Right channel level lower.

I synced the audio and video clips and when I play them in the source viewer the audio is great. The sound guy did a great job of capturing the audio. The problem arises when I drop the clip on the time line. The right channel is much lower than the left.

I'm at a loss as to where to check if something got changed along the way. The other clips on the time line are fine. As I said in the source viewer the sound is equal in both channels, it's when I put it on the time line.

thanks

This is not a stereo clip? Different mics on each channel?

Yes it's different channels from lavs and boom. He mixed them also and sometimes when I put them on the timeline they work well. I'll continue to figure out what I'm doing to cause this.
Thanks

When you say "lower", do all "instruments" agree? So is it lower visually in the timeline's audio wave display, and lower in the master peakmeter, and lower in your human ear?

Aside from the lower volume, are there certain frequencies lower than others? (Phase shifts?)

Lower across the board. I even had the sound guy listen and he agreed something is wonky.

Here's what I did this morning:
Put a clip synced via timecode on the timeline. Fine everything sounds good. (let's call it #1)
Next put a portion of another clip synced to its audio via timecode on top of the first clip, (#2). The clip on top doesn't run as long, it sits between the opening (wide shot) and the end (wide shot).

The clip on the bottom needed to be cut so the final lines would take place after the clip on top ends. I selected the bottom clip and cut it as well as the audio channels, (#3). I then slid it down on the time line to be past the clip above. At that point when I played through this scene #1 and #2 play fine, but #3 the audio isn't working properly, the right channel is much much lower.

What about the sound quality of that lower signal? E.g. are low frequencies quieter than high frequencies? If not only the volume is lower but if the frequency spectrum is unusual too, then it might be a phase shift problem, i.e. the material may be out of sync in the millisecond range. If you move your clips on the timeline based on frame units, then that's too coarse for phase adjustments. E.g. with 50 fps, 1 frame is already 20 milliseconds long, and that's already the wavelength of a 50 Hz tone.

What about the sound quality of that lower signal? E.g. are low frequencies quieter than high frequencies? If not only the volume is lower but if the frequency spectrum is unusual too, then it might be a phase shift problem, i.e. the material may be out of sync in the millisecond range. If you move your clips on the timeline based on frame units, then that's too coarse for phase adjustments. E.g. with 50 fps, 1 frame is already 20 milliseconds long, and that's already the wavelength of a 50 Hz tone.

Okay this explains what could be happening. I record video at 24 fps and the sound guy recorded at 23.97..
I told him I was using 24 fps. I thought if I kept the clips linked and moved them together nothing would change.

Is there a work-around?

I just checked one other clip that is very short and not cut up. In the source viewer the audio is great with both meters peaking at the same level, sound is good too.
On the timeline though the right level is much much lower.

I hate to have to start editing this project over if I did something screwy along the way, but I'm learning.
thanks

[Peter Chamberlain]

Post a link to a sample

Hmm, I rendered one brief clip with the problem and it doesn't show up in the rendered clip. I'll have to continue...

This is my first time working with audio from a recorder. Maybe I have some audio tracks set for stereo instead of mono.
Does a left mix and right mix go on a mono track? I'm guessing I messed something up when setting up the number of tracks on the timeline. I didn't realize at the time there would be 5 tracks from the recorder.

thanks for your patience.

I’ve resolved this problem. I had some extra tracks placed on a stereo track, once I deleted them the problem went away.
Thanks.