A case of mistaken identity

Have you ever delivered files to a customer, only to later find out that the audio wasn’t what it said it was? Sometimes, things are not exactly as they appear to be.

Something's not quite right here.

We can probably all think of occasions where we’ve thought something was one thing, only to find out later that it was, in fact, something else. Such as the time you poured salt into your morning coffee because somebody had swapped around the sugar and salt dispensers. Or the time you picked up what you thought was your suitcase from the airport baggage carousel, only to get to the hotel and discover somebody else’s clothes! 

The same can also be true for your audio files. Just because a file says it’s one thing doesn’t mean that that’s actually true.

Recently, a customer of ours was concerned about ensuring that the channel layout of their audio was what it said it was. In preparing Digital Cinema Packages, they would receive content from a number of different sources, including many small independent filmmakers. Unfortunately, the audio layout of the 5.1 surround mix was often incorrect. They needed an automated solution to identify and resolve this.

Which channel is which?

The consequences of misordered audio may not seem much, but if you were sitting in a movie theater and the dialog was heavily skewed to one side of the screen, or worse, coming from behind you, you would probably leave unhappy and ask for your money back.

Channel layouts can get jumbled for a variety of reasons, but the most common is simple human error—incorrect export settings, file mislabelling, tracks in the wrong order in the video/audio editing application, etc. Given the range of audio expertise in the people supplying them content, this problem had become an all-too-frequent occurrence for our customer.

The AudioTools Channel Detection module in AudioTools Server delivered the exact solution they were looking for. We built them a workflow that analyzed incoming 5.1 audio signals and matched the layout to a variety of different channel mappings, ranging from standard “SMPTE” (L-R-C-Lfe-Ls-Rs) and “Film” (L-C-R-Ls-Rs-Lfe) layouts to ones with the channels in alphabetical order or incorrectly exported from applications like Pro Tools.

Of course, identifying the audio layout is really only half the story. Once the workflow had successfully identified the channel layout, it was configured to remap the individual channels into the correct 5.1 layout required for Digital Cinema distribution. The workflow was then integrated into Telestream Vantage, using the Vantage AudioTool Connector, meaning the entire process could be carried out as part of the customer’s larger packaging workflow without any human intervention.

AudioTools Server discovers the truth!

So, while things may not always be as they appear, with the right tools available, these cases of mistaken identity can be detected and dealt with before they become too serious.

To learn more about how Channel Detection and the other Quality Control tools available with AudioTools Server can save you time, money, and potential embarrassment, please contact contact your AudioTools Server representative for more information. We’d love to hear from you.