Audio going to Center channel - need help

I just opened an old project to do a quick re-edit for a festival, and I noticed the audio sounded off (almost like an echo).

I had a look at the timeline and saw the main narration was peaking (I'm 100% it was not doing this when I did the last edit many months ago and exported it).

The audio was recorded on a mono microphone. When I play an audio clip in the Event Library it sounds fine, and the levels rise and fall in the L and R channel.

However when I put the clip in the Project timeline it automatically goes to the Center channel.

I'm almost 100% that this was not the case when I was editing the project.

In case I have not explained properly here are some snaps. The first one shows the audio clip being played in the Event Library; you can see the levels are rising in the L & R channels and it sounds fine.

[img][IMG]http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/simonpwood/Final%20Cut/AudioLR2.jpg[/img][/img]

i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/simonp...l%20Cut/AudioLR2.jpg


Next is the same clip being played in the Project timeline; it is the Center channel that is peaking and it sounds weird.

[img][IMG]http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/simonpwood/Final%20Cut/AudioCenter1.jpg[/img][/img]

i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac215/simonp...Cut/AudioCenter1.jpg

Is there some setting or property that is causing FCPX to mix the tracks together. As I say I'm almost 100% that this was not the case when I edited this project and exported it ages ago....

The project is in surround sound. Are you outputting surround?

I can't remember ever needing it to be surround sound (not even sure how to do that).

I did do some basic panning of the motorcycle noise at some point (would that automatically set it up for surround)?

Any idea why the narration is being forced to the center channel? Any way to undo this, or change a setting to get it back to L&R?

The six meters indicate that the project is in surround. Go to project properties Cmd-J. Click the wrench and change it from surround to stereo.

Mono files go to the center channel in 5.1, that is normal.

Show us snap shots of the Audio tab in the Inspector, especially the Channel Configuration. That's where you'll find out what's happening.

But you said it was originally recorded mono. In 2 channel stereo that means Channels 1 & 2 show the audio equally. In Dolby 5.1 (which your project is), there are not only 2, but 6 audio channales. Mono audio will be predominant on the center channel, and lighter on the front left and front right channels, and no other channels. This is totally normal behavior.

Exactly as Tom said, go to the Project Library. Select this Project. In the Inspector go to the Project Settings by clicking the little "wrench" icon at the bottom right. There you can change the Project's settings to 2 channel stereo.

Hi guys thanks for the replies.

Did as you advised with the wrench and that did bring the tracks back to the familiar L&R tracks.

However, the audio is still peaking badly. I lowered the volume, but there is something else wrong with it (its hard to explain but the audio sounds very tinny and echoey). I have copied part of the project over to a new blank project and put in the narration directly from the Event library; it sounds very very different (meaning something has definitely happened here).

I have noticed that some split screen effects have also become corrupted in this project (not linked to the original media for some reason). So it would appear that something happened to this project (maybe during an update)?

Some clips in the project sound fine however. I seem to remember that for timing purposes I had sped up some of the narration (but kept the pitch the same). I can't seem to find the retiming info in the clips, but I am beginning to think that this has something to do with the weird sounding audio.

The way its looking right now I reckon I can just reedit most of the narration and reapply some retiming effects to them, so its not a train smash, more of a PITA.

Any ideas just in case though....? Thanks again!

There is a bug in 10.0.5 with retiming audio that can make it sound tinny. Apple knows about it. We'll see a fix in the next update.

BTW, never update the OS or FCP or plugins in the middle of a project. Just for future reference.

But yeah, you're hearing a known bug with retimed audio.

Oh, wow. Thats a relief in one way (that its a known bug). Thanks for the info.

Hmmmm...that puts me in a quandary as I won't be able to do a small re-edit of the project to meet the specs of a festival. Ho-hum.

Thanks for the advice guys!

Yes you can. Convert that audio clip into a Compound Clip. That usually works for me.

Also, just simply export that puppy, and see how the sound is on export. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's not.