Mixing 5.1 audio

S

shill66

Member
Okay, hopefully a simple question for Premiere users...

If I plan on mixing 5.1 audio for my feature, should my original individual audio tracks be in mono?

Or, let me ask by describing the situation... our audio was recorded to DAT tapes on one of the two channels (sometimes left, sometimes right, whoops, we were inconsistent). If I want to place that recorded sound anywhere in the 5.1 sound field, whether it be center, left, right, surround left or whatever, can it remain a stereo (with all audio on one side only) audio track, or should it be mono?

I haven't touched 5.1 yet myself, and I may not be the one doing the sound mixing anyway, but I can knock the audio tracks to mono now to save time later, if I should.
 
Look at it this way. If you didn't actually record in stereo, with stereo mic placement, but you're editing with "stereo" tracks - what you really have is a mono recording on left and right channels. You can mix 5.1 with stereo (or two track) channels but the puck placement is different and can be a bit funky even though it might sound fine. So, I'd say use mono tracks. Placement and movement throughout the 5.1 field is simpler. Although I've done it, I'm no expert. 5.1 audio mixing is as much an art as it is a science.
 
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