Problem with Adobe Audition 5.1 session output

[humprof]

The default tracks when you start a 5.1 session are stereo. To add a 5.1 file to a 5.1 multi track session, you have to first add a 5.1 track

Hm. I followed your advice: opened a new Multitrack Sesssion, taking care to specify a 5.1 Mix Track; then added a 5.1 audio track and dragged my 5.1 track into that. But when I export the Mix Track--regardless of whether I've applied any effects or VSTs--it still comes out as stereo in a 5.1 container.

 

[mandrix]

Hm. I followed your advice: opened a new Multitrack Sesssion, taking care to specify a 5.1 Mix Track; then added a 5.1 audio track and dragged my 5.1 track into that. But when I export the Mix Track--regardless of whether I've applied any effects or VSTs--it still comes out as stereo in a 5.1 container.

I've not worked through it all yet...like I say I don't use the multitrack...but first after you've loaded a 5.1 file, extract all to mono. Then you can create a multitrack session and import each mono file in. (right click the mono file and select to put in multitrack session.)
Or you could start by loading all the mono files, if they already exist.

 

[mandrix]

When you create a session, as said, make sure it's 5.1.

 

[mandrix]

Oh and make sure to highlight the position you want to put the mono track in or it will combine with the previous track.

EDIT: Unless dragging the track, then you can place it how you like.

 

[zcftr29]

Hm. I followed your advice: opened a new Multitrack Sesssion, taking care to specify a 5.1 Mix Track; then added a 5.1 audio track and dragged my 5.1 track into that. But when I export the Mix Track--regardless of whether I've applied any effects or VSTs--it still comes out as stereo in a 5.1 container.

Here are a few screenshots which might help from a recent upmix project of mine:

1) On the left are the source audio files, on the right are the tracks. You can see that some are 6 channel (5.1) others are Stereo or Mono

2) If you look at the tracks, the stereo/mono one circled below has a track panner icon, whereas the one below that is a 5.1 track and does not have the panner

3) You can add effects to individual tracks here:

4) When you are done mixing/adding effects, mixdown the session

5) You should get a new 5.1 file ready to save as flac/wav

 

[humprof]

Here are a few screenshots which might help from a recent upmix project of mine:

1) On the left are the source audio files, on the right are the tracks. You can see that some are 6 channel (5.1) others are Stereo or Mono

View attachment 103074

2) If you look at the tracks, the stereo/mono one circled below has a track panner icon, whereas the one below that is a 5.1 track and does not have the panner

View attachment 103075

3) You can add effects to individual tracks here:

View attachment 103077

4) When you are done mixing/adding effects, mixdown the session

View attachment 103079

5) You should get a new 5.1 file ready to save as flac/wav

View attachment 103080

I really appreciate your efforts to help me sort this out, @zcftr29. My project isn't exactly analogous to yours, obviously (I'm not doing an upmix, and I only have two files open in my session, a stereo track and a 5.1 track), but certainly in the past, everything you show in the first four screenshots accords with what I was seeing in my project. It was in the final stage where I was having problems, namely: I would get a 5.1 file with stereo content only, in the top two channels.

Now...having said that: just now, following along with your screenshots, I opened a new multitrack session, imported my stereo and 5.1 files (making sure to insert the 5.1, in particular, into a multitrack), applied my VST, mixed down the entire session to a new file, and...voila! I have a bona fide 5.1 track.

I'm at an utter loss to say what, if anything, I did differently this time; it certainly feels like I followed exactly the same procedure that I'd done a dozen times before. At first I thought the new, successful result might be down to this slight difference: when exporting the Mix Track (by right-clicking in the Mix Track, not by pulling down the Multitrack menu), I get two options to your one--"Export Session to New File > Entire Session" and "Export Mixdown > Entire Session." (I think I'd been using the latter option before now. But comparing them today, they both do exactly the same thing, with the same result. If, instead, I pull down the Multitrack menu as you did, however, I get the same choices as you.)

So...I'd feel a lot better about this if I could explain what was going wrong before and what went right this time. But as long as I can reproduce these results in the future, then I guess I shouldn't argue with success. And, red-faced, I'll just give you a very hearty THANKS!