Subject:General ? Re making a stereo file sound mono

Posted by: dkistner

Date:1/14/2003 8:13:36 AM

Okay, I should have converted to mono before I even started, but months of audio restoration work has been done, I've got to mix voice into stereo music files--the arrangement and envelopes in the project are already done--and I'm on the last leg and very tired. So, here's what I have:

Voice files in stereo format that should be perceived when mixed down as mono-positioned (i.e., centered). They already have reverb applied, compression, the whole nine yards. But they are slightly off-center...a fact I did not catch until I got some new digital monitoring headphones that tell it like it is.

Is it a simple matter of taking statistics and adjusting the amplitude so the left and right channels match? Like globally lower the amplitude of one channel, say, -.67 dB based on the L/R difference between the average RMS (or should it be total RMS)? Or am I going to wind up with a mess? I've got Cool Edit 2000, and it's got some transforms that mix the channels 50/50 and stuff like that, but I don't know if that's what I need.

Or, if I convert to mono, then back to stereo, would that take care of it? Or would it completely wreck the reverb and such? I had a very hard time reverb-matching different voice files, and I couldn't go back and do it again anyway because I made a lot of changes after I'd done it. Live and learn. Next time I'll know better.

Anway, I'll leave it like it is if it's going to involve major surgery to fix it, but it's not going to be perfect. Any help would be most appreciated, as I'm trying to get this thing out the door in the next few days so I can get back to playing. I'll never take on a project like this again! GROAN!

Diane

Subject:RE: General ? Re making a stereo file sound mono

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:1/14/2003 11:13:23 AM

Do you have sound Forge? You can balance stereo or make stereo into mono in sound forge.

Subject:RE: General ? Re making a stereo file sound mono

Reply by: dkistner

Date:1/14/2003 11:42:19 AM

I just have Cool Edit and don't want to shell out for Sound Forge at this point in time.

Cool Edit has a channel mixer. It offers "average" channels (a 50/50 mix), a full 100/100 mix, and other presets that don't seem appropriate for this. I can also normalize the files with the L/R channels unlocked to change the balance. Or I could amplify one channel to match the other's RMS; it's off less than .3 in most cases. Not enough to worry about?

The main thing I'm concerned about is what's going to happen to the reverb when I adjust the balance. I don't understand enough about how reverb works to know if it's going to mess things up. I applied reverb to the unbalanced stereo file...so if I then just balance the channels, will the reverb actually be rendered unbalanced? My hunch is yes.

My ears are so burned out on this, I don't trust them to tell me what's happening anymore!

Subject:RE: General ? Re making a stereo file sound mono

Reply by: SHTUNOT

Date:1/14/2003 1:46:54 PM

Hey Diane...

First take a break so that your ears "relax/settle". Your not going to get any more "quality" work done pushing yourself like this.

Have you tried rendering to a mono file?

1)select file to be changed.
2)Click on the "render as" icon or go to "file>render as".
3)Choose the custom button...will give you a screen so that you can modify the file to your liking.
4)At the bottom of the dialog it will say "channels". Click and choose "mono". Click ok.
5)Click save. Didi this do what you are looking for?

Ed.

BTW...I would try the cooledit 50/50 mix to mono channel preset as this is the same in soundforge if you wanted to make a mono file. Use 100/100 if it was mixed "low" to give it more amplitude but watch out for distortion. HTH.

Subject:RE: General ? Re making a stereo file sound mono

Reply by: dkistner

Date:1/14/2003 2:55:02 PM

Ed, thanks for the tips. I will try them. The best tip, of course, is to rest my ears. I mean, MAN, I've been putting in 15-hour days for months on this job. And I'm not even getting paid for it. :( Next time somebody asks me to just mix a little of my music into their voice files, I'm going to tell them I'll be happy to if the files they provide me are in good shape before I get them. You just would not BELIEVE.... And even with all this work and magic, too, it's never going to sound as good as I wanted it to.

Diane