How record sound so can pan L and R channels?

Hi, all...

What's the strategy for accomplishing this?

I will be shooting a 2-person dialogue scene with a mic on each person (2 lavs) and using the Tascam DR-60D to record a stereo track, where Ch 1 input is the left channel and Ch 2 input is the right channel.

Then in post, I want to be able to pan each channel so they both come out close to center. This seems to be standard cinematography practice, where even though you have a character at the left of the frame and one on the right, the dialogue of both mostly comes out the center speaker.

I believe you can accomplish this by setting clip attributes (before adding to a timeline) so that there are 2 audio tracks, each mono, and you assign embedded Ch 1 to one track and embedded Ch 2 to the other track. Then you can pan in Fairlight. I've not verified this 100%.

However, I believe you can do this only 1 clip at a time, and I'll have dozens.

So I thought I'd just leave the audio as a single stereo track in Resolve, then after all edits are done, export the entire audio program into Audacity, do the splitting and panning there, join the 2 mono tracks to a stereo track, and then export and reimport into my Resolve project.

Sound like a plan?

Thanks!

Steve

Production Sound Mixers usually provide the following:
Track 1 = Mix Booms (Mono)
Track 2 = Mix Lapel (Mono)
Tracks 3 - 12+ = ISOs (Poly)

If you pan Tracks 1 + 2 Centre and audition in combination, this should match the PSM's standard Mono (Dialogue) Mix.

This also allows the assistant a much easier task of syncing Production Sound, and gives the dialogue editor options where necessary.

Thanks, Reynaud.

What about my plan to leave the audio as a single stereo track in Resolve, then after all edits are done, export the entire audio program into Audacity, split the stereo track into two mono tracks, pan each toward the center, join the 2 mono tracks to a stereo track, and then export and reimport into my Resolve project? Or should I export as 2 mono tracks and import into Resolve that way? Thx

Steve

What about my plan to leave the audio as a single stereo track in Resolve, then after all edits are done, export the entire audio program into Audacity

Honestly, it seems a little overly complex and somewhat unnecessary.

Do it several ways and find a process that suits your preferred way of working (personally, this has been a great way of finding more efficient methods within Resolve for my specific workflow), but the simplest approach is often best.

I appreciate your input. Can you recommend a simpler way? What steps would you follow?

Thx

Steve

What steps would you follow?

Track 1 = Mono Mix of both Lapel Mics
Track 2 = Lapel Mic A
Track 3 = Lapel Mic B

Use Clip Attributes to place the three source dialogue tracks on to three mono Timeline tracks.
All three mono tracks will automatically be panned Centre, route these to your Dialogue Buss.

Mute the source tracks not required.

Got it. Why the mono mix of the two lav mics on track 1? Use as a reference track? If so, how?

Newbiesezthanks.

Why the mono mix of the two lav mics on track 1?

Depends on how much time one has been afforded.

Often there isn’t time nor budget to go digging (especially when provided with 12+ tracks), so the PSM's mono mix is actually all one needs - especially when they’re really good.

If there is more time and budget, or there are sections of dialogue with small but significant issues in the PSM's mix, the ISOs are available to quickly go in and fix those.

Plus, it is then sometimes possible to steal some room tone in the ISOs to cut around ADR where required.

Hi, again, Reynaud. I'm enjoying your teachings. Couple more questions, if you please, less about strategy and more about how to use Resolve.

• You said to use clip attributes to set up the tracks. I assume that this means that I'm going to have to do this for every clip. Is there a way to avoid making these settings for each individual clip and set up the tracks globally?
• Must I set these clip attributes before adding the clip to the timeline?
• Your answers imply that I can use clip attributes to mix Ch1 and Ch2 (the two lavs) onto a single mono track. True? Have not tried this yet.

Many thanks!!

Steve

Hi, all...

What's the strategy for accomplishing this?

I will be shooting a 2-person dialogue scene with a mic on each person (2 lavs) and using the Tascam DR-60D to record a stereo track, where Ch 1 input is the left channel and Ch 2 input is the right channel.

Then in post, I want to be able to pan each channel so they both come out close to center. This seems to be standard cinematography practice, where even though you have a character at the left of the frame and one on the right, the dialogue of both mostly comes out the center speaker.

I believe you can accomplish this by setting clip attributes (before adding to a timeline) so that there are 2 audio tracks, each mono, and you assign embedded Ch 1 to one track and embedded Ch 2 to the other track. Then you can pan in Fairlight. I've not verified this 100%.

However, I believe you can do this only 1 clip at a time, and I'll have dozens.

So I thought I'd just leave the audio as a single stereo track in Resolve, then after all edits are done, export the entire audio program into Audacity, do the splitting and panning there, join the 2 mono tracks to a stereo track, and then export and reimport into my Resolve project.

Sound like a plan?

Thanks!

Steve

One alternative would be: In the mixer, open up the panner for the track where you have one lapel on L channel and one lapel on R channel. Turn the spread down from FULL to POINT and you would have essentially mono-rised your track, giving you both tracks in the centre.

However, doing it this way essentially mixes both tracks together and you wouldn't be able to edit them individually.

Why not use Audacity to split the stereo tracks into 2 mono wav files before you import into Resolve. If you have many clips, you could set up an ffmpeg batch file to accomplish this on a folder full of video clips.

less about strategy and more about how to use Resolve

Your strategy and decision making process during production directly impacts the workflow followed within Resolve (to a certain extent as Resolve 15 has improved many aspects, over what is possible with version 14).

[*] You said to use clip attributes to set up the tracks. I assume that this means that I'm going to have to do this for every clip. Is there a way to avoid making these settings for each individual clip and set up the tracks globally?

Clip Attributes will apply globally to all selected source media as long as they follow the same channel configuration.

Hence, the "Your strategy and decision making process during production directly impacts the workflow followed within Resolve" statement.

Select all the source audio files in the Media Pool and open Clip Attributes.

You can then specify the preferred layout globally for all selected source audio files in the Media Pool.

For illustrative purposes, the Source Audio is comprised of four stereo broadcast wave files, all with the same Channel configuration.

(i.e. Lapel Mic on Embedded Channel 1 and a Boom Mic on Embedded Channel 2)

Clip Attributes.png (31.64 KiB) Viewed 2003 times

When all the Source Audio files are collectively dragged from the Media Pool to the Timeline, two Mono Audio Tracks are automatically created, with each embedded channel placed on its own dedicated mono Timeline Track.

Notice that the Panning has been automatically configured in the Mixer, with both Audio Tracks panned Centre.

You are now free to manipulate each Embedded Channel independently. If you accidentally move one of the Mono Audio Clips out of sync with the other, this will be indicated on the Clip. So while each Embedded Channel is now separate, they are still linked.

The only functionality Clip Attributes does not provide, is the ability to pre-name the target Timeline Audio Tracks. So this is a manual process.

Timeline.png (78.53 KiB) Viewed 2003 times

[*] Must I set these clip attributes before adding the clip to the timeline?

Clip Attributes can be configured prior to dragging to the Timeline, as in the above example.

But, once Audio Clips are already placed on the Timeline, Clip Attributes may then also be used to basically undo the prior process outline above if desired.

Effectively, you could now just as easily select any Timeline Audio Clip, say Clip 4 (S21/01) in the above example, and specify that it be re-assigned back to its default configuration if required - basically creating a stereo Audio Clip.

The only caveat with the Timeline Audio Clip's Clip Attributes window is that this may only be changed on a per item basis.

Tracks.png (49.03 KiB) Viewed 2003 times

The result is that:
Track 1 contains Embedded Channel 1 (Lapel).
Track 2 is now empty
Track 3 is the same stereo source audio file as placed on Track 1, but now Embedded Channel 1 (Lapel) Left and Embedded Channel 2 (Boom) Right are placed on a stereo Audio Track.

Notice that the two Audio Clips are still linked in terms of sync, as indicated by the red box with white characters.

[*] Your answers imply that I can use clip attributes to mix Ch1 and Ch2 (the two lavs) onto a single mono track. True? Have not tried this yet.

The mixing of Channels 1 + 2 (the two lapels) would be performed on location direct to Track 1 of the recorder.

Tracks 2 + 3 of the recorder would then be assigned the ISO tracks of each Lapel.

Wow - that's super complicated, adds unnecessary tracks, is time consuming AND assumes one always has control of the recorded footage. A Fill left/fill right feature would make this so much simpler and faster...

Relying on "clip attributes" isn't a fix - it's a laborious workaround for missing functionality (at least as compared to other NLEs).

OK, I got it working, thanks to your comments and RTFM. Remember that my source clip had one stereo audio track. Here are the steps I followed, working with one clip only, assuming I could select all clips and do the same. These steps were after I sync'd video and audio using the waveform, before adding the clips to the timeline. Note that I'm using DVR 14, not 15, so the clip attributes dialog is missing the Format column at the left with the dropdown lists, as shown in Reynaud's screenshot. Thus I had to do step 4.

1. In Clip Attributes, audio tab, change Format to Mono and set Tracks to 2.
   
2. Set track list so first row's source channel is Linked Channel 1 and track is Audio 1. Set second row's source channel to Linked Channel 2 and track to Audio 2. ("Linked channel" because I already sync'd audio from external recorder. This stumped me at first.)
   
3. Create timeline from clip and specify 2 audio tracks in the Create timeline dialog. Should see 2 audio tracks in timeline with sync'd sound. Note that at this point, audio track 1 still has a signal on the left channel only and track 2 has signal on the right only.
   
4. Right click header of each audio track and change type to Mono. Now both tracks are centered.
   
5. In Fairlight, pan the mono tracks as desired

Phew. Thanks, all.

Wow - that's super complicated, adds unnecessary tracks, is time consuming AND assumes one always has control of the recorded footage. A Fill left/fill right feature would make this so much simpler and faster...

Relying on "clip attributes" isn't a fix - it's a laborious workaround for missing functionality (at least as compared to other NLEs).

Laborious?

When you have to process multiple clips at once, the Clip Atribute option is the fastest and most effective: nothing prevents the clip attribute from "designer" its future TL audio.

2monos_1stereo.jpg

And a 5.1 at the same time as 6 monos and At the same time a stereo of the first 2 channels.

1_5.1_6_Monos_1_stereo.jpg