Sony Vegas and importing multichannel audio

[apollo80]

Hello.

I have Sony Vegas Studio HD Platinum 11 and I've had a crew shooting a film.

In cases where there are three or more microphones, if I drop the file into Vegas, I am told The Number of Channels is Not Supported.

I've tried making the default audio under preferences 5.1, with multiple audio tracks, but it makes no difference.

Is there a way to natively drop the file in for editing?

If not, is there a free utility to split the multichannel file into independent files as a wav or aiff and edit that way?

Thanks in advance.

[yoda313]

besplit and besweet can give you 6 mono wav files for editing.

I'm sure there is a way to do it in eac3to but I'm not sure how to do it. eac3to is much newer than besplit/besweet and can recognize and work with audio from bluray and the like.

[smrpix]

What kind of files are you using? Does the codec/sample rate match the rest of your project? I've had no trouble with 8-discreet channel quicktimes or 5.1 in Platinum 11.

[apollo80]

Thank you all.

I'm a little lost on how to split into separate audio files using the GUI for EAC3. Please advise, and thanks in advance.

[poisondeathray]

I'm a little lost on how to split into separate audio files using the GUI for EAC3. Please advise, and thanks in advance.

see post #2 for instructions & screenshots
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/300964-Help-Split-6-Channels-into-separate-WAVs

post#6 has the older style GUI that most people prefer


it's actually easier and faster by commandline, as the GUI is quite cluttered and complicated IMO

eac3to input.ext output.wavs

(notice the extentions is "wavs" with an "s" , this will generate individual mono wavs)

[apollo80]

Thanks. For whatever reason, I couldn't get the "old" GUI to work. But command line did work.

Is there a way to do it in batches via command line? Again, thanks in advance.

[poisondeathray]

Thanks. For whatever reason, I couldn't get the "old" GUI to work. But command line did work.

Is there a way to do it in batches via command line? Again, thanks in advance.

from commandline (for batch file use %% instead of %, and of course change ext to what the real extension is for the input file type e.g *.ac3)

for %a in ("*.ext") do eac3to "%a" "%~na.wavs"

[poisondeathray]

Is there a way to natively drop the file in for editing?

Also , if you can post mediainfo report (view=>text) copy & paste the results back here on one of the problem files, that would help . (There might be alternative ways, such as re-wrapping the file that might allow vegas to import it)

[smrpix]

There certainly are ways to drop it in natively, as suggested earlier. But we need to know more about your file and project.

[apollo80]

Thanks all.

Is there a way to convert ac3 to mxf?

I read online Sony Vegas can accept multichannel mxf files

Thanks again.

[poisondeathray]

I think mxf requires a video stream to be compliant, I don't think it can hold audio only

If it's just 6ch AC3, vegas should be able to import it natively, even the movie studio platinum version - yes confirmed

Seems like something else is going on

[apollo80]

I'm afraid Vegas won't import the ac3 files.

It states on the company web site it's due to a rights issue.

There were a couple of instances where I got certain ac3 files to import, and it asked me if I wanted to change audio to 5.1.

Then everything was imported.

However, I found Vegas would lock up and crash.

When I removed the ac3 files and imported straight wav files, it stopped crashing.

Don't know why vegas imports some and not others. But what it did import caused a crash.

I tried doing a bulk conversion from ac3 to wavs using eac3. Both command line and GUI, but couldn't get it to work.

On the instructions supplied by you earlier (and thank you, BTW)

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/300964-Help-Split-6-Channels-into-separate-WAVs

I don't understand what it's asking for in step 4.

Can you clarify?

[poisondeathray]

try putting the ac3 in an AVI container , or a transport stream (.ts)

e.g
ffmpeg -i input.ac3 -acodec copy output.avi

or

ffmpeg -i input.ac3 -acodec copy output.ts

[apollo80]

Actually, the source files are listed as .wav

But there are multiple tracks.

I assumed that was ac3. What exactly is the file, then?

[poisondeathray]

open them with mediainfo (view=>text)

copy & paste the text report back here

[aedipuss]

vegas has no problem importing multichannel wav. try using mediainfo on your source audio files.

[apollo80]

At work. On the way home. Ill post the mediainfo in about an hour. Thanks.

[smrpix]

What kind of files are you using? Does the codec/sample rate match the rest of your project? I've had no trouble with 8-discreet channel quicktimes or 5.1 in Platinum 11.

Also , if you can post mediainfo report (view=>text) copy & paste the results back here on one of the problem files, that would help . (There might be alternative ways, such as re-wrapping the file that might allow vegas to import it)

even the movie studio platinum version - yes confirmed

Seems like something else is going on

vegas has no problem importing multichannel wav. try using mediainfo on your source audio files.

At work. On the way home. Ill post the mediainfo in about an hour. Thanks.

Could be the 4th time's the charm!

[apollo80]

Here is a sample file

General
Complete name : G:\AVAILABLE.2013.06.09\AVAILABLE.2013.06.09.CF.05 .SOUND\13Y06M09\25_01.WAV
Format : Wave
File size : 249 MiB
Duration : 7mn 32s
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 4 608 Kbps
Producer : Sound Dev: 744T S#461810181002
Description : sSPEED=023.976-ND / sTAKE=1 / sUBITS=$06091301 / sSWVER=2.67 / sPROJECT=AVAILABLE / sSCENE=25 / sFILENAME=25_01.WAV / sTAPE=13Y06M09 / sTRK1=Boom / sTRK2=Lav 1 iso / sTRK3=Lav 2 iso / sTRK4=Lav 3 iso / sNOTE=
Encoded date : 2013-06-09 18:40:26
Encoding settings : A=PCM,F=48000,W=24,M=multi,R=48000,T=4 Ch
Producer_Reference : USSDV461810181002184054094147901
Audio
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : 1
Duration : 7mn 32s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 4 608 Kbps
Channel(s) : 4 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 249 MiB (100%)

[aedipuss]

Try starting over and encode the wav to 16 rather than 24 bit.

[poisondeathray]

4ch pcm wave is a non standard configuration , probably not supported (see if you can enter custom settings in vegas studio)

But mono wavs should work

[apollo80]

Mono wavs do work. I've split the given 4 channel wavs into mono wavs using eac3.

Back at work. I'll look into custom settings tonight when i get back home.

In the meantime, can someone tell me what I do with step 4. It's the only one I don't understand.

Thanks again.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/300964-Help-Split-6-Channels-into-separate-WAVs

[poisondeathray]

Do you mean the eac3 GUI ? You just select the input file or folder, for example "25_01.wav"

G:\AVAILABLE.2013.06.09\AVAILABLE.2013.06.09.CF.05 .SOUND\13Y06M09\25_01.WAV

[smrpix]

Here we go.

The recording device was a Sound Devices 744, a professional recorder that creates BWAV or Broadcast wave files in a variety of formats. This is a Pro format and really needs a Pro NLE to import the files properly with all the proper metadata, track assignments, pullups, etc.

Downloaded samples from their site load seamlessly into Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro. (Not into Vegas Movie Studio.) I'm sure Vegas Pro would work.

http://www.sounddevices.com/download/sample-files.htm

It does work in Audacity. (With missing metadata) and Audition.

I'm sure you can do re-encodes and workarounds, but your workflow will be simpler from beginning to end if you do this properly.

[apollo80]

poisondeathray

I actually did that. It didn't work.

I'm also trying to do everything in the folder or I set up a batch of clips I want.

Still can't get it to work. What am I missing?


smrpix

Yes it was professionally recorded. And I've got a LOT of these audio files.

I guess I could download the trial version of Vegas Pro and see if it ingests the audio properly.

[aedipuss]

the smrpix is correct. you'd need vegas pro to import the 24bit wav. it uses the 24bit 96khtz samples fine.

[apollo80]

I can import them into Vegas Movie Studio as 24 bit individual wavs, which I have been doing. Just not import 24 bit multichannel wavs. It will render in 16 bit though.

Is that what you meant, can't import 24 bit multichannel?

[poisondeathray]

poisondeathray

I actually did that. It didn't work.

I'm also trying to do everything in the folder or I set up a batch of clips I want.

Still can't get it to work. What am I missing?

Then just use the batch CLI method, it works on those sample clips that smrpix linked to .

I just downloaded this one, made a few copies with different names to test
http://www.sounddevices.com/download/240_firmware_test_files/48000_29.97DF_4.WAV

But you don't keep the sexy metadata with eac3to

Upgrading your NLE is probably better idea

[apollo80]

Wow, you guys are gonna love me. I tried the CLI method and couldn't get that to work, either.

I must be a moron. LOL...

[smrpix]

Fortunately, Mediainfo displays the sexy metadata so you can grab it. Scene number/Take, Mic selection may be particularly useful.

Description : sSPEED=023.976-ND / sTAKE=1 / sUBITS=$06091301 / sSWVER=2.67 / sPROJECT=AVAILABLE / sSCENE=25 / sFILENAME=25_01.WAV / sTAPE=13Y06M09 / sTRK1=Boom / sTRK2=Lav 1 iso / sTRK3=Lav 2 iso / sTRK4=Lav 3 iso / sNOTE=
Encoded date : 2013-06-09 18:40:26