6 mono tracks to 5.1

[Richard M Knight]

Often when working in 5.1 surround you are presented with 6 mono L, R, SL,SR, C, LFE tracks to use. In the current and previous versions of Premiere, although there is an easy way to route the 5 main tracks, there is not a easy way to route the LFE. There are a few ways to do this but the technique I prefer is as follows:

Create a sequence with 7 mono tracks and a 5.1 master track

Add the mono files as follows:

Then set up the track mixer like this. Keep all the faders at zero

Note the joystick panning and the Centre and LFE send controls. Use the Invert audio effect in track 7.

Then export the sequence as a 'Polywav' 5.1 file. This can then be used in Premiere as a single audio track.

If you want to change any of the levels of the individual tracks add the 'volume' effect to the new 5.1 wav file.

Hope this might be of some use.

[Ann Bens]

Thank you for posting!!

[upperpixel]

This is a great trick, thanks!!

[stuff_]

Thank you SO much Richard!

Et thank you to Nick J best for the trick on the center channel that we need to use:

Re: Surround sound center channel play on the center channel and the left channel

[gdmsndmxr]

Wow, thank you. I still can't believe with all the updates they make, there still is no way to just route LFE to LFE. Come on Adobe.

[gdmsndmxr]

Thanks for this fix. Is there a way to get Adobe to fix this issue. Currently I use Nuendo to create a Multichannel WAV which Premiere Pro works with fine. I just find it crazy that with all the years passing by that they can't easily make a track that can be routed only to the LFE. 5.1 audio has been around for years.

[semaj4712]

On the LFE track, there is the two channels on the left, if you take the top dial all the way to the left and bottom channel all the way to the right.  While it is panned to the center.  You will only get that track in the LFE channel.  No need for a seperate track with the invert on it.

[canevessa]

That's a great trick. I have a slight variation which might be useful to those mixing live concert material. I set the center knob on both LFE channels to the same setting, usually about 3 o'clock and back off the fader on the inverted LFE channel ever so slightly which, controls the cancellation and lets the top end of the LFE channel bleed a bit into the center channel. This tends to define and center the LFE material, in my case bass guitar and lower drums. It's subtle but effective. Depending on where you set the center channel knobs will determine how much it also bleeds into your left and right channels. Full up and its negligible. This obviously won't work if you low-pass your LFE track in advance. It's ironic that Adobe's reluctance to deal with this routing problem makes this possible. Happy mistakes, I guess.

[BradFox]

The "invert" trick is a clever work-around, but it's very silly that in 2019 there still isn't a proper "LFE Passthrough" option in Premiere Pro given that's it's a standard use case for almost any NLE or DAW software. Just in case anyone comes to this old thread, I've put in a feature request with Adobe - which could use upvotes to actually encourage them to fix this properly using the very straightforward approach they use in Audition already. 

"LFE Only" passthrough option in 5.1 Track Assignment – Adobe video & audio apps

[DrewPost]

Okay guys, I found a much better workflow that doesn't require any panning or LFE routing tricks.

1. Import all your mono surround files.
2. In Modify > Audio Channels, set the clip format to 5.1, and assign the correct surround channel (e.g. uncheck "L" and check "LFE").
3. In your 5.1 timeline, create six 5.1 audio tracks.
4. Edit your surround clips into those tracks (in any order you wish).

That's it.

It's silly that Premiere's audio meters don't show channels, but I was able to throw a surround reverb clip (which has properly labeled meters) on the Fx stack in the Audio Track Mixer master channel... and see that everything is routed as it should. The audio goes where it should go, and nowhere else.

This should be better documented. And better yet, the Merge Clip command should allow you to set 5.1 and assign channel in a manner that's not 'blind' (if it worked). Vote for it here: Import multiple audio files as one multichannel clip – Adobe video & audio apps .

[mayostard]

As of Premiere Pro CC 2019 (13.1.2), @DrewPost's solution is not only a simpler workflow, it's also the only one that works 100% correctly. The original workflow posted here by @Richard M Knight is not bitwise accurate for the LFE channel.

I tested this by running that original workflow, exporting a 5.1 channel file, then reimporting that file. I then laid the reimported tracks in a timeline synced with the original tracks, and applied an Invert effect to them. When I soloed pairs of tracks (original C + reimported C, etc.), all the main tracks showed nothing on the meters, but the LFE track did. So something is not right.

I then repeated the test with DrewPost's workflow, and when I soloed the LFE tracks, they showed nothing on the meter.

So at least for this version of PP, I strongly recommend DrewPost's workflow.

[RoxburghG]

Thank you for this! Way better solution. 

[milenas81344261]

I tried SEVERAL workflows and failed repeatedly. This was so simple and effective. Thank you!