Elements 15 - poor audio quality

[Metacity]

Hi all,

I'm back with another Premiere Elements issue...this time of a different sort. After upgrading to 15, I've noticed that anything I import from my camcorder has very "muddy" audio quality - the sort of quality you might get after running it through a bad converter or three. The source audio in a media player is fine, but in Elements (and in the render!) it's terrible. This problem didn't happen in 13, and it's putting another roadblock in front of actually exporting anything useful...

Does anyone have any suggestions on this?

Specifications:

As mentioned, Premiere Elements 15

Sony Handycam HDR-CX330, recording AVCHD 1080p

Source audio format: 48000 Hz compressed

Project audio format: 48000 Hz 32-bit floating point (is this the problem? I couldn't find a setting to change this...)

Thank you in advance!

[Steve Grisetti]

When you play one of the video clips from your camcorder in VLC Media Player (a free download) does it sound fine?

In Premiere Elements, open the Audio Mixer (under the Tools menu). When you play your timeline, does the audio peak at Zero and not over-modulate beyond?

[Metacity]

Yes, it sounds absolutely fine in VLC. The Audio Mixer shows it peaking at around -6 dB.

[Steve Grisetti]

I see no reason for you to be getting bad audio quality.

But I'd recommend you ensure you the latest drivers for your audio card -- ideally from your computer manufacturer's support web site.

And you should probably update your HD audio codecs from RealTek.

Realtek HD Audio Codecs

[Metacity]

Well, I've come back to this issue after some time, hoping that ignoring it, and a few restarts, would fix it magically...

No such luck, and I noticed that the problem really is occurring in 13 too...

All my audio drivers are current, though that codec page doesn't work for me...when I agree to the terms, it sends me right back to them.

The only explanation I can think of is that Premiere Elements hates the MTS files this camcorder generates, at least when it's given them off the disk, rather than importing directly from the camera. I guess I'll have to try that tomorrow.

[Steve Grisetti]

FWIW there is no reason Premiere Elements would "hate" your MTS files. From what you've told me, these are just standard AVCHD video -- and that's the ideal format for editing in this program.

Though I'm not sure what mean by "off the disk, rather than importing them directly from the camera."

You are getting the video from the camcorder to your computer by plugging the cam into your computer via USB and then using Add Media/From Cameras or Devices, right?

Can you post a sample of an MP4 from your Premiere Elements project to YouTube and then link your next post to it so we can hear it?

[Metacity]

Actually, no - for a long time I've simply gone straight to the SD card and retrieved the video that way. It's never given me any trouble until now, but I decided to use the importer instead, just to test.

On both 13 and 15, it instantly froze the entire program, forcing me to kill it in Task Manager after a few minutes of patience.

But in response to your request, here's a 30 second sample of footage from the project, rendered at the custom preset I'd like to use for the final output (1080p 59.94 fps H.264 video, 640 kbps 48 kHz 5.1 AAC audio). Please note, the subject matter is a tornado siren test, so you may want to adjust your volume...

[Steve Grisetti]

Sorry, but I'm not hearing any muddiness in the video you posted above. Other than some wind noise.

[Metacity]

Maybe "muddiness" isn't the correct term, but surely the terrible quality is clear enough...on my end, it sounds like the camera's underwater.

I tried Dolby Digital, and got very strange results...the audio was slowed down about 2.5 times relative to the video. A 12 second video clip yielded 37 seconds of slow audio.

[thefyn]

when you render, change the audio to Dolby Digital.  The default selection works for me.

Thats what i what I use for my music production vids:

The SECRET to Alice In Chains guitar tone? You won't believe it!!! LISTEN! - YouTube

[Steve Grisetti]

Maybe there's something up with the audio driver or configuration at your end.

What I hear in that YouTube video is clear as a bell, except for the occasional wind noise.

Has anybody else checked out the video and is hearing muddiness (or not)?

[LariosoDog]

I get the underwater feel he described, like a whirling thunnel or how to describe.

Clearly a phasing effect.

How does AAC 5.1 mix into stereo is what I wonder?

If surround just get same audio but delayed on some channels gets mixed into stereo it will sound like this.

[Metacity]

There's no stereo mixing going on that I'm aware of - the project settings are set to 5.1 / 6 channels, the same as the file.

[LariosoDog]

So where does the extra 4 channels go when you listen in stereo?

All standalone players I have for DVD and BD have settings what to do with them - mix to stereo, just pick front left+right etc.

Some have processing to place then in between normal left+right for stereo, and process with phase shifting.

One TV I had also had it's own settings what to do with 5.1 sound coming over hdmi.

Windows has various settings for speakers as well depending on audio drivers.

I listen in stereo and get the whirly thunneling sound.

Just a regular spdif out to headphone amp from a RME Hammerfall card, since this used to be a daw.

What happends on the various channels in audio mixer in PRE?

Check it out, and turn faders down on where there is sound and listen what happends.

[Metacity]

Can't believe I didn't look back at this for three weeks...I wasn't getting email notifications.

I played with the audio mixer a bit and couldn't get it to do anything...the mixer itself was only stereo. But...I found a mostly-workable solution.

The master channel on the preset I used was set to stereo. Starting fresh with a preset using 5.1 yields mostly-correct audio...there's still a slight drop in audio quality, but it's workable.

Unless there's a solution for that slight drop, I think it's all fixed! Thanks for your help.