Embarrassing audio issue with my client.

Ugh, just looked like an idiot in front of a client for something that quite honestly seems like it shouldn't happen.

I was grading a project with no audio, then today the final mix came in from the sound mixer. Stereo 24bit 48khz....standard stuff. I drag the audio into the timeline, run a couple of spot checks -- sync looks good. Go to the delivery tab and wham!

This was a rush job, so the client literally sprinted off with the ProRes master to ship it off before I had the chance to watch the damn thing to make sure everything was ok.

About an hour later I get a call from the client who is mad that the audio sounds like crap.

I go double check the ProRes file myself -- wouldn't you know it, it's in Mono! WTF???

Go back into Resolve, what is going on? Turns out the audio track type was set to Mono.

Now, I will take responsibility for the **** up, but just about every DAW in existence including Apple's Garage Band auto-configures its tracks to match the incoming audio. Why in the world doesn't Resolve do that too?

Drag a Mono file to the timeline -- mono track! Drag a Stereo file -- stereo! Drag a 6-channel surround -- 5.1!

Shouldn't Resolve be smart enough to know that an audio file with two channels is probably Stereo?

Drag something into a ProTools timeline from the desktop and the track auto-configures itself to whatever format the incoming file is in. If, for some reason a someone tries to drag a Stereo file unto a Mono channel, Pro Tools simply doesn't allow that to happen.

Apple Logic Pro auto configures itself.

As colorists we already have a million things to think about on our minds, double checking if the audio track we just dragged our audio file unto is configured with the proper channels shouldn't be one of them.

Sorry for the rant, but this seems like the type of thing that really shouldn't happen.

Now, I will take responsibility for the **** up, but just about every DAW in existence including Apple's Garage Band auto-configures its tracks to match the incoming audio. Why in the world doesn't Resolve do that too?

When I create preset session templates, I generally make the track assignments specifically mono-only (for 5.1) or stereo (for a stereo project). This is already set in advance for me. Unfortunately, it's one of those things you just have to remember to check.

Unfortunately, it's one of those things you just have to remember to check.

Something tells me I won't forget this lesson easily!

I typically work primarily with Stereo tracks from the client, in this particular case, the XML came in with a bunch of Mono blank tracks that I didn't notice were Mono. But once again, IMHO it is an issue that Resolve doesn't visually differentiate, the waveform looks identical between Mono or Stereo tracks. In Pro Tools, there is a visual difference between the two.

The fact that it was a crazy rush job didn't help either.