If you want to render a single audio file with multiple audio channels, you can render to one of the following formats:

• WAV/WAV64 (for information about rendering 5.1 channel WAV/WAV64 files, please see Rendering Your 5.1 Channel Mix)

• AVI

• Material Exchange Format (MXF)

MXF files require a video stream.

Render Format	Number of channels
DV MXF	Always contains 4 audio channels. You can use the Channels drop-down list on the Audio tab of the Custom Template dialog to choose how many channels will be filled with audio. For example, if you choose 2 from the Channels drop-down list, the rendered file will contain 4 audio channels: two channels will contain audio, and two channels will contain silence.
IMX MXF	Always contains 8 audio channels. You can use the Channels drop-down list on the Audio tab of the Custom Template dialog to choose how many channels will be filled with audio. For example, if you choose 2 from the Channels drop-down list, the rendered file will contain 8 audio channels: two channels will contain audio, and six channels will contain silence.
HD MXF	Can contain 2 or 4 audio channels. You can use the Channels drop-down list on the Audio tab of the Custom Template dialog to choose how many channels will be rendered. For example, if you choose 2 from the Channels drop-down list, the rendered file will contain only 2 audio channels.

WMV/WMA, AC-3, and ATRAC support multichannel surround formats; channel mapping is not supported. For more information about rendering 5.1 surround files, please see Rendering Your 5.1 Channel Mix.

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1. Create your project.

2. In the Mixer window, add a bus for each channel (or channel pair) you want to include in your rendered file.

   For example, if you wanted to create a six-channel .wav file, you could set up your mixer with three or six busses. If you use three busses, the left and right channels of each bus will be saved to a separate channel. If you use six busses, you can save the mono downmix from each bus as a separate channel.

If you’re working with a 5.1 surround project, you can map the six channels from the Surround Master bus to six output channels.

3. Assign tracks to busses to map the audio in your project to the desired channel.

4. From the File menu, choose Render As to display the Render As dialog.

5. Choose a drive and folder from the Save in drop-down list, or use the browse window to locate the folder where you want to save your file.

6. Type a name in the File name box, or select a file in the browse window to replace an existing file.

7. Choose a file type from the Save as type drop-down list.

8. Select the Enable multichannel rendering check box.

9. Click the Channels button if you want to map the busses in your project to channels in the rendered file. If you don’t specify a channel mapping, will not render a multichanne
   l file.

1. In the Channel Mapping dialog, select the check box for each bus you want to include in the rendered file. Each stereo bus will be saved to two channels in the rendered file. If you want to save a bus to a single channel, select the (Mono downmix) check box for that bus.

2. If you want to change order of the busses in the channel mapping, select the bus and click the Move Up or Move Down button.

3. Click OK to close the Channel Mapping dialog and return to the Render As dialog.  

Channel mapping is also available when printing to tape from the timeline, rendering to a new track, and exporting video to an XDCAM disc.

10. Choose a template from the Template drop-down list to specify the parameters that should be used for rendering your file, or click the Custom button to create a new template.

    If you choose Default Template when rendering to .wav, .w64, or .avi, the number of channels will match the number of channels specified in the Channel Mapping dialog.

If you choose a rendering template that specifies more channels than you have set up in the Channel Mapping dialog, the additional channels will be rendered as silence.

If you choose a template that specifies fewer channels than you have set up in the Channel Mapping dialog, the setting from the template will be used. Additional mapped channels will be ignored.

11. Select the Save project as path reference in rendered file check box if you want to save the path to your project in the rendered file. Saving the project path allows you to easily return to the source project if you use your rendered file in another project.

Notes:

• The project information in the rendered file is a reference to a project file only. If you modify the project file after rendering, the project data will no longer match the rendered file. To edit a project using a path reference, the project file and all media must be available on your computer.

• The check box will be unavailable if you haven’t saved your project or if you’re rendering using a third-party file-format plug-in.

12. Select the Render loop region only check box if you want to save only the portion of the project that is contained within the loop region. Loop Playback does not need to be selected for this option to work.

13. Select the Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox) check box when you are rendering to an output format with a slightly different aspect ratio than your project settings. This will prevent black bars from appearing on the top and bottom or the sides of the output.

14. If the selected file type supports it, you can select the Save project markers in media file check box to include markers, regions, and command markers in the rendered media file.

15. Select the Render using networked computers check box if you want to queue multiple renders on a single computer or to harness the power of those other computers to speed up your rendering times. For more information, see Network Rendering.

16. Click the Save button. A dialog is displayed to show rendering progress.

    When rendering is complete, click the Open button to play the file with its associated player, or click Open Folder to open the folder where you saved the file.

 

Rendering Multichannel Audio Files