Blackmagic Forum

I've output my movie so that you can hear the same audio coming from the left speaker as the right speaker.
That's what I want to hear. I don't want to hear some sound elements coming through my left speaker and different elements coming through my right. I've attached a shot of my clip attributes window.

My question: even though the Clip Attributes window says Stereo and my Render Setting is set to Stereo, Is this, technically, a stereo track?

I would suggest it's Dual Mono

Yes.

"Stereo: A way of recording or playing sound so that it is separated into two signals and produces more natural sound"

Embedded Channel 1 and 2 is two signals => stereo.

O.k. one vote for dual mono and one vote for stereo. Anyone else want to weigh in?

The content in this stereo track is dual mono. I mean in depends on what you mean. What is the purpose of defining it?

It's a stereo track but the content in the stereo track doesn't have to be. However, if I buy a movie on Blu-ray and it says "Stereo" I expect a stereo mix. If it's just the same audio in the left and right, it's effectively a mono track.

The purpose is to determine whether a film I want to submit to two film distributors meets their requirements.

One (Filmhub) simply requires a "stereo track."

Another (Indie Rights) doesn't specify in their requirements but I happened to run across a Youtube interview where the owner verbally mentioned during the interview to avoid "dual mono."

Unfortunately I can't clarify this easily with either place, as Filmhub is mostly automated these days, and Indie Rights hasn't yet responded to an email I sent several days ago.

So which do you think I have?

PeteMatul wrote:O.k. one vote for dual mono and one vote for stereo. Anyone else want to weigh in?

It *depends* on the content. If you listen to it, does it sound like everything's coming from dead centre between the two speakers? Do the meters move absolutely in unison? If so then it's likely to be dual mono.

But almost all dialogue is likely to be mono - music and sfx more likely to be stereo.

You can also use metering to tell - really need a decent metering plug-in I think - https://www.toneboosters.com/index.html#anchor_download (uncheck everything but Goniometer when installing) - will show up in effects | metering | TB Goniometer - will show a straight vertical line if it's mono content.

Here's what PPMulator can show - but that's a paid for plug-in - this is showing loudness as the bar graph and PPM needles - Red & Green for Left & Right and then White & Yellow for Mid & Side (mono & stereo parts of signal). If it's mono then the yellow needle will not move. If yellow needle is higher than white then it's out of phase.

Here's the goniometer - look at central circle - starts mono (vertical line as Left = Right), then I widen stereo image out so phase differences are shown.

When I listen to it with my headphone, it sounds like I can hear the full track on the left and the full track on the right. I can't say it's coming from the middle. This is the way I prefer it. I don't want to hear sfx on on the left, say, and narration on the right, or vice versa.

The meters are mostly in sync, but occasionally the meter on the left goes higher showing yellow while the meter on the right stays in the green. When the meter on the left goes higher, it is when the narrator is speaking. ( See "Meters" attachment. You may have to scroll it to the full length.)

Let me clarify when I said the meters are "mostly" in sync. They appear to be completely in sync, but when the narrator is speaking the top portion of the meter on the left goes into the yellow, but the overall height is still the same. Also, loud noises show up in the yellow on the left, but, again the overall height of the meter is identical to the right.

From an NLE perspective, yes it's "stereo". Having two tracks (Left/Right) is all you need for that definition. The 'content' of those tracks is irrelevant.

"Dual mono" means the L and R signal is split into two files….L and R. It is in no way related to the content/mix.

Stereo/dual mono is a file format in this context.

Runepune wrote:"Dual mono" means the L and R signal is split into two files….L and R. It is in no way related to the content/mix.

Stereo/dual mono is a file format in this context.

So would you say then that my movie is stereo or dual mono according to my Clip Attributes window I attached here in my first post as well as my meters attachment? Again, my purpose is to determine whether this movie might be rejected by a distributor who may not want a dual mono track. So far, after digesting all the feedback here, I think my movie would qualify as stereo in that context.

It is mono formatted as stereo. Request and refer to the delivery spec as a requirement for mono originated sources to be flagged as stereo and requirements relating to level, loudness, dynamic range, balance, and phase may be specified.

PeteMatul wrote:

Runepune wrote:"Dual mono" means the L and R signal is split into two files….L and R. It is in no way related to the content/mix.

Stereo/dual mono is a file format in this context.

So would you say then that my movie is stereo or dual mono according to my Clip Attributes window I attached here in my first post as well as my meters attachment? Again, my purpose is to determine whether this movie might be rejected by a distributor who may not want a dual mono track. So far, after digesting all the feedback here, I think my movie would qualify as stereo in that context.

If they specify no dual mono, they definitely mean the file format. Yours is in stereo format...unless you have ticked "Render one track per channel" in Render settings.

I don't quite understand the choice of completely avoiding stereo content in the movie though. But that's up to the artist