comparisons and subtractions or some other clever tricks.
Hope anyone can second this, preferably with an actual audio interface like Apogee Ensemble, Motu, RME, Presonus, Focusrite, etc.

Stereo Audio channel turns to mono when I close and re-open the project

Hi there,
when I import a random video file with stereo audio channels and put it to the timeline (after peaking), everything works allright - the recording level window shows me the left and the right audio channel.
But when I save and close the project in order to re-open it directly, I only got a mono audio channel (left) and the stereo is away in my timeline and recording level window. The preview of the imported video ist still ok with stereo sound.
Is this a bug ? What can do? Please help me.
Thanks a lot

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Stereo audio export showing as mono

Hi,
I've been encountering an issue with exporting stereo audio from Premiere CS6 (v. 6.0.5) and After Effects CS6 (11.0.2.11). When I export a clip with stereo audio from Premiere or After Effects (usually to ProRes or Uncompressed QuickTime), the resulting file will show as having dual-mono audio in FCP7. When I check the file in QuickTime 7, QuickTime 10, MediaInfo, Premiere, After Effects etc., the audio is tagged as stereo. But when I bring the clip into FCP7, the audio shows as two separate mono tracks.
While this isn't a problem if I stay within Premiere/After Effects, it does become an issue when I need to work with the clips in FCP7 (they have to be relinked as audio pairs in the timeline), and one of the external distributors I work with has come back saying the file we delivered did not have the audio properly linked as stereo.
Am I doing something wrong here? I don't want to have to workaround by putting everything through FCP7, as we are really trying to keep our workflow within the Adobe suite and retire FCP!

Hm, not from what I've seen. Anything that's been exported as stereo through FCP, Compressor, MPEG Streamclip, Episode etc. shows up as properly linked stereo in Final Cut.
I just ran one of my Premiere exported files through MPEG Streamclip to the same format (ProRes, uncompressed stereo audio) and it showed up as having a linked stereo pair in FCP7, while the original showed 2 mono tracks. I am definitely exporting from Premiere with the stereo option selected (and stereo source audio).

"Play stereo Audio as Mono"

I recently was tearing out my hair because I had mono checked (somehow). It was playing Mono through my Apogee Duet Audio interface, but playing stereo through my headphones jack on the core audio. I remembered it always worked fine in Snow Leopard, so I installed SL on a partition for testing purposes and sure enough the Duet played in stereo. So naturally I thought there was a problem with the drivers between Lion and the Duet. After much discussion with Apogee, frustration and online searching I found out about this "Play stereo Audio as Mono" business.
In your next update or release, please link "Play stereo Audio as Mono" in the Sound preferences pane as well. It is a major problem when your audio is playing in mono and you cannot figure out why because the option is hidden away in "Universal Access". As a non-impared user of OSX I have no need to go into "Universal Access".
Thank you.

Philmac88 wrote:
the setting still resets itself after restarting.
Then I'm stumped. I don't know why or what to do.
You could go around the issue by running a script at login to set this option. Here's a script I found on the net:
--script begins
on run
          tell application "System Preferences"
activate
                    reveal anchor "Hearing" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
          end tell
          tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
click checkbox 2 of tab group 1 of window 1
          end tell
          quit application "System Preferences"
end run
--script ends
(It requires the "Enable access for assistive devices" pref to be enabled.)
Save it as an app in a convenient location (eg, <~/Library/Scripts>), and add it to your Login Items. It will run every time you log back in. Note that this is a toggle—if the preference is on, it will turn it off.

Rescue stereo audio fades from a mono project

On Premiere Pro CS3 I accidentally created a project with a mono master audio track. The live audio is in fact mono, but the backing music which fades in and out is stereo.
I can't see any way to convert the master track to stereo (or find any advice online on how to achieve this) so I thought I could export the video and live audio into a mono-sound movie, then combine it with the music in a new stereo project.
But how do I apply the very complicated fades from the original project to the music on the new one? Tried exporting an EDL of the relevant audio but can't figure out how to apply it when I import it into the new stereo project.
Anyone know the best way to do this?

Hi – thanks for the advice Ron. Before I saw your reply I was trying to figure out how the EDL I exported from the original mono project could be used in my new stereo project, which was basically a full mixdown of the original without the music.
Importing the EDL created a bin folder containing separate L and R audio (of the backing music) and an EDL file, but when I added these into the main sequence there were no fades to be seen. What I had failed to notice at first was that it also created a separate sequence tab on the timeline. This contained the same audio files WITH fades. Not sure what the logic of that is.
But, when I finally noticed that the other sequence was there, all I had to do was cut and paste the audio into the main sequence.
I usually deal with very short videos so I've never used multiple sequences within the same project before and would have to look up how to nest one inside another. So I found another solution in the end, but yours sounds entirely credible too. Thanks again.

Merging clips turns stereo audio to mono

I've got a stereo audio file I'm merging with a RED Epic clip (with replace AV clip audio). Whether I merged by audio waveform or in point, the result is always a merged clip that has two channels, but is no longer stereo. It's like it has taken only the left channel and doubled it. Thoughts?

It's not a dual panned center mono file, there's something wrong with the way it sounds when left is panned hard left and right panned hard right. I've tried panning each channel hard the other way and it still doesn't sound like the original stereo file I've merged it with. Am I doing something wrong? Why wouldn't premiere just replace the AV clip audio with the singe track stereo clip? Why the need to break it out into dual mono? Is there a preference I'm missing or something? This seems unintuitive.

How do I import stereo audio as pan centered, "Dual Mono?"

Greetings,
For most of my video recording, I’m running two wireless mics and am recording in stereo.
90% of the time, I’m working with one track or the other and, because I’m cutting for broadcast news, the pan for the audio needs to be centered.
Is there a way to import the audio I recorded in stereo as Dual Mono with the pan for each channel center?
It’s a pain to have to go through each clip and make it Dual Mono and then chose Pan Mod Default to center it.
I bring in my video as indiviaual clips so I can’t select a single clip in the Event Panel and make my changes for the whole project.
Regards,
Steve

Select the clips in the event, and set the audio as [Dual] Mono!
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Why does compressor settings of aac audio, stereo, create 2 channel mono from 2 discrete audio channel movies?

well depending on how your audio is brought into your system you can select it as two streams of mono or a stereo pair. In reality, unless it's mixed in stereo, that's just two streams of mono locked together. Other streams brought in via other means, can have a lot more audio channels, e.g. 8, 16, 24.
In your case, with what you're doing, two separate channels works best, so you can control the levels of two very different audio sources. If, for instance, you were taking the feed from the mixing board during a concert, you might want their stereo out. Otherwise you might be dealing with the 1.2 zillion channels that they're mixing live.
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To each his or her own. . .

Why Does FCE capture DV audio as dual mono instead of stereo?

FCE captures DV audio as dual mono audio files instead of a single stereo audio file. You can see this if you "Show Movie Properties" in Quicktime. Files I captured in Premiere 6 years ago have a single stereo file. The problem is that the new dual mono format for DV won't play on the Final Cut Pro 3.04 installed on my wife's G4 (OS 10.4.11, Quicktime 7.6.2). FCP 3.04 doesn't see any audio for these dual mono files though it will play the video. It won't even create an audio waveform. But FCP 3.04 plays the older stereo audio clips captured in Premiere just fine. And if I export the dual mono files out of QT as a stereo file, then FCP 3.04 will play them just fine.
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The problem is in your wife's machine. She is using a version of the OS and QuickTime that are much too new for the version of the software she's using. She really not not be using an OS newer than 10.4.10 and QT should 7.2 or earlier.
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Stereo audio tracks missing - have mono track only

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After recently downloading DV footage, I find that
there is only a "mono" channel shown on the timeline.
Several subsequent "test" takes and downloads
continue to produce only the mono channel. Imported
"aiff" files appear in timeline with stereo tracks,
but material from my DV camera continues to only
contain a single mono track. (All settings on
camera have been checked and re-checked and appear
OK)
Is there some setting in FCE HD that needs to be
re-set? If so, where is it??
Any input/advice will be appreciated.
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After downloading yet another test clip, the FCE HD software responds with the following message:
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