How to export videos with 8 channels of audio

This guide will walk you through how to set up your workspace to edit and export sequences with 8 channels of audio, and export as either ProRes or MXF depending on delivery needs. This process is occasionally used to make corrections to the weekend broadcast for the campus experiences, and it will be the process for the new Online broadcast file to support Spanish translation.

Part 1 - Configuring your workstation

To get started, you need to do three things on your workstation.

Download and add our 8 channel Sequence Preset file (.sqpreset)
Download and add our ProRes Proxy, 8 channel media encoder preset (.epr)
Download and add our MXF Tria, 8 channel media encoder preset (.epr)

Step 1 - Downloading the Sequence Preset file:

Download the attached Sequence Preset file at the bottom of this article (8ch File.sqpreset)

Copy this file to the following directory on your computer:

/Users/[your-username]/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/14.0/Profile-[your-username]/Settings/Custom

If the "Custom" folder does not exist, create it within the "Settings" folder
When you are done, the folder should look something like this

Step 2 - Downloading the Media Encoder Preset files:

Download the two attached Media Encoder Preset files at the bottom of this article
- ProRes-Proxy-8ch.epr
- MXF-Tria-8ch.epr
Copy this file to the following directory on your computer:

Users/[your-username]/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder/14.0/Presets

When you are done, the folder should look something like this:

You now have everything you need to do this export. The next part will walk through how to set up your project file and use the sequence preset you just installed.

Part 2 - Setting up your Premier Project

Step 1 - Creating your sequence:

In your Premier Project, go to File > New > Sequence... to create a new Sequence in your project
In the "Sequence Presets" tab, under the "Custom" folder, choose the 8ch File preset

You now have a sequence with three (3) video tracks and eight (8) audio tracks. You can add or remove the video tracks as needed, but do not add or remove any audio tracks. Each audio track corresponds with one audio channel in the production environment. Be sure you connect with your project manager to ensure you know what audio is supposed to go on what track / channel. You should also have 8 audio meters to confirm signal and levels on each channel.

Tip: If your meters aren't matching up with what is on each track 1 to 1, it's possible the order of your audio tracks was changes, or some were added or removed. If this happens, simply repeat Step 1 and copy your content into the new sequence.

Tip: Here are some common channel layouts for our different export types

Campus Broadcast File

Loops / Sermon Band - L
Loops / Sermon Band - R
Audience Response - L
Audience Response - R
Click
MD
Worship Leader
Pastor

Step 2 - Adding content:

When you drop in a video file, Premier will ask you if you want to change the sequence settings to match the file you are trying to import. Select "Change Sequence Settings".

The rest of this part of the process should be familiar, though because each track is mono, it may be necessary to split out a stereo audio file to individually add the Left and Right channels to each track (i.e. the final online mix). Here is how to do that:

Right Click on the audio file in your Project Browser and select Modify > Audio Channels...
Change the "Clip Channel Format" to Mono
Change the "Number of Audio Clips" to 2
Verify Clip 1 is set to "L" and Clip 2 is set to "R" and hit OK

Tip: the track selection in the sequence will determine what tracks the file will end up on when you drag it into your sequence. Make sure the track selected as "A1" is the track where you want your Left channel, and the track selected as "A2" is where you want your Right channel.

Part 3a - Export as ProRes

This part should also be familiar, just ensure you are using the ProRes-Proxy-8ch preset in Media Encoder.

Under "Format" Select QuickTime
Under "Preset" Select ProRes-Proxy-8ch
Leave all other settings as is

Part 3b - Export as MXF (for Tria playback for Online)

Under "Format" Select MXF OP1a
Under "Preset" Select MXF-Tria-8ch
Leave all other settings as is

And that's it!

You're now ready to export video files with 8 discrete audio channels. This will go a long way in helping support the growing needs of our church as we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in ministry.