DaVinci Resolve Mono to Stereo (FIX: Audio Only On One Side)

Featured Mono to Stereo DaVinci Resolve

(Click on this link to get a better understanding of the basics of splitting different audio channels/tracks inside Resolve.)

IssuesSolutions
1) You recorded a dialog as a mono track ( containing only single channel audio). But you’d like to have two audio channels (Stereo).Convert mono to stereo
2) You hear the audio on only one side. You would want to hear from both sides of your headphone or speaker.Fill the right with the left channel audio (or vice versa).
3) Sometimes, a mono audio recording might be wrongly mapped as stereo – making one of the channels empty.Convert stereo to mono

If for some reason, you recorded a dialog as a mono track. But later you feel that you need to do a lot of post-production work which might demand you to have a stereo clip with 2 audio channels.

So this is how you split mono audio into the stereo in DaVinci Resolve:

How to Convert Mono to Stereo in DaVinci Resolve?

  1. Go to the “Edit” page.
  2. From the “Media Pool“, right-click on your desired audio clip.
  3. Select “Clip Attributes…
  4. Click on the “Audio” tab.
  5. Select “Stereo” under the “Format” column dropdown.
  6. Under the “Source Channel” column, for the second channel, select “Embedded Audio Channel 1” or the only audio channel available (which is the same as the first one).
  7. Click on “Ok“.
  8. Make sure the receiving track is configured to “Stereo” when you place this clip in the timeline.
  9. (To do that, right-click on your audio track header > “Change Track Type To” > “Stereo”.)

So when you drag and drop the audio (the one which was just converted from mono to stereo) into the timeline, and when you play it back, you will hear sound from the 2 channels – left and right.

(A mono audio will have only one channel.)

You can verify the converted audio clip by double-clicking it in the “Media Pool”. The audio file opens up in the viewer and you will see 2 audio waveforms – corresponding to the channels.

(If you’re unable to see the audio waveform – make sure you select “Audio Track” from the dropdown located in the bottom left corner of the viewer.)

You can also verify the number of channels by selecting the clip from “Media Pool”, then clicking on the “Metadata” tab present next to the “Inspector” > “Clip Details” > “Audio Channels” (as shown in the above picture).


However, if you had already placed the audio clip in the timeline before converting it – even if you convert the source audio clip from the “Media Pool” it won’t automatically make your timeline audio stereo!

Therefore, you need to select the clips from the timeline again, then convert them to stereo. This is how you do it step-by-step:

Convert Timeline Mono Audio Clips to Stereo in DaVinci Resolve

  1. Go to the “Edit” page.
  2. Select and right-click your desired audio clips from the timeline.
  3. Select “Clip Attributes…” & click on the “Audio” tab.
  4. Select “Stereo” under the “Format” column dropdown.
  5. Under the “Source Channel” column, for the second channel, select “Embedded Audio Channel 1” or the only audio channel available (which is the same as the first one).
  6. Click on “Ok“.
  7. Make sure the timeline track is also configured to “Stereo” if it’s mono.
  8. (To do that, right-click on your audio track header > “Change Track Type To” > “Stereo”.)

DaVinci Resolve Fill Right with Left Channel Audio

Let’s say, during vocal recording, your microphone records in a stereo format but with audio in only one channel (with the other channel being somehow empty).

Now when you play this back in Resolve, you will hear audio on only one side – probably the left side. But you’d want to hear audio from both sides – Left and Right ears!

The fix is to fill the right channel audio with the left one. The same fix is applicable to the below as well:

Filling the worst-sounding audio of one channel with the better-sounding one.

DaVinci Resolve Audio Only on Left: Step-by-Step Fix

  1. Go to the “Edit” page (you can do the same on the “Fairlight” page as well).
  2. Click on “Media Pool“.
  3. Right-click on your stereo audio clip.
  4. Select “Clip Attributes…“.
  5. Click on the “Audio” tab.
  6. Under “Source Channel”, go to the second dropdown and select “Embedded Source Channel 1” (which is the same as the first dropdown).
  7. This will ensure the right channel audio is filled with the left channel audio (and vice versa).
  8. If you are placing it on an already created track, then you will have to make sure the audio track is set toStereo“.

Sometimes, a mono audio recording might be wrongly mapped as stereo, which will result in one of the channels being empty.

But your requirement is still a mono audio clip (instead of a stereo clip).

You might need to convert the stereo audio to mono. Here’s how you do it step-by-step:

How to Convert Stereo to Mono in DaVinci Resolve?

  1. Go to the “Edit” page (you can go to the “Fairlight” page as well).
  2. Click on the “Media Pool” from the upper left corner section.
  3. Right-click on your desired stereo audio clip.
  4. Select “Clip Attributes…“.
  5. Click on the “Audio” tab.
  6. Under “Format“, select “Mono” instead of “Stereo”.
  7. Under the “Source Channel“, select the channel which has your desired audio, in this case, “Embedded Source Channel 1”.
  8. Then click on “Ok“.
  9. Keep in mind that the track which receives this clip should be configured to “Mono” as well.

Now the stereo audio is converted to a mono-channel audio clip. Now you can drag and drop this clip into the timeline for further editing.


If you want more information such as:

  • Batch splitting audio channels
  • Splitting 5.1 or 7.1 audio channels into individual tracks
  • Splitting audio clips when they are already part of the timeline with all the edits in place, then…

Click on the below post for detailed information with pictures:

How to Split Audio Channels / Tracks in DaVinci Resolve (Explained!)


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