Problem
Audio channel mapping sends a boom microphone to only one side of the final stereo mix.
Solution
Root Cause / Diagnostic:
Capturing a single mono boom microphone onto Track 1 of an XLR stereo camera recording leaves Track 2 silent or dedicated to a secondary feed. If the NLE interprets this clip as a standard interleaved stereo pair rather than discrete dual mono, it routes Track 1 strictly to the Left channel and Track 2 (silence) to the Right channel. The exported video presents dialogue exclusively in the viewer's left ear, causing immediate listener disorientation.
Actionable Fix:
1. Open 'Audio Channels' / 'Modify Clip' interpretation in the NLE and switch the clip format from Stereo to 'Mono', mapping Channel 1 (Boom) to both Left and Right output buses.
2. If already placed on the timeline, apply a 'Fill Left with Right' or 'Mono to Stereo' utility plugin across the affected dialogue clips.
3. Monitor master output stereo meters to confirm that dialogue registers equal RMS energy simultaneously on both Left and Right channels.
Pro Tip:
Configure NLE default ingest preferences to automatically import all multi-channel camera files as 'Discrete Dual Mono Tracks', preventing accidental stereo panning errors across future projects.
Capturing a single mono boom microphone onto Track 1 of an XLR stereo camera recording leaves Track 2 silent or dedicated to a secondary feed. If the NLE interprets this clip as a standard interleaved stereo pair rather than discrete dual mono, it routes Track 1 strictly to the Left channel and Track 2 (silence) to the Right channel. The exported video presents dialogue exclusively in the viewer's left ear, causing immediate listener disorientation.
Actionable Fix:
1. Open 'Audio Channels' / 'Modify Clip' interpretation in the NLE and switch the clip format from Stereo to 'Mono', mapping Channel 1 (Boom) to both Left and Right output buses.
2. If already placed on the timeline, apply a 'Fill Left with Right' or 'Mono to Stereo' utility plugin across the affected dialogue clips.
3. Monitor master output stereo meters to confirm that dialogue registers equal RMS energy simultaneously on both Left and Right channels.
Pro Tip:
Configure NLE default ingest preferences to automatically import all multi-channel camera files as 'Discrete Dual Mono Tracks', preventing accidental stereo panning errors across future projects.