Stereo vs Mono (FCP Audio Settings)

Hi All,
I am having an argument with a PC buddy of mine who has used Adobe Premier for years. He finally bought a Mac with Final Cut but is having a hard time transitioning and breaking some editing habits. I told him I capture my audio as two separate mono channels, but output as stereo. My reason is two have the channels split as they are when I record them on camera...ch1 for primary audio, ch 2 for nats. He says that in Adobe Premier, he captures them as stereo and they show up as one audio track on the timeline, but that he can adjust, mute, or keyframe his audio as I do. He claims I am making more work for myself in the edit by not capturing in stereo. It just makes logical sense to me to see each audio track separate with its own waveform and track.
I was a tape to tape editor before FCP and always edited with audio on separte tracks. Is there something I'm missing or could be doing differently?
Thanks,
Scott

People don't talk in stereo. A car door slam is not stereo. We HEAR in stereo. Part of the editor's job is to take these sorts of singular events and place them in a stereo psychoacoustic space. Treating them as stereo to begin with is questionable.
When doing interviews, I always use a boom on channel one and a lav on channel 2. I only use whichever is the better recording- usually the boom. Pulling THAT in as stereo actually creates MORE work, rather than less. When pulled in as 1&2, there they are, two individual tracks panned center. It's easy to pick the one you want. The other way, you've got to unlink the tracks, fiddle with panning, etc.
You're not missing anything at all. Discrete tracks are a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

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    Message was edited by: Jerry Hofmann

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  • Stereo to mono

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