How to set audio to left or right channel in stereo (X7)

[GloopyJon]

Hi, I have what seems to be a very simple problem with Corel VideoStudio X7. I have a video which I have shot using two separate microphones, so I have the following files in my project (all set up and synced properly):
1) Video feed (with audio muted as I don't want that audio, it's too noisy)
2) Shure SM57 microphone (WAV file recorded in Reaper via my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2)
3) Rode NTG-2 microphone (WAV file, as above, recorded simultaneously)

My project is set up for stereo sound and I want to have the SM57 sound exclusively on the left channel, and the NTG-2 sound exclusively on the right channel. This would seem to be a fairly trivial thing, but I can't get VideoStudio to do that. I've looked in the manual and searched here and on YouTube but I can't see a simple answer. I don't want to pan the sound during the video; just to set each audio channel to be left or right.

I have tried using the surround sound mixer but that doesn't seem to take any notice of the settings when I drag the little ball to the left or right - next time I play it, it just returns to the middle.

How can I do this? It's very frustrating and it should be simplicity itself! Thanks for any help.

[BrianCee]

What you are asking cannot be done in VideoStudio - you cannot send sound from one source to one speaker and sound from a different source to another speaker

VideoStudio outputs stereo sound derived from all audio sources.

[GloopyJon]

Thanks for your answer - that seems a bit weird to me! Oh well, I'll have to change my plan for this video slightly.

Can it easily be done in a different video editing product? I'm not particularly keen on changing now that I'm starting to get the hang of VideoStudio. I'm a bit of a noob with video editing suites and picked VideoStudio from doing brief trials with a few of the leading packages on PC (without a hugh price tag).

I know that many people's answer will be "Get a Mac!" but I don't want a Mac!

[Terfyn]

You may be able to create a stereo wav file using Audacity or another audio editor and then introduce it into VS.

[GloopyJon]

That's a good idea, thanks!

[tanguero]

It actually CAN be done in VS, at least in X8, though I'm guessing in X7 also. The way to do it is highly counter-intuitive, however.

What SHOULD work is the following:
- You click on a sound track, the ball in the mixer changes symbol to reflect the soundtrack you've selected (it does).
- You move the ball to the left or right and then play the clip (so far so good).
- The ball stays left or right but sound comes from both speakers as usual (NO! - Bug 1).
- You leave the clip and come back and the ball has moved back to the middle (NO! - Bug 2).
Both the logic of the user interface and Corel documentation on the mixer suggest that neither of these should happen and it should work the way you expected. This is the bug you found in X7 when you tried this (and I can confirm that it is still there in X8).

WORKAROUND/SOLUTION:

Background: If you select the Project (not Clip) timeline view on the previewer, moving the mixer ball indeed changes where the sound is coming from and it sticks (you will even see the keyframes being created on the blue line that reflects the sound volume). But this doesn't directly help you since (a) this makes ALL the sound come from the left or right side and (b) you want to apply this effect to individual music tracks (where it doesn't seem to work as it should). But it does give a clue to coming up with the solution (i.e., observing that moving the ball works in Project view but not in Clip view).

Procedure: Do the following exactly as described. Make sure you are in Stereo (not Surround Sound mode) from Project Properties. Have the Sound Mixer panel displayed.

1. Put your video on the Video track (with its sound muted), your desired left channel sound on the Voice track, your desired right channel sound on the Music track. (I'm sure it doesn't matter which is left or right, of course.)
2. Click on the Voice track. The sound mixer ball will show the microphone symbol. Click the Home button on the previewer to move to the start of the clip. Now click on Project in the previewer. The clip will be deselected BUT THE MIXER BALL WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW THE MICROPHONE SYMBOL indicating that it is the active one (this is the key). Now slide the mixer ball all the way to the LEFT.
3. Disable the Music track and play the Project (not the Clip!) to confirm that all the sound is coming from the left channel. If not, repeat Step 2 (don't ask me why, but sometimes I had to do it twice--but never more--for it to "take").
4. Enable the Music track, click on it and repeat Step 2, but this time of course noting that the symbol on the mixer ball is the Music track symbol, and moving the ball all the way to the RIGHT.
5. Test this by disabling the Voice track this time and confirming that all the sound is coming from the right channel. As before, repeat Step 4 if necessary for it to "take."
6. Enable both sound tracks and you have what you want.

Note that by default, setting the start of clip applies the Left or Right effect to the entire clip (you don't have to repeat it for the end). This is slightly counter-intuitive since all other keyframe-based effects would require you to set that explicitly on both ends. However, if you do go to the end of the clip in the same way (go to the end in Clip view but return to Project view before sliding the ball), you can indeed make the sound "pan" from left to right on one channel. And in fact you can set keyframes in the middle of a clip with a different left-right-balance setting (shows up as keyframe markers on the blue audio line). Just the caveat that sometimes you have to do it twice for it to "take"--bizarre but true.

If you have your project divided into multiple clips, you may have to do this on each clip (I can't remember now when I was testing); if so, maybe you can find a way to select multiple clips to make this faster, but this shall be left "as an exercise for the student."

[lata]

Hi

Try using the Sound Mixer, usually used for “surround sound” but can adjust stereo sound.

Make sure your project properties are set to Stereo.
Add your audio clips to the Voice track and Music track
Open the Sound Mixer
Select the Voice clip
Navigate to the first frame (press the Home button)
Switch to project Playback – (click the word Project adjacent to the play button)
Viewing the Sound Mixer drag the central “red” icon to one side – Right—

Select the Music track (blue) – first frame – press Project word
Drag Blue icon to the – Left –

Play the project in project mode, I listened via head phones, seemed ok to me….

I rendered to audio file WMA seemed ok whereas WAV seemed to have some mix?
Then rendered to MTS which again seemed ok with each playing through different speakers.

Hmmm, didn’t think VS could do that……………..

Post updated

hi tanguero

I did not notice your post till later. no bugs although setting the sound panel is a bit tricky, but if in project mode seems to work?

[tanguero]

Hi Trevor,

I'd still call it a bug because you SHOULD be able to do it on a clip. In fact Corel's documentation on the mixer at:

http://help.videostudiopro.com/videostu ... ml#1133475

explicitly indicates that moving the ball while a CLIP is selected SHOULD change where the sound is coming from but in fact it doesn't do anything (sound comes from both speakers in Clip mode). And it not "sticking" to the clip property once you've deselected it is clearly a bug too, even though the documentation doesn't explicitly say that it does, since there'd be no point to the function if it didn't.

[GloopyJon]

Thanks for the answers again, guys. I'll try the project mode thingy although I followed the earlier advice and made a stereo WAV file in Reaper which I've imported to replace the two separate mono files. I'm hoping that will come through effectively in the final version although it's a little hard to tell since both microphones were recording the same source (one is a bit brighter than the other).

Lots of editing to do before I get there, though - I currently have 50 minutes of footage that I'd like to bring down to 10.

The context BTW is that I'm doing a demo video for a guitar amp, which I've miked up in two ways.

[GloopyJon]

Well, I've nearly finished with it but I must say that the sound mixing interface is pretty poor. I don't know if it's been improved in version X8 but if not then it's something that Corel really should work on in the future. I'd like to adjust the stereo balance in some parts of my video but I'll tear my hair out (and probably not succeed) if I try to do it in VideoStudio.

Generally I quite like the software, but it could certainly be improved in some areas.

[lata]

Hi

I have to agree that the panel is pretty poor, very poor. I don’t think its something Corel will improve without re-designing the panels.
I only work with stereo sound so no need for the Surround Sound interface.
Volume levels I do from the edit timeline

When setting the stereo balance make sure you are in Project mode not Clip mode.